Loki Season 2 Episode 3 review: A conqueror becomes a con-man

❘ Published: 2023-10-20T19:42:39

Marvel/Disney+

After two action-packed episodes, Loki Season 2 Episode 3 sees the God of Mischief come face-to-face with the MCU’s new big bad.

Loki Season 2 may only have two episodes under its belt, but each has been a non-stop rollercoaster ride through different realities.

The second season of the Disney+ series has thrust the God of Mischief back into an adventure with the TVA in order to stop the multiverses from starting another war.

However, there have been bumps along the way thanks to awkward reunions and the idea of reality ripping apart at the seams. And Episode 3 raised the stakes as it reintroduced the MCU’s big bad for the multiverse saga and exposed how dangerous he can be.

The boys are back in action

Because the Time Loom, aka the mechanism powering the TVA, is starting to fracture under the weight of new timeline branches becoming reality, Loki, Mobius, and the rest of their crew realize that they need the help of Miss Minutes to override the system and save them all.

However, they don’t know where Miss Minutes is, except that she was with Ravonna Renslayer right when the branches started forming. They track her down using her Tempad and figure out she visited Chicago twice, in 1868 and 1893.

So, once again Loki and Mobius get the band back together to take on yet another tracking case, which is very reminiscent to Season 1.

Seeing their dynamic is a great reminder of how far their characters have come both individually and together. In Season 1, they were enemies on either side of the law; they were both headstrong and unwilling to concede to one another.

But seeing them on the mission to find Renslayer demonstrates the trust and kinship they’ve found in one another. Their banter is at its sharpest and fans can enjoy how easy their relationship is now that they’ve managed to work on their issues… kinda.

A plan literally thousands of years in the making

One of the biggest reveals in Episode 3 is the fact that Kang the Conqueror, the villain we met in Season 1, had a contingency on the chance that Sylvie went through with her revenge plan and killed him.

He instructed Miss Minutes to have Renslayer deliver a small notebook to a child living in Chicago 1868. Though Miss Minutes doesn’t explain much to Renslayer, she does reveal that the book will help Kang become The Man at the End of Time once again.

Audiences then see the child unwrap the package to reveal it’s an instruction book on how the TVA functions and how the book can be used to create the universe we’re technically seeing at the moment.

With all of these clues, it’s easy to surmise that the child who was given the notebook is a Kang variant He Who Remains wished to take his place in case of his death.

This reveal is incredibly interesting because fans are currently seeing the TVA and its members in real time through Loki the show but, in universe, Kang’s variant is given a notebook to help create the reality we’re seeing.

Loki’s idea of how time works really sets it apart from other multiverse media because they seem to let time flow freely instead of the standard linear or circular way other movies and TV shows employ.

Kang’s variant being given the tools to create the TVA and the entire system Sylvie just worked to dismantle also brings her actions into questions because, at the end of the day, she didn’t really do anything. Kang was always going to have a plan to win and there’s nothing she could do to stop it.

Not a man nor a god, just a crook

By far the most anticipated sequence in Loki finally took place in Episode 3 as Loki and Mobius come face to face with Victor Timely, Kang’s variant and the child Renslayer visited.

When Loki sees him, he’s presenting a machine at a festival that he claims can turn time into energy that can power entire cities.

The machine, which he named the Temporal Loom, is the same exact device that the TVA uses to power itself, and at the heart of the main conflict of the season so far.

In a humorous and obvious twist, Loki and Mobius realize that they need Victor’s help to save the TVA’s Loom, which means they have to protect him from Sylvie’s wrath and also get him away from Renslayer.

Jonathon Majors as Victor Timely in Loki

The pair, along with Renslayer, also discover that Victor is a bit of a con man as he sells his inventions, including the Loom, at skyrocketing prices but, when the machine inevitably stops working, he quickly slips away from his ditractors.

Seeing this variant of Kang is fantasticating because, while he does share the same face as Kang, he’s his own person, which is a bit eerie when you remember who he’s destined to become.

It’s fun to go back to the types of variants who look alike, but have different personalities because it’s not something we’re super used to due to the fact that all of Loki’s variants are extremely different versions of himself.

Watching an actor play a completely different character, but still hold onto the morals behind the character they share DNA with is super fun.

Victor isn’t looking out for what’s best for the multiverse; he’s just some con man looking to make a quick buck.

Even when Renslayer explains that he’s destined to be more than just a shady inventor, he doesn’t seem as swept away by the idea of ultimate power like He Who Remains was.

So, it begs the question: is Victor one of the good variants or is he lying in wait to strike at the right moment?

He Who Remains was so afraid of what his variants are capable of doing, it’ll be interesting to see if he ends up being Season 2’s villain or if he’ll pass the baton to someone close to him.

Loki Season 2 Episode 3 score: 4 / 5 stars

It was great seeing Loki and Mobius team back up for another detective-style mission because that’s one of the places the show thrives in.

The enemies-to-friends arc the two have had is so special and it’s nice to watch Loki have a friend after thousands of years of being a lone wolf.

Victor’s introduction to the story was well handled as the episode did a great job hiding how shady he could be after pulling audiences in with his fancy machines and talks about changing the world.

The episode does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, which isn’t a bad thing per say, but it’ll definitely have fans eager to watch next week’s episode as they’re dying to know what secrets Miss Minutes has been holding that have to do with He Who Remains.

Loki Season 2 Episodes 1 – 3 are now streaming on Disney+. You can check out our other coverage below: