Sometimes you wonder if a show can live up to the hype, can an ending of a show live up to the show itself? In this case, the answer is heck yeah. Wow, what an amazing ending to a brilliant show. And what a misdirect trailer for this episode.
The recap recaps basically the entire show and reminds us that the previous episode ended with Loki and Sylvie walking past Alioth onto Citadel at the End of Time. Then the oddest Marvel opening starts. We hear the Avengers, all of the Marvel characters and some of their most memorable lines, from Thor calling Hulk a friend from work to the Black Panther screaming Wakanda forever, they are all there. Then when the logo ends we see many universes, galaxies, suns and black holes and over them the voices of real historical figures mingled with the marvel characters hinting that we are simply a timeline in the vast multiverse that is out there. Then we see the streamed timeline that they all form from a distance. It is many and yet one circular rainbow of light. The circle is perfect. There are no branches to the timeline in anytime in.
In the middle of the glowing circle there is a citadel sitting on a rock or an asteroid. It is separate from the timeline, outside of it and in the middle of it. Although everything is colorfully glowing, not just the bright circle. Loki and Sylvie walk towards the citadel and it looks odd. There are golden cracks everywhere, like it is so old that it is crumbling or that it has been attacked and rebuilt. Loki and Sylvie have an amusing conversation about how they should enter the citadel when the doors simply open for them. They look shocked by this.
Then starts the real nightmare. As Loki and Sylvie walk caustically in, with their hands on their weapons, we get a jump scare. An actual jump scare as Miss Minutes appear out of nowhere. I knew she was evil, the real evil who knows everything. She finally names her real boss, He Who Remains, no silly Time-Keepers here. Although some suspected her to be the big bad, but she isn't. She's creepy as hell though, but she explains that He Who Remains is the real boss, the one who is in charge of the timeline. He wants to make them an offer. To give them their hearts desire. They can return to the timeline, the same timeline together, Loki will be the king of Asgard, king of Earth, king of everything. Win against the Avengers and Thanos. Sylvie will have a lifetime of happy memories. They will be together. I know that Loki got into a lot of trouble for trying to be king, but he insisted in the first Thor movie that he doesn't want the throne, only to be Thor's equal. I guess she missed that part. Although I guess he does want to kill Thanos. They look tempted, like they're in agony just from imagining what Miss Minutes think that they want. What a nice dream.
Sylvie breaks the spell. She says that it cannot happen. Loki sides with her and tells her that they are free now. Miss Minutes actually answers with sarcasm when she says that sure they are. Implies heavily, as we will later find out, that even here at this point, they are not actually free. That causes both Lokis to look really confused. They truly believe that they are free.
Then we are back at the TVA. Ravonna Renslayer is downloading files to her TemPad and looking at physical files as well, all while trying to get to the bottom of the matter to bring back stability to the TVA. Then Miss Minutes shows up, and it is apparent that she can't be at two places at once. She was in the future with both Lokis and now she is back at the TVA. Renslayer notices that the files are not those that she asked for, but Miss Minutes says that He thinks that they are more useful to her. I guess it is time for her to know the real full truth.
Then with a breathtaking shot we are back at the citadel with both Lokis. They walk into a room with statues, one of them is broken, but the others do look like some version of the Time-Keepers. When Loki sees the amount of dust in the room he wonders if the person in charge is still alive. But then they hear a noise and the door at the other side of the room opens. The door leads to an elevator and inside of it sits our beloved He Know Remain. Jonathan Majors who has been confirmed to be playing Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is here as one of the versions of Kang. An MCU version of one of the Kangs and in the comics he did have a part in the TVA, but he never ruled them. But still, this is Nathaniel Richards I guess, or Immortus, the finale version of Kang. But I'm just going to refer to him as Kang for convince sake.
This Kang is crazy as hell. Which makes sense if he has been living for billions of years alone. He is energetic and acentric in the extreme. He pretends that he is shocked that they are the same person and yet they are together at the same place. Not time, there is no time here. Which is all a fake as he is responsible for it all. He eats an apple, which is a very biblical reference. Adam ate the first apple and he, the last man, eats an apple as well. He know that the name that Miss Minutes calls him is creepy, but he likes it, he has no problem with creepy. It makes sense, he too, is creepy. He wants them to talk in his office, as if the location matters. The way that both Lokis walk forwards slowly with their swords out is funny. But Kang has his back to them. He is not concerned. Loki has a hard time believing that their big adversary is human. But that doesn’t mean anything. When Sylvie tries to stab him, he simply disappears and reappears behind them. Again and again. Until he reappears in his office, while Loki and Sylvie are still in the elevator. He is Kang, they can't kill him easily. Or at all.
Both Lokis step into Kang's office. But while Loki seems more apprehensive, Sylvie looks angry. She doesn't like this game. He makes them coffee, he knows how Sylvie likes her coffee which causes her to raise her eyebrows. She doesn't get it yet. Although she doesn't like it when he refers to her as Loki. The way both Lokis sit down with their swords in their hands is a bit comical, but they are dealing with a new threat. They don't think that they are there to chat.
