In Norse Mythology, Loki is bound by the entrails of his son and trapped in a cave where he will reside until Ranarök. In the Marvel universe, he’s a bit less harried.

Loki (Ep1 – Ouroboros)

Picking up from the moment that season 2 ended, Loki finds himself being painfully ripped through time as he tries to reveal to the Time Variance Authority that their lives and mission are a shamocracy.

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Episode 1 is fast-paced enough almost to make you feel like the reason that you don’t understand anything that anyone is saying is that you blinked and not that every minute of dialogue is stuffed with enough meaningless technobabble to make one nostalgic for reverse tachyon beams. The breakdown of the plot is basically: Kang is bad, bad things are happening to the timeline, bad things are going on with Loki, and it’d be a good idea to fix all of it… or else.

As a show that relies exclusively on slick sets, exciting visuals, and mountains of charisma, one of its brightest spots is this season’s addition of Ke Huy Quan. Best known for his role as Short Round in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, the man is the personification of delightful, and you can’t help but enjoy every moment that he’s on screen.

There are some dialogue issues in this episode that feel like ad-libbed moments between Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Owen Wilson’s Mobius, and they do take the viewer out of the moment for a fraction of a second before the breakneck pacing whisks the viewer away to another setpiece.

With an utterly indecipherable threat that reads like a Joe Biden speech, whiplash-inducing pacing, and a glut of style and charisma, episode 1 of Loki season 2 is a fun diversion. Pop some popcorn, turn off your brain, and enjoy.

WOKE ELEMENTS

• There’s a good bit of obvious DEI hires and women artificially and awkwardly inserted into traditional male roles.
• The body positivity movement is in full effect.
  • I’ll never understand how any casting director would think that a heavy-set woman in an uncomfortable-looking tight uniform can appear tough and intimidating. Nothing against Wunmi Mosaku’s talent, but she looks like the fat trooper in Spaceballs. She’s so heavy that she’s knock-kneed. Do you mean to tell me that there was not a single fit black actress who could have performed the role as well as her?

Loki (Ep2 – Breaking Brad)

As Mobius and Loki continue to try and unravel the mystery of the unraveling time thingy unraveling, they run down their only lead, rogue TVA hunter Brad Wolfe. Brad is quite happy with the life that he’s created for himself in one of the Timeline’s many branches, so our time cops will have to get creative if they plan on getting him to give up the information that they need in time to save time and stuff from things and stuff.

This season, as Owen Wilson goes full Owen Wilson and Hiddleston goes full Tom Hiddleston on Graham Norton, Episode 2 firmly establishes the new, more playful tone that will likely continue throughout the rest of the series.

However, as light as it is on story, it does at least follow a three-act structure and gives the audience a sense of momentum and the series’ arc as well as of the episode’s individual arc, which is a vast improvement over the aimless disaster of recent Disney fair like Ahsoka.

Unfortunately, this tonal shift will almost certainly leave some fans of the character less than excited about Loki, who now, in lieu of trying to take over the world, takes time to sit and eat pie with friends while each talks about their feelings. Furthermore, the shift is present in virtually every other aspect of the show. OB, played by the delightful Ke Huy Quan, is a lovable goof, while Casey, played by Eugene Cordero, is a lovable goof, and Brad Wolfe, played by Rafael Casal is a lovable goof, and they all complement Morbius and Loki… who are lovable goofs.

As odd a duck as the show is/has become, it has a number of things going for it. Its brisk pacing manages to save most audience members from the burden of trying to decipher what the h#!! is going on, while its Ocean’s 11 sheek and excellent cinematography are almost enough to fool one into thinking that a lot of thought has been put into the series, but its greatest strength is the chemistry of its leads. Wilson and Hiddleston are obviously having fun and are both are charismatic enough to bring you along with them.

Although there is undoubtedly an argument to be made that Loki’s radical new outlook and disposition aren’t warranted and that the first season doesn’t quite justify it, those willing to forgive it and just go along with the ride will likely find the first two episodes to be pleasant diversions.

WOKE ELEMENTS

• Nothing new in this one, just the same flabby diversity hire throwing slow and weak looking punches and Sylvie being awesome and right for reasons.