‘Loki’ Season 2 Episode 4 Recap: Total Temporal Meltdown!

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Loki Season 2, Episode 4.

The Big Picture

• Episode 4 of Loki Season 2 reveals that Ravonna’s memory was wiped by He Who Remains after he betrayed her and took over the TVA.
• The conversation between Loki and Sylvie at the Automat delves into the philosophical question of whether it’s better to play god or let chaos reign.
• The episode ends with the complete destruction of the Temporal Loom and uncertainty at the TVA, leaving many questions unanswered and the future of the characters uncertain.

As we head toward the finale of Season 2, Loki delivers some startling discoveries and the entire TVA is on the brink of total destruction in Episode 4, “Heart of the TVA.” Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead and written by Eric Martin and Katharyn Blair, Episode 4 reveals the truth of Ravonna’s (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) past, brings the whole cast back to the TVA, and the characters finally have some difficult conversations that have been brewing since the beginning of the season.

Particularly, we see the in-person conversation that Ravonna and He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) have right after they take over the TVA and we learn that although Renslayer was working with He Who Remains, he betrayed her and rather than have her rule alongside him, he wiped her memory completely. Another scene we return to is from the first episode when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) jumps into the future and sees Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) in the TVA right before he is pruned and saved from his time-slipping dilemma. This is the moment that galvanizes Loki into seeking out Sylvie, and now we know that the whole reason Sylvie is even at the TVA is because Loki went to go seek her out. It’s… kind of a confusing time paradox. The episode is jam-packed full of these big moments, making it one of the most eventful installments of Season 2. Ultimately, it ends with complete destruction and uncertainty.

‘Loki’ Season 2 Episode 4 Makes Us Very Suspicious About O.B.’s Real Identity

While O.B. (Ke Huy Quan) has been a delightful new addition to Season 2, Episode 4 finally pairs him up with Victor Timely (Majors). Bringing Timely back to the TVA, Loki and Mobius (Owen Wilson) take him to O.B. to see if Victor’s temporal aura can solve the Temporal Loom problem. In a “chicken and the egg” moment, the two characters are starstruck by each other. Victor has spent his life idolizing O.B., who wrote the TVA manual, and O.B. has been inspired by the historical figure of Victor Timely, who he says would have been bigger than Einstein if he’d had the resources. While it’s a delight to see the two actors playing off each other in the scene, it also brings to mind a question that I’ve had for a while: just how involved is O.B. in everything happening at the TVA?

If O.B. inspired Victor, who inspired O.B. in return, is there a possibility that O.B. could himself be a Kang variant? I know that that’s an insane thing to say, but we already know from the show that variants can look and act very different from each other. Loki is a prime example of this. Not only does Sylvie exist, but all the Loki variants are proof that a variant doesn’t have to look identical (or even be the same species, looking at you Alligator Loki). With so much knowledge of the TVA and an unwiped memory, is it possible that O.B. is merely another Kang variant in waiting? We already know that He Who Remains wiped everyone’s memories after winning the Time War, including Ravonna’s, and that people are being subjected to regular mindwipes. O.B.’s friendly attitude and non-threatening persona (thanks in part to Ke Huy Quan’s performance) could easily be a misdirect.

‘Loki’ Season 2 Episode 4 Asks, “Is It OK to Play God?”

In a heartfelt conversation at the Automat, Loki and Sylvie finally start to chip away at the complicated points of view they have on what to do with the TVA. It’s one of the most compelling scenes that looks closely at Loki’s development as a character and addresses one of the core issues that Season 1 ended on. Is it better to control the chaos and play god if it means saving lives? Or is it better to let chaos reign and take the good along with the bad? It’s a philosophical question with no real right answer.

In the scene, Loki reminisces about the events of the first Thor movie. He says that he once viewed softness as a weakness, a sentiment that Sylvie echoes, telling him, “Soft gets you killed.” But Loki quickly points out that in sparing Victor’s life, they are able to save and spare more lives. Sylvie’s mercy — softness — is instrumental in saving the timeline. Wwhile Sylvie is eager to just burn everything down and start from scratch, Loki correctly points out that trying to fix what is already broken is hard, but it’s also necessary.

It’s a discussion that makes sense from both sides of the table. Sylvie, who has been endlessly hunted and pursued by the TVA, obviously only sees the bad, like Dox (Kate Dickie) pruning all the timelines. Loki, who has been working alongside Mobius and B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), has seen the capacity for good that the people at the TVA have. They’re victims of the TVA themselves, having been plucked out of time with their memories completely wiped to become employees. At the end of the day, it seems that both Sylvie and Loki might still end up doing what He Who Remains wanted them to do all along: play god. Their diametric difference is a strength that they have and can help them look after the branches of the timeline so that they can keep order. As Loki says, you can’t just give people free will and walk away. They have to be protected.

What Happens in ‘Loki’ Season 2 Episode 4?

Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) have been convenient allies, but after being kicked through a time door to the End of Time, Miss Minutes reveals the truth about Ravonna’s past to her. Showing her the events of centuries (or even millennia) past, Ravonna sees herself speaking to He Who Remains and learns that although she held a position of power in the TVA before as a judge, she was meant to be one of its leaders. She was not just an important figure in the war, she was the commander of He Who Remains’ armies. In fact, the phrase, “For All Time, Always,” comes directly from her conversation with He Who Remains. But, after winning the war, He Who Remains went on to wipe the memories of everyone who helped him, including Ravonna, robbing her of the power to rule beside him. Realizing that He Who Remains has used them both, the two partner up to go after the TVA.

Meanwhile, at the TVA, Victor arrives and is immediately brought to O.B. in R&A. The two have their fanboy moment, each surprised to meet the man who has had such an impact on their creations. There’s some technical jargon being thrown around about the Temporal Loom, but basically, it needs to be fixed and Victor just happens to have the device that will help them succeed before the TVA implodes. Unfortunately, the radiation out near the Loom is now much worse than when Mobius went out there before. Remember the skin melting? Yeah, that almost seems like a guarantee. And what’s life without skin?

While O.B. and Timely try to figure out a solution, Mobius casually suggests that they go get some pie, which makes Sylvie explode in anger at his flippancy. She points out, much like X-5 (Rafael Casal), that he hasn’t even looked into his own life or timeline. He doesn’t have a connection to the branched timelines out there, and he seems to actively be evading it. Mobius’ past and his origins is something that has had us scratching our heads since the very beginning and with all the emphasis being placed on it in the last few episodes, it seems that we will be getting our answer very soon.

Sylvie ends up at the Automat, which marks the second time that people seem to inexplicably end up there, which is one time too many not to make me suspicious. There, she and Loki have a discussion about how to handle the TVA, and as I stated before, it’s a discussion where there doesn’t seem to be a right or wrong. On one hand, it does seem like burning it all down and starting over might just be what they need to do. There are so many loose threads and the system is so corrupted. But on the other hand, preserving what has been set in place could provide longer and more stable change as opposed to completely razing everything. Sylvie seems reluctant to lead the TVA in any capacity, and in many ways, she is truly chaos embodied, and when she points out that she doesn’t want to play god, Loki reminds her, “We are gods.”

In the TVA, Gamble (Liz Carr) convinces B-15 to talk to Dox and her men and try to change her opinion. Gamble reveals that it was B-15’s impassioned speech that changed her mind on how to deal with the timelines, and she can inspire Dox in the same way. Speaking to Dox, B-15 does her best to try and appeal to Dox and convince them to fight for them again, especially with Renslayer on the way. But Dox doesn’t get to take B-15 up on her offer, because when Ravonna arrives she tries to bring Dox and her men onto her side to fight for her. Dox correctly recognizes that Ravonna is only after power and refuses to stand with her.

All of her men stand behind her except X-5, who sides with Ravonna. We know that he wants to return to his life on the timeline. It’s also clear that he and Dox have a closer relationship than they let on. She calls him Bradley and asks him if life on the timeline was really that good. He isn’t able to answer her and instead cowers when Ravonna puts all the people into a time cube and crushes them to death with Miss Minutes watching on with a slightly concerning, joyful smile on her face.

The three of them then go after Victor, who they grab after X-5 prunes D-90 (Neil Ellice). Then, Miss Minutes takes control of the system, stopping the other team’s efforts to fix the TVA. It’s in this scene where Sylvie becomes trapped in the elevator, and as she pries open the doors she sees the Loki of the past (from Episode 1) right before Loki from Episode 4 prunes him and sends him back to his point in the timeline. The ringing phone from Episode 1 is revealed to be a call from O.B., who tells Loki and Sylvie that the only way to take Miss Minutes offline is to reboot the system — which means they lose the safety system, which means Loki and Sylvie will get to use their magic. Finally!

With the system down, Loki and Sylvie act quickly to get Victor back. Sylvie enchants X-5 and gets him to prune Ravonna. They grab Victor and run back to the Loom as it is on the brink of destruction. Scanning his temporal aura, the blast doors finally open, and Victor decides to be the one to launch his multiplier MacGuffin into the Loom. He puts on the suit that Mobius donned in Episode 1 and tells himself, “Time to be brave.” It’s a huge heroic moment that is instantly undercut when he steps out of the doors onto the platform and is turned into spaghetti by the radiation. With their last hope gone, Loki and the team simply have to watch as the Loom totally destabilizes and implodes.

It’s a wild way to end an episode with just two weeks left to wrap everything up. Will we ever find out the truth about Mobius’ past? Are we ever going to learn about O.B.’s origins? Will we see Ravonna again? Will we see Victor again? Everything seems uncertain as Loki takes a late pivot in the season and throws us back into the unknown with this twist ending. Time will tell if their gamble will pay off.

New episodes of Loki premiere Thursdays on Disney+.

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