Loki Recap: Episode 4 | The truth behind the TVA is revealed

WRITER’S NOTE: The following post contains spoilers.

Loki is back with an all-new episode this week and fair warning, so much is unpacked here. Plus, we finally get a post-credit scene! Read more to find out what happened during this week’s episode.

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Episode 4 titled “The Nexus Event” begins with an unexpected setting. Taking place in Asgard, we see a young Sylvie (Cailey Fleming) playing with her toys. Out of nowhere, Renslayer (who at the time, was working as a TVA agent) and a few other Minutemen arrest young Sylvie and take her back to the TVA.

Once there, Sylvie goes through the same process Loki went through in Episode 1. Sylvie goes through the same android detector (I just got a lightbulb moment from this scene and will bring it up later in the recap!), confirming everything she has said, and meeting a TVA judge.

Before she can face her charges, Sylvie fights off Renslayer, steals her TemPad, and opens up a portal, and escapes. All of this is such a great explanation to Sylvie’s story but also her reasoning as to why she wants to take down the TVA.

Remembering this moment, we then see present Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in an elevator as she makes her way to meet with the Time-Keepers. As she steps out of the elevator, viewers finally get to see for the first time what these sacred leaders look like.

Mobius (Owen Wilson) returns back in this episode (and might I add, I missed him so much!) and asks Judge Renslayer how she is doing after meeting with the Time-Keepers. Completely stressed, Judge Renslayer tells Mobius that Sylvie was very close to getting near the Time-Keepers.

Mobius asks her if there’s any chance that he can meet with Hunter C-20 (Sasha Lane) to speak with her about what she meant when she had said “It’s real, it’s real” and whatever else she saw when with Sylvie.

However, Judge Renslayer cuts him off and informs him that Hunter C-20 is dead. Asking how that’s possible, she explains to Mobius that Sylvie used enchantment on Hunter C-20 and scrambled her mind.

Mobius is confused by this and tells Renslayer that she had looked fine when returning but Renslayer explains that at first C-20 was fine but later, she couldn’t even speak. Judge Renslayer finishes by asking Mobius if she can trust him to keep this information only between them, as to not cause panic, and he assures her that he can be trusted.

Back at Lamentis-1, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) have made their way outside of the main city after realizing they were trapped in Episode 3, and are watching as the planet makes its way down and causes destruction.

Might I add, many MCU fans (myself included) were such clowns to believe that in this scene, the person sitting down was Natasha Romanoff when first seeing the trailer for this series. Nonetheless, the person here is actually Sylvie, and she and Loki sit down and watch as the planet throws down more rocks onto Lamentis-1.

Coming to terms with their fate, Sylvie tells Loki that she remembers Asgard but not very much. She tells him of her being born as the Goddess of Mischief, which was because of the universe wanting to break free, so it can manifest chaos. Sylvie explains for the Sacred Timeline, her being born caused a big detour for them and that’s when they showed up, erased her reality, and took her as a prisoner when she was a child.

Sylvie explains to Loki that after she was captured, she was able to escape from the TVA and steal a TemPad, but in escaping, as Sylvie explains, Everywhere and every-when I went, it caused a nexus event. Because of this, Sylvie put together that because of these nexus events, they occurred because she wasn’t supposed to exist. It wasn’t until she figured out that she could hide from the TVA in apocalypses that that’s where she grew up.

Back at the TVA, Mobius, Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), and some other TVA workers are watching the timeline. B-15 asks Mobius if there’s any news on Hunter C-20, but Mobius tells her that there is none. Clearly distressed, Hunter B-15 tells Mobius that they need to find both Loki and Sylvie.

At Lamentis-1, Loki and Sylvie continue to wait for the planet to come crashing down on them. As it gets worse, Sylvie asks Loki, Do you think that what makes a Loki a Loki is the fact that we’re destined to lose?  Disagreeing with this, Loki informs Sylvie that they may lose, sometimes painfully, but that they don’t die. Loki reminds Sylvie that in fact, she has survived. From when the TVA took her as a child and to her almost taking down the organization, she did all of that all on her own.

