Episode Grade: (8.4/10)
Miss Minutes and Ravonna execute a contingency plan that brings about Victor Timely, a Variant of He Who Remains. A fight breaks out over what to do with him.
Plot (43/50)
Featuring Victor Timely, Ravonna, and Miss Minutes helped bring back a level of intensity that was absent in the previous episode. Pitting the key players against eachother added a welcome element of chaos. Victor Timely’s emergence ties into the previous season’s finale and validates what He Who Remains was saying about the impending threats to the Sacred Timeline.
Contingency Plan
The episode opens with Ravonna arriving at 1868 Chicago at Miss Minutes’ behest. Miss Minutes instructs Ravonna to deliver a package which is then picked up by a young Victor Timely, a Variant of He Who Remains. The package contains a copy of the TVA Official Handbook. 25 years later, Victor Timely develops into a conning inventor, but an inventor nonetheless.
Meanwhile, the branches that Dox pruned in her operation have started to grow back. That influx is putting an increasingly unsustainable strain on the Temporal Loom. O.B. stresses that they must quickly find a way to open the blast doors so he can increase the Loom’s capacity. This prompts Loki and Mobius to follow the Ravonna lead, which takes them to 1868 Chicago followed by 1893 Chicago. There, they locate both Ravonna and Victor Timely.
Timely demonstrates a prototype of the Temporal Loom to a stunned audience. After his demonstration, he organizes a quick auction whereby he sells the Loom for $1,000. As he heads out, he’s intercepted by Ravonna, Loki, and Mobius. As both sides try to secure Timely’s cooperation, the man he sold the Loom to chases him around demanding his money back. Timely expertly dodges the chase, but he’s cornered by Loki. As Loki explains to him the current situation, Sylvie arrives with the intention of killing Timely. As Loki and Sylvie fight, Ravonna releases a giant Miss Minutes. That distraction allows for Ravonna to run off with Timely.
Choosing a Path
Timely takes Ravonna and Miss Minutes to his apartment, but they are soon found. Timely once again dodges everyone and heads for his lab in Wisconsin alongside Ravonna and Miss Minutes. On the ferry ride over, Timely discovers that it was Ravonna who dropped off the TVA Handbook that changed his life all those years ago. Miss Minutes is annoyed with Ravonna for taking credit for a plan that wasn’t hers, but Ravonna is too infatuated with Timely to care. The two appear to be growing closer until Ravonna suggests that they partner up. As she lay asleep, Timely cuts her boat loose.
When Timely arrives at his lab, he hurriedly collects some important documents and a device which he calls the “culmination” of his life’s work. As he prepares to take off, Miss Minutes suggests that they lay low for a while. She then proceeds to tell him about how He Who Remains created her. At some point, he even gave her the ability to write her own code, which made her into the fully sentient Artificial Intelligence being that she is today. However, when she turns obsessive, Timely puts her away.
This coincides with Ravonna’s arrival. She holds him at the end of his own prototype time stick as Loki and Mobius arrive. Then, as they all argue, Sylvie arrives to blow them all away. She goes after Timely, but he pleads to be spared. He rightly claims that he hasn’t done anything yet to deserve execution, and that resonates with Sylvie. She lets him go with Loki and Mobius back to the TVA. This leaves her face-to-face with Ravonna. After a brief face-off, Sylvie sends Ravonna through a timedoor to the End of Time where she and Miss Minutes discover He Who Remains’ dead body.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the dynamic they’ve created between the key characters this season. Instead of grouping everyone into one of two sides, the writers have allowed multiple nuanced sides to form. And as interests overlap, partnerships are formed and broken just as fast as they form. It makes for an exciting watch. Bringing Victor Timely into the fold has once again pushed the pace after a bit of a slump in the previous episode.
Now that Loki and Mobius have Timely in the TVA, O.B. can use his Temporal Aura to open the blast doors and increase the capacity of the Loom. Timely brings a wealth of knowledge with him, so he will be of great help to the TVA. However, his arrival may also trigger a power shift whether intentional or not. We don’t know what his special device does, but it seems important. Also, look out for Miss Minutes. She poses a significant threat due to her knowledge of all things TVA. And if the secret she tells Ravonna is as serious as she says it is, those two can cause all sorts of trouble.
