Why did Loki make that puzzling decision in ‘Loki’ season 2, episode 4?

Warning: The article contains spoilers for Loki season 2 episode 4, “Heart of the TVA.”

The season premiere of Loki season 2 magnificently laid the groundwork for the remainder of the season if for no other reason than to plant two very important, yet unanswered questions. Who the heck pruned Loki when he time-slipped into the future and who in the Matrix was calling him on the phone?

As a method of fixing Loki’s time-slipping problem, Mobius was instructed by O.B. to walk the plank toward the heart of the Temporal Loom and launch the Temporal Loom Extractor. In order to make this work, Loki would also need to prune himself at the precise moment, thus ripping himself from space and time and allowing the Temporal Loom Extractor to pull him into the present. 

Great, sounds like a plan. Except Loki time-slipped at the wrong moment, dropping his time stick, and ended up in the future with mere minutes on the clock and no method of pruning himself. As he ran aimlessly through the empty halls of the TVA searching for help, his timer suddenly turned green. All hope seemed lost, but then… 

A phone rang. Loki walked slowly toward it as the lights of the TVA flickered above him and the walls rumbled from the oncoming collapse of the Temporal Loom. Just as he was about to answer it, the elevator doors in front of him opened to expose Sylvie, and then bam! — someone from behind pruned Loki and he was pulled back into the present just as the TVA’s blast doors were closing. He and Mobius flew through the doors and landed safely on the other side. 

We were left in the dark as to who saved our God of Mischief for the two subsequent episodes, but in episode 4, we finally got our answer. 

The reason Loki pruned himself

What in the Harry Potter is going on here? 

Everything finally came to a head in episode 4. The Temporal Loom was on the cusp of combustion due to the sheer number of timelines overextending its capacity; Victor Timely was in the TVA, ready and willing to offer his Temporal Aura to open the blast doors; and Victor, O.B., and Casey had created a device to work in tandem with the Throughput Multiplier that would expand the diameter of the Temporal Loom to allow for more timelines to flow through it. 

Now all they needed to do was transport the Throughout Multiplier down the gangway to the launcher and launch it at the Temporal Loom. Except the sudden appearance of Renslayer throws the plan out of wack. She captures Victor Timely; without his Temporal Aura, the TVA can’t open the blast doors or transport the Throughput Multiplier down the gangway.

Loki and Sylvie go in search of Renslayer and Victor Timely, at which point Sylvie winds up trapped inside an elevator thanks to Miss. Minutes’ interception. We watch as the Temporal Loom rattles the entire foundation of the TVA and everyone scurries in a panic. Here, we suddenly see Loki running frantically through the TVA’s halls, except it’s not the present-day Loki, it’s the past Loki from episode one. We witness the same sequence of events from that episode; he searches for a time stick and eventually walks ominously toward the ringing phone at the end of the hall. 

Present-Loki sees this from afar. He creeps up behind his past self and prunes him with a time stick, knowing that it’s the only way to set himself on his current path. Seeing Sylvie’s incredulous expression, he says “I promise you this will make sense.”

Had Loki not pruned himself, he never would’ve been able to track down Victor Timely, help with expanding the diameter of the Temporal Loom, and save the TVA and all of time. Too bad it all went down the dumpster at the last minute.

Wait, who was on the phone?

Oh, that? That was nothing, just fate meddling with coincidence as it turns out it was just O.B. and Mobius wondering what was taking Loki and Sylvie so long. If only they knew…