Loki Season 1 Recap: Every Riveting Detail You Need To Know Before Season 2

A Loki season 1 recap is essential to catch up on all the time travelling events for the upcoming second season with the classic MCU veteran, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the God of Mischief. It has been five years since Thanos killed Loki topped with the line, “no resurrections this time” as well as two years since Loki appeared for his own hit Disney+ series. Let’s start at the beginning of Loki season one.

Loki season one begins amid the events of Avengers: Endgame. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) travel from 2023 to 2012 to retrieve the Space Stone, housed inside the Tesseract, from their past selves in hopes to reverse the actions of the mighty Thanos.

During this quest, Hulk goes on one of his usual rampages and accidentally knocks the Tesseract away from Tony. Mischievous Loki uses this to his advantage, grabbing the cube and disappearing into the unknown.

Loki begins with the titular character stranded in the Gobi Desert when he encounters the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and is transferred to headquarters where he meets Mobius (Owen Wilson), the worker assigned to his case. Wilson later decides to recruit Loki to help track down another variant of himself. His friend, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), after guidance and acceptance from the Timekeepers, would rather see this version of Loki pruned.

Loki episode two is where the intense time traveling begins. Loki is tasked with finding a more evil version of himself. Although the God of Mischief working with the TVA was not on any of our 2021 Marvel Bingo cards, episode two highlights Loki’s pleasant side and more importantly, his blossoming friendship with Mobius.

Following a sarcastic and snarky conversation with the TVA guards, Loki is stuck researching variant case files as punishment, however during this time he comes to a realization. The variant has been hiding in apocalyptic nexus events between attacks, as nothing they could do there would create a branch in the timeline. Several examples result in their dislocation to Pompeii in 79 AD, where Mobius realizes Loki’s theory is correct.

As Loki is on a mission to find this variant of himself, he searches the files to find the nexus event where they’re currently hiding. Loki, alongside other TVA guards end up in Haven Hills, Alaska in 2025. Coming face to face with this Loki Variant in a Roxxcart store, it is revealed that this alternate version is a woman, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino).

Episode three begins with the female trickster devising a secret plan whilst asking all about the Timekeepers and the TVA. Sylvie deviously sets off multiple nexus events to work in her favor as the TVA forces spread out to control the mayhem. She walks right into the headquarters, takes out guards, and makes her way towards the Timekeepers.

Loki seizes this opportunity to follow Sylvie back inside the headquarters. When he finally catches up to her, he suggests a truce. Against Sylvie’s desire, the pair are forced to team up as they are teleported to Lamentis 1 in 2077, when the planet is being destroyed by falling asteroids.

As the pair come to a sudden realization that this planet will soon be destroyed, they make their way to a nearby town in hopes of finding a power source large enough to charge the TemPad and teleport away. Unfortunately, luck is not in their favor, as they come across an old lady who explains to them that their last option is to jump aboard a train that takes them to safety.

The two use their tricks and powers to disguise themselves and sneak aboard. Not long after, they are seemingly relaxed and discussing their lives, love and motivations. The guards eventually catch both without a ticket, subsequently resulting in them being thrown off board, destroying the TemPad.

This is where Loki season one gets interesting. One of the biggest reveals comes after the pair seeks safety. It is unveiled that the TVA workers are normal people, ripped away from their everyday life. They have had their memories wiped out completely, and are not created by the Time Keepers.

Sylvie’s background finally comes to light at the beginning of episode four. Set in Asgard, a young Sylvie is taken by Renslayer and the TVA. Her disappearance and entire existence is justified with a timeline reset.

Switching back to the present day, Loki and Sylvie are still trapped on Lamentis, awaiting the demise of both the planet and their lives. As the moon smashes into the planet, the TVA jump in at the last second, allowing Loki and Sylvie to escape and return to the TVA headquarters.

This is not the end of the road for Loki. He is subjected to an endless, insufferable time loop involving his past lover Sif, who repeatedly punches him in the face until he is forced to open up about his true feelings in order to break the loop. At last, Loki returns to speak with Mobius and learns that Sylvie is still alive.

Loki eventually runs out of patience for Mobius’ speeches and admits the truth about the TVA, explaining how everyone working there are variants taken from the timeline. Mobius immediately brushes it aside. However, after some, time he ponders over the idea and takes Renslyer’s TemPad to see if Loki is telling the truth. The audience is aware Renslayer is lying, however this shocking revelation for Mobius means his whole world has been a lie. Elsewhere, Sylvie explains to B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) the truth about her being a variant, giving her flashbacks to her old life.

