REVIEW: Season 2 Of Loki Delivers On It’s Own, But The MCU Shadow Looms Heavily
Season 2 of the Marvel Studios/Disney+ series, Loki, kicks off tomorrow, October 5, and it’s a mixed bag of emotions. The first episode of the four episodes critics received, pick ups right after the events of the Season 1 finale; Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is back at the Time Variance Authority, but its not his TVA, and he is slowly coming to terms with the fact that he is in a time that he does not belong in. After a quick run-in with Mobius (Owen Wilson) and B-15, both of whom do not recognize him, he quickly, and painfully disappears back to his original time. Once back in his original time, Loki is informed by the TVA go-to know it all and mechanic, Ourobouros “O.B.” (Ke Huy Quan) that he is time-slipping, or being pulled between the past and the future. And if that wasn’t problem enough, due to the events from the season 1 finale, new timeline branches are popping up across the sacred timeline, and no one at the TVA seems to know how to deal with it..
The first of the four episodes is a good season premiere episode. It recaps the events of the past season, without going into too much detail, while also setting the foundation for what is to come. The next few episodes are a bit of a jostling rollercoaster. Episodes two and three catch viewers up to speed on what the show’s other characters have been up to since the events in season 1 finale. Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) has found a new life for herself, and is less rage filled, which is a nice change from the previous season, while Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) seem to be dealing out a plan made by He-Who-Remains (Jonathan Majors). We also see the reappearance of Majors as a variant of He-Who-Remains, Victor Timely. It’s after his reappearance where the wheels really start turning and the story starts moving at lightning speed.
As I was watching the show, I kept, unfortunately, asking myself, but what is it all for? In typical Marvel Cinematic Universe fashion, the pieces of the puzzle have been laid out on the table, but will we ever see the final piece? In the first four episodes, I found myself pondering what is the point of all of this. What part does this season play in the overall bigger picture? And maybe that is the problem. Marvel fans have been groomed to go into every project wondering, how does this fit into the overall saga. How does this one episode, movie, scene, build to the next? And in all honesty, besides the introduction of Kang/He-Who-Remains/Victor Timely, Loki doesn’t quite fit. This season mentions no other MCU events, unless it specifically pertains to Loki, just like other MCU projects have never mentioned any of the events from Loki. If this wasn’t a Marvel project, I would find it quite refreshing to see this project standing on its own, but it is not. It’s Marvel, and if a project is released, there is a reasoning for it. Loki’s reasoning just remains as of yet, unseen.
At the end of the day, and Marvel’s bigger picture aside, season two of Loki is good. The cast is terrific, the story is pretty decent, and it does not rely too heavily on CGI, a step-up from last season. However, even with all of these positive things, I still walked away feeling bleh about the whole thing. Maybe I am just MCU burned out, so if you watched the first season, give the second season a shot. However, I would recommend waiting until the entire season is out so you can watch it in one sitting.
Grade: B