‘Heart of the TVA’ ramps everything up from the previous episodes of Loki Season 2 while making sure to keep on track with what’s been built up and tying back to the first episode.
While the stay at the end of time is short, it reveals why and how memories were wiped, along with how much power Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong, Teen Titans Go!) had, while He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) was mainly a figurehead before he died. So, as much as everyone is scared of He Who Remains and his variants, Miss Minutes is possibly the true culprit in executing most of his plans, and he couldn’t have grown to be what he is without her. But He Who Remains’ variant, Victory Timely, is quite the opposite when it comes to dealing with situations, as it appears he’s more of a follower.
With the high stakes of impending destruction, this episode still finds a balance in the light-hearted moments shining through but not overpowering the action-packed, heart-racing scenes. There is another, what you may call, fan meet and greet with Victor and O.B. (Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once) being in awe of one another because they both went off each other’s ideas when it comes to the Time Variance Authority. This leads to the question that Mobius (Owen Wilson, Haunted Mansion) asked so well: who came first – did Victor come first and then did O.B. write the TVA Handbook off him, or did O.B. write the handbook first and then Victor made his prototypes based on that?
It really seems as though He Who Remains knew he was going to die and knew what would happen after as he sent Miss Minutes and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle) to drop the TVA Handbook off to a young Victor to kickstart his journey. After all, how would O.B. go off Victor’s creations if Victor never received the handbook to begin with?
Yet all of Victor’s prototypes seemed to only be part of a con for him to make some quick cash. So, is the prototype from him being used to help fix everything in the TVA real, or could this all be part of another con with him trying to do more than be a follower? It seems like this one is the real deal, but viewers can never be too sure when it comes to Marvel until it’s all unfolded. So, it’ll just have to be played out in the last two episodes of the season.
With everything falling apart and there being a need for a solution, the older personality of Loki (Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager), whom everyone knows from his first few film appearances, comes through again with this new season. While Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino, Yesterday) argue over what should happen with the TVA and who could take over, Sylvie makes it clear that she doesn’t want to act like a God and just take over everything. But Loki pulls out the lovely line that they are Gods.
The missing character growth of Season 1 Sylvie has no match with Season 2 Sylvie, as there’s an abundance of growth from her this season, and Loki is now going back to the version he should be in the timeline. After all, even though he saw his whole life played out in Season 1, this is him from the early years of Marvel. And Loki’s “We are Gods” comments tie him back to wanting to rule the human race.
But this is only for a small moment, as there’s a mission to save the TVA from blowing up, and in their quest to get Victor back, viewers get to see who pruned Loki in the first episode…which is none other than Loki himself. For some, this could have been predictable, but for those who aren’t looking too much into things, it’s just as shocking to those fans as it is to Sylvie. But this probably shouldn’t be as surprising as it is when it first happens because, ultimately, everything within Marvel somehow always ties back to something else that happened.
However, the pruning that came out of nowhere is the one of Renslayer, then later the disintegration of Victor. Everyone knows Loki himself won’t actually die because, at some point, he’ll need to return to the original timeline, but major side characters that get shredded – like Victor did – make you gasp and wonder what now? As seen in Season 1, pruning just teleports you to the Void, so possibly one of the next two episodes will teleport the viewer back there with Renslayer and see who else is still there.
Of course, it’s uncertain if that’ll happen, and the series could just ignore the possibility and continue with the overall plot of the season. If Loki does stick with the main plot to try and prevent the TVA from imploding, that might be best, as there is still so much that can happen in the TVA alone, like the use of more magic from Loki and Sylvie to reboot the whole system now that the magic blocker is down. And the two did take advantage of that, but hopefully, it won’t be the last time some green magic is used in the TVA.
But who knows if the TVA itself will still be there in the next episode as ‘Heart of the TVA’ ended with a big white light and no answers. With what might be one of the biggest cliffhangers of this show, and definitely this season, fans can wait anxiously for the next episode, bringing the end of Season 2 that much closer.
