by Jeff Alan, Contributing Writer
The long-awaited second season of Loki is here, and just as quickly as it arrived, it feels like it was over, given that it only has a six-episode season. One of the best properties to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4 and beyond returns with an exciting immediate followup to the cliffhanger of Season One, bringing back all of our favorite characters, including Owen Wilson’s Mobius, Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie, Wunmi Mosaku’s Hunter B-15, Eugene Cordero’s Casey, and, of course, Tom Hiddleston’s outstanding role as the titular Loki. The new season also brings in recent Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan to play a new character, Ouroboros, or “OB,” as they call him.
The season picks up immediately where Season One leaves off, with the sacred timeline in shambles, as new timelines are branched off in the wake of He Who Remains’ death. Loki arrives only to discover that he is in the past and being chased by Mobius and other hunters who have no memory of him. He then starts to experience a phenomenon that pulls him through different times in the TVA’s existence, starting in the past, eventually going back to the present, and then back to the past again, leading to some pretty humorous interactions between him, Mobius, and Casey. After explaining this to Mobius, they decide to visit OB, a TVA technician who explains that what Loki is experiencing is called “time slipping,” and it occurs when branching timelines overload the Temporal Loom, a device outside of the TVA that weaves the natural order of time together to keep the Sacred Timeline together. But now that He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) is dead, the timelines are in complete chaos.
They devise a plan to remove Loki from the time stream by pruning him the moment Mobius walks a Temporal Aura Extractor into the Loom. Another time slip from Loki takes him into the future to see the Loom in critical condition and the TVA abandoned. In his panic to get pruned, he is able to get a quick view of Sylvie apparently trying to find him, before he is pruned by someone unknown at the last moment, saving Loki and buying them more time to save the TVA. But the work is far from over, as the new mission is to find Sylvie and return her to the TVA, while also being ready for the moment when He Who Remains’ deadly variants come to wreak havoc on them all.
I cannot give away any more of the story away without spoiling the whole season. But even still, the return of Loki is a big bag of fun! As a fan of the MCU as a whole, and a person who enjoys the science behind alternate timelines and the multiverse, I really enjoyed the talk of the multiverse, the various solutions they come up with to try and save the multiverse, and Loki’s time slipping. The best part of this season is Loki’s arc, as he truly comes to realize what his “glorious purpose” is in the grand scheme of this multiversal conundrum he was put into when Sylvie killed He Who Remains.
The season has very few low points and next to no flaws. Other than the fact that it was way too short, with only a six-episode season and an average of 30 minutes per episode, I think maybe the biggest disappointment I can see is that I was expecting more variants of He Who Remains (or Kang, if you are in the know of what’s coming in the larger MCU scope). The Season One finale made me think that this one would include several iterations of Kang that Loki and co. would have to subdue or navigate around. That could have been on me for bringing my expectations a little high, or it could have been a byproduct of Major’s recent controversy. Either way, it did leave me a little disappointed, but I know that won’t be the case for long, given that the Multiverse Saga is ramping up, and the definitive Kangs will be here before we know it!
The MCU’s best series keeps getting better with stellar performances from Hiddleston and Wilson, the introduction of a fun new character in OB, and a great new iteration of He Who Remains in the form of Victor Timely. The season’s story and main struggle are well done and a lot of fun for the big sci-fi nerds like myself! The MCU television roster is not great for the most part, but Loki rises above the rest to continue being one of the best properties that Marvel Studios has put out so far!
Rating: Loved It
Loki is currently streaming on Disney+
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