The new "Loki" series on Disney Plus starring
Tom Hiddleston is setting out to explore where the God of Mischief disappeared to when he
grabbed the Tesseract during "Avengers: Endgame." Scratching your head after the show's premiere
episode? Here's the end of "Loki," episode one, explained. From the jump, "Loki" is making something
very clear: This will be an in-depth dive into what makes the God of Mischief tick. This is the version of the character who was
apprehended just after the events of "The Avengers," after all, so he hasn't had the
huge redemption arc through "Thor: The Dark World," "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Avengers: Infinity
War." "It's been a very long day, and I think I've
had my fill of idiots in armored suits telling me what to do." So, when the Time Variance Authority picks
Loki up in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, he's not exactly cooperative. Which makes it pretty fun when one of the
Hunters knocks him out in slow-motion, before resetting the timeline with a device called
a reset charge and carting him off to the TVA's headquarters. When Loki arrives at the TVA's offices, he's
constantly trying to fight them off and escape. His selfish, manipulative nature bleeds through
every single conversation he has, no matter who he's speaking to. And later, when the judge is sentencing Loki
for his crimes against the timeline, he's still trying to worm his way out of the situation
and pass the blame on to someone else. It's classic Loki. But the TVA refers to him as "Variant L1130,"
because it's important to remember that the series isn't following the main version of
Loki, the one who was killed by Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War." When the Hunters used their reset charge in
Mongolia, they closed the new timeline branch Loki created when he escaped with the Tesseract. However, it's not entirely clear just how
far the effects of reset charge go. As the judge tells Loki during his "trial,"
the Avengers were supposed to go back in time to retrieve the Infinity Stones. So just how far back did this particular repair
of the timeline go? Regardless of the overall effects of the reset
charge, thanks to the intervention of Agent Mobius, this mischievous Loki variant is allowed
to live, at least for now. Owen Wilson is a breath of fresh air in the
MCU as Agent Mobius. He's a welcome addition here as his laidback,
casual nature helps the weirder elements of the series go down a little easier. "Loki" introduces Mobius as he's in the middle
of hunting a particularly violent variant in France in 1549, although the writers are
careful not to mention exactly who this variant is. Although the bureaucratic nature of the TVA
might make its employees seem a little cold, Mobius clearly has a softer side, which we
see when he tries to get more information from the French child about what happened
in the church and who killed the Hunters. The kid ominously points towards a stained-glass
window depicting the devil, and who else is well-known for wearing a set of horns in the
MCU? You guessed it. Anyway, as entertaining as he is, Mobius has
a crucial role in the show. He's smoothing over any questions that Loki
(or the viewer) might have about the TVA and what they do. He's also the stepping stone to understanding
Loki on a psychological level, as he does a masterful job of getting under his skin
in one of the best scenes in the episode. When Mobius takes Loki into a room called
the "Time Theater," the pair rewatch some of the key moments in the God of Mischief's
life. This includes a brilliant scene where Loki
is revealed to have been D.B. Cooper, the real-life man responsible for
hijacking a plane in the 1970s for a $200,000 ransom before seemingly disappearing. The answer to this bizarre historical mystery? Heimdall pulled Loki out of the sky using
the Bifrost. Yes, that's hilarious, but it's only to catch
audiences off guard as the conversation takes a much deeper turn and puts Loki's lifelong
motivations under the microscope -- specifically, his desire to rule. Why is Loki like this? Why does he want to rule Midgard, the Nine
Realms, and Asgard itself? The former prince is forced to take a long,
hard look at himself and the ramifications of his actions, even reckoning with the fact
that he's destined to get his own mother killed by sending the Dark Elves up a specific set
of stairs in "Thor: The Dark World." But it all boils down to one question: "Do you enjoy hurting people?" It's only after Loki later realizes the inconsequential
nature of the Infinity Stones within the TVA that he's completely honest with who he really
is. By watching his own life, and his brutal death
at the hands of Thanos, play out in the Time Theater, he finally embraces the truth. Loki's violence is a "cruel elaborate trick"
to make himself seem like a terrifying person so people will fear him, even though he himself
thinks he's weak. Oh Loki, you just saved yourself a very expensive
therapist's bill. After Loki's personal growth session, Mobius
reveals the real reason that he's trying to work with him: There's another variant of
Loki running around the timeline, killing the TVA's Hunters and generally causing chaos. What's the best way of tracking down a vicious
variant of Loki? Use another variant to get a better insight
into the way the God of Mischief thinks and why he constantly engages in this level of
violence. The thoughtful conversation Mobius and Loki
had will no doubt come in handy when they eventually confront this alternate version
of the Asgardian, if that even is the identity of the violent variant. "Loki" Episode 1 then quickly cuts to Salina,
Oklahoma, in 1859, where a group of Hunters go searching for someone who's messed with
the timeline and is trying to get rich by drilling for oil in the past. Oh, if only that was the case. A hooded figure is revealed to be waiting
for the squad, setting them on fire with the oil in the field in a brutal moment. This could be the same hooded figure who's
briefly seen in the "Loki" trailers, the one many people are expecting to be revealed as
Lady Loki, since actress Sophia Di Martino has long-been rumored to be playing the character. In the Marvel comics, Loki has taken the form
of a woman from time to time, but it's typically been just another form for the same character. If the variant the TVA is hunting does turn
out to be Lady Loki, it'll be interesting to see how the timeline diverged in a way
to create her, how she escaped, and what she wants. But we'll just have to wait a week to find
out more. Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Looper videos about Loki are
coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the
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