Deron Generally
Deron GenerallyLoki
Disney Plus
Season 1 Episode 2
The Variant
Mobius puts Loki to work, but not everyone at TVA is thrilled about the God of Mischief’s presence.
The opening scenes of the episode are brilliantly misleading as renaissance music plays in the background and what looks like a ren faire is going on until it is revealed to be the 80’s. The Variant has lured another team into a trap and this time has taken a hostage. The scene is subtle and interesting in its execution and showcases that there is a plan behind the Variant’s violence.
Back at the TVA, Loki is assimilating the best he can, but his attitude it not necessarily one built for service to others. When he finds himself in the briefing where they discuss the latest attack, we get to see a fun and interesting montage of other variant Loki’s. The team, with Loki, returns to the scene of the crime and Loki offers some insight into the Variant’s thinking. There is a classic Loki moment buried beneath this moment and it is fun to see it exposed.
The team returns to the TVA and we get to see that Loki and Mobius might share a more interesting connection than we’ve been led to believe. Loki and Mobius have a pretty tense conversation where Mobius pokes another hole in Loki’s ego when he reveals he knows more than Loki thinks and then immediately tasks him with studying the case files from previous ambushes. A task that leads Loki to another MCU moment that might be connected to the Variant they’re looking for. It’s a great scene that will make MCU fans speculate even more.
Loki has a theory of where the Variant might be hiding and wants to test it, but needs to convince Mobius to try it out. This means taking him to a moment in time that will inevitably end in destruction. After a successful and amusing test, they decide to look for more evidence and wind up in an existential conversation about their lives, purpose, free will and time itself. It’s another great scene that appeals to its audience intelligence rather than laying out everything for them.
Their investigation leads them to a future apocalypse and the pace really starts to pick up. The team infiltrates a location and Loki realizes that this Variant is different as it uses a power Loki normally doesn’t employ. The hostage is found as well and delivers some disturbing news to Mobius about the Time Keepers. Loki discovers that this Variant is something completely different and while the reveal is interesting, it wasn’t unexpected. What is more interesting is what the Variant does with the equipment it stole. That seems to be what the bulk of the series will concern and that it what is really interesting about this episode.
The second episode of Loki raises the stakes considerably and not only continues to have great dialogue and interpersonal drama, but dives right into the meat of the story in a way that left me clamoring for more.
Loki S01XE02