Then we are back in the TVA again. Renslayer is packing when Mobius shows up in her office. She looks happy and upset at the same time to see him again. They have a little argument. After everything that she knows, Renslayer still believes in the mission of the TVA, her blind faith is amazing and stupid and justified. But he has her pen. A pen that he once thought was a souvenir from another analyst, but it actually isn't. It's much worse than that, it’s a souvenir of herself. Renslayer knew she was a variant all along.
Then we switch to hunter B-15. She is in a school. Other Minutemen are on her tail. She walks into an office and they follow her. They don't listen to her reasoning, but then Judge Renslayer appears, well, more like school principle Renslayer. They see Renslayer's real person on Earth and realize the truth, Renslayer is a variant and they all are. On the office desk there are pens, just like the ones in Renslayer's office. The variant lie has been exposed to all of the TVA, or to a few more of them.
Then we are back at the citadel with Loki, Sylvie and Kang. It looks like Kang thinks that Sylvie is the superior Loki and our Loki is lucky that he managed to hang on all this time. Sylvie tries to kill Kang again, but he disappears yet again right before she tries to stab him again and reappears a few feel away. Then Kang reveals the terrible truth, he is still in control. He has papers with everything written down, including the words that Loki told him moments ago. Loki and Sylvie may have escaped from the TVA, but they never escaped from Kang's influence and control. This was all part of Kang's plan. How terrible for them. Kang paved the road, and they simply walked down it, no free will at all. Sylvie is so upset that she seems on the verge of tears. Then Kang probes where it hurts, he asks Sylvie if she trusts Loki. If she can even trust anyone at all. Are our Lokis capable of trust? I guess we will find out.
Then we are back at the TVA. Renslayer continues her argument with Mobius. After everything, even after listening to Mobius, she still believes in the TVA. As far as she is concerned, only one person has the liberty of free will, the person in charge. Then it becomes personal and they argue about their friendship and their betrayals. He tries to attack her to prevent her from leaving, but he is an analyst, he doesn't have the skills. She takes him down without a problem, but this time, she doesn't prune him. She goes into a portal, in search of free will. I guess she is also going in search of He Who Remains, as he is the only one with free will.
Then it's time for more chatter at the citadel. Kang tries to explain that even though the way the TVA works is not exactly good, it is necessary. Without it, everything will gets destroyed. Then Loki asks the million dollar question, what is he afraid of? The answer is himself, or more correctly, the Kang version of himself or the many evil versions of himself. Kang has a very special watch-TimePed and he uses it to show Loki and Sylvie his story. Kang's story. If you've read the comics, you know the story. A variant of He Who Remains lived on Earth in the 31th century and discovered the multiverse. He and his variants found each other and at first thought it was all super cool and that they are all really cool guys. They shared knowledge and technologies between different universes or realities. It is strange that he refers to different realities as universes, but I guess we'll just have to let it go. Then some Kangs came that wanted to conquer other universes, or prove that their universe is superior and destroy the other universes. Basically a multiversal war, or Secret Wars as we know the theme from the comics. All of reality, existence, everything was in danger. Until he, the first variant in his eyes I guess, found Alioth and decided to use him to create his new plan. He created one timeline, which I wonder if it means only one reality, but I don't think so. He created the TVA to prevent branching out, but I am not sure how it is related to different realities and universes. He thinks that he has done good, brought balance to the universe. When he tells Loki and Sylvie "your welcome" I can't stop thinking of Maui from Moana. Good luck getting that song out of your head. He doesn't think of himself as good, but simply as less evil than his variants. This version of Kang stopped the multiversal war and is keeping it from reoccurring again.
But then comes the bombshell. Now he wants to retire. He has lived endless lives so he is very old. Old enough to call a thousand year old gods young. So both Loki and Sylvie can take his place and continue his work, or they kill him and let the multiversal war will begin again. Well, a lot of evil Kangs will appear, a council of Kangs and bring destruction with them. Sylvie is not happy. But Kang calls her out. First of all he tells her to grow up, well, she is stuck in the mindset of a scared little girl so it is impossible for her to grow up. Plus, yes, she is a hypocrite, she is also a murderer and has done terrible things. Kang looks at the three of them as three villains who have done terrible things and in a way he is right. It is that his horrors are on a bigger scale. Loki even looks guilty. It is basically rule or cause destruction for Loki and Sylvie.
But there is something else. Suddenly, we hear a thunder, a loud noise in the background. That noise is what Kang calls the threshold. I guess it is a massive nexus event. Wanda tearing realities and universes apart? Dr. Strange cracking the multiverse by accident? We don't know yet. From now on, Kang has no idea what is going to happen. Loki can't believe someone will simply give up such power. But for Kang it is or his life's work will continue or if he dies, the multivrsal war will cause him to return to this same exact point. But Sylvie doesn't believe Kang at all. This is the new biggest problem. He takes off his special TimePad and offers it to Sylvie and Loki. It is time for Loki and Sylvie to make a decision.
