Loki Season Two
Year: 2023
Created by: Michael Waldron
Starring: Sophia Di Martino, Tom Hiddleston, Ke Huy Quan, Gugu Mbatha-Raw & Owen Wilson
Episodes: 6
BBFC: 12
Published: 13/11/23
Created by: Michael Waldron
Starring: Sophia Di Martino, Tom Hiddleston, Ke Huy Quan, Gugu Mbatha-Raw & Owen Wilson
Episodes: 6
BBFC: 12
Published: 13/11/23
I was not particularly impressed by Loki Season One much to the disappointment of pretty much every Marvel fan I know. I found it to be a plodding and overly complex affair with shallow characters and little need to actually exist. So, when the season wrapped and left itself on a cliffhanger for a second season I was less than thrilled. Fast forward two years and Loki Season Two has now concluded and I have to say, this is the show it should have been all along. But it’s still not quite hit the nail on the head.
Having travelled to the end of time with his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and watched her kill the head of the TVA, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) finds himself slipping through time uncontrollably. Meanwhile Mobius (Owen Wilson), B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), repairs technician Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), and inventor Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) try to stabilise the sacred timeline as it branches out of control creating a new multiverse.
The first season of Loki crawled so that the second season truly could sprint. It’s quite remarkable really. I had wondered whether to give Season Two a seal of approval but to do so would mean you’d need to slog through the first season and honestly, as good as season two is, I’m not sure it’s worth enduring Season One for.
Having travelled to the end of time with his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and watched her kill the head of the TVA, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) finds himself slipping through time uncontrollably. Meanwhile Mobius (Owen Wilson), B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), repairs technician Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), and inventor Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) try to stabilise the sacred timeline as it branches out of control creating a new multiverse.
The first season of Loki crawled so that the second season truly could sprint. It’s quite remarkable really. I had wondered whether to give Season Two a seal of approval but to do so would mean you’d need to slog through the first season and honestly, as good as season two is, I’m not sure it’s worth enduring Season One for.
Almost every issue I had with Season One is rectified here. The pace is snappier, the characters have more personality and depth, Loki is unfortunately still going on that same character arc he went on through Thor: The Dark World until Avengers: Infinity War, but that’s a small gripe in an otherwise strong season of TV. It does then make the ending feel a little pointless because Loki finally reaches the same milestone of character development he’d already gone through once before, and so the ending feels more like emotional blackmail rather than well-earned payoff.
I love Ouroboros, like to the point that he made the entire show for me. Quan’s performance here is nothing short of incredible and he brings the same kind of madcap energy to the role that he had in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
I also really enjoyed seeing Kang/He Who Remains/Victor Timely expanded more. I was honestly surprised to see him in such a large capacity following Majors’ legal problems earlier this year but the fact remains the same as Quantumania, he’s excellent here and delivers so many sides to the character.
I love Ouroboros, like to the point that he made the entire show for me. Quan’s performance here is nothing short of incredible and he brings the same kind of madcap energy to the role that he had in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
I also really enjoyed seeing Kang/He Who Remains/Victor Timely expanded more. I was honestly surprised to see him in such a large capacity following Majors’ legal problems earlier this year but the fact remains the same as Quantumania, he’s excellent here and delivers so many sides to the character.
The penultimate episode, ‘Science/Fiction’, was one of the best episodes of a Marvel show I’ve ever seen, and to me perfectly encapsulated what the entire premise of the show was about. Loki slipping through time, meeting alternate versions of the shows cast and trying to get them on board with helping him fix the timeline. The episode ‘1893’ was also a nice change of pace, picking up where the post-credits scene of Quantumania left off.
I also appreciate that the show didn’t end with a massive punch-up. Whilst I wasn’t a massive fan of the ending overall, I did like that the problem was solved by characters working together and fixing a problem than two people fighting.
The second season of Loki really goes above and beyond anything the first season was capable of. I do on the whole think the show was kind of pointless seeing as Loki just goes on the same character arc that he did in the films, but Season Two does at least present some good ideas for its unique premise and manages to be extremely entertaining.
Is the show worth watching on the whole? I wouldn’t say it’s worth seeking out, but if you’re a Marvel fan then there’s bound to be some thing you’ll enjoy in there, even if you do need to slog through Season One. Hopefully this is the end we’ll see of Loki because it’s a fitting end for the character. Though I can’t say I’d turn down Hiddleston returning for a cameo role in a future Avengers film. Only time will tell.
I also appreciate that the show didn’t end with a massive punch-up. Whilst I wasn’t a massive fan of the ending overall, I did like that the problem was solved by characters working together and fixing a problem than two people fighting.
The second season of Loki really goes above and beyond anything the first season was capable of. I do on the whole think the show was kind of pointless seeing as Loki just goes on the same character arc that he did in the films, but Season Two does at least present some good ideas for its unique premise and manages to be extremely entertaining.
Is the show worth watching on the whole? I wouldn’t say it’s worth seeking out, but if you’re a Marvel fan then there’s bound to be some thing you’ll enjoy in there, even if you do need to slog through Season One. Hopefully this is the end we’ll see of Loki because it’s a fitting end for the character. Though I can’t say I’d turn down Hiddleston returning for a cameo role in a future Avengers film. Only time will tell.