Loki: Episode 4 Reactions

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Much like the other two Disney+ shows up to this point, Loki has stolen our hearts and our imagination when it comes to theories. Episode Four took everything we have seen to this point and threw it on it's head. Largely, that works in their favor. If the show continued on it's path it could have become mundane and ultimately predictable. In fact, the previous episode felt a bit more like something out of Doctor Who. After all the show is called Loki, with that title alone you have to expect a level of mischief and chaos. Marvel chose a great time to blow it's show up and introduce a bit of chaos. The episode starts off by showing us a young Sylvie been taken from her timeline as a young child from Asgard, only to then escape from Ravonna. From there, the episode takes place right where we left Loki and Sylvie on Lamentis-1 as the world around them had begun to crumble around them. The two have come a long way in a short period of time together and begin to truly care for one another. Sylvie even asks Loki, "Does being a Loki mean we are destined to fail?" As they are facing imminent death, the two take solace in another and accept their death which in their acceptance of one another created a branch in the timeline alerting the Time Variance Authority to their location and pull them from their impending death and imprison them. From there we see that Mobius (Owen Wilson) is beginning to question his orders and so is Hunter B-15 as she begins to remember the life she had before the TVA made her into an agent. The two try to help Sylvie and Loki take down the TVA but to no avail. They realize the Time Keepers are nothing more then androids and have no idea now who is in charge.

The prevailing theory that has gone around for a while now is that the man in charge is truly that of Kang the Conqueror. It's a bit crazy to get caught up in the idea that an overarching villain may be behind everything like we thought with Wandavision and Mephisto, but the bread crumbs are there and make sense. When looking at the source content it begins to make sense seeing how the person we see largely running the TVA right now is Ravonna (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who in the comics is a love interest of Kang the Conqueror. The only question then remains, why does Kang have such an interest in killing off Loki's from different timelines? He may just view him as a loose end that needs to be dealt with as he can create too much chaos.

The other fascinating moment that came from this episode was at the very end after the Loki's fight with the TVA and the Time Keepers. Loki and Sylvie were at a loss wondering who was the man behind the curtain and as Sylvie began to break down, Loki comforted her once more like he did on Lamentis-1. He also seemed to be building up to saying that he loved her, a bit odd and hey self love is great and all but this takes it to a creepy level. Right before he says it we see him get pruned by Ravonna. There is no way Loki is dead though right? Right. In a post credit scene, we see our favorite Loki waking up asking if he is in Hel, which I believe is the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that we hear the realm governed by his sister Hela is mentioned. He hears an unfamiliar voice explain to him that he is not dead and looks up to see more variants of himself in the form of a more comic book classical looking Loki, Kid Loki, Boastful Loki and Crocodile Loki in a destroyed New York with an equally destroyed Avengers Tower. This leads me to believe that whenever the TVA has pruned a variant that they are simply sent to a dead timeline where they can no longer affect anything and allows the TVA to continue making whatever their idea is for a Sacred Timeline.

As for the Loki variants, I am sure that they will fill in Hiddleston Loki (is that what he should be called going forward?) as to who or what is in charge at the TVA. Sylvie will probably also prod information out of Ravonna seeing as how she had gotten the best of her after Loki was "killed." It's all very chaotic and crazy but incredible all at once. It's also a great casting choice putting Richard E. Grant in as an older and more classical evil Loki role that I look forward to seeing more of.

Overall the episode is truly great and arguably one of the best yet, as the fourth episode tends to be a big one in all Marvel-Disney+ shows up to this point. It is a bit crazy to think the series only has two episodes left to tie everything up, but it'll also be interesting to see if this has long reaching affects beyond just it's show. Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Wandavision before it all lead to a feature film in one way. Wanda will be leading right into Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, while Falcon is leading directly into Captain America 4. If Kang the Conqueror is indeed the big bad behind everything, it'll be interesting to see if it is a tee up for the final Ant-Man film since he has been confirmed to be in it but I have a hard time seeing that connection.