Who in their right mind could think that Loki and Sylvie can make such an important decision? But Kang is clearly not in his right mind. He is crazy from solitude or just crazy. But obviously, this is the moment things get heated up. Sylvie doesn't even think about the situation she simply attacks Kang and Loki stops her. Oh dear. She puts a sword to his chest, but not like she wants to kill him, but wants him out of the way. Loki wants to talk about this, but Sylvie is just single mindedly trying to kill Kang. Loki fights Sylvie while they talk. Sylvie just doesn't believe Kang, Loki wants to consider believing him, which is smart. But Sylvie automatically thinks that Loki just wants the throne, but Loki never actually wanted any throne, she just doesn't get it. When Sylvie says that she doesn't trust him and that she thinks that this is all a con, you can tell that she is hurting Loki's feelings. The problem with Sylvie is that she can't get beyond her personal experience.
Loki sees it coming. Sylvie attacks him again, this time, aiming to kill. Their fight is really impressive though. She has some killer moves and he has killer awesome magic. But Loki refuses to kill Sylvie. She keeps calling Kang's position the throne, it is not a throne. She doesn't get it. Then as she managed to get Loki out of the way and goes to kill Kang, but Loki uses his magic to get in the way. He is unarmed and she has her sword to his throat. He tells her to stop and gently puts his hands on her shoulders. He tells her that he understands her and her feelings. He doesn't want a throne, he just needs her to be alright. Because in a way, she is not just his love interest, but also a child version of himself. But he doesn't understand her enough to influence her.
Sylvie will be Sylvie. She drops the knife and kisses Loki. Despite the moving music, you know this won't end well. She uses the kiss to turn herself around closer to the table and ends the kiss. She tells Loki that she is not him and uses her magic to blast him into a portal that takes him back to the TVA. She managed to take Kang's TimePad while kissing Loki. She is super dramatic when she goes to kill Kang and that only makes him laugh. She stabs him and all he has to say is "see you soon" and he winks at her. That's when you can see on her face that she finally realizes that she might have made a big mistake. That she acted childishly. She sits down on the floor. Maybe it's the shock of actually accomplishing her big mission and realizing that she has nothing now. We get a view of the outside. The timeline is branching out endlessly, even the branches have branches. It is a true and crazy multiverse now. There are so many branches that it looks like they are touching each other. Welcome to the multiverse.
Then we are back in the TVA. We see all of their monitors going crazy with the branching. Mobius and B-15 are looking the branches on the screen and do nothing. They are letting true freedom take its course. Loki is sitting alone, sad, miserable and betrayed by himself. Then he decides to do something. He gets up and we see minutemen running everywhere. That's suspicious right there. Loki seems lost and confused in the mayhem. That's when we see Mobius and B-15 again. They are now in shock because of the branching timeline. Loki tells them that they made a terrible mistake, that they freed the timeline. Loki tells them that Kang variants are coming and they are coming with the intention of war so they need to prepare. Then comes the most shocking part of all. Mobius doesn't recognize Loki. Even though we saw hunter B-15 and Mobius just moments ago, now Mobius thinks that Loki is an analyst and asks him what division he is from and what his name is. Loki is shocked. Mobius truly has no idea who he is. All of their shared experiences are gone. Then Loki turns around and instead of a giant statue of the three Time-Keepers, there is a giant statue of Kang the Conqueror. It is too late. Kang is here and he controls time.
So it looks like it's not just that the timelines that has been freed. Time has been altered. The TVA is different. The people in it are different. So maybe there is more than one TVA, or Kang changed it all now that he is in charge.
Wow. What an episode. What a misdirect. There is no King Loki at the Citadel at the End of Time. There is Kang. I guess that a version of Secret Wars is coming to the MCU where timelines will fight each other. It is something that happened more than once in the comics. But wow, what a big reveal and one that will affect the movies for sure going forward. Plus, we totally need a season two after this ending. Wow.
And wow, the acting in this episode. Jonathan Majors just crushed it. He managed to outshine Tom Hiddleston and that's not easily done. His version of He Who Remains is eccentric, energetic, strange, evil, and charismatic and just mind blowing. He is going to nail it as the next MCU big bad. I can't wait to see him play different variants of himself. Other than that Tom Hiddleston continues to crush it. You can read every expression on his face. He is just a brilliant actor and I am glad he will be staying in the MCU and hopefully forever. Sophia Di Martino is great but her character is very one dimensional. She is just mostly angry and childish and she does it well, but it doesn't really bring up her acting abilities. Owen Wilson and Wunmi Mosaku are also brilliant, they move from confident "we are going to burn it all to the ground" people to "what are we supposed to do?" part of the machine people in no time. I really hope we will see a lot more of them. But yeah, the acting in this show is just great.
It is really sad that the showrunner Kate Herron is leaving. She did a brilliant job on this show. It will probably also further delay season 2 which is also a bummer. I can't wait to see more of this crazy world. But I also want to see it affecting the movies. It was interesting and it will be interesting.
What did you think of the season finale and the show itself?
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