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Hey, brother!
Today's episode will contain spoilers
for "Loki" episode two.
Oh man, you guys.
"Loki" episode two is out
and there are so many new details to pick apart,
and I'm sure what is just going to be the custom
for the season, maybe more questions than answers given.
One thing that I absolutely do know for sure, though,
is that I am loving it.
Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson are like magic together.
But seriously though, the questions.
Like, what did C-20 see that was just so real?
And why is Lady Loki bombing the timeline?
And also, Lady Loki, called it.
But also, who is Ravonna's other agent?
And what is the deal with the snow globe?
Or for that matter the roller skate?
Or the FDR pen?
And perhaps most importantly,
why did Loki one time win the Tour de France?
I mean to tell you the maillot jaune,
or for you English speaking people, yellow jersey,
does not come easy.
Although, it does come with like a gigantic plush lion,
which is just pretty cool.
Used to be a big Tour de France fan.
Speaking of, though, I am still not over Chaingate.
Alberto Contador took advantage
of Andy Schleck's chain slipping and just took off.
No class!
Truly though, if you've never been like somewhat informed
on what's going on the ascent to Alpe d'Huez,
you are missing out on enjoying something a lot.
But we're not here today
to talk about Tour de France villains.
Although I could, for a long time.
Today, our big question is
who is the true villain of "Loki"?
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The second installment of "Loki" was just absolutely
jam packed with Easter eggs and little nuggets
for us to dissect.
And if I was a betting man then I would make the guess
that some of these are exactly that,
they're simply Easter eggs,
fun nods to other moments in Marvel history.
But I think some of these are also critical plot points.
Like on the one hand,
when Loki is studying in the TVA library thing,
there is the number 372 in the backdrop.
This is definitely a reference to issue 372
of "The Mighty Thor" when the TVA is first introduced.
In my opinion, this is your perfect classic Easter egg.
It is a number that doesn't really affect anything
one way or another.
You don't need to know that it's a comic book reference,
but if you do, it's fun.
On the other hand though, did you know that Mobius,
Owen Wilson's character's, appearance is actually based off
of real world Marvel director of continuity back in the day,
Mark Gruenwald.
This one feels like there could be a little bit more to it
because real world Mark was actually born
in Oshkosh, Wisconsin,
which is where the Renaissance fair is being held
at the beginning of this episode.
For clarity, though, Mark wasn't born
at this particular Renaissance fair.
He was born at the one in 1953.
Okay, to be fair, I can't actually confirm that.
He was in fact born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin,
but not necessarily at a Renaissance fair, probably.
Even more interesting is the fact that if we, again,
go back to the comics,
Mark's legacy goes a little bit deeper
than just the likeness of this one particular character,
because over in the comics all of the other TVA agents
are actually clones of Mobius,
or as he's also known, Mobius M. Mobius.
The M stands for Mobius.
Get it? It's like Mobius over and over and over again.
Like a Mobius strip.
So clever. - I know.
- These details, though, can be kind of interesting
depending on how you look at it.
Like for example, Mobius seems to be the only agent
of the TVA who doesn't feature an agent number.
Even Ravonna, who he seems to be reporting directly to,
does have a number on her helmet
that we see at the end of the episode.
And again, with every other agent number,
it seems like it's this combination
between a letter and digit, kind of suggesting
that maybe they're coming from different iterations.
And I say iteration, but there hasn't actually been
any indication in the show at all
that would suggest that all of the other members
that are working for the TVA
are clones of the original Mobius.
Like, for one, they all look different.
But I don't think that his lack of number is a mistake,
and it does leave us wondering where did Mobius come from?
And this question is something that Loki addresses directly
and Mobius answers very indirectly where Mobius points out
that him being made by the Time-Keepers is no less bizarre
than Loki being the product of Frost Giants
and being raised by the god of the heavens.
But personally, I disagree.
You can dress it up however you want,
but at the end of the day, Loki was adopted.
It's not that complicated.
Whereas Mobius, on the other hand,
it's like what do you mean they created you?
And are you sure?
- How long have you been here?
- I don't know. It's hard to say.
You know, time passes differently here in the TVA.
- I'm sorry, Mobius, but I think you're a little unaware
about something to do with your own existence.
The other really interesting thing about Mobius
in this particular episode is maybe unexpectedly
his jet ski magazine.
