Warning: SPOILERS for the Loki episode “Breaking Brad” are ahead!
Although Loki’s title character briefly encountered a future version of Sylvie in the Season 2 premiere, the present day version of Sophia Di Martino’s character was only seen at the end of “Ouroboros” arriving in a branched timeline’s version of Broxton, Oklahoma (which made for a clever Thor easter egg) in 1982 and hitting up the nearest McDonald’s. Present day Sylvie and Tom Hiddleston’s starring protagonist finally reunited in this week’s episode, “Breaking Brad,” but their time together was short, with Sylvie going back to that branched timeline to continue her new life. Sylvie was also shown at the end of the episode fiddling with a small object, director Dan Deleeuw has explained how this ties back to Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains, the first version of Kang the Conqueror we met in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
MCU fans will recall that one of the biggest moments from Loki Season 1 was when Sylvie killed He Who Remains, which unleashed the Marvel multiverse and drastically changed how the Time Variance Authority works. But it turns out that after killing the man who created the TVA, she took the bangle he’d been using in “For All Time. Always,” which can both conjure Portal Doors like a TemPad, and teleport its user like a Time Twister. It’s a powerful device that will surely come in handy, but Deleeuw also GamesRadar+ the following about why Sylvie grabbed it:
She's still a Loki. If she's got the keys to the universe, the keys to the multiverse, she's not gonna give that up. I think she truly was happy on the timeline; I don't know how much manipulation has been going on behind the scenes, but... yeah...
Prior to Sylvie making her way back to 1982 Broxton, she, along with Loki and Owen Wilson’s Mobius, witnessed Kate Dickie’s General Dox and her renegade TVA followers bombing the timelines branching from the Sacred Timeline. Although Dox and some of her minions were defeated and captured, most of these timelines were wiped out, and blaming the TVA for what happened, a disgusted Sylvie made her way back home. She still wants nothing to do with Loki and Mobius’ new mission, and clearly having He Who Remain’s bangle provides a little extra security for her. Deleeuw continued:
I think she always suspected this might come back, and I think that ties in with a lot of the reaction to Loki in the McDonald's as well. She knew she was on borrowed time, I think, and kept it because she knew, eventually, Loki would show or some other Loki would show up, some other variant of He Who Remains or something like that, that she'd have to ultimately deal with.
Leave it to Sylvie, or any version of Loki really, to plan several steps ahead. Alas, since we saw her back at the TVA in the future, we know that her time working at McDonald’s will be done soon… which was also obvious to anyone who watched the Loki Season 2 trailer, but that’s beside the point. And Sylvie was correct, along with our Loki reentering her life, we’ll also meet another version of Kang, specifically the Victor Timely variant, who has a “big part” to play this season. Now we just have to wait and see what causes Sylvie to permanently leave her new life behind for the greater good, and also if she’ll utilize He Who Remains’ device in any special way going forward.
New episodes of Loki premiere to Disney+ subscribers Thursdays at 6 pm PT/9 pm ET. With only four episodes left to go in Season 2, there’s no harm in shifting your gaze further into the future to learn what upcoming Marvel TV shows will arrive after it concludes.
