‘Loki’ Episode Two Recap: “The Variant”

*Warning: This piece contains spoilers for episode two of Loki*

In this second thrilling Loki adventure, we open in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where the escaped variant, who we learn to be another version of Loki, wreaks havoc on TVA agents. The variant escapes the clutches of the TVA again, fleeing my home state with a hostage of their own.

Having joined forces with Mobius, Loki joins a TVA team as they investigate what happened in Wisconsin and try to locate the missing TVA agent, as well as apprehend the variant. After Loki talks the agents’ ears off about how the variant and him would think alike, and about how he wants assurances that he will have an audience with the Time-Keepers, Mobius realizes Loki was using his excessive speech as a way to buy time for the variant. They take him back to the TVA, botching the mission. During a subsequent meeting with Ravonna Renslayer, Mobius convinces her to give Loki another chance.

Mobius assigns Loki to conduct research of all the variant’s files to learn any patterns. After combing through the files, Loki theorizes that the variant wreaks havoc in places just before an apocalypse, like Ragnarok occurs. To confirm the theory, Mobius and Loki travel to 79 AD Pompeii just before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Through further research, the duo deduces–after naming many natural disasters that hopefully won’t happen in our future–that the variant is at a 2050 hurricane in Alabama. They assemble a team of TVA agents and go to apprehend the variant.

They arrive at a mall and while there, Mobius and a couple other agents break off one way, while Loki and Hunter B-15 head another way. Off in another room, the variant–who we’ve only seen the back of in a cloak so far–sets a timer on a device. Searching the store, Loki and B-15 encounter a stranger, who they believe might be the variant. As B-15 approaches the man, he briefly grabs her wrist, as a green wisp of light enters her wrist, illuminating her eyes for a moment. The variant, now controlling B-15’s body, introduces themself to Loki, where they begin to argue over who’s the superior version of who. The variant switches from occupying the body of B-15 to the body of a nearby stranger. The variant fights Loki off, and readies a nearby device, seemingly a bomb.

Down in the storm shelter, Mobius and the other agents locate the agent taken hostage earlier in the episode, revealing she was manipulated into telling the variant where to find the Time-Keepers, information that’s been kept highly confidential.

Back upstairs, just as the device is about to go off, the variant reveals herself as a female version of Loki. When the timer hits zero, the device, which has been made up of stolen TVA reset charges, teleports each charge to a different point in time, creating many branches in the Sacred Timeline. When the Loki variant opens a door to a different place in the timeline and steps through it. As Mobius and the other agents close in, Loki follows her through as the portal door closes.

The second episode of Loki gave us more action, as well as more insight into the characters of both Loki and Mobius. After the first episode, we’re given the impression that Mobius is very trusting of Loki and that Loki himself is trustworthy. This episode shows that isn’t the case, as Mobius confirms to Loki that he’ll tell him whatever he needs to hear in order to get his help to apprehend the variant, and Loki double crosses the TVA in the end. The existence of a female version of Loki does bring up questions about her motives, how this timeline works and how this potential multiverse comes into play. Hopefully some of these questions may be answered in next week’s episode.

You can stream Loki now on Disney+