[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Loki, Season 2, Episode 3.]
Loki keeps things moving in its second season as the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston) headed to the World’s Fair in 1893 Chicago alongside Mobius (Owen Wilson).
Following a ping on Ravonna Renslayer’s (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) TemPad, Loki and Mobius search for something out of the ordinary and wind up at a demonstration being put on by Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), one of He Who Remains’ variants, where Ravonna is also in attendance with a hidden Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong).
Unlike past reconnaissance missions completed with Mobius, Loki has the upper hand as he and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) were the ones who met He Who Remains and would be able to more easily spot his variants. “In Season 1, it was really helpful to have him on the back foot because it allowed him to go on this really unexpected journey of growth,” executive producer Kevin Wright tells TV Insider. “We’ve seen him be redeemed, we’ve seen him be a villain, we’ve seen him be an anti-hero. He’s kind of flirted with heroism. But I think our show really lets him start wandering down that path to do it.”
(Credit: Gareth Gatrell/© 2023 MARVEL)
In order to get to Victor after his presentation to a captivated audience at the Fair, Loki uses his magic to clear his path, removing a volatile attendee with a flash of green light and smoke, and that’s just a fraction of the magic put to use in the episode. “The TVA is a bad organization in a lot of ways. They completely broke him down, but it set him on this new journey now,” Wright teases Loki’s path forward.
“And I think that that’s exciting. And the thing that we talked a lot about going into this season was the magic. Through the MCU, we haven’t seen him use it a lot, or if he’s using it, he’s using it for tricks and mischief and all this,” Wright continues. In this case, he’s using it as a tactical device.
Just as Loki and Mobius intercept Ravonna and introduce themselves to Victor, they’re alerted to TemPad activity nearby, which turns out to be Sylvie, who is determined to kill Victor as she vows to murder all of He Who Remains’ variants. This leads to a magical face-off with Loki as he tries to prevent such an occurrence, knowing he and Mobius need Victor’s temporal aura in order to try and fix the temporal loom holding the sacred timeline together.
“He’s a character who has not lived up to his full potential yet,” Wright adds of Hiddleston’s Loki. “And that was the exciting journey for us in Season 2 was we want this Loki to become the best version of himself. And something that Tom would say was like, ‘You cannot become the best version of yourself in life until you really embrace your past and who you are, and fully kind of reckon with your being and the things that you’ve done and what you want to do.’”
Wright notes it isn’t just about being a “good guy now,” Loki’s journey is about “Finding yourself in a constant journey, and we wanted this season to be that. Each step along the way, you’re starting to see a progression of Loki, and the magic is a fun way to show that.” Viewers also see the God of Mischief’s growth. “Through the way he carries himself, you’re seeing him become a real leader in some ways,” Wright continues. “It was just something that felt natural to the story, but also, luckily, I think it’s something the fans desperately want to see as well.”
See how Loki continues to move towards hero status as Season 2 continues, and let us know what you think of the latest developments in the time-traversing Marvel series below.
Loki, Season 2, New Episodes, Thursdays, 9/8c, Disney+