Current Events > Loki Season 2 Episode 5 Topic *SPOILERS*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Comes out at 9 PM EST.

Ngl, I'm hyped as hell after last week's ending.

Same. Was pretty shocked at what happened to Timely...

I wonder if we finally see Mobius on his jet ski this episode.

indica posted...

Same. Was pretty shocked at what happened to Timely...

Yeah, that caught me completely off guard.

Loki can now control his time slipping. How far does his grasp go? Can he go back further?

Why was Timely not one of the required "pens" to collectively gain aura?

Clock is turned back on Exploding Namek to 6 minutes.

Also I was right lol.

Man, I need to see the finale next week. That was interesting

Good episode, I enjoyed it. As always OB is a gem.

KalimariX8 posted...

Why was Timely not one of the required "pens" to collectively gain aura?

I was wondering the same thing. I guess him being absent from the explosion somehow excluded him? Not like Loki or OB would actually know that yet or not.
*Shrug*

KalimariX8 posted...

Loki can now control his time slipping. How far does his grasp go? Can he go back further?

Why was Timely not one of the required "pens" to collectively gain aura?

I mean the entire pens idea was just a giant guess on their part anyway. Their auras didn't actually matter so whether or not Timely's aura should have counted also doesn't matter.

Shit, I have a lot to watch. Loki, Invincible, Fall of the House of Usher, and I just learned that Spiderverse is on Netflix.

I cant shake the feeling that Kang gave the ability to Loki at the End of Time and this is all some ploy

Don't think I loved this episode tbh. Seems like a lot of wheel-spinning.

Saw some serious personal growth with Loki.

pegusus123456 posted...

Don't think I loved this episode tbh. Seems like a lot of wheel-spinning.

Yeah, now that he can go to any time and any place, that pretty much means there's no danger of anything

indica posted...

Yeah, now that he can go to any time and any place, that pretty much means there's no danger of anything

That part I don't mind, seems like it'll be a temporary power. I mostly just feel like it doesn't meaningfully explore any of the characters' character. Maybe it's just because when OB was talking about how Loki just has to figure out what he really wants, I knew that "friends" would be the answer, so I wasn't all that enthused by him discovering that.

But I think we could have just taken time to breathe and let us explore all the original variants a bit more than we did.

i think this season is kind of weak ngl

idk why but i dont love it. just seems like it's been static and has no real direction. The same problem has existed since episode 1 or so and we're no closer to fixing it 4 episodes later besides Loki being a walking tempad now

Yeah, I'm kind of surprised that the temporal loom thing has been the plot of this season. That very much seemed like something they fixed in the first episode, but then it turned out they didn't and it's this whole thing.

I thought they would spend this season focusing more on Kang and how he's becoming this multiversal threat, but they played around with the idea for like half an episode then went back to the loom

So having slept on it a bit.

I do appreciate that we actually have a proper Loki-centric episode. Almost seemed like he was an ancillary character in some of the middle episodes.

And it does kind of address the question of "what is Loki even doing right now and what's his motivation?" Even if that motivation was just... kind of hokey. I'm doing it for my nakama and all that.

As I mentioned last week, the "time explodes" part doesn't really feel high stakes, even as things unravel. And it's so inconsistent, too. It's like the parts of time unravel as drama dictates.

Speaking of "as drama dictates", anyone notice that Loki's powers changed?

Before when he time slipped, it would be of the "causal" idea where he would see himself in the past and the future.

Now apparently he can slip along his own timeline and instead of there being two of him now it's just one, if you take my meaning. And now instead of it being determined, now he can actually change things.

I feel it's a bit cheap.

CyricZ posted...

I feel it's a bit cheap.

Yyyuppp.

Hey guys, four episodes of "TIME IS GOING TO EXPLODE"

It explodes in episode 4

In episode 5, things are a little weird but Loki has time travel powers now and everyone is still fine. Timelines are basically unchanged to where they're all in their original lives. Feels almost like Loki is building the TVA and he's the one who "kidnapped" all of them from their lives originally, so it's coming full circle.

If this had to happen to get Loki some kick ass power increases then I'm all for it, but it's the utilization of said powers that worries me. If he get these cool powers and does nothing but get the TVA back to normal then I'm gonna be pissed.

