The Ringer-Verse - 'Loki' Season 2, Episode 5 Easter Eggs | Splash Page [VIDEO]

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

If Loki can rewrite the story, so can Jessica Clemons! Jess is back to breakdown everything in 'Loki' Season 2, Episode 5: "Science/Fiction." Who is Casey in the real world (2:40)? Is O.B. working in the same exact space he was before (5:40)? Does Loki have new powers (11:20)? Stop reading this and hit play to find all of that out and more in the latest episode of ‘Splash Page’! Host: Jessica Clemons Producers: Aleya Zenieris, Jessie Lopez, and Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Jessica Clemens, and this is Splash Page on the Ring orverse. We're breaking down Loki Season 2, Episode 5, giving you Easter eggs, theories, and more on your favorite god of mischief. Let's get into it. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Trimphia, proper training is required.

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Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiatorradio.com. This episode is brought to by Paramount Plus. Beth and Rip are back in a new series Dutton Ranch. Kelly Riley and Cole has a return, and this time they're taking on Texas. As Beth and Rip build a future together, peace will have to wait as they face corruption, danger, and a ruthless rival ranch willing to protect its secrets at all costs. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dunton Ranch starring

Colehauser Kelly Riley. Annette Benning and Ed Harris now streaming on Paramount Plus. You are now watching Splash page. If you're listening to this, you can also watch it at the ringer.com, YouTube.com slash the ringer on Spotify at the Ringerverse. This is your one warning that we will be spoiling Loki season two

episode five. We'll be spoiling the first five episodes of season two, the first season of Loki, and basically any of Loki's appearances across the MCU. You've been warned. Okay, let's get back into it. pick up right where last episode ended. The loom has exploded and Loki now stands alone in the loom room shaken. You can even see pieces of what was holding the loom together broken off floating in space. As Loki leaves the loom room, we see casual signs of temporal core and temporal radiation warnings like we didn't just blow up time across different branches.

Also, these cuts are amazing. The cinematographer and editors really popped off on this one. We're following Loki throughout the TVA and no one's there and all we hear is the emptiness of a factory still in motion. It's breathtaking. Then Loki time slips again, which sort of makes sense because we had to pull him out of the loom, aka prune him to stop the time slipping, and seeing as that blew up, it reverted him back to when he was time slipping.

We start seeing a lot of moments that we've seen in the trailer, like this moment of Loki looking at himself before time slipping. At this moment, he's jumped slightly into the future and we'll be taking over the POV we see earlier. Then we see the beginning of the spaghettification. The TVA is beginning to slip away and unravel into nothing, and this is the beginning of the end. And I want to remind everyone that Miss Minutes mentioned this in season

one episode one. Maybe you started an uprising, or we're just late for work. Whatever it was, stepping off your path created a nexus event, which left unchecked, could branch off into madness leading to another multiversal war. But don't worry. To make sure that doesn't happen, the timekeepers created the TVA and all its incredible workers. It feels like it was sort of written in stone. If no one was able to reset the unchecked branches, it would lead to a moment.

multiversal war, and I think we're getting there. We know the multiversal war was the battle of the Kang variants looking to conquer different worlds. He Who Remains a Robona created an army, defeated the Kang Variants, and created the TVA to monitor the unchecked branches and protect the sacred timeline. Now we see Loki creating a team, pulling them out of their branches, and creating a plan to stop all that's to come. All the while, he can now manipulate time like He Who Remains. He doesn't need to be He Who Remains to play the part. He can be Loki, ruler of the TVA. Our Loki, like He Who Remains, could end another multiversal war, maybe even before they get started. Then we see Casey, and he's in the middle of a prison break in Alcatraz.

This is a branch timeline in 1962, San Francisco, California. This is a real event. In 1962, John Anglin, Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris escaped from Alcatraz. They planted fake dummies in their beds, climbed up and out through the ventilators, onto the prison roof, and to the northeast shore of the island. So this series has now confirmed Casey is famed thief and convicted escapee Frank Morris and Loki's DB Cooper, which we saw way back in season one. And like the first episode, Casey does not know or recognize Loki.

at all. Loki time slips again to what I assume is Brockston, Oklahoma, 1982, a branch timeline where Sylvia is working at McDonald's. Then he time slips to the jet ski store and back to the TVA, specifically Time Theater 5, where they put him in a bad memory prison and Sift kicked him in the balls and punched him in the face repeatedly. We're taking to 2012 New York, which is the Battle of New York, but seeing as this is a branch timeline, this could be a timeline where Loki didn't destroy New York, or it just hasn't happened yet. Or maybe the Battle of New York is the People v. The Rats, because that's Rattown, USA. The Rats don't run this city. We do.

