The episode picks up where we left off. The Temporal Loom has exploded and Loki is once again unstuck from time. Though this time there appears to be more method to the madness…
We open with Loki in a version of the TVA emptied of all inhabitants and the fail-safe mode initiated. Whether this is a TVA that existed before or after the Temporal Looms explosion remains to be seen. The fact the loom still existed argues for it being prior, but the spaghetification of the place suggests that it might be post explosion. In other news, I’m still wrapping my brain around linear time existing in a place outside of time.
Loki’s time slippage takes him to seemingly random locations, but are actually the respective timelines where his TVA colleagues can be found. The one exception is Room 25 in the TVA. If I’m not mistaken, that’s the room where Loki discovered his variant’s history/future on the sacred timeline. Could that be a nod to his origin, in the same way we discover the origins of his TVA colleagues?
Neither Casey the Alcatraz escapee, nor Mobius the Jet Ski salesman recognize Loki and both initially believe he may have lost his mind. Luckily, O.B. sees Loki’s wild story as a validation of the science fiction novels he writes, and offers to help him. And O.B.’s day job as a theoretical physicist doesn’t hurt. Though, which of O.B.’s pursuits will prove more useful is still up in the air.
Can I just take a moment to state how much I loved each character’s backstory? That the rule-obsessed Casey was a thief made me giggle, as did the eternally optomistic O.B.'s quest to write the Great American Science Fiction novel. We knew that Jet Skis would play into Mobius’ life in a major way, but I didn’t see the single dad angle coming. Mobius’ sons’ behavior went a long way to explaining his patience with Loki. And the juxtaposition of Hunter B-15’s brusqueness with the gentleness of Dr. Willis gave both variants added depth.
Okay, back to our story.
It’s O.B. that points out that Loki’s time slippage isn't as random as he believed. O.B. theorizes that it’s Loki’s desire to find his friends that is causing his time slips. If Loki could tap into that need, he could potentially travel as easily as with a tempad. Or, maybe O.B. could just build a tempad using the guidebook O.B. has yet to write. The sheer number of bootstrap paradoxes in this episode gave me a headache. Though, I guess that means, O.B.’s scientific side won the usefulness argument.
Loki visits each of his colleagues and convinces them that 1) he’s not crazy, and 2) they are needed save the TVA and thus protect everyone’s continued existence. Convinces everyone, except Sylvie.
First of all, she knows exactly who Loki is, and why he’s there. Second, she believes everyone is better off where they were. Thus the philosophical debate from last season's finale is resurrected.
Season one ended with Sylvie and Loki on opposite sides of a theoretical divide. Was the TVA created to destroy any variants who might threaten this Kang’s, I’m sorry, He Who Remains’ quest for power? Or was it the means to protect the multiverse from a greater threat?
Sylvie comes down firmly on the side of free will. He Who Remains had no right to pluck people out of their lives without their consent, erase their memories and task them with the annihilation of thousands of alternative timelines each containing billions of people. All in the name of ensuring Kang’s supremacy among all his variants. The destruction of the TVA is the best thing that could happen to the multiverse.
Loki doesn’t disagree, per se. He believes Mobius et al. should be given the choice to serve the TVA or not. That and he’s not willing to bet the continued existence of, say, everyone if Sylvie is wrong. At least that’s what Loki tells himself.
When he accuses Sylvie of being selfish, she holds up the proverbial mirror. Loki’s desire to, as O.B. says, “get the band back together” has as much to do with his fear of being alone as it does with a desire to save the multiverse. The others may have lives to return to. All Loki has is the TVA. Sylvie convinces Loki of his own selfishness just in time for everything and everyone Loki cares about to turn into spaghetti.
Whether it’s from the trauma of what he’s just witnessed or sheer desperation, Loki can finally control his time slipping ability. Convinced he understands how to save the TVA, he returns to the moment of the Temporal Loom’s destruction.
I have sooo many questions! Not the least of which are: Where did O.B.’s tempad disappear to? I have a feeling that’s going to be important. Are we witnessing the (re)birth of the TVA? Because I’m pretty sure that O.B.’s Pasadena hideaway is the same as his workshop in the TVA. Why is Loki able to hopscotch through time and Sylvie isn’t? And how does He Who Remains’ master plan fit into this?
According to O.B. science is the what and the how, while fiction is the why. But if the answer is who, will it be He Who Remains or Loki that writes the final chapter?
4 out of 5 Sons of Yoren (O.B.’s most popular book of all time!)
Parting Thoughts:
Casey tells his fellow prisoners that if they get caught, they’ll be gutted like fish. Is this a call back to Loki’s threat to gut him like a fish in season one?
Speaking of Casey, his escape is based on the real escape attempt of John Anglin, his brother Clarence, and, wait for it, Frank Morris in June 1962.
The song playing when Sylvie walks into the record store was Rose Royce’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.” The album that Sylvie listens to was The Velvet Underground’s “Oh, Sweet Nuthin’.” Make of that what you will.
Quotes:
Loki: “This is not happening!”
Mobius: “Well, they say that the personal watercraft is kind of the thinking man’s dirt bike.”
O.B.: “Science fiction is a well-respected and thought-provoking genre.”
Store Owner: “Well, nobody buys it here.”
Loki: “What I’m about to tell you is going to be hard to believe.”
O.B.: “You can’t. It’s impossible. But don’t let that stop you.”
Mobius: “Sean, go get him. Go on, hurry. And if you keep him from burning the house down the house, I’ll get you a puppy.”
Loki: “Reality isn’t what you think it is.”
Sylvie: “Get in the car. I’m buying you a drink.”
Loki: “I don’t want to be alone.”
Mobius: “You showed up and told each of us that we were the key to saving all existence. And now, what, we’re not?”
Loki: “The pens… We have all the pens!”
O.B.: “It was a fiction problem.”
Loki: "I can rewrite the story."
Shari loves sci-fi, fantasy, the supernatural, and anything with a cape.
I thought the branch lives of the characters we already know was fun and well-thought out. Yeah, Jetski salesman was a gimme, but it was still great.
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