Loki review, Episode 202: “Breaking Brad”

This week’s episode of Marvel Studios’ Loki amps up the timey-wimey chaos this show is known for. As we saw during last week’s episode, the timeline was in literal shambles, and while nothing is right in the world, Loki has been restored thanks to Ke Huy Quan’s Ouroboros.

As the architect of all things TVA, Quan’s character is the key to many things in Loki Season 2. Kang might be “He Who Remains” but Quan absolutely is the “One Who Knows All”. His casting in this season was pure genius, and it truly makes me so happy to know he’s so involved in the MCU now!

In any case, this week’s episode picks up right from the madness that we were left with last week. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is determined to locate Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) after getting a glimpse of her in the future at the TVA. He’s not sure where she is, or when she is, but he’s not about to give up!

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

We’re going back to 1977!

We begin with Loki, Mobius (Owen Wilson), and B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), heading to 1977 London. They are searching for X-5 (Rafael Casal) in the Sacred Timeline, who hopefully knows where Sylvie is located. Loki has no other goal; he needs to find Sylvie, now more than ever, and X-5 might be the only one to help him find her.

In this timeline, X-5 has made himself into a superstar actor named Brad Wolfe, who is celebrating the premiere of his movie. While looking for Sylvie, this timekeeper decided to live a different life, which will cost him now. Loki and company showing up puts a wrench in Wolfe’s celebrations, and he is soon under their beck and call to reveal Sylvie’s location.

Mobius and Loki take X-5 back to the TVA to interrogate and question him about Sylvie’s whereabouts. He is very, very resistant to sharing anything, so Loki decides to go God of Mischief on him, with the help of Mobius.

Unbeknownst to X-5, Loki and Mobius decide to play “good cop, bad cop.” Loki tortures X-5 as he gets squished into a box that gets smaller and smaller (once again, great visual effects!). After facing near death by box squish, X-5 breaks down and tells them exactly where Sylvie is.

A reunion in the making

I am a sucker for character reunions; they are genuinely some of the best content we can get on television shows. So, of course, when Loki and Sylvie lock eyes in this week’s episode, my heart was racing a million miles per minute.

At first, Loki and Mobius were skeptical that this was where Sylvie had truly been hiding. However, they found out that a McDonalds in Broxton, Oklahoma, was now her new home. Sylvie was less than enthused to see Loki after everything that happened last season. Despite having made a new life for herself on a branched timeline, she resists hearing Loki’s pleas about the TVA’s plan to prune all the timelines.

However, we soon learn that rogue members of the TVA are pruning the branches as they speak, and time is of the essence. The team, Sylvie included, attempts to stop Agent Dox (Game of Thrones veteran Kate Dickie), but by the time they do, the damage has mostly been done.

The world of Ouroboros and we’re just living in it

At the TVA, Ouroboros is freaking out because the Temporal Loom is broken, and he cannot figure out a way to fix it. The only saving grace they have is to find Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Miss Minutes (who are together) so the chaos can be overridden.

Without them, the multiverse is seemingly doomed, and the frightening part is, they may not even care! Luckily, there is a tracking hit on the TemPad Renslayer has in her possession, so we just might be seeing her in next week’s episode…

Ending of Loki Season 2, Episode 2 explained

As this week’s episode comes to a close, Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie arrive back at the TVA to watch as all the timelines are slowly pruned. With each timeline being wiped away, billions of people are dying. It’s a grim reminder that the timeline madness isn’t always as fun as it may seem.

Sylvie doesn’t want to witness the heartbreaking realization that her new timeline may soon cease to exist, so she makes her way back to Broxton. The episode ends with her holding a stone in her hand, emanating with a certain glow.

What exactly is she holding? Looks like He Who Remains’ bangle, ya’ll!

Is it next week, yet?!

Episode Grade: B+

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