Telling her that she’s amazing, Sylvie reaches her hand forward and rests it on Loki’s arm. In a jump back to the TVA, Mobius and Hunter B-15 watch as the timeline spots something.

Over at Lametis-1 again, the planet finally crashes onto the moon, and both Sylvie and Loki hold hands. As the two connect with one another, this causes an unusual branch on the timeline that both Mobius and Hunter B-15 have never seen before. Figuring out their whereabouts, the TVA sends Sylvie and Loki time portals to escape through.

As they are arrested, Loki and Sylvie are separated into different Time Theaters. Mobius and Loki are reunited and Mobius shares that Loki has been a bad friend. In opening up another time portal, this one is very different as it glows red. Freaking out, Loki asks Mobius what it is, but Mobius doesn’t tell him and proceeds with having the guards throwing Loki in.

But in quickly asking everyone to wait, Loki informs Mobius that the TVA is lying to him. For a split second, Mobius doesn’t say anything, but thinking that he’s being lied to once again, Mobius finally has the agents throw him in.

Taken back to Asgard, we see Sif (Jaimie Alexander) holding up a piece of her hair that has been cut off and goes up to Loki and slaps him. Noting that they have sent him to some bad memory prison, Loki learns that it is one that’s on loop and Sif goes on to say the same things and repeatedly hits him.

Mobius is seen checking in with Judge Renslayer and informs her that Loki is in a Time Cell and while he stays there, he would like to interview Sylvie. Renslayer objects and tells Mobius to just focus on Loki and what caused the unusual nexus spike they all saw.

https://twitter.com/LokiOfficial/status/1410221582434418696?s=20

Mobius shares with Renslayer that he believes he can figure it all out faster if he can work with them together. Disagreeing again, Renslayer tells Mobius that Sylvie is too dangerous. Still trying to get a chance to see if he can speak with Sylvie, Renslayer cuts him off and informs him that nobody can speak with her.

Mobius explains one last time that he believes if there’s any mastermind present, it isn’t Loki. Can I just say again, the foreshadowing that this series shows is chilling and just mindblowing to the many theories that I have!

Leaving Judge Renslayer’s office, Mobius runs into Hunter B-15. She asks if Loki said anything to him when he was with him in the Time Theater, but Mobius tells her that the only thing he said was that the TVA is lying to them.

The Time Keepers are monitoring every aspect of this timeline. A new episode of Marvel Studios' #Loki is streaming tomorrow on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/l4BctJihVT

— Loki (@LokiOfficial) June 29, 2021

Back at Asgard, Loki asks Sif to stop and shares with him that he’s narcissistic and that he’s afraid of being alone. Sif tells him that he is alone and always will be. The loop of the Time Cell ends with Mobius walking in and asking Loki if he’s ready to talk.

Back in the Time Theater, Mobius asks about what he meant about the TVA lying to him and if he had been working for Sylvie. Loki tells him that he wasn’t an explains to him that it was a means to an end and that is how the real world is. Mobius pressures Loki to tell him what happened for the timeline to create a nexus event, but Loki creates a false story instead. In part of this lie, Loki informs Mobius that something big is about to happen and when it does, he’ll dispose of Sylvie. However, Mobius tells Loki that she has already been pruned.

Mobius too creates a lie to get Loki to talk, but Loki however, still puts on a facade and fakes that he doesn’t care what happens to Sylvie. Mobius can see past this and points out to Loki that he has feelings for Sylvie. Continuing to tease and provoke him, Loki then snaps and shouts at Mobius and tells him that he and everyone at the work at the TVA are Variants and that their memories were all erased.

Mobius still not believing Loki, sends him back to the Time Cell, but before he walks through, Loki tells Mobius that out of all the liars at the TVA, he is the biggest. Asking why he says this, Loki tells Mobius it’s because of the lies he tells himself, and this catches his attention.

With Hunter B-15, we then see her in a hallway outside of the Time Theater where Sylvie is being kept and is shown to be still in distress. Looking over at a TVA poster that reads, Did you get them all? Verify thorough deletion, Hunter B-15 then makes her way into the theater and asks Sylvie to follow her through a time portal she has opened with her TemPad.