Tons of potential here, but given their track record of flopping endings of their shows, my expectations are not high.

Reddit comments for this show always contain some gems since there's a lot that is open to interpretation. A couple from this episode

• Mobius/Don (whatever his name was) might be a variant of Odin. He gets along really well with Loki, and in this episode he had two sons where one was a little shithead, and the other one was the older brother who liked snakes. He's also a single dad
• Frank Morris escaped from Alcatraz in real life and was never found

MacadamianNut3 posted...

Reddit comments for this show always contain some gems since there's a lot that is open to interpretation. A couple from this episode

* Mobius/Don (whatever his name was) might be a variant of Odin. He gets along really well with Loki, and in this episode he had two sons where one was a little shithead, and the other one was the older brother who liked snakes. He's also a single dad
* Frank Morris escaped from Alcatraz in real life and was never found

the first one is so vague that it could apply to literally anyone tbh

The shithead son had a green bike, and the other one had a red bike. The only way to make any more connections would be for their names to be something that rhymes with Loki and Thor lol

MacadamianNut3 posted...

Reddit comments for this show always contain some gems since there's a lot that is open to interpretation. A couple from this episode

* Mobius/Don (whatever his name was) might be a variant of Odin. He gets along really well with Loki, and in this episode he had two sons where one was a little shithead, and the other one was the older brother who liked snakes. He's also a single dad
* Frank Morris escaped from Alcatraz in real life and was never found

Also, Mobius' kids had bikes. One was green and the other was red.

Edit: Ninja'd

it was just a reminder of what loki had in the past, him being an odin variant would be highly unlikely imo

MatzoTov posted...

Feels almost like Loki is building the TVA and he's the one who "kidnapped" all of them from their lives originally, so it's coming full circle.

I mentioned something similar about last week's episode. It really does look like Loki is going to be the one created the TVA to begin with, and these guys are his first recruits. I said that he probably planted them as behind the scenes time keepers, which then grew to mythical status and that legend got twisted by Kang after wiping everyone's memories(probably to get rid of the real time keepers he couldn't identify). They'd be there from it's creation till it's destruction, or rather "for all time, always."

The only thing is that would put Loki in charge if it all rather than Kang, and idk how I feel about a reveal that He Who Remains scripting events was part of a script written by current Loki. And that's the only thing that makes sense to me at the moment.

But, I'm all for Loki getting actual god status and a power boost. Sure, give him time powers, but in doing so kind of paints him into a corner of why he let things go the way they do.

Idk, guess we'll find out next week. I'll be sad if he loses his new power though. Maybe nerf it, but don't take it away entirely.

I told my wife several episodes ago it felt like Loki was gonna end up being responsible for the creation of the TVA lol

A few other, maybe connected, thoughts:

-If Loki created the TVA for the purpose of containing Kang, and if Kang/HWR somehow gained control and memory wiped everyone, than this has all been manipulation, HWR was probably imprisoned where he was, and killing him was definitely the wrong thing to do because it lead to the loom failing.

-have they explicitly stated what the loom does? I don't recall, but it seems like it's just supposed to "manage" the sacred timeline. Pretty sure the spaghetti effect is just a visual representation of the creation of branches/variants.

-I feel like VT definitely knew he was gonna get spaghetti'd, which is why he insisted he go into the loom chamber.

MrKapowski posted...

-have they explicitly stated what the loom does? I don't recall, but it seems like it's just supposed to "manage" the sacred timeline. Pretty sure the spaghetti effect is just a visual representation of the creation of branches/variants.

I'm pretty sure it's just a big fancy generator that powers the TVA. The issue is that it was built to pull energy from one timeline and now there are a billion kajillion of them, so it's overloading.

Victor explains it more precisely in the 1800s episode, but it was mostly technobabble that I don't remember.

pegusus123456 posted...

Victor explains

I'd say that's unreliable then, can't trust what he says

I went back rewatched the Quantumania post credit scene, and that blue Kang variant(the pharaoh?) talks like Victor Timely does. Just in a more raspy voice. The way Victor stalls between his words is the same as that variant.

I didn't remember him doing that, I just remembered the quiet raspy voice. Don't think it means anything though. Unless Victor turns blue and gets sent back in time next episode. lol

MrKapowski posted...

