The second episode of Loki Season 2 largely focused on OB trying to come up with a way to make the Temporal Loom properly process all the branching timelines into a physical thread. But for that, he needed to open the blast doors that he himself had closed to protect the TVA from the radiation emanating from the Loom. And to do that, he needed the Temporal Aura of He Who Remains, who just happens to be very dead. Mobius and Loki managed to force X-5 to reveal Sylvie’s location. Before Loki and Sylvie could put aside their differences and learn more about why Loki saw Sylvie in the future, they learned that General Dox and her team of hunters were pruning timelines left, right, and center. Mobius, Loki, and Sylvie arrested her, but by then, the damage was already done. As the heroes, along with the rest of the TVA, were digesting this information, Casey revealed that he knew about Renslayer’s current location.
Spoiler Alert
Mobius and Loki Track Down Victor Timely
Renslayer lands in 1868 Chicago, where Miss Minutes says that she has to deliver the TVA handbook to a young Victor Timely. Apparently, that’s what He Who Remains wants them to do because it’ll start off the chain of events that will allow Timely to become the next Kang or He Who Remains. Back at the TVA, OB points out that due to Dox’s merciless pruning, the Loom has stabilized. But that won’t last for long because the branches are growing back. The first question that popped into my mind when OB said this is: How do branched timelines grow back after they’ve been pruned? I was under the assumption that once a timeline is pruned, it’s permanent. I was wrong. Apparently, they can grow back. I still don’t know how that works, but, like OB says, if the branches grow back and the Loom isn’t reconstructed to adjust them all, it’s going to blow up. B-15, Casey, and the rest start to brainstorm ideas like finding Miss Minutes because she has administrative access to the TVA. They know that Miss Minutes is with Renslayer. So, if they find Renslayer, they find Miss Minutes, and then they bring her back to stop the temporal meltdown.
Mobius and Loki follow the two time periods that are linked to Renslayer’s TemPad: 1868 and 1893. They fail to figure out why Renslayer was there in 1868, but we know she was there to make Victor Timely the man that he became in 1893. Without putting too much thought into it, Mobius and Loki walk into 1893, only to find themselves at the Chicago World’s Fair. After some “good ol’ hands-on investigation,” the duo finds Timely’s show and heads over to that place. Miss Minutes and Renslayer are there as well. The moment when Mobius and Loki witness Timely for the first time and Loki points out that he’s a variant of He Who Remains, it ties back to the post-credits scene from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Here’s a little observation. If you play that post-credits scene and this scene side-by-side, you’ll see the difference in the color grading. So, did Marvel put out a half-cooked version of the aforementioned scene in the film just to excite audiences? They couldn’t let the artists color-grade it properly? Well, it makes sense why the franchise is failing so miserably. Anyway, Timely gives a weird demonstration of the Time Loom, which is still in its prototype form. Soon after that, he is mobbed by Renslayer, potential buyers who want the Loom, and TVA’s dynamic duo. As soon as it is revealed that Timely isn’t some genius but a swindler, Timely runs off, thereby forcing everyone to chase him.
Miss Minutes Betrays Renslayer
The chase to get to Victor Timely is interrupted by Sylvie. She has apparently used the TemPad that belonged to He Who Remains to travel to 1893, and, as promised, she intends to kill Timely and every other variant of Kang that exists. FYI, there’s actually a stadium full of Kang variants. It was revealed in Quantumania. What are they doing while all this is going on? I don’t know. Shouldn’t they be storming every location and time period where someone is trying to mess with a variant of them? Well, maybe when the plot requires them to do so, they will. For now, Loki has to stop Sylvie from killing Timely because she is convinced that Timely is on his way to becoming the next He Who Remains. She thinks that the TVA has put Timely on this path because she doesn’t know that Renslayer and Miss Minutes are the accused parties here, and they’ve done what they’ve done on He Who Remains’ orders.
Yes, it’s a very twisted situation. That’s why Loki chooses to focus on the fact that they need Timely to stay alive and come to the TVA so that OB can use his Temporal Aura to fix the Temporal Loom. Sylvie doesn’t listen to Loki and attacks him and Timely. This gives Timely a window of opportunity to run away with Renslayer and Miss Minutes. These two give Timely all the necessary information about what has happened to He Who Remains, the TVA, and more. Renslayer says that she wants Timely to come with her because she wants to stabilize the Loom and save the TVA. Timely points out that Loki wants to do the same thing. Renslayer ignores Loki’s character growth and chalks up his intention to protect Timely as an indicator of his constantly shifting allegiances. Timely believes in Renslayer, and they give everyone the slip and board a ferry. When it seems like Timely and Renslayer’s relationship is about to become stronger, Miss Minutes convinces Timely that Renslayer was merely using him, and they drop her into the waters in just a rowboat, which won’t be able to catch up with the ferry.
Did Sylvie Kill Victor Timely?
Prior to Miss Minutes’ betrayal, she was scoffing a lot at Renslayer every time she tried to make it seem like she was the only person that Timely should trust. Minutes also seemed flustered every time there was even a hint of chemistry between Renslayer and Timely. But Minutes makes it very clear that she is in love with He Who Remains. She says that He Who Remains gave her everything, except a physical body. Timely is evidently disturbed by the concept of an A.I. created by one of his variants imagining a romantic scenario with him, and he shuts her off. By the way, while all this is going on, Timely picks up a strange-looking device, which I am assuming is going to fix the Temporal Loom. Renslayer gets to Timely’s warehouse and also picks up a strange-looking device that seems like a prototype of the Time Stick that’s used for pruning. As Renslayer reprimands Timely for his betrayal, Loki and Mobius barge in through the doors and try to convince Renslayer to lay down the crude Time Stick and let them take Timely to the TVA and stop the Temporal Loom from exploding. As things start to go sideways, Sylvie makes an explosive appearance too and walks towards Timely to kill him.
At the end of Loki Season 2, episode 3, Timely reminds Sylvie that he isn’t the genocidal maniac that she has faced in the past. Sylvie says that he is on his way to becoming one. Timely promises him that he won’t become a version of He Who Remains. Something inside Sylvie clicks, and she lets Timely live. Loki and Mobius don’t waste a single second. They dust themselves off and take Timely to the TVA. Sylvie pushes Miss Minutes and Renslayer into the citadel at the End of Time, and they arrive at the palace, which is crumbling and has a rotting corpse at its center. To pass the time and reignite Renslayer’s motivation to get to Timely, Miss Minutes tells her that she is about to tell her a story that will infuriate her. Earlier in the show, Loki had heard the conversations between He Who Remains and Renslayer. He said that they were a “thing.” So, it won’t be a stretch to assume that Miss Minutes is about to narrate her and He Who Remains’ love story, which is something that Renslayer probably doesn’t remember because she’s also a variant whose mind has been wiped. The corpse of her lover is right there. And with the right push, Renslayer will probably find the motivation to either rescue Timely or kill him because he is a version of her tyrant ex-boyfriend.