Back in Judge Renslayer’s office, both she and Mobius are having a drink as they sign off the case that he has been investigating. Renslayer asks Mobius if there’s any place or any time he would like to go to. Mobius points out that he can go anywhere, anytime, but then asks her why she wouldn’t let him question Sylvie. Renslayer tells him that it’s because they couldn’t risk her escaping again but Mobius shares that she wouldn’t have done so. Deflecting his questions, Renslayer asks Mobius again as to where on the timeline he would go to. Mobius answers her that he likes where he currently is, with her, and doing the work that he does.

Judge Renslayer then informs Mobius that she has received word from the Tim-Keepers and that they themselves want to personally oversee the Variant’s (this could either be just Sylvie or maybe Loki as well, still trying to figure this one out) pruning with also having Mobius there too.

Mobius, noting that it’s about time, it’s clear to see that there is something else on his mind and this is shown with him asking Renslayer again more about what happened with Hunter C-20. Renslayer asks why he is still adamant to know more even after they have accomplished their mission in catching Sylvie. But Mobius explains that when he saw Hunter C-20, she was a bit freaked out, but other than that, she was fine.

Renslayer quickly answers Mobius’s question by saying that C-20 wasn’t fine and their conversation ends there. She asks Mobius why he’s asking all these questions but Mobius tells her that something seems off. Renslayer shares the “truth” with Mobius and explains to him that she’s just trying to protect him and that what happened with C-20 is something she doesn’t want happening to him.

Asking him if that was what he wanted to hear, Mobius says yes, but as long as it is the truth in what she’s telling him. Renslayer states that he’s been spending too much time with Lokis and that what they [the TVA] do matters. That the TVA is out there fighting for the fate of the Sacred Timeline but also their friendship, or as Renslayer puts it, Friends against time, allies to the end.

Wondering where she will put her trophy (Sylvie’s sword), Renslayer takes it to display on her bookshelf and Mobius uses this time to trade his TemPad with hers. Mobius then tells Renslayer that he’s tired and heads out.

Back in Alabama at the Roxxcart parking lot, Sylvie and Hunter B-15 step through their time portal, and B-15 shares that when she had been enchanted, she saw something. Asking as to what had been done to her, Sylvie explains that she showed her a life she once had before being a part of the TVA. Hunter B-15 still thinks that it’s just a trick and that she was created by the Time-Keepers, Sylvie explains to her that she can’t create memories, only that she can use what is already there. Sylvie also goes on to share with B-15 that the Time-Keepers took her life and everyone else’s and that the two of them are the same.

In wanting more proof, Hunter B-15 asks Sylvie to show her and is then enchanted once again. Overcome with emotion, B-15 sees that Sylvie is telling the truth and emotionally states that she had looked happy in her past life. Asking what they should do now, the show then jumps to Mobius in the TVA’s case library.

Now in possession of Judge Renslayer’s TemPad, Mobius goes through it and finds a video of Hunter C-20 being questioned. In the video, C-20 is seen being adamant that the memories she saw were real and that she’s a Variant. Before she can continue, the video shows Judge Renslayer coming into frame and stopping the video.

Now realizing that Loki was telling the truth, Mobis returns to the Time Cell he put Loki in and tells him that the nexus event that he and Sylvie had caused can bring down all of the TVA.

Asking if he can trust the word of two Lokis that the TVA is all a lie, Loki reassures Mobius that he can trust him because he’s a friend. Mobius then tells Loki that he was right from the beginning and that the TVA is behind some big scheme.

In planning to work together once again, Mobius tells Loki that he too needs to trust him, and Loki agrees. Before they head off to rescue Sylvie, Mobius shares with Loki, You can be whoever, whatever you want to be, even someone good. Don’t mind me, but I am full-on crying over here at the friendship between these two.

As they both exit the Time Cell, both Loki and Mobius are confronted with Judge Renslayer — who is holding Mobius’s TemPad — and a few other TVA agents. Mobius tries to explain that he had accidentally picked up her TemPad, and then asks her what is going on.

