With Loki season 2, episode 5 dropping in just a few hours, Marvel has released a tantalizing new clip from the next chapter of Loki’s story.
People Magazine unveiled the clip (sorry, there’s no YouTube link—you’ll have to click through), which shows the full context of one of the most intriguing moments from the Loki season 2 trailers. In the clip, Loki time slips into one of the chronobays at the Time Variance Authority. He sees himself a few feet away, reading the TVA handbook. Loki calls out to his other self, and then time slips again before the two of them can make contact.
When Loki reappears, he’s not far off, and he heads back to the chronobay. There, he finds a TVA handbook at an abandoned work station, and starts to flip through it. We see his previous self approaching and disappearing after he calls out. The current Loki looks up, seemingly realizing that he’s now on the other end of that time loop, and calls back, even though no one’s there.
What’s especially eerie about the clip is that Loki is completely alone in the TVA. Although an automated voice announces that “failsafe” mode has been activated, there are no TVA personnel left. All his friends are gone.
The clip raises a lot of questions. Where is everyone? Why is Loki there? Why is he time slipping again, and does the condition have something to do with how he survived the explosion of the Temporal Loom?
Finally, Loki gets the spotlight
Loki season 2 has felt pretty cluttered so far, with the individual storylines of a growing cast each vying for attention. However, this new clip from episode 5 hints that viewers may get to see more of one of the show’s strongest elements: Loki himself.
There are a few possible directions the plot could go in these next two episodes. If episodes 5 and 6 zero in on Loki’s character, as he travels through time trying to prevent Kang’s multiversal war, then the season will be stronger for it. And if he’s given some breathing room in which to strengthen his bonds with Mobius, Sylvie, and the other members of his found family? All the better.
(featured image: Disney+)
