[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Loki, Season 1, Episode 4, "The Nexus Event."]
Allow me to begin this recap with a requiem for a doomed romance — I speak of course of Mobius's love for jet skis, too good and pure for the world of Loki, a world built on lies and deception. Is it likely that we've seen the last of Owen Wilson? Who knows. Certainly not me, because I am delighted, once again, to report that the newest episode of Loki was packed with yet more unexpected twists, as Ravonna Renslayer revealed her baddie truth and Loki got closer to understanding what the Hel is going on. Sure, some of the episode's most important reveals weren't huge surprises (such as the very Wizard of Oz-esque unmasking of the Timekeepers). But once again, I look forward to next week's episode with no theories as to its content but much anticipation.
Let's go back to the beginning of things, something "The Nexus Event" does literally by opening on a young Sylvie in Asgard, being apprehended by Ravonna during the Hunter phase of her career. Sylvie goes through the same processing we saw Loki experience in Episode 1, clearly terrified, but once she's brought before the judge she unleashes her inner mischievous scamp, stealing Ravonna's TemPad and leaping away into time and space. When the episode picks back up with Sylvie and Loki in however you might refer to "the present" in this show, Sylvie tells Loki about her abduction and subsequent childhood spent hiding in the shadows of apocalypses, but it's honestly not necessary thanks to this bit of flashback.
Speaking of "the present" (again, however you might define it in this context), Ravonna goes to speak with the Timekeepers in their fancy mysterious chamber, and comes back to find Mobius waiting for her, wanting any news he can get on Hunter C-20 and the pursuit of Sylvie and Loki. Ravonna tells him that C-20 is dead, thanks to her mind being badly scrambled by Sylvie's brainwashing, and Mobius can clearly smell the lie, but says nothing.
Back on Lamentis, Sylvie and Loki use their time waiting for imminent death to bond a little bit, and something about their connection (which is in fact fraught with romantic and/or sexual tension, and yeah we'll get to that) triggers a Nexus Event that serves as a big ol' signal flare for the TVA, who open up portals for them both just in the nick of time.
Good news: Sylvie and Loki are saved! Bad news: They're back in TVA custody, with Mobius locking Loki up in a jail cell that amounts to torture by time loop, specifically having to endure a memory of Lady Sif (Hi, Jaimie Alexander! Nice to see you making MCU cameos again!) berating Loki for cutting off her hair as "just a bit of fun." But before getting shoved into said torture loop, Loki tells Mobius that he's being lied to — confirming what Mobius seemed to sense, deep down. So when he removes Loki from said time loop, he tries to get Loki to explain the Nexus Event, even managing to get Loki, in his own way, to admit that he has feelings for Sylvie.
So yeah, about that. Is it fucked up that after 10 years of appearances in the MCU, the first time Loki has expressed any sort of romantic interest in another person is when he meets an alternate version of himself? Yeah, to a degree. But even before Loki found out he was adopted, he was always made to feel inferior to Thor, and there's something striking about the memory in which he gets trapped for the purposes of torture: Someone who was an ally and friend, repeatedly calling him a "conniving craven pathetic worm." Consider RuPaul's iconic Drag Race sign-off, "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love someone else?" Loki is confident in his abilities, for sure, but there's a lot of self-loathing and a massive inferiority complex under the surface there. So maybe being able to see the good in someone else who just happens to be a mirror of himself, and even coming to love that someone else, is a sign of positive and healthy growth. In, admittedly, a pretty fucked up way.
The other key thing that happens in this scene, aside from mourning for Mobius and Loki's BFF status, is that Loki's able to get through to Mobius about what's really going on with the TVA — while, elsewhere, Hunter B-15 gets some time alone with Sylvie, because she's haunted by the glimpse of her own former life, seen when Sylvie enchanted her during the Roxxcart confrontation.
So when Mobius goes to share a drink with Ravonna to celebrate finally apprehending the Lokis, he uses this as an opportunity to swipe her personal not-a-smart-phone, with which he's able to secretly watch a recording of a very lucid C-20 say that she remembers her past life prior to the TVA. The recording is ended by Ravonna, who clearly doesn't want the truth to get out — and it's enough to convince Mobius that Loki might be right, and that Loki and Sylvie are the key to bringing it all crashing down.
Unfortunately, before they get a chance to really cause some trouble, Mobius and Loki are stopped in the hallway by Ravonna, who's all too aware that Mobius swiped her device and has him pruned. (If you shouted at your TV in this moment, know you were not alone.) It's then time for Loki and Sylvie to be dragged before the Timekeepers, once and for all, but just when the CGI lizard dudes get done posing order them to be deleted, Hunter B-15 shows up to unlock their control collars and toss Sylvie the sword that Ravonna had previously claimed for her trophy collection.
A big fight ensues, with Loki, Sylvie, and B-15 taking out the Minutemen guards, with Sylvie delivering the death blow, so to speak, by decapitating one of the Timekeepers, revealing them to be androids. The revelation of another dead end hits Sylvie hard, but it's Loki's moment to try to tell her something, very likely how he feels about her... And just when the moment feels right for a kiss, that's when Ravonna actually stabs him in the back (admittedly, a fitting move), pruning him away into oblivion.
Sylvie quickly gets over the shock and overpowers Ravonna, demanding that she explain everything — an explanation we'll have to wait for until next time. But we only have to wait until the mid-credits scene to confirm that Loki is still alive, sort of, and about to make some brand new friends! And one of them is Richard E. Grant. While we have no idea where/when any of this is happening, the credits specifically list these new Variants as follows: Classic Loki (Grant), Kid Loki (Jack Veal), and Boastful Loki (Deobia Oparei). (The alligator does not get a credit, which feels like a grave injustice.)
There we have it: Four episodes down, two to go. The general reaction to Loki, now that we're only two episodes away from the end of the season, feels remarkably wide-ranging, which is one of the downsides of the weekly release approach when you're essentially watching (apologies for invoking the cliche) a "six-hour movie." I've seen people say they find it unengaging, while others take issue with how certain elements are being handled. Right now, I'm waiting to make my final judgment until the end, but each week I get more and more excited about the adventure at hand.
"I Looked Happy."
- Okay, so yes, things aren't looking good for our good pal Mobius right now, but let me issue up this humble prayer to the universe: I am a simple girl with one simple need, and that is to see Owen Wilson on a motherfucking jetski before the season is done. Please, Loki. Think of the children.
- So... is the Sacred Timeline okay? Sylvie did sure drop a whole bunch of bombs on it at the end of Episode 2. But I'm not totally sure what's going on in terms of cleaning up that mess.
- We didn't get a close-up on it this time, but Mobius did take a moment to examine that pen in Ravonna's office. It's too easy to guess that it has some relevance to the big secrets at work here, but I am very much looking forward to understanding it better.
- Loki getting pissy about Sylvie getting more security than him is a perfect character beat, no notes.
- It's either very sad or very important, the fact that Ravonna can't remember or won't say what Sylvie's original Nexus Event was. Yet another tiny clue that may end up becoming so much bigger, by the end.
New episodes of Loki premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.