What is Sylvie holding at the end of Loki season 2 episode 2? Director Dan DeLeeuw explains

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EXCLUSIVE: Loki season 2 director Dan DeLeeuw breaks down Sylvie's motives following episode 2's final moment

Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie in Loki season 2
(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Loki season 2 episode 2. If you've yet to tune in and don't want to know anything that happens, turn back now!

Now that Loki's time-slipping has stopped thanks to Mobius and O.B., the God of Mischief finds himself on a new mission in Loki season 2 episode 2: catching up to Sylvie before the TVA does. 

Their reunion, which takes place in a McDonald's no less, sees the Loki variant insist that she's happy in her new life in Broxton, Oklahoma, 1987. Though a blink-and-you'll miss it moment right at the end of the episode suggests that might not be entirely true...

In the final few seconds, Sylvie's colleague Jack meekly asks her whether she'll be in tomorrow, to which she assures him she will. As he walks off, the camera pans into Sylvie sitting on the hood of her truck, and it becomes clear she's fiddling with something in her fingers. Well, turns out said something is He Who Remain's time-twisting bangle, which is essentially a super powerful device that combines the qualities of a TemPad and a Time Twister. In Loki lore, a TemPad allows its user to create timeline-crossing Portal Doors, while a Time Twister grants the ability to teleport. The latter is often used by the TVA in conjunction with a special necklace called a Time Collar to restrain captives when necessary.

"She's still a Loki. If she's got the keys to the universe, the keys to the multiverse, she's not gonna give that up," director Dan DeLeeuw explains to GamesRadar+. "I think she truly was happy on the timeline; I don't know how much manipulation has been going on behind the scenes, but... yeah...

Dan DeLeeuw directing Tom Hiddleston on the set of Loki season 2

(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

"I think she always suspected this might come back, and I think that ties in with a lot of the reaction to Loki in the McDonald's as well. She knew she was on borrowed time, I think, and kept it because she knew, eventually, Loki would show or some other Loki would show up, some other variant of He Who Remains or something like that, that she'd have to ultimately deal with."

"So basically, it's meant to be a futuristic version of the TVA tech," season 1 director Kate Herron previously explained to The Hollywood Reporter, when asked about He Who Remain's eye-catching jewelry. "So that was the fun idea of it. When He Who Remains tells his story about his other variants meeting, you see bits of the TVA technology. So our idea was that it does both things. 

"With the TVA technology, you see that the Time Twister hooks into the TemPad, but it's these two separate, clunky things. But whereas with He Who Remains, he has more advanced technology than the TVA So it has both functions, basically, which we see him use. The difference is that he's in control of the twist; it's twisting him. Whereas when we see the TVA use the Time Twister, it's with a Time Collar as they're controlling a prisoner."

Loki season 2 episode 2 is streaming now on Disney Plus. Hear more from our interview with Dan DeLeeuw on the latest episode of the Inside Total Film podcast. For more on the show, check out our spoilery deep-dives on:

Amy West
Amy West

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.