This whole time, nagging at the back of my head, I've wondered about the nature of pruning. If it was something that could be done so easily with the batons the hunters carry, why don't they just prune everyone right way? Why all of the bureaucracy?
And then Mobius was "pruned." No way we've seen the last of Owen Wilson.
But then Loki was "pruned," too.
Of course the star of the show wasn't actually dead and the show didn't try to make use wait a week until reveal he was actually still alive (I'll get to that scene later). However, it does raise the question of what exactly is pruning and whether it was consistently portrayed throughout the series. Has every instance we seen thus far, from the mouthy inmate Loki saw at the beginning of the series to Mobius been actual instances of people being completely removed from existence? Or have they all been sent somewhere or somewhen else? Or was Loki's "pruning" an isolated incident? If so, why this time (aside from avoiding killing off the lead character) and did Ravonna deliberately cause that isolated incident? Or did the variant Lokis intervene in some manner? I'm probably waaay overthinking this, but like I said before, it's something that's been nagging at me this whole time.
Unsurprisingly, the Time Keepers, at least as presented at the TVA by Ravonna, are all a façade. Merely a wizard's trick. But who is actually behind the curtain? I don't think it's simply Ravonna herself but she is in on it. I also think the Time Keepers did actually exist at some point but no longer do for whatever reason, or maybe they weren't ever as grand and powerful as the TVA have built them up to be.
I found it odd that the opening flashback showed young Sylvie just happily playing with her toys, seemingly minding her own business, when the TVA popped up to arrest her and accuse her of crimes against the "sacred timeline." Was she arrested for something she had already done and they took their, er, time to show up or did they show up to prevent her from causing a Nexus Event? I was relieved to see later on in the elevator that even Sylvie doesn't know the exact nature of the Nexus Event she supposedly caused. I'm not saying it was something that the TVA fabricated but there is definitely something highly dubious about the nature of that situation, further evidenced by Ravonna's evasion about it ("I don't remember").
Now getting back to the mid-credits scene: Wow, how about that for a reveal?! I actually forgot for a moment that Richard E. Grant was going to show up at some point and I'm absolutely thrilled that my previous speculation that he would be playing another Loki variant was correct. But I didn't expect him to play a version with the early comics costume! I love it! I cannot wait to watch him chew the scenery with Tom Hiddleston! As for the other three variants with him, I have no idea what's going on there (especially the baby crocodile/alligator) so I'm curious to know if they also have any comic connections.
Lastly, the biggest surprise of the whole episode wasn't that scene. It was, of course, the long-awaited return of Jaimie Alexander as Sif! We already knew she was returning in Love and Thunder but it was awesome to see her show up in a bad memory time loop used to punish Loki. Perfection!
And then Mobius was "pruned." No way we've seen the last of Owen Wilson.
But then Loki was "pruned," too.
Of course the star of the show wasn't actually dead and the show didn't try to make use wait a week until reveal he was actually still alive (I'll get to that scene later). However, it does raise the question of what exactly is pruning and whether it was consistently portrayed throughout the series. Has every instance we seen thus far, from the mouthy inmate Loki saw at the beginning of the series to Mobius been actual instances of people being completely removed from existence? Or have they all been sent somewhere or somewhen else? Or was Loki's "pruning" an isolated incident? If so, why this time (aside from avoiding killing off the lead character) and did Ravonna deliberately cause that isolated incident? Or did the variant Lokis intervene in some manner? I'm probably waaay overthinking this, but like I said before, it's something that's been nagging at me this whole time.
Unsurprisingly, the Time Keepers, at least as presented at the TVA by Ravonna, are all a façade. Merely a wizard's trick. But who is actually behind the curtain? I don't think it's simply Ravonna herself but she is in on it. I also think the Time Keepers did actually exist at some point but no longer do for whatever reason, or maybe they weren't ever as grand and powerful as the TVA have built them up to be.
I found it odd that the opening flashback showed young Sylvie just happily playing with her toys, seemingly minding her own business, when the TVA popped up to arrest her and accuse her of crimes against the "sacred timeline." Was she arrested for something she had already done and they took their, er, time to show up or did they show up to prevent her from causing a Nexus Event? I was relieved to see later on in the elevator that even Sylvie doesn't know the exact nature of the Nexus Event she supposedly caused. I'm not saying it was something that the TVA fabricated but there is definitely something highly dubious about the nature of that situation, further evidenced by Ravonna's evasion about it ("I don't remember").
Now getting back to the mid-credits scene: Wow, how about that for a reveal?! I actually forgot for a moment that Richard E. Grant was going to show up at some point and I'm absolutely thrilled that my previous speculation that he would be playing another Loki variant was correct. But I didn't expect him to play a version with the early comics costume! I love it! I cannot wait to watch him chew the scenery with Tom Hiddleston! As for the other three variants with him, I have no idea what's going on there (especially the baby crocodile/alligator) so I'm curious to know if they also have any comic connections.
Lastly, the biggest surprise of the whole episode wasn't that scene. It was, of course, the long-awaited return of Jaimie Alexander as Sif! We already knew she was returning in Love and Thunder but it was awesome to see her show up in a bad memory time loop used to punish Loki. Perfection!
