Need a Refresher on The ‘Loki’ Season 1 Ending? Look No Further.
I just my mischievous boy to be okay
Season 1 of Loki, one of the most acclaimed Marvel series on Disney+, was one wild ride—and season 2 is quickly approaching. But season 1 ended more than two years ago! Unless you’re planning a binge watch, you may need a refresher on what exactly happened at the end of Loki season 1.
Never fear! Here’s a primer on what went down in Loki season 1, and how it will launch the events of season 2.
Sylvie frees the multiverse
Sylvie (Sophia di Martino), the Loki variant who has spent her life running from the Time Variance Authority after her timeline was pruned, has only one goal in life: take down the TVA once and for all. After she, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are stranded in the void at the end of time, she figures out that the giant monster Alioth is guarding the way to the real head of the TVA. She and Loki enchant Alioth to gain access, and find themselves at a lonely citadel carved out of the surface of an asteroid.
Inside that citadel is a man called He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), who tells Sylvie and Loki that he engineered their entire lives to lead them to this moment. He created the TVA to protect the multiverse from his own variants, who destroyed the last multiverse in a brutal war. He’s tired of running the TVA, though, so he wants Loki and Sylvie to do it.
Loki believes He Who Remains, so he doesn’t want to kill him and risk freeing his variants. Sylvie, however, thinks Loki just wants to rule the TVA himself, turning it into another version of the throne he’s sought all his life. The two fight, and Sylvie tricks Loki into letting his guard down by kissing him. Then she shoves him through a time door back to the TVA, and finally achieves her lifelong goal by killing He Who Remains.
As soon as he’s dead, the time stream outside the citadel’s window begins to branch into infinite alternate realities. Sylvie crumbles to the floor, crying, as the multiverse is unleashed. She’s gotten her revenge, but now what? She seems to realize that getting what she wanted doesn’t take any of her grief and pain away.
Loki ends up in an alternate TVA
After Sylvie dispatches him back to the TVA, Loki takes some time to collect himself. We don’t know exactly what he’s thinking in those moments, but judging from the expressions that play across his face while he sits alone in a time theater, he’s pretty broken up over Sylvie’s rejection. Sylvie is the first person he’s ever had real romantic feelings for, so being rebuffed in favor of her vendetta against the TVA has to sting.
But Loki puts his feelings aside to deal with the more pressing problem of impending multiversal war. He runs through the TVA and finds Mobius fretting over all the newly branching timelines with Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku). Loki tries to explain what happened in the citadel, but stops when Mobius asks who he is. Horrified, Loki realizes that Mobius doesn’t recognize him. What’s going on? It’s not clear, but Loki quickly discovers an even more frightening development: the giant statues of the TVA Timekeepers have been replaced by a statue of He Who Remains. It seems that the events leading to multiversal war have already begun.
Meanwhile, Loki—who, for the first time in his entire life, felt cared for and accepted by a group of true friends—is completely alone, without a single ally. Loki is known for being a liar and a villain, but now he has to convince the multiverse that he’s telling the truth and trying to do some good.
Ravonna Renslayer searches for free will
Last but not least, we have Ravonna (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the fanatical TVA judge. After finding out that the timekeepers aren’t real, Ravonna gets a mysterious message from someone Miss Minutes only refers to as “him” (presumably He Who Remains). Ravonna packs her bags and steps through a time door, telling Mobius that she’s searching for free will.
How does Loki Season 1 set up Loki season 2?
Thanks to the trailers and other promotional materials that have come out for Loki season 2, we have a good idea of how the end of season 1 will kick off the new season.
First off, based on footage from season 2, episode 1 that was shown at Destination D23, it looks like the alternate TVA Loki finds himself in is actually a past TVA. The reason Mobius doesn’t recognize Loki is because he hasn’t met him yet (or, presumably, started hunting down Loki variants). In season 2, Loki will experience time slipping, in which he’s pulled back and forth to different points on the timeline, so we can expect to see more of both versions of the TVA. Fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief when the trailers showed Loki and Mobius working together again—and, more importantly, resuming their friendship.
As for Sylvie, she seems to have made a new life for herself as a McDonald’s employee living a quiet, middle class life on Earth. I guess it beats running from the TVA!
And what about Ravonna and He Who Remains? In the trailers, we see Ravonna meeting up with a variant of He Who Remains named Victor Timely in the year 1893. It looks like they’re going to get up to shenanigans!
(featured image: Disney+)
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