You may not really think twice about this particular thing.
I mean, he makes a really great point.
Jet skis are awesome. - I suppose they are.
- Like even Loki, who is a god, gets it.
And he travels to and from the timeline all day, every day.
It really probably wouldn't even be that difficult
to snag this particular magazine
without causing like a rift in all of time.
Or at least that would be something
that would be easy to understand
if we didn't have this exchange.
- [Mobius] And why do you get to keep all the trophies
from my cases in here?
You don't think I'd love having that rollerskate?
- Then why does he get to keep this magazine?
The items that they're talking about
are not really anything that fantastic.
Like, a roller skate out here in the real world
is not very significant,
but it makes me think the idea of having an artifact
from the real world in the TVA is pretty remarkable.
So, and you might be wondering this question yourself here,
is like what does a jet ski magazine
tell us potentially about like his character?
Because, myself included, I really didn't see this
as anything significant
other than like a fun moment of comic relief.
Someone who comes from having the perspective
of having seen the technology of always
is most impressed with a jet ski from the 1990s.
Like, that is the epitome of human innovation?
- In the early 1990s, for a brief shining moment,
there was a beautiful union of form and function.
- Which like, yeah, okay, sure.
But also newsflash, jet skis are not only from the '90s.
They still make them.
And I kind of have to imagine maybe make them better,
or did they like lose touch with the original purpose,
spirit of the thing since then?
That's a real question.
Do we have any jet ski enthusiasts out there
or the '90s, that era?
I wanna ride one. I've never ridden one.
Have you ridden one?
And again with this, I don't think this is just
like a tiny, fun added detail.
I think it might literally be a clue
to helping us better understand where Mobius comes from.
Even though at first you might just think that the TVA,
despite being like the supreme power of space?
What's bigger than space? Cosmos?
I think it's cosmos.
Despite being this supreme power is still featuring
what feels like pretty dated technology.
So, it could just be the case that for some reason
this particular era in history is what they settled on
as like how they created the TVA space.
The interior designer was like,
"You know what's great, guys? The '90s.
"Let's do all '90s."
But that's not actually the case.
The technology in the TVA is not from the '90s.
It's actually from about a decade earlier in the '80s.
And I personally think that this like set design decision
by the creators of the show was incredibly intentional
because the TVA is kind of like the watchdog
or Big Brother, if you will, of the Sacred Timeline.
Big Brother as in from the story "1984,"
the novel that kind of predicted the potential dangers
of constant surveillance.
Spoilers in case you haven't read it.
Big Brother is not good.
The point is I am fairly certain the reason
the TVA looks like what it does
with the technology that it has is a very purposeful nod
to the year 1984, and as such the story "1984."
And the point that I'm trying to make there
is that Mobius's obsession with a jet ski from the '90s
is not like so just specifically in keeping with the era
of everything else around him anyway.
If anything, jet skis, compared to this tech,
would be fairly advanced, relatively speaking of course.
Can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure
they didn't have time doors in the '90s.
But the jet-ski is not the only thing
that we can tie Mobius to this particular decade.
The other kind of glaring item
that he keeps interacting with
is a can of soda called Josta.
I did not recognize this particular soda,
so at first I thought that it was just kind of like
a Marvel inside joke, Easter egg type of thing,
kind of like Buy n Large from Pixar.
But it actually isn't.
Josta was a real brand of energy drink
that existed out here in the real world
for a very brief run of popularity in,
wait for it, the '90s.
And I think that if you pair these small details
and the conversation between Mobius and Loki
about where they both came from,
and I think that we're starting to get small arrows
indicating that for some reason Mobius himself was plucked
from the '90s.
And now, this could totally be a reach,
but do you remember how we said that Mobius
and all of the other TVA agents, at least in the comics,
were based off of Marvel writer and director of continuity
Mark Gruenwald, the guy who was maybe born
at a Renaissance fair in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Well, Mark, real person out here in the real world,
actually unexpectedly passed away in the '90s.
Meaning the things that we're seeing Mobius
be kind of obsessed with are actually things
that would have been popular when he died in the '90s.
So in a weird way, what we might be seeing here is Mark,
the real person writer, being immortalized
in the character of Mobius by showing him loving the things
that he would have loved at that time.
