[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Loki, Season 1, Episode 2, "The Variant."]

The world of Marvel Studios’ Loki is filled with science/magic tech that works in mysterious ways, but one object introduced early on in the series is of particular interest. When we first meet Owen Wilson’s Mobius in a part of Earth’s timeline, investigating a mysterious murder, he puts down what he calls a “reset charge” when he leaves. We see the device again early in Episode 2, when Mobius, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and a full TVA team make their way to a renaissance fair to investigate yet another murder, and before they leave they put down another reset charge.

It’s explained that these reset charges do something to reset the timeline, so that the actions of the TVA agents who visit the past don’t create a butterfly effect. When prompted to describe them, Loki's able to quote directly from his TVA training: "Reset charges prune the affected radius of a branched timeline, allowing time to heal all its wounds... Which by the way sounds like a nice way of saying disintegrate everything in its vicinity." ("He's on it," Mobius confirms.)

But we also learn in Loki Episode 2 that the Loki variant who’s been committing all these murders has been collecting reset charges, and at the end of the episode we finally meet this variant — who appears to be the on-screen debut of Lady Loki from the comics — just before she drops a literal boatload of reset charges in places throughout the timeline, setting off a chain reaction.

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Image via Marvel Studios

Confused? Well, that’s okay. When Collider’s own Steve Weintraub spoke with Loki head writer Michael Waldron, he asked the former Rick and Morty scribe about those reset charges, and he explained that at this point in the story the audience isn’t quite supposed to know exactly how they work:

“It’s called a reset charge, and basically what it’s doing is taking a branch that has veered off its set path and it’s resetting it. Through what means? Magic perhaps, or perhaps something a bit more technical. I think, like Loki, we’re kind of in the dark with what is exactly is going on with these reset charges. Is the TVA as noble as they’re presenting themselves to be?”

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That last bit is curious, and indeed when Loki confronts Lady Loki at the end of Episode 2, it feels like she has an axe to grind with the TVA. While Mobius seems like a stand-up guy, there’s definitely the feeling that something is a bit amiss at the TVA – especially at the top. Are these reset charges actually doing what the TVA says, or is there a more sinister purpose for them?

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Image via Marvel Studios

When the various reset charges that Lady Loki has amassed drop throughout the timeline at the end of Episode 2, it creates a branching event so catastrophic that the TVA is literally paralyzed. It sure feels like the purpose of that was to create another multiverse event like the one that created the TVA in the first place, so it’ll be interesting to see if these reset charges are a tool for good or evil. Could we be in for a team-up between two different Lokis who are simply misunderstood? Or is Lady Loki truly evil and is the TVA completely in the right here?

We’ll surely find out as the season progresses, but for now, definitely keep an eye on those reset charges.

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