‘Loki’ Recap: Season 1, Episode 4 “The Nexus Event”

Kaity
Kaity - Co-Director
13 Min Read
Marvel Studios

Last week, Loki and Sylvie were stranded on Lamentis-1 moments before its complete destruction, and Loki learned an unsettling fact about the TVA — the employees are formally apprehended Variants.

So, Sylvie has always been the Variant that got away. The history between Renslayer and Sylvie is revealed as a young Sylvie escapes after her arrest on Asgard by Renslayer, just a Minuteman at that point in time. Before her case, Sylvie escaped using Renslayer’s TemPad she swiped from her pocket.

Now, Renslayer must answer to the Time-Keepers about the mess two Lokis have made of the timeline.

After her meeting, Renslayer meets Mobius outside the golden elevators. She tells him that the Time-Keepers blame her for Sylvie almost making it to them. She reminds him that the Time-Keepers are all that stands between the Sacred Timeline and full-scale calamity.

Mobius requests access to Hunter C-20, the rescued Minuteman Sylvie had enchanted, but Renslayer tells him that she’s dead. Her mind had been scrambled too much by Sylvie. Mobius recalls her being fine when they brought her in, but Renslayer informs him of her steep decline after being brought home. Nobody else knows either, and it must remain a secret.

Lamentis-1 is moments away from destruction, and Loki and Sylvie have accepted their fates as well as a Loki can. Sylvie tells Loki that her being born the Goddess of Mischief was enough to set off a nexus event that needed correction.

The universe wants to break free, so it manifests chaos.”

Sylvie

She details how for years she hid in apocalypses with her stolen TemPad. She grew up in the ends of thousands of worlds. Now, she’ll die in one, too.

The TVA is on the hunt for a branching of the timeline in an attempt to find Sylvie and Loki, a visibly shaken Hunter B-15, and Mobius keeping a watchful eye. Hunter B-15 asks Mobius about Hunter C-20, but he keeps Renslayer’s secret and doesn’t tell her the truth.

Reminiscent to what Mobius told Loki upon his arrival at the TVA, Sylvie asks Loki if it’s always their destiny to lose. He assures her it isn’t; no matter what, they always survive, and they find their hands joined. And that small motion causes a large, never before seen branching of the timeline — a nexus event. With that nexus event, the TVA finds them.

Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

They’re separated as the Minutemen haul them away, Sylvie going with Hunter B-15 and Loki with Mobius. Loki and Mobius’ continue their banter from episodes past, small quips and insults being hurled as Loki is led back into a Time Theater. Mobius refers to Loki as a bad friend, and that one comment alone seems to strike a chord within Loki.

As Loki processes someone actually referring to him as a friend, Mobius opens a red time door. He asks Loki if he has any last words, and Loki tells him that the TVA is lying to him, but Mobius laughs it off and instructs the Minutemen to toss him into whatever lies beyond that portal.

When he lands, he finds himself in Asgard. So this won’t be so bad. That is, until Lady Sif rounds a corner carrying a handful of her hair that had been chopped off her head. (Easter Egg alert!) She tells him that he deserves to be alone and that he always will be before striking him hard enough he falls to the ground. This happens again and again and again.

It’s a time loop prison, and it wears on Loki quickly.

Mobius goes to see Renslayer to ask to speak to Sylvie. She insists he stick to his own Loki; Sylvie is too dangerous. They need to figure out what caused that massive spike in the timeline. On his way back to “his Loki,” Mobius runs into Hunter B-15 in the hallway, and she’s still acting a little off.

So, the time loop prison worked to break Loki down. Mobius finally heads in to get him out (after Loki admits to the fake Lady Sif that he’s a narcissist that craves attention). Mobius’ first question: what did Loki mean when he said that the TVA was lying to him? Loki’s self-preservation instincts kick in, and he refuses to tell Mobius what he wants to know. He knows his time is limited, and he needs to drag it out.

Mobius asks if Loki is working for Sylvie or if they’re partners, and Loki denies both. He refuses to participate, and Mobius threatens to send Loki back to his Lady Sif time loop prison. Then, Loki makes up a story about himself and Sylvie having a long withstanding plan to take down the TVA. Again, Mobius doesn’t buy it. Then, he tries a trick of his own. He tells Loki that Sylvie has been pruned.

As much as he tries, Loki can’t maintain his indifferent facade to hearing that Sylvie is gone. Mobius sees right through him, and accuses him of being romantically interested with this other version of himself (well, he did say he was a narcissist …).

As Mobius continues to berate him about Sylvie (and whatever they have going on), Loki blurts out the truth about the TVA. Mobius wasn’t created; he was plucked from the timeline. And Sylvie can help him access his old memories.

