And it just gets better.
What is essentially a 45-minute episode felt like 20 minutes.
“Science/Fiction” not only draws the viewer in to become completely invested in what will be played out with Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Thor: Ragnarok) trying to restore the Time Variance Authority, but it also explains why time slipping is even a thing this season with Episode 1. It was an episode that didn’t quite seem to make sense for the latest season and its overall plot; it now makes complete sense to have everything with Loki’s time slipping side storyline to take place.
The issue in Episode 1 is now the solution to save everything. It’s a direction that isn’t seen coming but a turning point that now makes the series not make sense without it — it can’t be unseen.
With an episode that adds on to the previous ones to make Loki reach the highest quality episode by episode, “Science/Fiction” left numerous questions on the table that need to be answered, and hopefully they will be in the season finale.
The main consequence of the TVA imploding that leads to questions as to what will happen and what has happened is O.B.’s (Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once) timeline self. What’s unexpected is the chance to see everyone in the timeline as the version of themselves before they got torn away to work at the TVA. This detail isn’t something that was known to be important or even something that’s needed in an episode until Episode 5. However, what stood out from each encounter are two aspects of O.B.’s timeline self. The location Loki time slips to meet this version of O.B. is in a building that looks just like his office in the TVA, and he has a taser in the shape of the glowing batons that the TVA agents use to prune variants.
So one of many questions could be was O.B. more involved with He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) than he is letting on when it comes to the creation of the TVA, and what goes on? Was it O.B. himself who created the TVA and had it grow to what it was but didn’t want the spotlight on him — so that’s where He Who Remains comes into play? Everyone now knows that O.B. wrote the TVA guidebook and based it on a variant of He Who Remains, so were they partners, and He Who Remains grew to want more power than O.B., which led O.B. to stay in his office?
It’s unclear if any answers will be given regarding O.B. possibly gatekeeping his history because, who knows, maybe He Who Remains just designed O.B.’s office to look like that so he has a sense of familiarity (even though he wouldn’t remember himself on the timeline).
If Disney wants to make another series, the company could always hone on the history of the TVA and how it all came together in a limited series. This way, there would be answers without diverting the attention from Loki in his show.
Another question from this episode is how did Loki stay in the TVA when everyone else, including Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino, Yesterday), went back to their timeline self? Shouldn’t Loki have gone back to his main timeline self where he left in season 1 — and how was the TVA still there for him to be there? Of course, certain things don’t necessarily need to make sense, as show creators have all the power to make anything happen for any reason they want, but most of the time, Marvel tends to have every aspect of the shows and movies happen for a reason.
So this leads the viewer to dive into the little things and examine it all. With only one episode remaining of this season, there’s a chance for a third season, as it feels like there is so much for the show to still play out. So far, Loki Season 2 might’ve become the superior season as each new episode makes the series grow as a whole.