Your mid-week savior is here. A new episode of Marvel Studios' #Loki is now streaming on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/LNX196mbSM

— Loki (@LokiOfficial) June 30, 2021

Putting together that she doesn’t believe a word that he is saying, Mobius goes on to share with Renslayer his true answer to the question she had asked him in her office —that he would like to go wherever it is he’s really from and wherever he had a life before the TVA came along.

Before he can continue explaining that maybe he had a jet ski in this past life, Mobius is pruned by one of the TVA agents. Don’t mind me again, I’m just crying for the second time!

With Loki being escorted to the elevator, Judge Renslayer goes to check on Sylvie and realizes that she is soaked in water. Clearly meaning that she had escaped for a bit, Renslayer asks who was in the theater before she arrived. One TVA agent informs Renslayer that Hunter B-15 was, and Renslayer puts an alert on B-15 and explains that she has been “compromised” by Sylvie.

As they enter the elevator, the three of them, Judge Renslayer, Sylvie, and Loki make their way to meet with the Time-Keepers. Before they get there, Sylvie asks Renslayer if she remembers her, and Renslayer does.

In asking Renslayer what her nexus event was and that led her to be captured so young and then being brought to the TVA, Renslayer smirks and claims to not remember. As the elevator dings, Sylvie and Loki finally come face-to-face with the Time-Keepers.

In being brought to be killed, the Time-Keepers share with both Loki and Sylvie that they will be deleted. Wanting to say something else to them, Sylvie takes a step forward but before Judge Renslayer can use the Time Twister, Hunter B-15 emerges from the elevator and is seen using her own.

Throwing Sylvie her sword that Judge Renslayer took, both Sylvie and Loki fight off the TVA agents. Renslayer and Sylvie fight one another but with quick maneuvering, Sylvie is able to knock Renslayer out and Loki is able to take down the rest of the TVA agents.

As they turn to the Time-Keepers to discuss with them again, one of them explains to her that she too is a child of them. In not wanting to hear anymore, Sylvie throws her sword and cuts the head off of one of the Time-Keepers. As it rolls off, all the Time-Keepers power down, and the head that rolled off is discovered to be fake and is a mindless android.

Loki points out that all of what has been happening will never stop and questions who has created the TVA. Remembering his conversation with Mobius that the connection he and Sylvie had on Lamentis-1 caused the unusual nexus event and that it could bring down all of the TVA, Loki goes on to tell Sylvie this news.

As he holds her and tries to explain what their connection has caused, Loki is then pruned by Renslayer. Before she gets pruned herself, Sylvie takes down Renslayer again and demands her to tell her everything.

But before the episode ends, we’re finally given a post-credit scene and we see exactly where Loki ends up after getting pruned. Waking up in an unknown location and time, Loki asks if he’s in “Hel” and if he is dead. However, a voice tells him that he is not unless he goes with them. As Loki looks over to where the voice came from, he is met with other Loki variants.

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Ok, here are some things I noticed from this episode and gave me some light-bulb moments:

Now knowing the TVA is run by mindless androids, it makes sense as to why young Sylvie and Loki were made to walk through an android detector. In Episode 1, Loki had seen the marks on the side of the machine indicating that any android that had walked through was disintegrated. It makes sense as to why the TVA doesn’t want androids amongst them because they themselves are androids and the only ones who can sniff that out are other androids!

It’s also now obvious that Judge Renslayer is behind some scheme with whoever has created the Time-Keepers and with Mobius mentioning earlier in the episode that he doesn’t believe Loki is some mastermind behind all that has happened. So, it’s clear to see that it’s either she’s working with someone or it’s someone that she knows.

And here’s the final light-bulb moment that occurred to me within this episode, Remember in the first episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier where Sam was going off on a mission but then Bucky appears and the two of them have a conversation which brings Sam to mention “the big three?”

This “big three” mentioned aliens and wizards, but it also acknowledged “androids.” I don’t know about you, but I have been screaming for a while now and this has gotta mean something for Phase 4 of the MCU but in the meantime, like everyone else, I’m just going to anxiously wait for next week’s episode.

New episodes of Loki are available to watch every Wednesday on Disney+.