I'd say that's unreliable then, can't trust what he says

I checked the scene and the explanation he gives is, "It inverts the temporal decay of the electricity flowing through it, lowering its entropy, and gathering it into fine threads of power."

So basically, it uses time travel to output more power than it takes in. Even if he is conning people with it, I think that much makes sense. It clearly works to some extent, it's just not viable with 1800s technology. Unless he's full-on Kang putting on a show, I think that much is true, at least for the prototype. The input for that one was a lightbulb, an entire timeline providing the power might work differently.

KogaSteelfang posted...

I went back rewatched the Quantumania post credit scene, and that blue Kang variant(the pharaoh?) talks like Victor Timely does. Just in a more raspy voice. The way Victor stalls between his words is the same as that variant.

I didn't remember him doing that, I just remembered the quiet raspy voice. Don't think it means anything though. Unless Victor turns blue and gets sent back in time next episode. lol

Yeah probably a coincidence. He can only do so many voices lol

I have a feeling the finale is going to be insane.

So I have just been casually watching Loki season 2. I havent gone back and rewatched anything or watched any recaps.

As I watched episode 5, it dawned on me that I dont really understand why the timelines are even acting in this way in the first place. What is the cause for all of this even occurring again?

The_Popo posted...

So I have just been casually watching Loki season 2. I havent gone back and rewatched anything or watched any recaps.

As I watched episode 5, it dawned on me that I dont really understand why the timelines are even acting in this way in the first place. What is the cause for all of this even occurring again?

He Who Remains stopped a multiverse war by eliminating variants of himself.

Some things feel pointlessly added, but I'm still really enjoying the second season. Probably one of the best MCU things in a while. Can't wait for the last episode.

The_Popo posted...

So I have just been casually watching Loki season 2. I havent gone back and rewatched anything or watched any recaps.

As I watched episode 5, it dawned on me that I dont really understand why the timelines are even acting in this way in the first place. What is the cause for all of this even occurring again?

When HWR died, the single timeline started forming branches that couldn't be contained anymore fast enough, so it evolved into the multiverse.

i'm still wondering what exactly is the point of everything the loom should have been fixed 3 episodes ago because now it's being set up to take the whole season, and then what happens? Everyone just sits there and the TVA's job is done since they can't prune branches forever? Then narratively what was the point of season 2?

Hoping the finale introduces a purpose, Season 1 at least served to introduce the multiverse and kang and the idea of variants which was huge for the MCU

Another confusing part to me is like - the TVA's job is to prune timelines before they hit their irreparable nexus events or whatever (that red line), right?

So how come suddenly that one character is like, NOOOO WE CANT PRUNE THESE TIMELINES THEY ARE PEOPLE'S LIVES

Yes they are lives but isnt the alternative option having the timeline totally blow up in another way? I can't follow the logic there.

MatzoTov posted...

Another confusing part to me is like - the TVA's job is to prune timelines before they hit their irreparable nexus events or whatever (that red line), right?

So how come suddenly that one character is like, NOOOO WE CANT PRUNE THESE TIMELINES THEY ARE PEOPLE'S LIVES

Yes they are lives but isnt the alternative option having the timeline totally blow up in another way? I can't follow the logic there.

I suppose they're both trying to keep the loom from blowing up and maintain the timelines

The middle two eps of the season almost killed my interest. I think Renslayer as a character became a complete waste of time after her S1 arc was over, and my reaction to her getting unceremoniously pruned towards the end of ep 4 was just "yep, that's fitting." Plus at some point I was watching these two (two and a half?) factions fighting over who got to have the honors of flipping the switch on the big sci-fi contraption, and it dawned on me that "holy shit this is just Fallout 3's water purifier plot all over again;" I almost nope'd hard out of the show at that point.

Ep 5 has me interested again, though. It was some nice character-building, and it finally resolved the primary nagging question I've had this entire season, which was 'seriously, why does Loki suddenly give this much of a shit about the TVA and protecting lives?" It wasn't a particularly profound motivation reveal, but it was sweet nonetheless.

masterpug53 posted...