This is not Ratatouille. We're going to kill rats. What we do know is in this timeline, Hunter B-15 is actually Dr. Willis, who is the name of a man in Marvel Comics who was entrusted with protecting magical artifacts, worked with Thor, but then was murdered. So I don't think it's that, Dr. Willis, but the same name. Also, notice how Caring B-15 is in this timeline. It's no wonder she's so sad watching the branches die later, or earlier, or whatever.

Time works so weird in this. Then she witnesses Loki timeslip. It's clear that the time slips are trying to bring him closer to the gang. He was at Casey's prison break. McDonald's, the jet ski store, now B-15's hospital. I assume when the loom exploded, it set the TV employees back to their timelines. I think in the weirdest way, we should imagine the loom as the Big Bang. If the Big Bang was an infinitely dense, hot single point that stretched so fast,

expanding to what we have now, that's basically the loom expanding to accommodate the additional branches. It just stretched too much causing an explosion of radiation that rippled through the timelines causing them to unravel. Now, there's a theory called the Big Bounce, where the universe could collapse to the state where it began, or the big crunch where Einstein theorized there was a universe, before the Big Bang, which ended and created another big bang as a reaction. So following that, we could assume the loom, now exploding and spaghettifying branches,

is performing its own big crunch and collapsing to the state where it began, retroactively returning the TVA back to its original self when the loom began where the people were living their normal lives. And what we've all been waiting for is finally revealed. Mobius is a man named Don working for Piranha Power Sports on a branch timeline in 2022, Cleveland, Ohio. He's a single dad of two boys. It's just so cute.

Mobius is trying to sell a seed dude to this man and this is actually the cinematographer Isaac Baumann. Kudos to Balman because immediately after this, we get a shot of Tom Hilsson doing the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing two-man move. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming.

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When Loki approaches Don, he mentions the TVA to which Don corrects him and says ATV, which is just funny because it's the same acronym and it's the land version of a jet ski. Then we learn Obie is actually A.D. Doug Ph.D., also a science fiction author on a branch timeline in Pasadena, California, in 1994, the year I stand. stepped out into the world. Oh, the great year to be alive. The bookstore is so cozy and warm, and this woman, Maria Creasy, working at the front, stays playing a librarian. In the amazing world of Gumball, she actually voices the tree librarian. Regardless, A.D. Doug has been planning his sweet science fiction novels in the bookstore, and no one is biting, no one but him. The title is called the Zartan contingent, which we see in the credits around Ki-E-Quan's name. So, Zartan can be two things. It could be the Zartan, the villainous GI Joe character who specifically was a master of

disguise. He could imitate anyone, sort of like Loki can do with his powers. Or it could be the Zartan Deviant from Zarta, who was defeated by Thor. They could also transform into any other living beings. So this book could be highlighting Loki and his abilities or just Obie creating a story that's been done before in another timeline. I like him both timelines. Obie has created a book with his photo in them. Obie is a proud published author, always shamelessly plugging his work, and I respect it. Then we see another snippet from the credits, those damn sticky notes belonging to AD Doug's wall in his office lab, and this giant room should look familiar

because it is the same repair bench of the TVA. In an interview with Marvel.com, the production designer said he, Obie, spent so much time in his real-world workspace that however much brain wiping was done, the architecture of this space was just so deeply ingrained in the fiber of his mind. When he redesigned the RNA and the TVA,

he unwittingly recreated that space. They reused the first set and made it into this. Remarkable. Then Loki time slips and scares A.D. A.D. mentions Loki is one of his characters from his books that needs his help. He's referring to another book, The Sons of Yorne, which is mentioned all over those damn sticky notes. We were trying to figure it out, and now we know. Also, is it me or does the cover

remind you of Lamentus? Because it looks exactly the same. We learn very quickly that whatever pull Loki's creating to find his friends is the anchor control and his time slipping. Ad tells Loki he's basically a better version of his tempad. Easy analogy. We all get it. Then we get Loki trying to time slip intentionally, looking like Bruce trying to Hulk out in Infinity War. and it's gross, we have a clip. Dude, you're embarrassed for me in front of the wizards. I'm sorry, either I can't or he won't.

I don't. Hey, stand down. Keep an eye on him. Thank you. I hope. They realize they need a tempad to get everyone's temporal aura in the same spot and use the aura as coordinates to get back to that point before the loom exploded. Luckily, Loki pocketed the TVA handbook earlier.

With that information, AD should be able to build a tempad. Then Loki immediately time slips to Don, aka Mobius's house. We see the number on Don's house as 1049, which is also the same as 1049 for Marvel Comics, a reality created by Franklin Richards, Reed Richard's son. I tried checking the garbage bins and couldn't find anything but real houses in Cleveland, so I'm not going to show that here, because that would be weird. And of course, he's trying to sell Loki a jet ski. Our man's a true salesman.

