Loki Season 2 Review: Beautifully Burdened with Glorious Purpose

When Loki arrived on Disney+ in 2021, it was a shining moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It marked a bit of a deviation from the type of stories fans of the long-running saga were used to seeing, as it focused on the adventures of one of the universe's most beloved bad guys. It also delivered a story that was fresh, engaging, and sparked plenty of discussion and speculation, as it took viewers deeper into Marvel lore, set a course for a very different MCU, and featured some of the franchise's best character development to date. Now, two years after leaving viewers with a shocking cliffhanger that suggested dire changes to the Time Variance Authority — and the MCU — as we know it, Loki finally returns this week, aiming to not only further Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) journey of redemption, but take viewers ever closer to the next big franchise threat. Unfortunately, while Loki remains the best thing at the party that has become the MCU, the first four episodes are plagued with rushed storytelling, strange characterizations, and forced comedy, further serving as an example of why Marvel Studios might want to take a step back from that party.

Season 2 of Loki wastes no time in picking up the thread from Season 1, making an attempt to bring all the major players — including but not limited to Loki, Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson), Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) — onto the same page about the danger of He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). But almost straight out of the gate, Season 2 suffers from being and doing "too much": the first episode is hectic, throwing new concepts, characters, and threats into the story with little explanation and little reason for fans to be invested. When the premiere does try to stop and ruminate on what Loki just experienced in the Season 1 finale, the end result becomes rushed and confusing. That overstuffed and slightly frenetic chaos sets the tone for the season and, of the four episodes of six screened for review, it's not something that ever really lets up.

One might be able to look past that energetic storytelling shift given the urgency of what is coming — after all, He Who Remains did have a dire warning at the end of Season 1, and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars are on the horizon — but it's far from the only flaw of the episodes. By and large, there is something off in most of the characterizations of Loki's characters. Sylvie's dynamic with Loki feels jarringly more antagonistic, which would make sense if it was spread out over a bit of time, but it comes on very suddenly. B-15 and many of the TVA agents are suddenly more human than they were near the end of Season 1 — something that makes sense in the longer run, but feels very sudden and unearned in context. Even Miss Minutes takes a very strange turn in one point of the story, which feels weirdly creepy and unnecessary.

Loki Season 2 still has some of the best performances in the overall MCU franchise, but, at times, they are hindered from developing further. Hiddleston's Loki continues to be a rich and layered character, and it's fascinating seeing him function in a way that is less directly full of villainy. But at the same time, Loki itself keeps cutting Loki short, preventing him from really unleashing the complexity of the character and his journey. Wilson's Mobius M. Mobius remains a delight, but the season leans too much into the "buddy cop" energy of his partnership with Loki, resulting in something that feels like caricature. Ke Huy Quan's Ouroboros becomes what might be the most fun addition to the story, and Quan delivers a charming performance, even if, at times, the character is also very one-note. As Victor Timely, Majors does a great job of differentiating from the previous Kang variants we've seen, but some of the affectation he uses to do so borders on problematic. Perhaps the best performance of the season, however, is Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who gives Ravonna Renslayer a complexity and a humanity this season that makes her a compelling character in the same vein as Loki in Season 1.

For all the individual, detailed bumps Loki Season 2 has, the season still expands the MCU and the idea of the multiverse in a spectacular way. The lore of the TVA is further explored and fleshed out, as well as the mechanics of the timeline, contributing not only to the urgency of the threat Loki and his allies are facing in the season, but also the future of the MCU. Dealing with the onslaught of branching timelines and the danger they pose to the sacred timeline very much sets the table for future stories and conflict well beyond Loki, without overburdening the season's sense of self-containment. Additionally, the overall aesthetics of the season – particularly with the cinematography – are outstanding. The retro-futuristic vibe of the series almost feels like a character itself, at times, both grounding the story in place and time while also being very, very stylish.

Loki may be one of the MCU's most innovative and significant offerings, and Season 2 of the series certainly maintains the spirit of the first season and pushes not only Loki's story but the future of the MCU forward. But like the Sacred Timeline itself, Loki Season 2 shows signs of coming apart in places with little bits that could stand refinement, reconsideration, or even just a strong bit of editing. Season 2 definitely doesn't suffer from some of the pitfalls that would make people continue to question if superhero fatigue is real or not, but through characterizations, pacing, and too much self-awareness, it definitely feels like a very different show. It's by no means bad, but it certainly feels like most of the fun will be in digesting each episode after the fact, rather than taking it in for what it is just while watching. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Loki Season 2 premieres on Disney+ on October 5th.