Spoilers below for the final 2 episodes of Loki.
Loki episode five aired on July 7, 2021 and led us up to the exciting finale episode that aired on July 14, 2021. When we last left off, Loki had been dropped into the void world where those who are pruned end up. We meet Boastful Loki, Kid Loki, and Classic Loki as the show calls them. There is also Alligator Loki. The other Lokis take Loki to their hideout and we learn that Kid Loki is actually king.
Each of the Lokis discuss how they were pruned. Boastful Loki claims that he defeated both Captain America and Iron Man and took the Infinity Stones for himself, but Kid Loki calls him a liar. Kid Loki then states that his own Nexus event was when he killed his brother Thor. Classic Loki faked his own death and moved to a planet alone. He eventually got lonely and attempted to get off the planet, which triggered the TVA to show up.
Alligator Loki’s Nexus event is unknown, but it’s claimed by Kid Loki that he ‘ate the wrong neighbor’s cat’. Eventually, the group is found by President Loki’s group, who finds them when Loki goes to leave the bunker. A fight between Loki vs Loki vs Loki etc ensues and Loki, Kid Loki, Gator Loki, and Classic Loki escape. They tell Loki about Alioth, the creature who regularly eats pruned victims.
Meanwhile, Sylvie is attempting to gain info from Judge Renslayer to no avail. She resorts to pruning herself and ends up in the void. She runs into Mobius, who was pruned previously by Renslayer. The two drive as fast as possible to attempt to escape Alioth. They run into the other Lokis and Loki and have a happy reunion.
After a bit of a break, Loki and Sylvie decide to do the impossible – they decide to take on Alioth and find who’s on the other side of it. Sylvie tries to enchant Alioth but she isn’t strong enough on her own. She tells Loki to help but he doesn’t believe that he can. Alioth nearly takes them but Classic Loki conjures up a false Asgard to distract Alioth long enough for Sylvie and Loki to finish their enchantment. They reveal a palace on the other side, bringing an end to episode five.
Episode six picks up where five left off, and Loki and Sylvie are now inside the palace. They’re met by Miss Minutes, who offers them a deal from ‘He Who Remains’. They don’t accept and instead press on into the palace. Finally, they meet ‘He Who Remains’, who explains that he is the reason things are stable. He discovered the multiverse and realized that the alternate versions of himself were not all good. Some were set on taking over and ruling the multiverse, so he decided to reduce it to one timeline and prevent any deviations to prevent the multiverse from coming to fruition. ‘He Who Remains’ tells Loki and Sylvie that they can take over the TVA and keep the timeline in check, but they refuse. Loki then attempts to reason with Sylvie who still wants to kill ‘He Who Remains’ but she sends him back to the TVA after kissing him and stabs ‘He Who Remains’ anyway. Loki realizes that he is no longer in the universe he was before, and the episode ends.
Loki ends with a teaser for season two, simply stating that the show will return. The show paved the way for Marvel movies and shows for the next few years, as the multiverse is now in existence. Loki sets the stage for Marvel’s upcoming movie ‘Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’, which takes place after the events of Loki. The show faced a range of backlash, ranging from people stating that simply stating that Loki is genderfluid on a piece of paper, and having him comment about being Bi and then kiss a woman is not enough representation. Others claim that for Disney, it’s a step in the right direction. There was a fair bit of controversy surrounding the Sylvie-Loki kiss, as many saw it as ‘selfcest’ or a form of incest given that they are, in a sense, the same person or at least like siblings. The director, Kate Herron, was initially hesitant to comment, wanting to leave it to speculation and discussion. She did eventually explain her thoughts on the kiss in an interview with Polygon. “…They’re both Lokis, but they aren’t the same person. They have completely different backgrounds.”
Fans of the show have been outraged by the kiss. Some have gone as far as claiming they would sit outside Tom Hiddleston’s house to make him regret filming the show, while others have sent vile threats to both Kate Herron and the actress for Sylvie, Sophia Di Martino according to sources on TikTok, but it is unclear if these claims are substantial. Regardless, Kate Herron has announced she will not be returning for season two, but it doesn’t seem that this is due to any sort of backlash from season one and is simply a matter of personal choice.
Loki is streaming now on Disney+.
Jeri Hensley
Executive Editor/Creative Director