Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t watched Loki Season 2 Episode 3 “1893,” stop reading now!
Seriously, stop reading!
Fine, you’ve been warned.
Loki is known for being one of the more unpredictable titles in the MCU, but even by its chaotic standards Episode 3 was wild. “1893” finds Loki and Mobius finally tracking down Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes, who were busy enacting the last wishes of He Who Remains. The craziness saw everyone meet up at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, where they ran into none other than Kang variant Victor Timely. In a story full of twists, turns and double crosses, the series Black characters got the showcase fans have been waiting for.
The TVA Can’t Fix Time
The Time Variance Agency has one job: to secure the sacred timeline and prevent time from spiraling out of control. Well, they’re failing miserably at it. Without going into all the brain melting details, they need He Who Remains or Miss Minutes, so the access the time loom and stop a total meltdown from destroying everything.
It seems like poor planning to have the fate of everything hinge on an egomaniacal villain and an out of control AI. In 1893 Chicago, Victor Timely is showcasing his new groundbreaking machine, which possibly converts time to power. It doesn’t really matter because he’s just a con man duping rich investors.
This Kang variant is brilliant, but he lacks the dangerous confidence and bravado we’ve seen from his counterparts. I have to question if his nebbishness is an act because he doesn’t seem bothered by all the time-travel shenanigans happening around him. It’s too early to tell where we stand with this particular variant, but after what we saw in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it was a fascinating reintroduction to the character. He ends up accompanying Loki and Mobius back to the TVA, so we’ll likely see more of him.
Miss Minutes Did What?
Apparently, since we last saw them, Ravonna and Miss Minutes have been on a weird buddy comedy road trip. They’re in Chicago to help Victor start his journey to eventually become He Who Remains. Renslayer is doubtful, but she soon finds herself charmed by Timely. This leads to the weirdest love triangle in TV history, when Miss Minutes decides it’s time to make her move.
Once she’s alone with Victor, the AI program reveals that she and He Who Remains were close friends who talked, laughed and played chess. Turns out, she wanted more than friendship, asking Victor if he will finally be the one to build her an actual body so they can finally get down. Yes, you read that right. Miss Minutes wants to have sex with her boss, and straight up puts the moves on Timely.
As absolutely wild as this moment is, it reveals that Miss Minutes is much more than an adorable AI who runs the TVA. Could she be the real villain of the season? We all know that AI will eventually be the downfall of society.
She says as much to Renslayer when they wind up back at the end of time. She tells Ravonna that Victor shouldn’t have pissed off the one being that knows everything. The creepy clock then blows all our minds by revealing that she knows a secret about Renslayer, and begins to tell her just as the credits roll.
What Is the Secret?
Fans are guessing that it’s everything from Ravona being the human version of Miss Minutes, to her being a Kang variant, to her being a surprise variant of someone we already know.
I really like the idea of her being a Kang variant, as it opens the door to more appearances from Mbatha-Raw. It felt like she was woefully underused in Season 1, so she definitely needs to be more essential to the story in Season 2.
If Sylvie can be a variant of Loki, there’s no reason Renslayer can’t be a Kang that’s had her memory erased. He Who Remains is certainly egotistical enough to keep one of his variants around to run the TVA, because who else would he possibly trust?
The way Loki plays with time, something tells me we won’t find out the answer anytime soon. I just hope the series isn’t building us up for some amazing surprise, only for it to be a very basic plot point like Ravonna and Kang used to be married.
Loki is available on Disney+, with new episodes premiering Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.