Mobius’ Origin Story Makes His Jet Ski Obsession Way Darker

Warning: spoilers for Loki season 2, episode 5

The fifth episode of Loki season 2 showed what each member of Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) TVA team did before they were taken by He Who Remains, and Mobius’ (Owen Wilson) origin not only explained his jet ski obsession but made it darker. After the cliffhanger ending of episode 4, Loki continued its second season with a fifth episode that answered some questions but made way for many others. After the explosion of the Temporal Loom, Loki was revealed to have survived, but he started time-slipping again as the TVA headquarters “spaghettified”, just like Victor Timely did when he tried to reach the Temporal Loom.

While Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) survived, though for very different reasons, the rest of the team – Mobius, Hunter B-5, O.B., and Casey – were reset to their original lives in branching timelines. Loki’s time-slipping sent him to visit each of them, but they obviously didn’t know who he was – luckily, O.B. (whose real name was A.D. Doug) believed everything he said and helped him by building a new TemPad. However, leaving his life to help Loki wasn’t easy for Mobius, and Loki episode 5 not only explained Mobius’ jet ski obsession but also gave it a very sad backstory.

Loki Season 2 Episode 5 Reveals Mobius’ Origin (& His Jet Skis)

Mobius was sent back to the year 2022 in a branched timeline. Mobius was living in Cleveland, Ohio, and worked at a store that sells everything needed for water sports. Mobius is first seen riding a jet ski and giving a speech about how great they are, and it’s quickly revealed that he was trying to sell it to a customer. Mobius was interrupted by a coworker telling him that his son was calling him, and Mobius mentioned that he was a single father. Mobius was interrupted again while talking to Loki as his other son was calling, but Loki time-slipped again and left.

After talking to O.B. and coming up with a plan, Loki time-slipped again and returned to Mobius’ place in the timeline, though this time he landed right outside his house. Mobius believed Loki was looking for an ATV when Loki mentioned the TVA, and told him he had something to show him in his garage. Mobius had two jet skis – one for him and one for his wife, but mentioned to Loki that his wife was “long gone”, so there was no point in keeping both. Mobius was very passionate about jet skis, but they were also a connection to his wife.

Loki Hints Mobius Lost His Wife In The Snap

Though it’s not explicitly mentioned, given that Loki found Mobius in 2022, Loki season 2 might have hinted at Mobius’ wife being a victim of Thanos’ snap. Mobius didn’t say that his wife died, either, simply mentioning that she was “long gone”. If Mobius’ wife vanished as a result of Thanos’ snap, his attachment to jet skis takes a dark and heartbreaking turn, as they represent the loss of someone he loved and that he was robbed of many more happy moments with his wife and their kids. However, as Loki established that the TVA members were taken to a branched timeline, Thanos’ snap might have not happened in it, meaning that Mobius’ wife did die. Of course, this would also make Mobius’ obsession with jet skis quite tragic, as it’s not so much what happened to his wife but the fact that she’s gone.

Mobius’ Tragic Origin Explains Why He Remembers Jet Skis Despite His Mind Wipe

Among the many shocking reveals in Loki season 1 was that every single worker at the TVA was once a normal person in some part of the multiverse. However, all of them were variants as something happened in their lives that threatened the Sacred Timeline, so they were taken by the TVA. Once there, their memories were wiped so they could work for the TVA, making them believe that they had always been there and feeding them more lies about the TVA, its ruler, and the purpose of the organization. It has also been revealed that the TVA workers have gone through various memory wipes during their time at the TVA, which makes Mobius’ obsession with jet skis even sadder.

Mobius’ obsession was revealed in Loki season 1, and it became an inside joke among fans of the series as it seemed a bit random that a TVA worker would dream of having a jet ski. Despite all the memory wipes, Mobius never fully forgot about jet skis and still felt a connection to them, even if he didn’t know exactly why. The only link Mobius had to his past and his family after being taken by the TVA was his obsession with jet skis, and he couldn’t stay with his family even after the TVA’s destruction as he’s an important part of Loki’s team to save the multiverse.

New episodes of Loki season 2 release every Thursday on Disney+