Recap: Loki Episode 2 ‘The Variant’

Loki‘s premiere proved it’s a series worth investing your time in. You can check our full recap here. The second episode is where things really get interesting so get ready for a jam-packed ride this week. It’s also where one could say the story really starts to take off. Major spoilers ahead.

Now, interestingly enough, it opens up with a “previously on Loki” narrative similar to what WandaVision did late into its run. It makes one wonder if this will be a common theme for each new episode just to keep audiences refreshed week to week.

After learning that the variant the TVA is hunting is a variant of Loki, we see more Minutemen investigating yet again. This time we are taken to what is a renaissance fair in 1985. This was hinted at during the trailer that at some point the series would be at some type of medieval setting. What we didn’t know at the time was that its set in the 80s.

As the Minutemen enter the tent they are ambushed by the Loki Variant we saw setting fire to a field at the end of episode one. The mysterious hooded figure somehow manages to turn one of the Minuteman soldiers against the rest of the group (possibly some form of mind control). After most of the soldiers are down the variant kidnaps one of the Minutemen and also takes the smartphone-looking time device through a portal.

Back at the TVA, Loki is learning the ways of the TVA and being educated by Miss Minutes. Interestingly enough Loki asks her if she is just a recording or if she’s alive. She responds coyly saying both. While being “enlightened” through “educational” training videos Loki ends up mocking her and she runs back to her digital screen. Mobius scolds him for being a jerk to Miss Minutes.

Loki receives his TVA jacket that says “variant ” in big letters in the back. Mobius informs Loki that the TVA has “pruned” a lot of his variants lately. As they get ready to go to the same spot as where one of the Minutemen was kidnapped. Loki is briefly handed his famous daggers before Hunter B-15 takes them away.

While investigating the renaissance fair in 1985 and the tent Loki tries to tell them he spots a trap during the investigation. They basically scoff at him not believing a word he says. Mobius in the meantime is meeting with Judge Renslayer who asks why Mobius keeps defending Loki and how he can’t be trusted. Reluctantly she gives the go-ahead for Mobius to continue the investigation with Loki.

As they leave, Loki basically calls the TVA all idiots and says “I suspect you missed a lot,” with how they can’t figure out how to track down this variant.  Mobius drops Loki off at the massive TVA library setting him to work while he gets lunch. Loki is set to basically investigate himself looking up details of events that he has yet to experience, including Ragnarok and the destruction of Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok.

Loki realizes that his variant is hiding in doomsday events eventually traveling with Mobius to Pompei just before its destruction. In a hilarious scene, Loki makes a spectacle of himself with the locals while Mobius monitors the time flow on his device realizing that Loki is right. We also learn Mobius likes jet skis.

As the two continue to work and learn about one another, Loki points out that “existence is chaos why try to make sense of it?. We also learn that the TVA is Mobius’s whole life and purpose. Loki sums up that no one bad is truly bad and no one good is truly good.

Following this little heart to heart Loki, Mobius, and the rest of the team set off to 2050 where another apocalyptic event is about to take place at Roxxcart. The locals are taking shelter there and they suspect the variant is there as well. As they all separate Loki is left with Hunter B-15 who insists on watching him.  It’s revealed that Hunter B-15 is the Loki variant they have been hunting. Loki and his variant have a brief convo where Loki reveals he wants to overthrow the timekeepers and offers the variant a chance to join him. The variant refuses.

Meanwhile, Mobius and the other Minutemen stumble upon the kidnapped Minuteman. She reveals she was forced to tell the variant how to find the timekeepers.  While that is going on the two Loki’s are fighting each other. The other variant somehow can switch bodies and easily overpowers Loki.

As Loki wakes up he realizes the variant has set up all the stolen reset time charges all over the store. The hooded figure finally reveals that it’s Lady Loki the female variant, she can use her magic to control others. She tells Loki that this is not about him as she sets off the charges.

As the multiple time charges vanish in their own time portals, we see chaos erupting back at the TVA. Multiple branch realities have been set off. One TVA analyst states “someone just bombed the sacred timeline.”

Judge Renslayer sees this and grabs her weapon. Lady Loki once again opens a portal waves at Loki and walks through. For a brief moment, Loki contemplates what to do as Mobius gives chase after him. He decides to follow Lady Loki through the time portal.

Now what makes this interesting is just where the two are headed and what Loki plans to do. It also twists the previous narrative from the trailers that Loki set off the branch realities when it was in fact Lady Loki who did. Whatever is coming next, fans are going to be glued to their screens as this series literally twists the MCU as we know it.