Character Development (13/15)
This episode moved away from the usual suspects to make room for the development of other key characters. Much of that extra time was dedicated towards Victor Timely to ensure we got a proper introduction to the central Variant. His arrival set up interactions with the likes of Ravonna and Sylvie that advanced their own characters as well. There was even some time dedicated to Miss Minutes!
Victor Timely
Victor Timely’s introduction was impressive. The writers did an excellent job presenting him as a brilliant but simple man. He has all these grand inventions, yet he resorts to conning shady businessmen and unsuspecting individuals for money by selling them his unstable prototypes. What’s even more interesting is that he feels a sense of greatness, of singularity even. He’s triggered by the suggestion of partnership, likely because it implies that someone could be his equal. He might not have done any harm yet, but he sure has the potential to do so.
Ravonna
Ravonna’s struggles continued here as she was bested by both Miss Minutes and Sylvie every time she tried to get closer to Timely. She clearly has feelings for him, and the feelings are reciprocated, albeit not at the same level. However, she also feels that she is Timely’s equal. The fact that He Who Remains didn’t treat her like an equal is a definite pain point for her. However, her frustration doesn’t end there.
She’s aggrieved by Mobius’ suggestion that she’s lost control. How can he question her judgement after everything she’s done? She’s had to make difficult decisions for the sake of the TVA. Those decisions often came at the expense of her own happiness, yet she made them nonetheless. Under her leadership, the TVA ran smoothly for a very, very long time. The current state of the TVA is evidence of her singular impact. She makes some good points, but she fails to acknowledge the impact of just about everyone else. She lacks the self-awareness to admit what she really wants. Ultimately, as Sylvie points out, she craves power.
Sylvie
I really like that they’ve kept Sylvie autonomous. She has her own agenda, but she can still be reasoned with. Ever since she learned the truth about the TVA, she’s wanted to liberate its people and the people of the branches from the clutches of He Who Remains. He stole free will from them and she’s given it back. But it doesn’t stop there. She wants to ensure that no Variant of his ever robs the people of their free will ever again. This is what prompts her to go after Timely.
However, holding Timely accountable for what he has yet to do would be to rob him of his free will. And unlike Ravonna, Sylvie has the capacity to look inwards, so she recognizes this. She lets Loki have him so they can save the TVA, but she’ll be keeping a very close eye on him. If he does go in the direction of He Who Remains, she will not hesitate to take him down. Just look at how she handled Ravonna.
Miss Minutes
Miss Minutes demonstrated a surprising amount of depth for a character that’s not even human. He Who Remains gave her full autonomy, so she’s free to think and feel as she wishes. Unfortunately, she hasn’t channeled her autonomy in a positive manner. Instead, she’s developed this obsessive love for He Who Remains, and by extension, Victor Timely. She’s jealous of the attention he gives Ravonna and is more than happy to sabotage their relationship. Furthermore, when Timely rejects her, she turns spiteful. Given her vast knowledge of the TVA, she could very easily be positioned as the main antagonist for the foreseeable future.
Theme/Messages (3/5)
- “You can’t reduce an entire culture down to a simple diorama. Such poverty of imagination.”
- “All that matters is order versus chaos.”
Acting (13/15)
Jonathan Majors (Victory Timely) put on a comprehensive performance that immediately distinguished Victor Timely from He Who Remains. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Ravonna) was excellent opposite Majors in what was her best outing to date. Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Owen Wilson (Mobius), and Sophia Di Martino (Sylvie) round out a well-acted episode.
Cinematography (12/15)
- Nice receding shot of everyone in the control loom (6:24)
- Cool shot of the End of Time just as Sylvie left it (47:33)
- Great final shot of Ravonna and Miss Minutes standing before He Who Remains’ dead body in his chair (48:36)