Loki is in a cosmic garbage dump, all of them?
That’s where this week’s episode spends much of its time, as it sets up the finale. It’s an episode where it argues a bad guy can change, or just enough. Loki and his Variants can, if they get past a very angry smoke monster.

SPOILERS BELOW

The Mischief of Loken (the plural of Loki) dominate the show, as they talk about how they got to the Void, a dumping ground for discarded timelines. Kid Loki (Jack Veal) got there when he killed Thor. Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant) just left the scene until the TVA got him. Gator Loki must have tried to make Spider-Ham his lunch.
It seems the Void is at the end of time, and the Time-Keepers or someone are trying to come up with a proper ending. At least that’s what Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is claiming to Sylvie (Sophia DiMartino) back at the TVA. Whether they can trust each other is another matter.
More on that later.

Of all the Loken in this episode, Classic Loki (as created in the comic Journey Into Mystery, just like Ant-Man mentioned Tales to Astonish) is the best. Grant plays him like a noble deposed King, wondering what his glorious purpose ever was. He did cross paths with Thanos, but decided to leave rather than fight him. He wound up on a deserted planet until the TVA got him. Was he meant to fight Thanos rather than trick him?
Jack Veal as Kid Loki was pretty good, too. He and Gator Loki would make a pretty good animated series. Boastful Loki (Deobia Oparei) was funny, especially how he did not beat Captain America and Iron Man to get the Infinity Stones.
In any case, the Loken have basically gotten used to the Void, running away from the smoke monster Alioth and hiding in an underground bowling alley. Our Loki, though, wants to find a way out of there and bring down the TVA.

Meanwhile, Renslayer tries to reason with Sylvie over finding a way to bring back Loki, and who’s really in charge. It’s not long before it’s clear Renslayer just wants to maintain the status quo, or she could find herself in another Void. She also wants to know how the TVA started, but not necessarily tell anyone else. That’s why she agrees to help Sylvie just before she betrays her to the Minutemen. Sylvie gets the message and prunes herself, hoping she’ll get to where Loki wound up.

Back at the Void, it turns out there are lots of Loken, including President Loki (who’s been featured in the credits). It’s a trip seeing Loki meet his Presidential self, even though he’s not that good at politics (but better than a couple of obvious examples). After a very amusing fight, Classic and Kid Loken finally agree with Loki they have to get out somehow.

Sylvie does get to the Void…and too close to Alioth. She manages to make a connection to it, but seems to be its snack.
Then, naturally, Mobius comes to the rescue in a pizza car. They soon meet the other Loken, and she thinks they’ve got to enchant Alioth so maybe it can tell them who created it, the Void and everything else. She thinks the monster’s a guard dog, keeping everyone else off its creator’s lawn.

This is followed by an extended scene between Loki and Sylvie which seems a bit too romantic. Some people think this is cute, but is this right? Besides, could they stay in the same timeline? Still, have them give each other a blanket is good.
Here, Loki even admits he’ll try to be a better person from now on, starting with defeating Alioth. If he does, though, does that go against his true destiny? Is there a chance that if he beats the TVA, he’ll wind up being reset, and he’s back to being the annoying prankster? There has to be a reason for this show, and it shouldn’t do that. At the very least, Loki should wind up being somewhat better than US Agent.

As for Renslayer, she’s still worried about Sylvie. So, she turns to Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), who’s been in a cell all this time. B-15 says Sylvie wants revenge because she needs it. After all, it was Renslayer who arrested her for possibly being born. There’s still a hint Renslayer may have started all of this because arresting Sylvie was a mistake. Renslayer also wants the files on how the TVA started, only for her. Again, she’s the status quo and if it goes so does she. It’s not as if she existed before the TVA, right?

The Loken finally battle Alioth, with Loki using Kid Loki’s Flaming Dagger to distract it while Sylvie tries to enchant it. Classic Loki seems to be reluctant to fight, but he later causes massive illusions to fool the monster. It’s an impressive moment which costs him his existence…unless he’s been sent somewhere else.

Mobius also leaves, but shares a hug with Loki. It should be interesting how he’ll clash with Renslayer when he gets back to the TVA. It’ll seem she’ll have the advantage as Protector of the Status Quo, unless there’s something we don’t know about him.

As for Loki and Sylvie, they do enchant Alioth, and get a clear path to the Void’s version of the Emerald City. So they’re off to see someone who isn’t a wizard, but is the reason for everything.
Or maybe it’s not.

This episode isn’t as strong as the penultimate episodes of WandaVision or Falcon/Winter Soldier, but it was still entertaining seeing several versions of a bad guy actually make an effort to atone. Whether this will hold for the Loki we know, it’s still uncertain.
Besides, there’s still all those Nexus timelines Sylvie made. Have they been erased, or will they reset the Sacred Timeline?
All that’s left is who started it all and why.
Gee, this would have been a perfect time for a Stan Lee cameo.

The season finale of Loki airs on July 14th on Disney Plus.