The biggest mystery in episode 3 of Marvel’s ‘Loki’ might already be solved
The third Loki episode brought us closer to answering the biggest question surrounding the Time Variance Authority (TVA). In the process, it delivered a great revelation about the organization in the best possible way. We knew going into the newest MCU TV series that the TVA would capture Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after he had escaped his predetermined fate in Avengers: Endgame. The trailers were quite clear that Loki is a prisoner, and that he would end up working for the TVA before ultimately turning against the organization.
Episode 3’s big reveal came unexpectedly, and you might miss it if you don’t pay attention to everything that happens in the episode. Without spoiling too much of it yet, I can tell you that episode 3 is dedicated to ample character development, giving us a great new dynamic to explore. Loki gets to interact with a different Loki variant during a life-threatening mission. It doesn’t have a post-credits scene, but episode 3 does have a significant cliffhanger that we’ll have to wait another week to see resolved.
That being said, the biggest mystery from the episode might already be solved. Mind you, I’m about to start spoiling Loki episode 3 so stop reading now if you haven’t already watched it.
Episode 3 picked up right where episode 2 left off, confirming that the other Loki planned to single-handedly invade the TVA and quite possibly take down the Time-Keepers. Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) might have gotten away with everything if it wasn’t for Loki’s mischief. That’s how they ended up on that cataclysmic planet, Lamentis, which is about to be destroyed.
Loki discovered in episode 2 that Sylvie was hiding in plain sight, choosing cataclysmic events to disguise her impact on the timeline. An unusual loophole allows a variant to live inside those cataclysms without triggering any warnings because no new branches of time are created. The TVA would not be able to detect any timeline anomalies that need fixing. That’s because everything you do as a variant before a cataclysmic event doesn’t matter. That place in time is destroyed soon after you alter it, so there’s no chance for the timeline to branch off. Cataclysms act as natural Reset Charges, if you will.
