The first episode of "Loki" ended with a blazing fire: ...... No, it was not glorious! What follows is a synopsis of the first episode of Disney Plus' "Loki" series. For a spoiler-free viewing, please see our review of Loki Episode 1 + Episode 2.

Now that it's just you, me, and the TVA-approved collar, let's talk about what just happened. The first episode of the Loki TV series may have been utterly delightful, but it also ended with a big, ominous ending, as if Wander Vision kept people guessing until Agatha All Along, Loki's own mystery box format! It is as if it were the beginning!

As seen towards the end, hooded figures attacked the Time Variance Authority (TVA) hunters and set fire to the fields. As we were told earlier by Mobius (Owen Wilson), this figure is believed to be Loki, not the Loki who is cooperating with the TVA, but a different variant.

This fugitive mutant seems to have a grudge against the TVA, which might be consistent with Loki, but why are they so sure this is the person? Yes, the kid Mobius met (in the sixth raid that week) pointed to a stained glass demon, but Loki is not the only character with horns in the MCU.

Now, we need to look back at the beginning of the episode. Remember when Loki was brought into TVA and had to go through several levels of security? One of the officials let him through the gate, creating a snapshot of his temporal aura. It took me a while to hear the phrase clearly (temporal aura is the next hardest phrase to say after "rural juror"), but it's basically TVA's fingerprint system, a way of linking variants together.

While the audience and Loki had to be taught about the events of the nexus, the timeline variants seem much more aware of the task of jumping between timelines and the dangers of the "multiverse war" that Miss Minutes spoke of. Is the fugitive mutant Loki actually trying to throw the universe into chaos?

And this is the big mystery heading into the next Loki episode. Who are these fugitive variants? Are they really Loki? What is their purpose? It is unlikely that all of these questions will be answered.

Loki Laufeison's other problem at hand is to escape from TVA captivity. He is trying to persuade him to escape, but the judge (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) does not believe him, nor does TVA hunter B-15 (Ummi Mosaku). However, Mobius seems to really care about Loki and is doing his homework on the misdeeds of Thor's (adopted) brother.

For that to happen, Mobius would have to change someone's mind about Loki or change something about Loki himself. The purpose of the Time Varying Bureau is to protect the sacred timeline, and that timeline does not seem to have much room to fluctuate.

To quote Miss Minutes:

"Long ago, there was a vast multiverse war! Countless unique timelines fought for supremacy, which nearly destroyed them all! But an omniscient and omnipotent Timekeeper emerged and reorganized the multiverse into one sacred timeline, bringing peace. Now the Timekeeper protects and maintains the proper flow of time for everyone and everything. But there are others, like you, who stray from the path created by the Timekeepers. We call them "variants."

When I hear it, it sounds like TVA is having a hard time accepting the continued existence of variants, but they are definitely variants. There is no doubt that the variant Loki we are chasing will trigger a nexus event once it leaves TVA's clutches.

So if Loki is to survive, he will need to erase his mutant status