Loki review: Episode 204 is gross, wild and wonderful

Loki has been a saving grace for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Where other shows and movies have fallen short in recent times, this series is getting fans excited again.

I am so happy that amid all the uncertainty surrounding Hollywood and the MCU, Loki has been a ray of hope. Watching this series has been so much fun and reminded me that the MCU used to be a thrilling place. That’s especially true after this week’s episode, “Heart of the TVA.”

We have much to discuss, so let’s get right into it. And as always, remember: ther are MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

Renslayer learns the truth

This week’s episode picks up right where the last one left off, with Miss Minutes revealing she knows a big secret. She prefaces it by saying that Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) will not be very happy to learn the truth; cryptic much?

Miss Minutes shows Renslayer a projection of a forgotten moment between her and He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). If you recall, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) heard bits and pieces of this conversation back in the season 2 premiere while he was time-slipping.

The gist of the conversation is that He Who Remains thanks Renslayer for helping out during the Multiversal War, saying that he’s honored to be the one to help guide her in the coming days. Renslayer has plans for where she’d like to lead the TVA, but so does He Who Remains. Of course, Renslayer is not privy to his plans. After Renslayer leaves, He Who Remains asks Miss Minutes to erase the memories of all TVA employees, including Renslayer’s. With this clean slate, He Who Remains could now do what he wanted with the TVA.

I’m really interested to know why we were shown Loki listening in on this conversation with no context, but I’m sure it will come back around at some time point…I hope.

Miss Minutes spills even more tea to Renslayer when she tells her that Renslayer not only helped He Who Remains win the war, but she led the army. She was even meant to take over at the Citadel in some capacity, but of course, He Who Remains betrayed her.

Who knows what other memories are missing, but this is getting good!

Chaos at the TVA

With this new knowledge (and a whole lot of anger), Renslayer and Miss Minutes walk right into the TVA and create absolute chaos. Remember that Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) left her TemPad behind with Renslayer, so she can walk right in. Security is pretty lax at the moment, becuase the TVA is barely hanging on by a thread, what with so many employees in rebellion after finding out they theoretically have lives they could to somewhere out there in the multiverse.

Miss Minutes and Renslayer try to free some of the captives including Dox (Kate Dickie), but none are on board except for the horrible X-5 (Rafael Casal). Showing no mercy, Miss Minutes and Renslayer kill all the captives by crushing them inside that holographic box from a couple episodes back. Miss Minutes stands by watching in absolute joy, which is jarring and unnerving. The happiness and grin on her face are unsettling and something we haven’t seen her do on Loki before.

The Temporal Loom Doom

Meanwhile, Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), Sylvie, Mobius (Owen Wilson), Loki, and Casey (Eugene Cordero) are all working to fix the unraveling Temporal Loom via the Throughput Multiplier.

In the process, they lose track of Timely, who is the key to making all of this work, as Miss Minutes, Renslayer and X-5 kidnap him. Then we get a hectic stretch where all the storylines come together. It’s sequences like this that make me realize why I love Loki as much as I do.

Remember how Loki was pruned at the end of the season 2 premiere? Well, as Loki and Sylvie are running around in this episode looking for Timely, we get to see another perspective of that very moment. It was actually Loki who time-pruned himself, in order to save his past self. It’s so Back to the Future, isn’t it?

Another mystery solved: do you remember when the phone was ringing in the season 2 premiere? Well, it turns out it was Ouroboros trying to get a hold of the God of Mischief and Sylvie.

Ending of Loki Season 2, Episode 4 explained

As expected, the episode ends on a WILD cliffhanger as Ouroboros decides to reboot the TVA’s computer system to shut down Miss Minutes. That has the added benefit of turning off the “magical dampeners” at the TVA, meaning Loki and Sylvie can use their powers.

Things goes from 0 to 60 really fast. Sylvie uses her magic to bewitch X-5, who prunes Renslayer. Then Loki and Sylvie run back to the Temporal Loom with Timely in tow. He volunteers to expose himself to radiation to fix the Loom.

However, luck is not on their side. Just as Timely steps out into space, in the same suit that Mobius wore in the premiere, he evaporates into some weird spaghetti form and disappears. It was gross and wild!

The episode ends on a cliffhanger as the Temporal Loom expands and implodes right in front of our eyes. The Loom collapses in on itself, and as things go to black, we watch the characters just wait for the end.

And just as it does…the screen goes to black.

What happened? Is everyone dead?! (No, they’re not, we’ve still got two more episodes left!) But we have so many questions. What happened to all the timelines? Did the MCU just get restarted?

Tune in to see what happens next week! Seriously, I cannot wait!

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