Home TV

What’s the glowing object Sylvie is holding at the end of this week’s ‘Loki’?

It's a subtle throwback to the season 1 finale and hints at a dark end for McDonald's.

Loki season two
Screengrab via Disney Plus

Loki season 2 seems determined to show other MCU Disney Plus shows how it’s done, combining killer visuals, excellent acting and a brain-bending temporal story that we can only hope resolves satisfyingly. Episode 2 saw Loki and Mobius searching for Sophia di Martino’s Sylvie, who has been carving out a modest yet happy existence working at an Oklahoma McDonald’s in 1982.

Recommended Videos

As the episode ended, we saw Sylvie lying on the hood of her truck gazing up at the stars with a glowing object in her hands. So, what is it and what could it mean?

Back to the Season 1 finale

Loki season two
Screengrab via Disney Plus

Sylvie is holding a TemPad, the device the TVA uses to travel between different points in time and space. But Sylvie’s doesn’t look anything like the chunky retro-tech devices the TVA agents use. This is because Sylvie’s device originally belonged to He Who Remains, the Kang variant Sylvie murdered in the season one finale.

Sylvie ended season 1 alone in his citadel, so presumably, she swiped it from his desk and departed the End of Time to find a new home for herself. We now know that she still has it and it’s still functional, and the onset of a glow likely indicates she’s about to use it.

All of this makes her dialogue with her co-worker Jack very sad. The two are clearly friends, and she assures him she’s going to be in for work tomorrow, before checking his mother will be there to pick him up. But Sylvie can assume this entire timeline is about to be pruned, so she knows Jack has flipped his last burger.

He Who Remains’ TemPad activating likely means Sylvie is about to hop over to a more stable timeline and avoid their fate. Sad times over at the Golden Arches.