The second episode of Loki kicks off in 1985 at a renaissance fair. The Time Variance Authority are there to respond to yet another discrepancy in the Sacred Timeline, but are quickly taken out by the mysterious hooded figure we met last week. The Variant takes one of the unconscious TVA agents with him, while Loki finds himself being irritated by the seemingly sentient Miss Minutes. Mobius tells his new partner that his doppelganger has struck again, and in a briefing, we get to see some of the many alternate versions of Loki who have been pruned by the organisation in the past.
Mobius teases Loki with the possibility of getting a meeting with the Time-Keepers after helping them capture The Variant, and we learn that Nexus events mean you can't travel back to before something happened (to stop the other Loki in advance) because the newly created timeline is still changing and growing. We also find out that the Reset Charges prune a timeline and restore the Sacred Timeline to its proper path, and they are the devices The Variant is stealing.
Loki toys with the TVA in an effort to get some assurances that he won't be disintegrated once The Variant is captured, but Mobius sees right through him, so the God of Mischief won't be meeting with the Time-Keepers...yet. We later catch up with Judge Renslayer, and it's revealed that not even Mobius has met them. However, they're supposedly keeping an extremely close eye on this case. Loki is tasked with digging into some files, but he chooses to read more about his future. Devastated by the destruction of Asgard (during the events of Thor: Ragnarok), Loki deduces that The Variant is going to timelines where an Apocalypse is taking place because he can do whatever he wants there without alerting the TVA to his actions as there will be no consequences if everyone is about to die.
Loki's theory is confirmed in Pompeii, and the duo then do some digging into where this Variant could be hiding out. They debate the existence of free will, and Mobius explains that while the TVA protect what's come before, the Time-Keepers are figuring out how things end. Once they do that, there will be order, and the TVA will be no more.
Figuring out that The Variant is hiding in a Roxxcart store in 2050 before it's destroyed by a natural disaster (that's where the bubblegum came from). Loki talks with his doppelganger and praises his power of "enchantment." The rest of the TVA is looking for the stolen reset charges, but the God of Mischief finds himself busy fighting a series of people under the other Loki's control. That kidnapped TVA agent, meanwhile, seemingly told her captor everything about the organisation. We learn the Variant doesn't like to be called "Loki" and rebuffs our version's offer to team up and take down the TVA. He finally unmasks to reveal that he is, in fact, a she: it's Lady Loki (or an amalgamation of that character and Enchantress).
Her plan is enacted and the Reset Charges are sent through the Sacred Timeline causing a number of new branches. Could we be witnessing the birth of the MCU's Multiverse? Loki is left with a choice: remain with the TVA or follow Lady Loki through one of the Time Doors; he escapes, and that's where we're forced to leave things until next week!