Mobius and B-15’s reality is turned on its head when they speak to the Loki Variants.

Spoilers Below

Loki Season One Episode Four, ” The Nexus Event,” directed by Kate Herron, turns the television show upside down. Mobius and the rest of the TVA desperately try to find Loki and Sylvie on the “sacred timeline.” Their possible romantic connection triggers a nexus event on Lamentis 1 right before the moon explodes. The TVA rescues Sylvie and Loki but locks them up. Right before the Time-Keepers prune the two prisoners, Loki tells Mobius the truth. All TVA employees are Variants who the Time-Keepers kidnap and then wipe their memories to keep them in line. B-15 sneaks into Sylvie’s cell to confirm that the memories of Earth she experienced under her control were real. The TVA stomps out Mobius and B-15 the minute they learn the truth and try to act.

The deaths in “The Nexus Event” are explosive for the viewers. When Agent Mobius frees Loki after learning that he is a Variant and that the TVA pruned C-20 for discovering the truth, Judge Renslayer prunes him.  Mobius has been Loki’s partner for the entire first season. He is not just a TVA drone to the audience but an engaging character. Mobius dreams of jet skiing; he’s a radical thinker for a TVA agent and always considers a couple of steps ahead of his targets. I question the creative logic of killing of fully developed character like Mobious within the first season when there is so much potential for storylines that could be created around him. The writers just got rid of one of the few fully developed characters that the audience cares about. Mobius is a great partner for Loki with his positivity and therapeutic skills. Until the mid-credit scene, it seemed like the writers were also murdering the main character.

When Renslayer pruned Loki mid-conversation with Sylvie, it personally left me reeling. How could they kill Loki? Is that why “Lamentis” spent a lot of time developing Slyvie’s personality and some of her backstory? Will the second season be called Sylvie? I’m watching the miniseries for God of Mischief whose been in a bunch of the MCU films. Loki has always been a fascinating villain since he loves his family but struggles with a selfish desire to be the center of attention or in power. He’s the cunning funny, magical god.

On top of that, Loki’s the perfect foil for his brother Thor who battles with brawn and heart. Then the mid-credit scene reveals that Loki is still alive.  He lays down in the snow with three bearded men looming over him. Does that mean Variants don’t immediately perish when they’re pruned? Did these strangers somehow pull Loki into another dimension before the TVA erased him from existence?

Until now, TVA employees like Mobius have been blinded by faith. The whole apparatus of TVA only works since the agents, hunters, and judges believe in the “sacred timeline” concept. The faith-based thinking of the agency makes sense with them using a word with religious connotations like “sacred.”  The minute something is questioned, everything falls apart. After asking Renslayer how C-20 went downhill so fast, Mobius steals the judge’s smart tablet to figure out how the Hunter died and if Loki is telling the truth. The tablet contains a video where C-20 talks about how she and all other TVA agents are from Earth. The Time-Keepers stole her happy, whole life. Renslayer ends the interrogation before the Hunter says anything else. The video implies that the judge murdered C-20. All the TVA’s greetings like “For All Time” sound even more Nazi-esque after learning the truth. Especially after the first scene when younger Hunter Rensalyer arrests child Sylvie whose playing with her toys on Asgard. The Hunter takes her to the TVA to be pruned. TVA agents dehumanize their prisoners by calling them “Variants” or ” Lokis.” The viewer can see Mobius awakening from the propaganda when he calls Sylvie by her actual name instead of “the Variant.”

The Time-Keepers are not what they seem, leaving more questions to answer. Toward the end of ” The Nexus Event,” Loki and Sylvie beat up all the TVA agents in the Time-Keepers lair. Sylvie boomerangs one of the Time-Keeper’s heads off, revealing they are all robots. The robots remind me of the giant head in Wizard of OZ operated by the man behind the curtain. The Time-Keepers have been programmed by some other force whose speaking through them. This discovery drives Sylvie’s crazy since there is no visible curtain with anybody hiding behind to kill. Her mission is not over. However, Renslayer doesn’t seem shocked by this discovery and is the one who usually talks to the Time-Keepers alone. Is Renslayer the real head of the TVA? Or does she take orders for an even more powerful being? Who created the TVA? Were the Time-Keepers ever real? Is the “sacred timeline” something that needs to be and is being maintained? Or is the timeline just an excuse to murder unwanted “Variants”?

Make sure to watch all of the credits. Watch Loki Season One on Disney Plus!