Mobius looks pensive for a moment, but writes off Loki’s claims, sending him back to his time loop prison. However, Hunter B-15 is still having some sort of crisis.

Marvel Studios

She reenters the time theater Sylvie is being held in and opens a time door, taking Sylvie with her.

Mobius is back in Renslayer’s office finishing off the paperwork on Loki. She asks him if he could go anywhere, anytime, where would he go? Mobius tells her he can already do that, but then asks why she wouldn’t let him speak to Sylvie. She gives him an excuse before asking her question again, and he tells her he’s happy where he is. Then, she informs him that the Time-Keepers want to personally oversee Loki and Sylvie’s pruning, and Mobius is invited.

Despite the good news, Mobius still has questions, this time about Hunter C-20. Renslayer is still a locked box and gives him no details. He tells her things seem a little off, and then she gives him a little bit. She didn’t let Mobius question Sylvie in order to protect him. After seeing what happened to Hunter C-20, she couldn’t let that happen to him.

Renslayer has Sylvie’s sword, and when she goes to display it among her collected trophies Mobius, swaps his TemPad for hers. Clearly, he doesn’t buy what she’s saying.

Hunter B-15 has taken Sylvie back to the Roxxmart they found her at, and she wants to know what Sylvie planted in her head. She saw things under Sylvie’s enchantment, and Sylvie tells her that was her life prior to the TVA. Hunter B-15 wants to know more, and Sylvie gives her what she wishes. She unlocks her memories the TVA had locked away.

I looked happy.

Hunter B-15
Marvel Studios

It’s Mobius’ turn to discover the truth. Hidden amongst the shelves, he watches as Hunter C-20 retells what Sylvie had shown her on Renslayer’s TemPad. He also sees Renslayer’s role. Then, he goes to get Loki. He wants to know if Loki truly believes he’s meant to be alone, because if he doesn’t, whatever connection he and Sylvie have is powerful enough to take down the entire TVA. And he wants to help.

Mobius: So, I just have to trust the word of two Lokis?
Loki: How about the word of a friend?

“You can be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you different.” Mobius tells Loki those words he’d always craved to hear.

When they exit the time door, Renslayer is waiting for them. She knows Mobius took her TemPad. Then, Mobius finally answers her question from earlier. If he could go anywhere, he’d go back to whatever life he was living before the TVA took him.

Renslayer commands Mobius to be pruned. From right beside him, Loki sees the closest person he’d ever had to a friend disappear before his eyes.

It’s time to bring the Variants to the Time-Keepers. Renslayer finds Sylvie alone, instructing the Minutemen standing watch outside the door that Hunter B-15 be found. She’s been compromised by the Variant.

Sylvie and Loki are taken down the golden elevator and into the Time-Keeper chambers. On the way down, Sylvie wants to know her nexus event, but Renslayer doesn’t even remember. Or perhaps there was never one at all …

Loki and Sylvie begin a conversation with the Time-Keepers before Hunter B-15 arrives and frees them from their Time Turner collars, and returns Sylvie’s sword to her. A fight ensues, Loki and Sylvie against the Minutemen protecting the Time-Keepers, Renslayer watching on until Sylvie approaches her.

Both Loki and Sylvie gain the upper hand, and Sylvie throws her weapon and beheads one of the Time-Keepers. Then, all three of them collapse. They aren’t real. They’re nothing but mindless androids. Just another lie created by the TVA. So who created the TVA?

As they stand frustrated at their newest dead-end, Loki wants to tell Sylvie something. However, he doesn’t get the chance to before he disintegrates as Renslayer prunes him. Sylvie is furious, forcing Renslayer to her knees with the baton pointed directly at her chest. Renslayer tells her to do it, prune her, but Sylvie knows better.

“You’re Gonna tell me everything.”

Sylvie

The episode doesn’t end there! In a post-credits scene, we see Loki again, waking in the ruins of New York City (with what appears to be Avengers Tower in the background) surrounded by multiple other Variants of himself.

Be sure to keep up with our ongoing coverage of Loki, including episodic recaps, deep dives, analyses, and more! The penultimate episode of Loki, episode 5, premieres July 7 at 12 a.m. PST exclusively on Disney+.

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By Kaity Co-Director
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Kaity started with Harry Potter in second grade and it’s been a losing battle ever since, or maybe a winning one ... She lives in New England with a small herd of cats, two dogs, three chinchillas, and one daughter. You can definitely find her either watching anime, reading manga, or playing the same five video games over and over again. Contact: kaity@nerdsandbeyond.com
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