The Green Pie In Loki Season 2 Is Not What It Seems - And That's Oddly Important
Contains spoilers for "Loki" Season 2, Episode 2 — "Breaking Brad"
"Loki" Season 2, Episode 2 has a tighter focus on food than your average Marvel Cinematic Universe project. It's only natural that Sylvie's (Sophia Di Martino) McDonald's arc features a discussion over a fast food meal, much to Mobius M. Mobius' (Owen Wilson) vocal delight. But there's another, potentially even more important food moment when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and an agitated Mobius take a quick pie break to mull things over.
The pie flavor the duo settles on is key lime, but when we see the actual slices, fans of this particular dessert might notice that something is amiss. A key lime pie's filling is mostly egg yolks, making it yellow rather than neon green, the color of the version offered by the Time Variance Authority's automat. Adding to the artificial effect is the fact that the pies we see in the background seem to be the same color. Either this is the only pie flavor available, or the TVA gleefully pretends that all pies look like that.
It could be that the set designer simply chose a slice that fits the show's overall color scheme, but given that they make the effort to misname the pie, we may be looking at a subtle sign that the TVA is precisely as fake as Loki and Hunter X-5 (Rafael Casal) say. Since the green pie is also featured in the show's promotional material, it could potentially be more important to the plot than you'd think ... and could very well act as a symbol of the TVA's fake nature, just like the show uses Jet Skis to signify Mobius' subconscious desire for freedom.
Sometimes a pie is more than just a pie
Seeing as Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) is thoroughly unfamiliar with coffee in "Thor," it's possible that neither Loki nor Mobius — who's all but confirmed to have gone through at least one major memory wipe — is familiar with real key lime pie. As such, it's understandable that the situation escapes their attention. For viewers, however, the green pie is quite possibly less of a "Loki" Season 2 Easter egg and more of a strategically placed red flag.
Color and lack thereof are important in the TVA. Well before we learn that the agency is staffed by variants who have been abducted from their timelines, "Loki" makes clear that the strange plane of not-quite-reality it exists on is both more and less than it seems. With sand-colored walls, drab clothing, and the bright — yet muted — colors of important locations like the seafoam green Temporal Loom observation room and O.B.'s (Ke Huy Quan) mustard yellow workbench, the overall vibe is that of a peculiar retro dreamscape that's as timeless as it is unreal.
Knowing this, it may not be a coincidence that "Loki" Season 2, Episode 2 whips out the green "key lime" pie so soon after Mobius uncharacteristically loses his cool during X-5's interrogation. Having Loki and Mobius unknowingly dine on a delicious slice of fake pie as they quietly ponder their place in the grand scheme of reality is a pretty cool touch from the show and could very well stealthily confirm the statements X-5 makes about the TVA — a place that's starting to seem more and more like a Matrix-style artificial prison.