Review: Loki steps on the gas in Episode 203, “1893”

Loki has officially reached the halfway point of its second season, and as expected, things have taken a wild turn. The end of season 1 promises us a clash with Kang the Conqueror, and Episode 3 finally brought Kang, or at least a variant, into the mix.

Before heading into spoiler territory, I would like to say that I am wholeheartedly enjoying Loki, especially because it feels like a step back in the right direction for Marvel. I feel the franchise has been a little lost over the last few years, but with the return of this show, we’re finally back to where we belong.

And with that, let’s get into all the major moments of this week’s episode of Loki.

MAJOR spoilers ahead!

Loki welcomes back Ravonna Renslayer

Yes, indeed, it is true! Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is back, and we finally know the motive behind her mission. She was last seen in the season 1 finale, but we didn’t know what she and Miss Minutes are up to.

We catch up with Renslayer circa 1868 in Chicago, alongside Miss Minutes. They are there to fulfill a quest on behalf of He Who Remains: pass along the TVA handbook to a young boy.

Meanwhile, at the TVA, Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan) is in a stressful uproar because he needs Miss Minutes to fix the Temporal Loom and save the TVA from destruction. Because there were a couple of pings on Renslayer’s TemPad from two different years, Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) track her 1800s Chicago. I love their chemistry together. I don’t know who decided this pairing would work, but kudos to them!

When the duo arrives in 1868, they realize there is little to uncover. However, jumping ahead to 1893 — during the Chicago World’s Fair — gives them the answers they were searching for.

Hello there, Victor Timely

Upon arriving at the World’s Fair, Loki and Mobius hear rumors about a “ghost clock” that haunts the place. Well, now we know Miss MInutes is there! There’s also a fun Thor Easter Egg when the pair comes across statues of Thor, Odin, and Baldur (he isn’t in the movies, but he has long been discussed in Marvel lore and comics).

The most important moment, however, is the reveal of Kang variant Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), who is the grown-up version of the young boy Renslayer and Miss Minutes left the TVA guidebook for. Giving him that book changed the course of his life; he became a scientist on the verge of groundbreaking discoveries. He’s built an early version of the Temporal Loom, which he boasts about and demonstrates to a shocked audience. Many interested bidders can’t get enough of Timely’s invention, but he’s just a con man. Ugh!

Before we know it, chaos breaks out as Mobius, Loki, Renslayer, Miss Minutes, Victor Timely, and Sylvie all converge on the World’s Fair. In the midst of it, Renslayer and Miss Minutes make their getaway with Timely.

Timely, Miss Minutes, and Renslayer get on a boat…

As we come to learn, the TVA guidebook changed Timely’s life. Because of O.B.’s guidance, Timely could create and invent things, but he lives in a time where the technology doesn’t match his imagination.

During their boat trip to Timely’s lab in Wisconsin (“lower taxes”), Timely learns from Renslayer that he created the TVA. It becomes clear that Timely does not intend to work alongside Renslayer whatsoever, as he and Miss Minutes push her off the boat. We get one of my favorite moments from this episode once they arrive at Timely’s lab and Miss Minutes begins to deviate from an obedient AI system to become an angry, love-struck, self-aware piece of technology. She tells Timely that he never gave her a real body, which could have given her the power to be so much more than she is, including his girlfriend. It’s creepy.

Timely promptly shuts her down just as the rest of the group shows up to try and stop him from escaping so he can be brought to the TVA. It’s interesting to see that Timely can get through to Slyvie, who wants all the Kang variants dead, when he reminds her that he is not He Who Remains. He can make his own choices. That seems to reach her, and she spares his life. She lets him go with Mobius and Loki to the TVA while she handles Renslayer, pushing her through a Time Door to the End of Time where the rotting corpse of He Who Remains…remains.

WHAT AN EPISODE, YA’LL!

Ending of Loki Season 2, Episode 3 explained

As Renslayer looks around the End of Time with Miss Minutes, she is overwhelmed, trying to understand what is happening. It is not until Miss Minutes reveals that she is keeping a big secret that things take a weird turn. “I can tell you but it’s going to make you really angry,” Miss Minutes says.

What does she mean? Does that mean Renslayer’s memory was completely wiped and perhaps she has no recollection of the connection she may have shared with Kang/He Who Remains/one of the variants at some point in time? In the comics, they are lovers, so this could be the secret Miss Minutes is referring to. But I guess we will have to wait until next week to find out more.

I love Loki, ya’ll!

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