First, all I have to say is “Wow”. Not even Owen Wilson “wow”. Just like… holy shit. That was one of the best season finales I’ve seen in a long time. This was supposed to have been posted last Thursday, but as they say “life happens”. So without further ado, let’s unpack it!
SPOILERS. You’ve been warned.
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The first thing that jumped out to me was after Loki and Sylvie talked to Miss Minutes in the citadel. They walked into the room with what appeared to be four statues, but one was demolished. The other three appeared to be the time keepers, though I might be mistaken about that. Feel free to correct me down in the comments.
The next thing that I thought was odd, was; how was the timeline already splitting while He Who Remains was explaining things to our ill-fated dynamic duo? The TVA was still operational, but it’s hard to tell just how much things were falling apart as we approached the threshold.
Next, off the top of my head, the versions of He Who Remains/Nathaniel Richards: Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion, Iron Lad (Young Avengers!), Rama Tut, Victor Timely, and of course Kang the Conqueror.
Looking back to previous episodes, seeing a sphinx; Rama Tut traveled through time in a ship disguised as a sphinx. Then Qeng Tower, when Kang ran a company and bought Stark Tower from Tony Stark and used it for some nefarious purposes, though I admittedly haven’t read that arc. So I couldn’t elaborate on that easter egg any further.
Now I’m curious to see how they work the Mobius clones from the comics into the greater story, and “when” Loki ended up at the conclusion of the show. I read a speculated timeline for season two, saying it’s likely to air in early 2023. This gives us time to see the greater implications of the fractured timeline in the Shang Chi, Eternals, and Spider-Man movies coming out later this year! I can’t wait!
One of the biggest things I caught during the conversation between He Who Remains, Loki, and Sylvie, was the ultimatum He Who Remains gives them. He says something to the effect of them taking over for him, so maintain the status quo, or killing him and releasing infinite variants of himself into the multiverse, he says “in which case, I end up right back here.” I hadn’t thought too much into that yet, when I came across a video by Screen Crush that lays everything out really well. One of the more ingenious things Ryan points out in the video is that there’s always a crack placed between Loki and Sylvie in the static shots to signify the growing divide between them. Take a look below.
Lastly, where/when do we think Renslayer went? Obviously she’s starting her character evolution into the terminatrix, but I want to know what you think! And with the death of He Who Remains, which variant do you think we’ll see first? (excluding statues). Let me know your thoughts, theories, comments, and/or speculation down in the comments!