Due to his sudden realization, Mobius decides to team up with Loki and take down the TVA. The worst is yet to come. When Renslayer figures out their plan, she prunes Mobius, “killing” him and calling out to the TVA guards to locate B-15, claiming she has been compromised.

Mobius’ pruning results in Renslayer bringing Loki and Sylvie before the Timekeepers. B-15 shows up ready to fight, and a battle breaks out amongst the TVA and the variants. Sylvie, in short time, cuts the head of one of the Timekeepers and the truth is revealed; they’re just robots working under a secret higher authority. Things take a staggering turn as Renslayer prunes Loki, and Sylvie demands she tell her the whole truth.

All hope is not yet lost for Loki’s story. During a mid-credit scene at the end of episode four, it’s revealed that Loki is still alive and was transported to a suspicious land known as the Void. He’s confronted by different variants of himself, including Boastful Loki (Maximillano Hernandez), Kid Loki (Jack Veal), Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant), and Alligator Loki.

He later finds out that all these different variants were taken from their timelines and pruned. This is exactly where episode five picks up, as the group of Loki variants rush away as a loud creature roars from the distance. It is revealed to be Alioth, a cloud being who’s destroyed everything in this world, also prevents anyone from leaving.

The variants take Loki to an underground lair, where he decides to stop Alioth, to the other’s amusement. After the laughter and mocking stops, he comes across President Loki and his crew.

Back in the TVA headquarters, Sylvie questions Renslayer about the Timekeepers. Renslayer states that the branched timelines aren’t destroyed, but merely moved to a void at the End of Time. With the help of Miss Minutes (Tara Strong), Sylvie and Renslayer devise a new plan to travel to the End of Time. Renslayer, being the sneaky and untrustworthy woman she is, captures Sylvie by bringing in the guards, but Sylvie does the unthinkable and prunes herself.

Arriving in the Void, she reunites with Mobius, who rescues her from Alioth. Sylvie, Mobius, and Loki rejoin forces and conjure a new plan to stop the all-consuming monster. With Loki’s help, Sylvie will enchant the monster, while Mobius relocates back to the TVA with the intent of destroying it.

Loki and Sylvie head to face Alioth whilst Classic Loki reassesses the situation. He decides to help, successfully distracting the creature and leading Sylvie and Loki towards a mysterious castle.

This Loki season 1 recap comes to an end with a suspense-filled finale and our first introduction to the Phase 5 villain, Kang the Conqueror. After the events of episode six, Sylvie and Loki find themselves in the middle of a strange castle that is seemingly floating through space. Miss Minutes awaits them with the jump scare and the duo comes to face with He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) a Kang variant.

He Who Remains offers Loki a chance to rewrite history, which includes winning the battle of New York against the Avengers and killing Thanos, claiming his infinity gauntlet. Sylvie attempts to strike him, but to their surprise he teleports around and anticipates their every move, just as he’s done for their entire journey. As the keeper of time, he knows everything and anything that is going to happen in the future and everything that has ever happened in the past, including their entire journey.

Back at the TVA, Mobius finds his way to Renslayer’s office and confronts her about her lies and betrayals. After a very lengthy conversation between the two, Renslayer decides to search for free will as opposed to killing Mobius and sticking with the TVA.

Back in the Void/End of Time, Kang explains how he discovered the existence of the multiverse, his communication with his other variants, and hopes to come to a peaceful agreement. Loki and Sylvie realize their two choices—stop the TVA and kill He Who Remains, resulting in his variants coming to conquer all, or take control of the TVA themselves. The pair decides to fight, which leads to Sylvie killing He Who Remains, setting Kang free into the multiverse.

After Sylvie’s reckless decision, Loki head back to the TVA to warn Mobius of the bad news. The problem is, Loki is in a different universe where Mobius doesn’t recognize him, Kang rules the TVA, and endless versions of the conqueror are arriving, bringing upon the beginning of the end.

Loki’s story has been a whirlwind of emotions through the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline. With multiple apparent deaths, and the making and breaking of friendships, his story is far from over. Loki season two has much more in store for the God of Mischief after the disruption of the sacred timeline. Expect a deeper insight into Kang/He Who Remains, a brand-new war and many multiversal events.

Loki season two begins streaming on Disney+ October 6.

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