And again, if we go back to the Renaissance fair,
this might be kind of a random choice
as to where they're going,
except for the fact that Renaissance
is the French word for reborn.
And again, Mobius is a strip that just keeps repeating
on itself over and over and over again.
And, and do you remember this particular exchange
with Ravonna?
- Those rings were already there.
- And they're all from you.
- Mobius like gladly reaches for a coaster
in this particular situation,
and also seems kind of skeptical
that the other rings were left by him.
- Maybe it's from your other favorite analyst.
- Mobius keeps leaving these rings
because he's on repeat over and over and over again,
which is also why he doesn't remember leaving them
and why he doesn't have an agent number,
because he's the center of it all.
He's the tiny cog holding the whole thing together
and he himself doesn't even realize it.
Which brings us to one of the other questions
coming out episode two, what is Lady Loki up to?
Why is she bombing the Sacred Timeline?
I think what's going on here starts with Loki's revelation
in this episode that the TVA has a hole in its security
and it has to do with apocalypses.
I actually think the way that they demonstrated
this particular idea was really well executed
because it's kind of complicated to understand at first.
It's when they're in Pompeii and Loki can just run out
into the middle of the street screaming
and release the goats and just be a blatant anachronism
because everyone there is about to die.
So, despite the fact that they could be seeing something
that doesn't make sense
with any of their other surroundings,
there's no way for that experience with him
to reverberate anywhere else into the timeline.
But here's where things get fun,
because Loki has been a part of some apocalypses.
Take, for example, the beginning of "Infinity War"
where Thanos kills him,
an event that our Loki just watched happened at the TVA.
But what happens after Loki is killed is an apocalypse.
Power Stone is activated and everyone on board dies.
Or that is what Loki wants you to believe happened.
Because thanks to episode two we now have an explanation
as to how Loki might have escaped here.
- Duplication casting entails recreating an exact facsimile
of one's own body in its present circumstance,
which acts as a true holographic mirror
of its molecular structure.
- If the Loki in this situation knows
that he is about to be killed by Thanos,
it is a really good opportunity
to literally duplicate yourself.
And it's also a great place to escape into time
because he's just discovered that apocalyptic situations
are hard for the TVA to realize
when something is out of whack.
And this exact trick is how Lady Loki
has been dodging the TVA for so long,
by hiding in apocalyptic situations.
So in a nutshell, what's happening here
is that when Loki lives up to the moment
when he knows he is about to be killed by Thanos,
what he can do is duplication cast himself,
meaning Thanos and everyone else, including the TVA,
would just think that he is dead
because the ship then explodes.
It's an apocalyptic situation.
But really what's happening here is Loki is standing
in the shadow somewhere having duplicated himself
and can then exit the scene.
And in order to ensure that nobody knows he's alive,
changes his appearance, something he can do.
But okay, that still doesn't totally explain
why she's blowing up the Sacred Timeline.
And I think the answer to that is free will.
The show's main argument is between the ideas
of free will and predestiny.
Male Loki is clearly in camp free will,
but his main goal of the story
is to take over the Sacred Timeline
and therefore predestiny.
And this is why Lady Loki scoffs at his invitation,
because Male Loki is thinking too small.
He hasn't grasped the truth yet.
Ruling the timeline is not her goal.
Allowing free will is her goal.
And that can only exist in a true multiverse,
which is why she's bombing 17 and counting moments
in the Sacred Timeline.
This act creates tons of opportunities
for a branch to redline,
and all she really needs for this to happen
is one of them to make it.
So now the big question becomes,
can the TVA respond to all of these at once?
I also think that she needs to get to the Time Lords,
but not because she specifically wants to rule,
but because she doesn't want there to be an opportunity
for them to reinforce themselves as the leaders.
This is why she took C-20 hostage
because she needed to know how to get in.
And again, the end result isn't that she is in charge.
It is that nobody is in charge. Pure chaos.
- No chaos? That sounds boring.
- But guys, for my question of the day, what do you think?
Is this the explanation that would help us understand
how Loki could have survived the end of "Infinity War"?
Let us know in the towel section down below.
But guys, as always, thank you so much for watching.
Be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel,
if you haven't already,
so you don't miss out on any future "Loki" action from us.
If you'd like to see J and I face off
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you can check out our J versus Ben right over here.
Otherwise until next time, bye.