Best of «Loki», Episode 6: For All Time. Always.

First off: This discussion of the series includes spoilers! So watch the sixth episode of «Loki» before you read on.

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Alioth appears to have been defeated. The veil lifts. The pathway to the End of Time opens. It’s time for the big reveal: who’s behind the Sacred Timeline, the Time-Keepers and the TVA?

Determined, Loki and Sylvie march on. In the meantime, Agent Mobius returns to the TVA. His goal: no more secrets. He wants to burn down what he’s believed in for what feels like forever.

Let the season finale begin!

The one who stays

First, music. Then, voices. Many voices. All talking simultaneously. It’s a total babel. A kaleidoscope of everything that ever was in the MCU.

Loki’s voice: «We have a Hulk.»

Vision’s voice: «What is grief if not love persevering?»

Steve Rogers’ voice: «I can do this all day.»

The sun. The earth. The solar system. The galaxy. Black holes. More black holes. A bright, gleaming light. No – a beam of light that connects everything. And, somewhere, a boulder floating in the void of space. On it, a huge ancient mansion.

What an opening!

Miss Minutes. What is she doing here? Ah, she’s just a stooge. Okay. For a second, I thought she was the one dictating the Sacred Timeline. Of course not. But she does reveal to Loki and Sylvie who’s really behind it all:

He Who Remains.

Ha! One of my two theories was indeed correct! But I admit I was expecting Kang the Conqueror to be the string-puller. For one, just because of his comic book connection to Ravonna Renslayer and Alioth, the all-devouring cloud.

But after the last episode, where Renslayer talked about the End of Time, the He-Who-Remains theory gained tremendous momentum. In the comics, the End of Time is the place where the last director of the TVA witnesses the end of the universe and all beings and now awaits the beginning of a new multiversal cycle.

In an attempt to make this one better than the last, he creates the Time-Twisters – three beings birthed from three cocoons intended to survive the end and have knowledge of the past to create a better future.

The plan fails. Instead of moving through to the next reality, the Time-Twisters travel into the past of the still-existing multiverse, where they’re confronted by Thor. Realising he can do nothing against the Time-Twisters, Thor himself travels to the End of Time. There, he convinces He Who Remains of the destructive nature of the Twisters. He Who Remains destroys the Twisters, but this creates two new timelines:

one where the Twisters exist and another where they don’t.

To protect both timelines, He Who Remains creates new, improved versions of the Twisters: the Time-Keepers. From then on, the Time-Twisters and the Time-Keepers have been locked in an eternal war.

Back to the series. On behalf of He Who Remains, Miss Minutes offers Loki and Sylvie everything they’ve always wanted: victory over the Avengers – and Thanos. She even offers them the Infinity Gauntlet and the Throne of Asgard. Together, they could be the ultimate ruler. All they would have to do in return is leave He Who Remains alone and allow the TVA to continue doing its indispensable work.

Loki and Sylvie decline. They don’t want anyone determining their destiny for them any longer.

Miss Minutes disappears. He Who Remains appears. Except it’s not really He Who Remains. At least not the ancient cosmic being we know from the comics. It’s a man – flesh and blood – jokingly mocking the imposing nickname Miss Minutes appears to have given him. But if it’s not He Who Remains pulling the strings at the End of Time, could it be...

Kang?

Double ha! I guess both theories were just bang on target! In the MCU, Kang is He Who Remains! I’m going crazy over here. Well played, Marvel.

Chekhov’s gun is fired

Back at the TVA, Mobius is doing exactly what he set out to do: he’s burning everything to ground. Metaphorically speaking, mind you. First, Mobius reveals that all TVA employees are variants. Starting with Ravonna Renslayer. It turns out the very blue pen I mentioned in a previous episode discussion did, in fact, carry more meaning. It was a hint about her past.

Chekhov's Gun.

«Mobius notices a blue pen during their conversation. One he had never seen before. Franklin D. Roosevelt High School. I’ve no idea what that’s about. In any case, that pen is peculiar,» I wrote in said episode discussion. Now it’s clear, isn’t it?

Chekhov’s Gun. It’s an old rule of storytelling: «If it's not essential, don’t include it in the story.» The blue pen is important. It dates back to 1980, and is from the school at which the original Ravonna Renslayer is a teacher.

Bam! Chekhov’s Gun has just been fired.

Renslayer seems to really have had no clue that she’s a variant. But she still believes in the TVA. She believes in her work. Or simply can’t stand the thought of everything being in vain. Aeons of pruning; of destroying life.

