After the chaos and surprises of last episode, there are even more twists and turns coming as the series passes the halfway mark. The TVA has a new status quo to adapt to, individual present and former members get a lot of unexpected revelations, and there are a lot of startling events for all concerned. The Sacred Timeline is indeed a multiverse now, as we see when we get a look in “The Heart of the TVA.”

Last episode ended with Rennslayer and Miss Minutes stranded at the end of time. As if that wasn’t enough to give Rennslayer a bad day (if that word has any meaning at this point), Miss Minutes reveals some things Rennslayer hadn’t known, and honestly might have been happier remaining ignorant of. Back at the TVA, Victor Timely is utterly stunned by just about everything he sees, but still manages to get off one of, if not the, best line of the episode. While Victor is shown the scope of the problems facing them all, B-15 briefs one of the generals and they try to decide on a course of action. No pressure, just potentially either the end of reality or the rise of an incredibly powerful tyrant are at stake here.

Victor gets to see more of the TVA and has trouble reconciling what he knows with what he’s seeing, and Loki’s half-hearted attempt to explain variants clears up nothing. Sylvie and Mobius bickering aren’t helping anything either. Casey and Ouroboros are still trying to make sense out of everything they’re seeing and find a solution for the Looming Problem of Doom ™ and then get derailed when they meet Victor and realize who he is. After an annoyed Sylvie gets them back on track, we get an amusing Back to the Future reference as Ouroboros lays out what they’re facing. After a lot of technobabble, Casey and Ouroboros look worried, if not outright depressed, but Victor surprises them with a potentially very useful gadget.

With nothing to do but wait, Mobius returns to what seems to be his favorite place at the TVA, and an astonished and increasingly frustrated Sylve turns on him. Loki tries to play peacemaker (there’s a switch) and she directs her ire at him before storming off. Mobius is just not going to get his peace and quiet. The prisoners captured in the recent battle at the TVA are trying to find a way out, with the former X-05 sounding particularly desperate. B-15 comes in to try and reason with them, and that goes about as well as you’d expect. While assorted signs make it look like things are getting worse at the TVA, Loki tries to reason with Sylvie, who is understandably annoyed and upset at the way things have been going. She blames him for a lot of what’s happened recently, and that is understandable, especially from her position. The two of them argue, and its really interesting hearing Loki take a position that shows just how far he’s come from the first Thor movie and the later Battle of New York. There should be some kind of corollary to Godwin’s Law that say if the people arguing have an exchange that ends with “We are gods,” things are going really, really badly.

A debate among the prisoners about what to do next gets interrupted when an unexpected portal opens and Rennslayer comes in, accompanied by the increasingly erratic Miss Minutes. Rennslayer makes a really good recruitment pitch, but gets few acceptances. The ones who do see what they’ve just sided with as the others are disposed of in a horrific manner. Victor, Ouroboros, and Casey have their so far unsuccessful brainstorming interrupted when Mobius comes in to check on them and ends up distracting Victor with a concept that’s new to him. B-15 discovers the remnants of Rennslayer’s recruiting, is properly shocked, and then finds out something isn’t working at all the way it’s supposed to. This moment also gives us what really seems like a nod to Jurassic Park, which I really appreciated and was amused by.

Victor’s side trip gets interrupted when the guard he’s left with meets an unfortunate but familiar end and Victor once again is captured. The poor guy really needs some kind of a weapon, or at least a clue. Mobius and Ouroboros have an amusing exchange that could be any desk guy and IT worker, and then they learn Miss Minutes is back and definitely not on their side. The good guys, relatively speaking, regroup and try and figure out what to do as they get more and more bad news. Victor meets with the opposition, is threatened, and appears to change sides. Again.

As things are looking worse and worse, we close a time loop from another episode and see things from the other side of an exchange, answering a question about who exactly attacked one of our heroes. Loki and Sylvie end up getting an edge back as Ouroboros has to take a few things offline in their increasingly desperate attempts to stop Miss Minutes. Victor and Rennslayer get a surprise when Miss Minutes finds out she isn’t as close to all-powerful as she thought, and we see an amusing reversion of the AI. Rennslayer’s team’s situation goes from bad to worse as the now re-powered Loki and Sylvie arrive, and they are not in the mood to negotiate. Loki is closer to a hero than he was, but isn’t exactly the Captain America kind of good guy.

Back in the control room, the gathered good guys stake a lot on a very desperate move. Someone not really equipped for this gets drafted for a dangerous job, and just about everything is riding on their success. What happens comes as a complete shock to everyone, and things end on a very bleak note. You know it’s bad when the God of Mischief and Lies is at a loss for words. Things are looking bad, and end on what looks like an even worse development. Loki and company are going to have a lot to deal with to try and fix what they’ve lost in these last few episodes.

What I Liked: The writing on this series is fantastic, and there are so many good performances, especially Hiddleston’s Loki and Wilson’s Mobius. Quan’s Ouroboros is also brilliant. Not that the others are bad in any way, just these three overshadow the rest. There were a lot of interesting developments and surprises, and I liked the way they closed the time loop.

What I Didn’t: Miss Minutes, who like as a concept, is really losing what’s left of her mind, and she’s going full villain. This is getting to the point that I don’t know why anyone would feel safe working with her. Aside from having hurt feelings, I’m not completely clear on Rennstayer’s motivations for most of what she’s doing.

This was another great piece of a major story. I’ll give it a 4 out of 5. They have a lot to try and wrap up in two episodes. It’ll be interesting to see how, or if, they pull it off.