Luckily, A.D. steps in with the finished tempad to prove to Don Loki isn't lying or being weird but telling the truth. Unfortunately, A.D. lost his wife home and job finishing the tempad that took 19 months to finish. Bummer. That sucks. Okay. Loki walks Dawn through the time, Doran, to the past, to witness himself talking to Loki and reassures him his sons will be safe while he helps him fix the loom. Now, I might be wrong. But once Loki took him out of his time,

I think it makes a branch timeline where Don left his family, right? Unless Loki does, in fact, bring him back to the exact moment in time, so Loki just has to bring him back. So, swear to God, you bring him back. Loki gets the gang back together, even grabbing convict KC. A.K. Frank. Lastly, grabbing Sylvie, whose timeline is already unraveling. When Loki sees Sylvie tries giving her the same spiel he gives everyone else, but she remembers everything up to the explosion. She could be immune to it because she currently has he who remains temp pad, or she could have been sent to her original timeline in Asgard and use the temp pad to return back to Oklahoma. We get an arcade game of Zaniac. It screams Zaniac craves blood. We also

get Zaniac's cameo at the very end of the episode that I'm sure is the game over sound to this arcade game. Sylvie gets Loki to confess that he just wants his friends back. Oh, it's so sad. He doesn't care about the Kangs or the loom. He doesn't want to be alone anymore. Sylvie just wanted to write her own story along with everyone else. Then she exits, leaving Loki alone. When Loki reaches for his shockglass, it's not there. Another nod to Sylvie's timeline unraveling. Then we're taking to the record store we see from the trailer that we know will unravel

soon. The man working the register has a coffee mug that says, take me and a UFO beaming someone away. That man doesn't know it yet, but he's about to get a different alien-esque beaming in a second. He and Sylvia record and it's the Velvet Underground. We're listening to Oh Sweet Nothing. A song basically summing up different people's lives and now they have nothing anymore.

They've either left their lives behind or found new empty lives to follow. Sort of like Sylvie leaving everything behind for this life. A life she's convinced is all she wants when deep down it feels like she's not fully over Loki or the TVA. Then we see the first person of Sylvie's timeline Spaghetti-Fi away entering the record store. We slowly see the coffee spilling onto the table and spaghettifying as well. The world around them is unraveling into these vibrant tendrils and it's a horror movie watching this man die for Sylvie's hand and all that's highlighted in his dark tendrils are his eyes. Then as the song fades, it echoes, oh, sweet nothing, and we watch as all life around Sylvie

disappears, all that sweet nothing indeed. Back with the gang, Sylvie returns, and Loki plans to go back and stop the loom. Unfortunately, the tempad has disappeared and everyone starts unraveling. And a sad attempt to go back to his son, Don disappears, then Dr. Willis, then Sylvie. Loki is alone again, and fear begins to deepen as all his friends' last words echo in his mind. He tries to gather their tendrils, and I think this is worse than when everyone snapped. I'm sorry, maybe that's just me, but this hit a lot harder. for me.

Whoa, you going on? In that last moment of despair, Loki screams and time slips to the past a few moments before Sylvie disappears. He's now learned to control his time slips, and Loki now has time travel under his belt. I'm sure they'll find a way to dampen it, so he's not a walking timestone, but right now he can jump into the past pretty swiftly, and like he said. It's not about when or why. It's about who.

His last words of this episode are, I can rewrite the story, and I thought it's very heroic. It also sounds, you know, very dangerous. It sounds like Victor Timely when he said he wanted to manipulate time. It feels like a slippery slope, but I do have faith our Loki has changed severely from 2012 Loki and will only monitor all of time with a positive, gentle outlook rather than an iron fist. Or with Iron Fist. Hey. Not going to talk about that show.

Not going to talk about that show. He time slips at what is the exact moment before Victor Timely gets into the spacesuit unravels. If you take a look at the last episode, Loki, and Obie are in the exact same spot watching timely walk down the stairs. But what will Loki say in time to stop Victor from dying? What's the solution here? Because no matter what happens, the looms' radiation will kill anyone that steps outside? So will Obie just have a new suit or invention up his sleeve that would have always saved

Moby's his skin? Will Loki go back further into the past to cut the chase between Sylvie, Robona, and Miss Minutes during the World's Fair? Or will he return as far back as he who remains at the finale to stop Sylvie? Now that Loki can jump through time, a lot can happen. And that's it for Splash Page on the fifth episode of Loki Season 2. Loki has now jumped into the past and should rewrite the story. Remember, Miss Minutes is about to reboot,

and Renslayer is in the Prune Valley with Eliath. We can expect a lot of surprises next episode, so tune in next week for the finale to Loki Season 2. Subscribe to The Ring Reverse on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Make sure to follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and X, formerly known as Twitter at Ring Reverse, and make sure to follow The Ringer at YouTube.com slash The Ringer. Thanks for watching and listening.

We'll be back next week for the finale of Loki Season 2. Oh my gosh, for all time always.