Loki S1 E6: For All Time. Always

[kerravonsen]

Loki finale! Oh my. The problem with half-truths is trying to figure out which bit is true.

My reactions to this are jumping from one thing to another, apologies for the lack of orderliness. I may wrangle more order into it, or I may not. I just have to get my thoughts down!

So. It was Kang the Conqueror after all! (AKA "He Who Remains", who is apparently a different character in the comics.) While it would have been thematically fitting for it to be a variant of Loki, it does make more sense that it's a variant of Kang, because he has the tech, and the TVA is tech-based. And it's still somewhat thematically fitting, because variants.

That was a lose/lose situation Loki & Sylvie were in. I seriously don't think there were any good options. It had never occurred to me that restoring the multiverse could be a bad thing, because I was certain what the TVA was doing was obviously immoral, and that a multiversal war was ridiculous. The end does not justify the means. But I wasn't accounting for variants of the same warlike person discovering cross-universal travel. And in a way, one of my earlier theories was partially right: it was indeed (the one behind) the "Timekeepers" who caused the multiversal war in the first place.

We seem to be caught in a cosmic meta-cycle which flip-flops(+) between one version of the multiverse and another.

Version 1:

• Kang discovers cross-universal travel.
• The Kangs live in peace and harmony.
• Until one Kang decides to conquer the Multiverse.
• War breaks out in self-defence, and multiversal chaos ensues.
• One Kang variant discovers Alioth and weaponizes it.
• There is one timeline left.

Version 2:

• There is one timeline.
• It is policed by the TVA, founded by He Who Remains.
• All variant timelines are pruned, and eaten by Alioth at the end of time.
• Oppressive order is maintained, until two Loki variants, for one shining moment, work together in trust.
• He Who Remains is killed by Sylvie.
• The Sacred Timeline unravels, and we flip back to version 1 of the multiverse.

We need some Ouroboros imagery here.

Then we have that bit at the end, with Loki in the TVA, where Mobius and Hunter B-15 are talking about branches, and Loki rushes up to them, and... the TVA has retroactively been changed. Mobius does not remember Loki, and what is worse, Mobius has no clue as to who Loki even is. And the statues of the Timekeepers have been replaced by one statue: that of Kang.

What does this mean? I don't know, except that it's Nothing Good.

Regrouping for more thoughts:

• Okay, so it wasn't a sibling relationship between Loki and Sylvie. Fine. I can live with that. Canon is canon.
  • Oh the feels. "I just know... I want you... to be okay."
    • I feel so sad for them. I want them to be reunited and live BAMF-ily ever after. With lots of snark and kisses.
  • The fascinating contrast with last episode's "We are the same" and this episode's "I'm not you."
    • But Sylvie has changed enough that she sent him away rather than killing him.
  • Also, "You can't trust and I can't be trusted."
• Thing is, I don't think either Loki or Sylvie were wrong. The TVA is awful. Multiversal destruction is also awful.
  • Part of me feels that there has to be something better than those two extremes, though. However, I don't think it's something that Loki & Sylvie were in a position to be able to create; Doctor Strange, on the other hand...
  • For the multiverse, this is a lose/lose situation. For Kang, it was a win/win situation. So unfair.
  • Kang is both the problem and the solution. And it's not a very good solution.
• Loki variants will betray each other. Kang variants will make war on each other.
  • Are we all doomed to the inevitable? Can nobody rise above their fate?
    • Which is very much a theme all through this series, isn't it?
• So Renslayer has gone off to look for freedom. Good luck with that, you'll need it.
  • Well done, showing how conflicted she is.
  • What was in the file that Miss Minutes gave to Renslayer?
• Why on earth did Kang Who Remains feel the need to invent the myth of the Timekeepers in the first place, instead of telling the truth?
  • Or is this version of the TVA with the Kang-statue a reinvention of the TVA where Kang did tell more of the truth?
• Creepy citadel is creepy.
  • I don't think Kang would have actually lived there. It wasn't very livable.
• Why did Kang know down to the second what was going to happen? And then why did that precience stop? What was "the threshold"?
• Of course the offer made by Miss Minutes on behalf of He Who Remains was rubbish. They were just going through the motions, playing the dance of villains and vengeful heroes.
  • "We're all villains here."
• More glorious fight scenes!
• Lies, betrayals, trust, half-truths, and the playing of games. Not something one can avoid when there is a Loki around.
  • Just the kind of thing Blake's 7 fans like.
• I bet the first episode of Season 2 is going to begin with Loki getting arrested by B-15 again.

---

(+) There was a Big Finish Doctor Who story called "Flip Flop" which had a similar premise of two variant timelines continually looping back and alternating with each other.

So... I guess we'll just have to wait for season 2.

Comments

[thewayne]

It was very interesting, wasn't it?

I didn't know about the Kang angle, I stopped buying Marvel and DC a long, long time ago. Anything involving multiverses was an instant turnoff for me. Definite no-win situation, and now Sylvie turned it into definite loss. And Lokie has been demoted from God of Mischief to Unknown Analyst. Poor guy!

I think S2 will be releasing before year's end, but don't quote me on that.

[kerravonsen]

I only knew about Kang because various people were talking about whether or not he was the Big Bad. And I had a vague recollection that the original comics character was known for time travel tech, conquering the past, and big statues of himself.

[thewayne]

I remember mention of Kang from previous comics, but that was about it.  I don't cruise around much fan content (don't have the time or interest), so I didn't see mention/speculation about him being the Big Bad.

[kerravonsen]

I wasn't really cruising around for fan content, but I do have friends who were also watching Loki and they were cruising around fan content...