'Loki', Episode 6: "For All Time. Always" Recap and Review
As Sylvie and Loki reach the end of their temporal journey, the man behind the curtain steps into the light and reveals himself to be… exactly who you thought.
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
As is the emerging trend in the MCU Disney+ series, the journey is more satisfying than the destination. There is so much good about this episode that extends throughout the series; the set design, dialogue and acting are all up to the MCU gold standard. All of that combined built a platform that was visually interesting and engaging. The story arc of the season evolved in interesting ways that created great emotional moments that were elevated by the performances of the series’ stars. That story arc came to a head in “For All Time. Always” where the mystery of who was at the head of the TVA was answered, vaguely. The reveal was an introduction to someone who importance to the MCU would be completely lost on someone with no knowledge of Marvel Comics or casting news for a different Marvel property. Without that recognition, the season finale is left with the other importance of the episode which is to set up the next season by literally hitting the reset button. In the end, they answered a question with a question.
Outside the stream, on the shores of time, at the base of a massive castle, is where Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) find themselves. Sylvie is nervous, being as this is the end to a lifelong journey, and tries to prepare herself for a storming of the castle when the doors just open. The two carefully enter, not dropping their guard, and are confronted by, Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) She welcomes them to the Citadel and offers them a deal on behalf of her boss, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). Be returned to the timeline together or continue. They decline and Miss Minutes disappears from the citadel and reappears in the office of Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) as she waits on a download of files pertaining to the start of the TVA. Miss Minutes gives her a different file instead and says he thought this would be more useful. Loki and Sylvie make their way through the castle when they come to an elevator. They stand on guard as the elevator doors open revealing, a man, presumably He Who Remains. He invites them to enter the elevator and enter his office. Sylvie tries to kill him but HWR has his own version of a TemPad, and he jumps through time and space, avoiding Sylvie’s attempts at his life. The enter his office and take a seat. At the TVA, Renslayer packs up documents in her office when in walks Mobius (Owen Wilson). The two clash each other’s actions when Renslayer attempts to call in the Hunters when Mobius reveals the trick up his sleeve, the FDR High School pen that he used earlier in the season. At the school itself Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) is carefully luring in other TVA hunters. She leads them to the office of the principle, a variant of Ravonna Renslayer, shattering the illusion that they were all created by the TVA. At the Citadel, HWR reveals that he knows everything and caused everything that has led up to a particular moment. Mobius and Renslayer continue to clash over who was right and who betrayed who, when Renslayer decides to leave, Mobius tries to stop her but he is no match for Renslayer, she has him dead to rights but decides to let him live. She escapes, to try and become to person in control. He Who Remains explains that the true danger to reality and space time is a variant of himself and that is the purpose of controlling the timeline. He is a being that discovered and created ways to meet his variants. Eventually a version of himself started a war between variants, he discovered the Alioth and ended the war then created the TVA to prevent another. He gives them their choice, take over the TVA so he can retire, or kill him and unleash the chaos of his variants creating a new war and him ultimately ending up in the same place. Loki and Sylvie quickly decide which option is right, just as the moment passes that He Who Remains cannot see beyond. To prove that he is serious, he takes off his TemPad and leaves his fate in the Variants hands. Sylvie attacks him, and Loki stops her making it clear that they are on opposite ends of their choice of options. The two variants fight and Loki pleads with her to stop. With her blade to Loki’s neck, he pleads with her for one last moment. She drops her blade and gives him a kiss before pushing him into a time portal back to the TVA. Sylvie and He Who Remains are left alone. Sylvie builds up to her moment, finally killing the man in charge, but He Who Remains is almost giddy with excitement. Sylvie stabs him in the chest as he giggles and with his dying breath he says “see you soon.” Sylvie isn’t sure what to do next, she sits on the floor as the timeline begins to branch uncontrollably. The TVA watches, helplessly, and Loki is heartbroken. Loki suddenly searches frantically for Mobius, finding him in the records library. He finds him and tells him what he and Sylvie had done, but Mobius doesn’t recognize him. Loki then sees the statue, the one that used to be the Time Keepers, is now it is a Variant of He Who Remains.
He Who Remains, the infinite being with infinite versions of himself whom will always collide and always cause multiversal chaos. To put it simply, he is Kang the Conqueror, the villain to be featured in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantamania and who will be played by Jonathan Majors. Kang is also the variant whose statue is now sitting at the center of the TVA. He Who Remains is also known in the comics to be a variant of Nathaniel Richards, father of Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, of the Fantastic Four. The reach of Nathanial’s involvement in the comics is vast, ranging from the Beyonder to the X-Men and although it might not have been made abundantly clear, Kang is a major threat. He Who Remains was neither Kang nor Nathanial, Majors played the small role with an almost impish delight in being in the situation. There was a brief moment where Kang can be felt in his performance, and it was terrifying, but otherwise he was quite jovial. Without the threat of Kang, He Who Remains felt a tad non-threatening but the final moments when he laughed during his final breath was utterly unsettling.
Sylvie felt the anti-climax of her final act of revenge too. Nothing has changed by killing him, the TVA still stands, He Who Remains has been replaced by someone worse. She may not be aware of this fully but she knows that something is not right. But worse, she pushed Loki away after a passionate acknowledgement of their love. Taking all of the brunt of these events is Loki, alone, aware of an impending doom and in a new TVA where his best friend Mobius has no idea who he is. This is where we find ourselves leading into season two; Loki is again at odds with the TVA, Sylvie is on the loose with a TemPad and the TVA is run by Kang the Conqueror. The situation is similar to the beginning of this season only now there are no mysteries as to whom everyone is. Loki knows Sylvie, a female variant of himself whom he is in love with, and the Audience knows Kang is running the TVA. Right now, it is not obvious where this will go in the next season, but hopefully it differs from take down the TVA as that is what we got over six-episode season.
It’s hard to judge the conclusion of this season because it doesn’t feel like it concluded. The question of who is running the TVA, which was the main mystery for the first season, was answered with the reveal of another mysterious leader of the TVA. Yes, scholars of Marvel Comics history immediately recognize Kang but to those don’t know He Who Remains was just some random person who was afraid of someone else. He Who Remains was a transitional villain, one to get you to the next villain. A mysterious threat used to introduce the other mysterious threat. To be fair, every other aspect of this series is excellent and the journey to the end was surprising and fun. I eagerly wait for the return to this series because of the worldbuilding and characters. This season was a hint of what we could get out of a Loki series but it’s obvious that the importance was placed on the second season, not the first.