‘Loki’: Did [Spoiler] Really Die in Episode 4?
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Loki, Season 2, Episode 4.]
Loki‘s latest episode saw the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston) return to the TVA with Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) in tow alongside Mobius (Owen Wilson) and a reluctant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) as they exited 1800s Chicago to help fix the broken temporal loom.
Needing Victor’s temporal aura to open the locked doors, O.B. (Ke Huy Quan) manages to do just that with Victor’s help, but when it comes time to place his device to help control fraying timelines, a debate about who will do the job ensues. While Loki initially volunteers, Victor steps up, offering to make the dangerous run outside in the same suit Mobius once donned this season to help pull Loki out of the timestream in Episode 1.
(Credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
Pointing out that the device being used is his own invention, Victor makes the case that he knows how it needs to be placed. Giving himself a pep talk as Loki, Mobius, O.B., Sylvie, B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), and Casey (Eugene Cordero) look on, Victor goes to step out but is turned into ribbons, presumably the “spaghettification” O.B. and warnings outside the area hinted at earlier in the season if exposed to high levels of temporal radiation.
Essentially, the spaghettification happens immediately when Victor steps outside with his Throughput Multiplier, the device needed to fix the unstable timelines. Watching on in horror, Loki and the rest of the gang can’t quite understand or comprehend what’s just happened, and as the timelines get more volatile, a burst of light hints at explosive and potentially deadly consequences for all nearby, but sadly, this is when the credits kick in, leaving viewers hungry for more.
(Credit: Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL)
So, did Victor die (for good)? And if so, what does it mean for everyone else in the TVA? One thing this episode makes clear is that time is a loop, whether it’s O.B. and Victor’s influence over each other as O.B. revealed everything he learned and was influenced by when writing the TVA handbook came from a scientist known as Victor Timely, whereas Victor reveals the handbook he received as a child from Ravonna (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) was what influenced his science, or Loki pruning his past self. In other words, anything is technically possible.
The bigger question will be, who is going to attempt to fix the immediate problem Victor wasn’t able to? And can it be fixed? We know that Victor Timely is a variant of He Who Remains, and in turn, there are other versions of him to uncover as the MCU continues, but the spaghettification felt fairly final to us, unlike Season 1’s pruning fakeout with Mobius.
And could Ravonna have a different perspective as she was pruned by Brad (Rafael Casal), who was enchanted by Sylvie, presumably being sent to the Void at the end of time where she recently visited the citadel with Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong)? Only time will tell for certain, but the clock is ticking at a break-neck pace now.
Could a reset be on the horizon to prolong the planning process for a new solution? There are TemPads at the ready if they decide to take that route, and Sylvie’s acquisition of He Who Remains’ version of the device could prove helpful. But what do you think? Is Victor really dead, and what will happen next? Let us know your theories in the comments section, below, and stay tuned as Season 2 of Loki continues on Disney+.
Loki, Season 2, New Episodes, Thursdays, 9/8c, Disney+
