Loki season 2 episode 2 recap and Easter eggs: A big reunion and more chaos at the TVA

Loki
(Image credit: Marvel)

Loki season 2 is now in full swing as the God of Mischief deals with the huge ramifications of that confrontation at the End of Time. Branching timelines and a missing Sylvie mean Loki is on a mission in episode 2, as he heads into the past to try and find her. We get some pretty big revelations in the latest outing, too, as well as some moral grayness and more time-bending confusion. 

So to help you make sense of it all, we've put together Loki season 2 episode 2 recap in full below, including all of the Easter eggs we spotted. Of course, before we go any further, we'll be getting into big spoiler territory from here on out. So make sure you're up to date on the Disney Plus spin-off before reading on.

Meet Brad Wolfe

Loki

(Image credit: Marvel)

The second episode kicks off in 1977 London as Loki and Mobius go undercover in their hunt for Sylvie. They wind up at a film premiere for The Zaniac! starring Brad Wolfe, who looks pretty familiar… It turns out it's X-5 (Rafael Casal), who was one of the timekeepers introduced at the beginning of season 2. He's been living it up on the Sacred Timeline after he got distracted by fame while looking for Sylvie.

After Loki and Mobius find him, they haul him back to the TVA headquarters for an interrogation to try and work out what he knows about the missing Loki variant. X-5/Brad is holding firm though, as he seems desperate to get back to his life in the spotlight. After an electric sequence between the God of Mischief and the timekeeper doesn't yield any results, Loki turns to more creative methods. 

Cue a heart-to-heart with Mobius over some Key lime pie and discussions of what his real life on the Sacred Timeline might have been, before the pair come up with a new plan. This time, they're going to play good cop, bad cop as Loki effectively tortures X-5 into telling the truth. Placing him in a box that he keeps making smaller, he quizzes him on what he knows about Sylvie until he finally reveals where, and most importantly when, she is.

Overdue reunions

Loki and Sylvie in Loki season 2

(Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)

Cut to 1982, Broxton, Oklahoma (the location of episode one's post-credits scene). Loki, Mobius, and Brad all head to find Sylvie where she's now working in McDonald's. It's a fraught reunion as she's none too pleased to see Loki turn up after the events with He Who Remains, and she's especially not happy when she finds out he's there on TVA business. His pleas for her to help him stop the agency from pruning all the branching timelines fall mostly on deaf ears, even though she's currently set up her life on one of them.

Meanwhile, Mobius and X-5 are enjoying a fast food lunch (AKA product placement central) while the latter starts looking very nervous. It turns out X-5 has been hiding his knowledge of a major plan that the TVA is currently enacting. They're bombing every Branched Timeline, pruning and killing everyone on them. After learning this, Loki and Sylvie reluctantly team up to stop Kate Dickie's Agent Dox in her tracks. While the pair use a neat magic trick, it seems they're too late and the damage has largely been done.

Back at the TVA

Loki season 2

(Image credit: Marvel)

Earlier in the episode, O.B. shared that he's lost control of the Temporal Loom, and has no way of fixing it. The key to that is tracking Renslayer as she's with Miss Minutes, who he'll need to be able to override what's been going on. In the last few minutes of the episode, they get a hit on Renslayer's TemPad, which could be the key to finding the dastardly duo.

Meanwhile, this isn't the only chaos happening at the intergalactic agency. After only managing to slightly halt the TVA's plans, Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie return to find the timelines being extinguished. It's a harrowing moment, and one Sylvie doesn't plan on sticking around to see out, despite Loki's heartbreaking reminder that every time she leaves, it makes it "harder to stay" for him.

The final moments of the episode see Sylvie back in Broxton, Oklahoma, where luckily her timeline is still intact. She's seen holding something that appears to be a glowing stone, but is actually part of He Who Remains' bangle. Very interesting indeed…

Loki season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs

  • Sylvie is holding He Who Remains' time bangle at the end of the episode, which he used as a TemPad. It's exceptionally powerful and allowed him to teleport. She must have stolen this from him after killing him.
  • Zaniac will be a name familiar to fans of the Thor comics. He was an entity of parasitic and demonic beings from the Dark Dimension sent to Earth in the 19th Century. Yikes…
  • Sylvie's McDonald's uniform is actually era-appropriate for the fast food chain, which is a neat little nod.

For more on Loki season 2, check out our guides to:

Fay Watson
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I've also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.