After the three successive molten mozzarella apparitions, Loki appears in Pasadena, California in 1994 where a chunk of the episode’s exposition is present. Loki finds O.B. (Ke Huy Quan) here, known as A.D. Doug in this timeline, and is a professor at Caltech University. He is also a struggling science fiction writer who is trying to build up intellectual credibility for his novel. The two put their heads together on how to save the TVA from the catastrophic explosion.
Fiction and Science
The over-eagerness with which O.B. is ready to assist Loki in this timeline feels unearned, and gives the sense we have moved from A to Z in a matter of seconds. This quick collaboration is reasoned as O.B. already being familiar with the concepts Loki seems to be referring to due to his novel, hence, a breathing space for contemplation is pushed out for the sake of hastily providing explanations that have been absent for the large portion of the season.
Loki discloses to O.B. that he needs to travel to a space where time doesn’t pass, and O.B. analyses that to be a work of fiction, rather than science, because scientifically speaking, such a space can’t exist, but fictionally considered, it can. O.B. asks him to focus on the “why” as fiction does, instead of “what” and “how” of his dilemma, like science does. “Why” does he want to save the TVA? Loki shares it is because he wants to save the world from the disastrous consequences of what He Who Remains hinted at the end of season one.
Loki’s moral stance to save the TVA, and the conviction with which he wields it, is slightly jarring not just because it errs as inconsistent with how mischievously grey the character is supposed to be, but also because TVA is portrayed as a fascist organisation in the first season. Why is Loki not siding with Sylvie, whose misgivings against TVA seem rightful? It makes sense why he would want to save Mobius, and other members of the institution, who were brought involuntarily by He Who Remains, and their memories were erased. But why does he want to save the institution, when we barely have enough context for what it’s alternating operating philosophy could be?