The middle two eps of the season almost killed my interest. I think Renslayer as a character became a complete waste of time after her S1 arc was over, and my reaction to her getting unceremoniously pruned towards the end of ep 4 was just "yep, that's fitting." Plus at some point I was watching these two (two and a half?) factions fighting over who got to have the honors of flipping the switch on the big sci-fi contraption, and it dawned on me that "holy shit this is just Fallout 3's water purifier plot all over again;" I almost nope'd hard out of the show at that point.

Ep 5 has me interested again, though. It was some nice character-building, and it finally resolved the primary nagging question I've had this entire season, which was 'seriously, why does Loki suddenly give this much of a shit about the TVA and protecting lives?" It wasn't a particularly profound motivation reveal, but it was sweet nonetheless.

The funny thing is the only one that can even be considered slightly a friend is mobius. Everyone else he literally barely knows. He's interactions with Casey were what... trying to bully him into giving him the infinity stones and then the season 2 loom hunt?

MatzoTov posted...

Another confusing part to me is like - the TVA's job is to prune timelines before they hit their irreparable nexus events or whatever (that red line), right?

So how come suddenly that one character is like, NOOOO WE CANT PRUNE THESE TIMELINES THEY ARE PEOPLE'S LIVES

Yes they are lives but isnt the alternative option having the timeline totally blow up in another way? I can't follow the logic there.

That's the thing. They don't want to end these universes, but Loki has informed them that infinite Kangs will arrive.

So they're trying to use the loom as a backup to make everything go back into a single timeline.

I think the twist here is that it's impossible and they have to live with the flourishing multiverse. Which is both a positive because people are saved, but now infinite Kangs will arrive.

At least that's how I'm seeing it.

HornyLevel posted...

So they're trying to use the loom as a backup to make everything go back into a single timeline.

Where did they say this? Like I said above, I'm pretty sure the loom is just a big generator that's about to explode. They've not actually said how they're going to solve the Kang problem, Loki just keeps insisting they need the TVA to do it.

pegusus123456 posted...

Where did they say this? Like I said above, I'm pretty sure the loom is just a big generator that's about to explode. They've not actually said how they're going to solve the Kang problem, Loki just keeps insisting they need the TVA to do it.

That's what's happening visually though. It's all being compressed into a single timeline again via the loom.

They're depending on that to mitigate things, especially since the loom is already there. But like I said, I think the twist is that it's too late/impossible.

It seems like things like NWH, MoM and Quantumania seem to have happened after this season or maybe even after later potential seasons.

HornyLevel posted...

It seems like things like NWH, MoM and Quantumania seem to have happened after this season or maybe even after later potential seasons.

The good thing about time travel is, it can happen at any time.

HornyLevel posted...

That's what's happening visually though. It's all being compressed into a single timeline again via the loom.

They've done a very poor job of explaining what the loom actually does, but I really don't think it's doing that. There's no functional difference between killing every other timeline and compressing them down into one.

008Zulu posted...

The good thing about time travel is, it can happen at any time.

Yeah, you're right, but I meant it like, in those 3 films, the multiverse has fully established itself. Hence there already being a Council of Kangs.

I think right now, it's just small branches on the way to losing complete control and many are also being erased. Once established, it's Kang and others like 838 Strange and Sinister Strange destroying them through incursions and the like.

pegusus123456 posted...

They've done a very poor job of explaining what the loom actually does, but I really don't think it's doing that. There's no functional difference between killing every other timeline and compressing them down into one.

I get that. I'm saying that just because B-15 keeps going "we can't kill them" doesn't really change their goal of avoiding Kangs. Especially since when Loki was talking to Sylvie a bit back, he was making the case that maybe control over this is necessary. It was Sylvie who objected since she enjoys her McDonald's timeline and accused Loki of playing God.

We're seeing the timelines being erased, and visually, tons of timelines are compressing into a single timeline. The point of the loom is that it's too far beyond the redline to manually purge them. So this machine is like a backup to force it.

I could be completely wrong, but we'll see in a few days.

Maybe Loki's new powers might be needed to stop Kang by recruiting Avengers from different branches and sending them to the right moments. So maybe these powers will be useful in the future. I'm enjoying the show, its not great, but I'm entertained and excited to see what happens in episode 6. I couldn't get myself to watch more than 2.5 episodes of secret invasion. I'm thinking of just watching the finale to see what happens. Is there any reason to watch the other episodes?