Glorious Purpose: Marvel’s Loki Season 2 Finale Review

Last week, “Science/Fiction” set up for a riveting last story arc. With the stakes raised, Loki learned how to control his new ability and he found his way back to a vital moment to save his friends.

Now season 2 of Marvel’s Loki is ready to deliver its finale. From time travel and centuries of math to magic and, of course, a little mischief, “Glorious Purpose,” the series’ sixth and final episode, shows us just how far Asgard’s wayward prince has come.

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Replay, Replay

Loki immediately sets to work stopping the Temporal Loom’s meltdown. After an unsuccessful attempt, he asks O.B. what they could have done differently. O.B replies that they need to work faster. So Loki time slips over and over and over, modifying little details here and there to hasten their team’s progress. He even slips back to different moments on that crucial day to see if that will work.

Ultimately, Loki still fails. Out of options, he spends literal centuries learning the same amount of science, engineering, and metaphysics that O.B. and Casey have learned. Thankfully, we don’t see these centuries of studying play out. But we are acutely aware that Loki is essentially stuck in a time loop of his own making. And in this time loop, he continues to watch everything he loves get ripped away. That has to hurt.

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Loki is a total champ, however. He applies himself with devotion and optimism to this cause. After all, the fate of the entire Multiverse — as well as the lives of Mobius, Sylvie, Casey, B-15, Victor Timely, and O.B. — are all in his hands. No pressure. No pressure, that is, but lots of problems. After what should have been a success, the Temporal Loom melts down once more. Victor realizes it’s a “scaling problem” — the Loom can’t expand for the infinite branches.

Thus, Loki has to go back to He Who Remains. He has to stop Sylvie from killing him so that the Loom never malfunctions. Except, to do that, Loki has to kill Sylvie. He can’t beat her in a fight or talk her down. This isn’t a re-do of the season 1 finale. Loki knows what he has to do, but he still can’t do it.

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Talk That Talk

That doesn’t make it any easier. Loki travels to his showdown with Sylvie multiple times in an overlapping montage of swordplay and death. Never Sylvie’s death, though. At some point, Loki attempts to reason with He Who Remains. We learn that Loki has also learned how to pause and manipulate time as he freezes Sylvie. While it builds up an impressive resume for our God of Mischief, it doesn’t help him in the end.

He Who Remains puts it simply: Make the impossible choice, save the Multiverse. Loki jumps back to a moment with Sylvie to tell her. She refuses to give her blessing, as is well within her right. Loki says his farewells and then jumps again. Unfortunately, we all assume the worst.

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Glorious Purpose

We’ve all watched Loki grow so much from that bratty, genocidal maniac in the first Avengers film. He’s more confident yet more humble, so much kinder, and, well, a hero. Going back to the Temporal Loom one final time, Loki goes behind the blast doors all by himself, no suit. As he pushes against the radiation, he uses his magic to shield and transform himself.

Finally, finally, we get to see Loki back in costume. But it’s not the gaudy gold of a would-be king. This is the dark green, almost funerary garb of a god who knows he is about to commit the ultimate sacrifice. Taking the shriveled and blackening timelines, Loki saves them through a bit of fancy spell work. Then he drags them all to a small throne at the Citadel at the End of Time, binding them to his arms and back. And there he waits.

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The Binding of Loki

This is reminiscent of Norse myth, though not nearly so brutal. This is more like Loki living within Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. But it also looks like Loki’s prison. In Norse myth, as punishment for killing Baldur, Loki lies in a cave bound by his own son’s entrails while a snake drips venom into his eyes. He must remain here, isolated save for his wife Sigyn, until Ragnarok. In the MCU, we suppose that means until the end of this canon. But since the TVA exists outside the normal 616 timeline, it could be eternity.

Honestly, it’s pretty sad to see a character, who has worked so hard to redeem himself, play the martyr and lose all his found family. But the team survives, and it seems Loki finds comfort in that despite his loneliness. That has to be some small comfort to us, as well.

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As Time Goes By

In typical finale fashion, we fade to black and get an “After” title card. So, where are they now? Ravonna is stuck in the Void, seemingly facing Alioth. O.B. opens a fresh box of updated TVA manuals. Timely is a child once more, uninterrupted in Chicago. Casey recreates a non-homicidal Miss Minutes. B-15 restructures the TVA to be far more communal and communicative. Sylvie is off on her next adventure. And Mobius is watching his stolen life from afar, simply letting time pass as he reflects on what was, as well as what could have been.

Our last shot is of Loki himself, tears in his eyes but a determined smile on his face in his isolated, self-made kingdom.

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The sixth and final episode of Loki closed a chapter for a beloved Marvel character and series. What do you think is next for Loki, Sylvie, and the TVA?

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