WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Loki Episode 2, "The Variant," streaming now on Disney+.
Not much in Disney+'s newest Marvel series is immediately obvious, but one thing is clear: Loki intends to keep its audience on their toes. In the second episode, "The Variant," practically every character questions every other character's motives. Add that to the fact that anybody could be anybody, and those anybodies can teleport to any time and place, and Loki becomes one exponentially puzzling show. But the most unexpected development is that the series cuts to the chase and solves what seemed like it would be its central mystery: the identity of the Loki Variant under that cloak. However, the implications of that reveal mean fans now have to be on their toes about the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
So far, Loki is doing a bang-up job of priming viewers for how to watch the show, with certain scenes acting as instructions read aloud before the game can be played. In Episode 2, two key pieces are revealed. First, Agent Mobius confirms that the TVA has dealt with many Variants of the God of Mischief before and that they all share his powers of shapeshifting and illusion projection -- abilities which, as Loki helpfully explains, are separate and distinct. Of more consequence to the plot, though, is Miss Minutes' elaboration on the nature of timelines, the impact of Nexus events and the mission of the Time Variance Authority.
Two brief shots of a concave TV monitor in which time reads something like a pulse best illustrate this point. When the TVA detonates a reset charge, the timeline is repaired and everything is set right. When they fail to, the destruction of existence remains a possibility. Earlier in the episode, Loki and Agent Mobius travel to a 1980s Renaissance Festival in Wisconsin and successfully prune the cosmic mistakes. The monitor displays the tangent receding to one single line. At the end of the episode, when who is revealed to be that dangerous Variant sends dozens of reset charges into the Sacred Timeline, that single line suddenly branches off in just as many directions, causing panic at the TVA.
Episode 2 finds the 2012 Loki Variant enthusiastically taking up the task of assisting Agent Mobius in tracking down the mystery God of Mischief. While Loki's newfound positive attitude could just be the motive of someone who wants to prove the predetermination of the TVA wrong, it's also possible he does want to take over the TVA for the sake of its power, or he's just a softy who's scheming to prevent the destruction of Asgard. But in the end, it appears that his most immediate motivation is to demonstrate that he is, in fact, the superior Loki by outwitting the one who's on the run.
Loki theorizes that the other Variants can hide out undetected in apocalypses, and after briefly testing out the idea in Pompeii, he and Mobius visit where they believe the Variant is hiding -- a hurricane at a Roxxcart in 2050 Alabama. There, Loki finds the Variant in question, who enchants Hunter B-15, a store clerk named Randy and a rowdy customer before revealing herself to be Lady Loki. The titular Loki sure seems to be intimidated by her, but he still attempts to recruit her to join him in his quest to overtake the TVA. She has other plans, however.
Lady Loki escapes the Roxxcart apocalypse through a time portal, and the titular Loki, rather than heed Mobius' calls, follows her. It's unclear where or when they're going, but Lady Loki made off with more reset charges than viewers could count. Hunter B-20 (who she enchanted then kidnapped at the Ren Faire) mutters something about "it" being "real," and she also -- apparently involuntarily -- revealed the location of the Time-Keepers. Now, everything that's happened in the MCU -- past, present and future -- is in flux. Whatever Lady Loki is plotting could have dramatic effects that may reverberate throughout the entire multiverse, though Loki's glorious purpose is probably to set up its future.
Loki stars Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Lexus Renslayer, Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15 and Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Sasha Lane and Eugene Cordero in undisclosed roles. New episodes air on Wednesdays.