In honor of Season 2 starting, as well as the Multiverse Saga moving forward, I have gone back to revisit season 1 of Loki. I will also be revisiting all of Phase 4 as well. Here is a rundown of the episodes of Season 1. MASSIVE SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Glorious Purpose

The Series Premier was off to a great start. This episode seemed very important for establishing the plot as well as what was to come for the rest of the season. There were a lot of key things in this episode. Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) gave an introduction to the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and the first multiversal war. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) met Mobius (Owen Wilson) and learned about his future. The whole purpose of the show stemmed from the scene in Avengers: Endgame where 2012 Loki didn’t go back to Asgard and took the Tesseract and escaped during the Time Heist done by the Avengers. This Loki learned everything including the death of his mother Frigga (Rene Russo) and his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins). He also saw his own death by the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin). There were also a lot of cool references including a Skrull briefly seen when Loki was first taken to the TVA. The premiere also introduced Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Hunter-B15 (Wunmi Mosaku). 

The Variant

This is the episode that introduced Sylvie (Sophia De Martino) the only female Loki. It has also been heavily speculated that Sylvie is the MCU’s Enchantress.

Lamentis

The first episode that heavily deals with the dynamic of Loki and Sylvie. This episode was a little slower compared to the rest of the season but there were still some nice moments. This episode revealed that the TVA agents including Mobius and Hunter B15 were not created by the Time Keepers but are variants themselves.

The Nexus Event

Loki and Sylvie were taken back to the TVA. Loki revealed to Mobius that he is a variant and the TVA lied to everybody. Loki was put in a time loop where he got punched repeatedly by Lady Sif (Jamie Alexander). This was Lady Sif’s first appearance since Thor: The Dark World. A lot went down in this episode. Mobius confronted Renslayer about the truth regarding the TVA and Mobius was pruned. Sylvie showed Hunter B15 what her life was actually like. The Time Keepers were revealed to be fake and they were really androids. Renslayer pruned Loki and the mid credit scene revealed that Loki was sent somewhere else where he saw other Lokis.

Journey Into Mystery

A big part of this episode was set in the Void. It was revealed that when variants get pruned, they don’t really die. They go to the Void. The Void was full of references including Thanos’ helicopter from another world. This was also a reference to the comics where Thanos had a helicopter. Throg (Chris Hemsworth) a Frog Thor was briefly seen amongst many other references. Sylvie pruned herself to find Loki. Sylvie and Mobius reunited with Loki and met the other Lokis including Alligator Loki, Kid Loki (Jack Veal), and Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant). Mobius returned to the TVA while Loki and Sylvie set out to go to the End of Time. Classic Loki helped them defeat Alioth, a smoke monster that was guarding the End of Time, by sacrificing himself.

For All Time. Always

The finale that changed everything including the future of the MCU. He Who Remains (Jonathon Majors) was revealed to be the one behind everything including the TVA. It was also revealed that Miss Minutes was working with He Who Remains. Mobius confronted Renslayer about the truth and Renslayer went through a portal to search for answers. Hunter B15 found Renslayer in the real world who was a teacher which also revealed that Judge Renslayer is a variant as well. He Who Remains revealed a lot of information to Loki and Sylvie and gave them two options. One option was they could take over his job or they could kill him and start up another Multiversal War. Sylvie didn’t believe He Who Remains and was determined to kill him. Loki was trying to stop her but then Sylvie kicked him out and sent him back to the TVA. Sylvie killed He Who Remains, and the Multiverse opened up. When Loki returned to the TVA, he saw a statue of Kang who now controls the TVA.

Loki is a very important show to the Multiverse Saga. Rewatching it a second time reaffirmed a lot of my initial thoughts. It was different rewatching it now after having seen the rest of Phase 4 as well as Phase 5. What I like about Loki is the show makes the audience think. Every Marel project leads to speculation and analysis, but Loki seemed to have the most of it. There seemed to be a lot of clues in the dialogue especially in certain scenes including most of the finale with He Who Remains. Rewatching Loki Season 1 has reaffirmed to me that every project is connected, and it may just take time until all is revealed. A big takeaway from the show is that He Who Remains has written the story. At the beginning of the finale Miss Minutes told Loki and Sylvie that they could be reinserted back into the timeline and He Who Remains was making some creative decisions to make that happen. That alone could explain why Phase 4 and Phase 5 (thus far) has felt a little discombobulated and less connected than the past phases. He Who Remains could have written it so. Later on, when He Who Remains was explaining his purpose to Loki and Sylvie there were references to Kang the Conqueror and the other Kangs. It is possible that Kang had planned everything including the death of He Who Remains. Kang knows all and has seen many things. In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang’s main goal was to be free from his prison in the Quantum Realm. By Sylvie killing He Who Remains, that freed Kang and the other Kangs to wreak havoc on the Multiverse. This could have been one component Kang needed in order for him to be free. Kang may have known the only way for him to be free was that Sylvie had to kill He Who Remains. He Who Remains also mentioned that if he is killed, a new multiversal war would start and he would be reincarnated. What if Kang was really He Who Remains the whole time and his reincarnation would be him as his true conquering self? The one we saw in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? It is something to think about. Another thing that has gotten me thinking is when He Who Remains said that “We crossed the threshold.” Once that happened, is that also the same moment where Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) became the Scarlett Witch in Wandavision and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) multiverse shenanigans happened in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

There are so many questions, and it gives a lot to think about. I am very excited for season 2. I hope some of these questions will get answered in the new season. There will be a new Kang variant, Victor Timely. It will be interesting to see how that adds to the bigger picture, especially since the end credit scene of Quantumania was with Victor Timely. There have been rumors that Kang himself could show up in Season 2. If that happens, what answers will that bring? Season 2 will be the first major project to really push the Multiverse Saga forward. This is looking to be a very big and important chapter.