And yet, after a short fight with Mobius, she makes off through a TemPad gate. What is she searching for? Free will.

The devil at the End of Time

Back to Kang – assuming this person really is Kang. I’ll just note how Jonathan Majors plays him wonderfully. He’s over-the-top, but with an air of nonchalance. The mystery man claims that Loki and Sylvie’s escape from the Void – and even this very conversation – have all happened according to his plan.

Oh, and he apparently knows everything.

It’s not long before we find out that’s not true. But if you’re familiar with the comics, what he says before that confirms his true identity.

The mystery man tells his story: in the 31st century, he was a scientist who discovered the existence of the Multiverse. He never tells us his name, but in the comics there’s only one person with exactly this story: Nathaniel Richards.

In the comics, Nathaniel Richards is at war with himself. In the previous episode discussions, I always told you the story of the Richards variant that later becomes Kang the Conqueror. As a matter of fact, new variants of Richards appear time and again in the comics. In one case, he’s Immortus, the ruler of time. In another, he’s Rama-Tut, an Egyptian pharaoh. Then he’s Iron Lad, and yet another time, Scarlet Centurion. And so on. The list is never-ending.

In the series, the man who I believe is the MCU Nathaniel Richards talks about these exact variants. He says they all made the same discoveries at the same time and ended up visiting each other in their respective universes. But they weren’t all peace-loving. As a result, the MCU Richards has been called many a thing: a ruler – Immortus; a conquerer – Kang; and He Who Remains.

Just like in the comics, the Nathaniel Richards variants began attacking the infinite nature of the Multiverse in hopes of becoming its sole vanquisher. And so, the First Multiverse War broke out.

And then, the current Richards came upon Alioth, a giant cloud that destroys, sucks in and absorbs everything it touches. Alioth brings down entire dimensions. Devours entire realities. Absorbs entire multiverses. Just like that, MCU-Richards reduced the Multiverse down to the Sacred Timeline and has been dictating the flow of time ever since.

Richards admits his methods were questionable but maintains the goal is noble. And while he may be a devil (no, not Mephisto), he’s a devil that uses his roguishness for good. And he’s now offering just that to Loki and Sylvie. They’re to take his place; they’re to rule in his stead. Richards says he’s tired. And – surprise, surprise – he doesn’t actually know everything. He did know everything, but only up to a certain point in time.

Could this be the birth of the MCU multiverse?

The dilemma

If Loki and Sylvie don’t take over – if they kill the MCU Richards instead – an infinite number of variants would take his place. And the lot of them would start another a multiversal war. But deciding on life and death pragmatically – as if it were all just a game – isn’t an option for the two Loki variants.

Their dilemma: oppressive order or calamitous freedom.

To the MCU Richards, it makes no difference: if he lives, and Loki and Sylvie take over, his life’s work endures. If not, a Richards variant would again take over at the end of the multiversal war and create a new Sacred Timeline.

As fate would have it, Loki and Sylvie can’t agree on the correct path. Combat ensues. Then Loki professes his love to her, and she responds with a kiss... But then she sends him back to the TVA and kills the MCU Richards.

«I’ll see you soon,» Richards says with a wink as he dies. In the background, the Sacred Timeline splits into countless branches. Red line is crossed. There’s no turning back.

The Multiverse is born.

What about Loki? He attempts to explain what just happened to Mobius. But Mobius doesn’t remember him. In fact, he has no recollection of anything that happened in the past few weeks. Okay... something’s wrong here. Very wrong. And cut! The camera pans to the heart of the TVA, where the Time-Keeper statues stand. But the statues are gone; they’ve been replaced.

By Kang the Conqueror.

And with that, «Loki» is over.

Verdict: holy cow!

Wow. What the world just happened? Has Loki just fallen into an already corrupted timeline with an alternate TVA where Kang is in charge? This seems like the only logical explanation.

And what happened to Sylvie? And Renslayer? Either way: If Thanos’ Snap was an earthquake in the MCU, this is a freaking supernova! Anything we thought to be true until this point is gone. The possibilities are endless, and the endgame unpredictable.

The only thing we can safely assume is that Loki will return for a second season. The stamp in the post-credits scene confirms as much. Thank God! It would be cruel to leave Loki’s story hanging like that.

The episode discussions end here for now – no Loki, nothing to discuss. But if you’re interested, I hope to see you back for the upcoming «What if…?» series.