Summary: Loki puts in every effort to prevent the Temporal Loom from exploding but he fails at every turn and it is simply not possible. Loki goes back to stop Sylvie from killing He Who Remains, but is also unsuccessful. He realizes he may have to kill Sylvie to save everyone but doesn’t want to do it. After talking in the past with Mobius and Sylvie, Loki decides to destroy the Temporal Loom and keeps the timelines in balance with his own power, choosing to remain at the End of Time himself to govern the multiverse.
The Good: So many MCU shows have had awful season finales, opting for a basic and predictable action climax with zero twists, turns, or emotional character moments. “Loki” stunned me by refusing to adhere to conventions, crafting a terrific finale that celebrates the character of Loki and all he achieved throughout the show. I was invested in this show and the characters, and that paid off beautifully by the end. As Loki climbed to the throne with a far more honourable motive than anything we’ve ever seen from him before, I felt genuine catharsis, evidence that this show succeeded with the story that it was telling. The episode earned this ending by having Loki do everything in his power to fix the Temporal Loom without resorting to this. The early parts of the episode are terrific, editing Loki’s attempts to save the world in increasingly comedic ways as the character grows more and more frustrated by his failures. Even after studying time for literal centuries, he was unable to save the world, a fantastic reveal and a terrific twist in this finale. I appreciated that the story went back to the season 1 finale with He Who Remains, and forcing Loki to negotiate with someone who is basically another god was highly compelling stuff. But the show did not get lost in plot. The final act of this show is determined by two emotional conversations with Loki and his two closest companions, Mobius and Sylvie. Loki knew he would have to kill Sylvie to save the world, and couldn’t bear to do it. But he knew he had to make the hard choice to save the world after a great talk with Mobius. But after speaking with Sylvie, Loki understands that he needs to preserve free will, and so he makes the ultimate sacrifice; instead of sacrificing Sylvie, Loki sacrifices himself, using magic to create an ideal universe for everyone to live the lives that they want. It’s a beautiful bit of character development with Loki opening his mind to accept the truths that others have told him throughout the show, finally achieving the glorious purpose he was hunting in the series premiere, albeit in a way he never would have imagined. The storytelling is brilliant, and it leads to a beautiful and satisfying conclusion that thematically fits the show, and achieves everything that the show set out to achieve involving its main character. I was very pleased by this ending. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Will Loki ever be able to leave the End of Time, or is this his fate forever? Will his new TVA be able to stop the Kang variants from starting a multiversal war? Best Moment: Loki stepping up to his new throne and finally achieving his glorious purpose. Character of the Episode: Loki. Conclusion: This was an immensely satisfying finale, closing out Loki’s character arc in a beautiful and dramatic way, while making every event in this show feel like it had weight. Now this is how you do a finale episode. Score: 73
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Summary: Loki starts time-slipping again as the TVA is destroyed. He keeps teleporting to alternate variants of his friends in various universes. After talking with OB, he realizes he needs to reunite them to save the TVA. While OB builds a TemPad, Loki recruits everyone else, but he fails to get Sylvie. Sylvie changes her mind and joins him when her timeline is destroyed. Everyone is assembled, but the TemPad disappears and the universe is destroyed. Loki manages to control his time-slipping and moves to before the Temporal Loom’s destruction.
The Good: I enjoyed this. It felt like an old-fashioned sci-fi movie with Loki jumping around through time with OB playing the role of an intelligent scientist who can help the protagonist deal with a situation that’s almost impossible to navigate. This was simple entertainment, and it felt different from anything else we’ve seen on the show. It was also enjoyable to see Loki going from friend to friend, recruiting them for his mission to save the TVA. It was great to finally see Mobius’ alternate life, and his role as a salesman fits the character perfectly. B-15 being a doctor is also fitting with her sharp desire to start saving lives in the TVA, Casey being an escaping inmate is pretty funny, and OB’s alternate life as a fiction writer is pretty entertaining too. I enjoyed getting the chance to see all of these alternate lives. The centerpiece scene of the episode is Loki speaking with Sylvie, and it works to an extent (see: The Bad). I like that this scene was used to ignite the Loki/Sylvie conflict one more time, and the exploration of how Loki has become attached to his new friends was nice. The end of the episode provides a fun cliffhanger as Loki’s extreme frustration seems to lead to him mastering time-slipping. The Bad: Loki’s scene with Sylvie has one huge flaw: why does he not bring up that all timelines will be destroyed if she doesn’t help him? He practically couldn’t shut up about this earlier, so why didn’t he mention it here? Especially since Sylvie does change her mind when her timeline is destroyed. Clearly this was only omitted because the show wanted Loki’s hidden motivation reveal to be more dramatic, but it’s always unsatisfying when the writer’s fingerprints are so plain to see without much thought. The Unknown: Did Loki control his time-slipping at the end? Can he use the time-slipping to go back in time and save the Temporal Loom? What can he do to save it? Best Moment: Loki’s frustration when things fall apart for him once again at the end of the episode. Character of the Episode: Loki. Conclusion: This was an atypical, but fun episode paying homage to older sci-fi films. I enjoyed it for its simplicity and found it to be an engrossing set-up for the finale. Score: 66 Summary: Ravonna learns that she commanded He Who Remains’ army but he erased her memories. Ravonna kills Dox and her people, recruiting Brad in the process. Timely works to help solve OB’s problem but he is captured by Brad while taking a break. Sylvie uses Brad to prune Ravonna, while OB reboots the system to deactivate Miss Minutes. Timely decides to help fix the Temporal Loom by using the Throughput Multiplier, but he is immediately killed by the temporal radiation. The temporal loom explodes.
The Good: The fourth episode was a climactic and surprising episode in the first season, and the same rings true for the second season. This episode had a lot going on, and it was interesting to see where the story went next. It was challenging to predict, and there was plenty of tension with Ravonna’s impending presence, the failing Temporal Loom, and Timely being captured. I especially enjoyed the scenes with the Temporal Loom. There was still a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo, but it’s grounded in the amusing mutual respect between Timely and OB. Timely has another great episode with his entertaining interactions and fascination over the TVA. The importance of saving the Temporal Loom is communicated well, so I was invested in seeing if OB and Timely could save it, even if I did not fully understand why. The twist at the end is terrific as Timely is immediately disintegrated against all odds and the Temporal Loom seems to collapse at the end. It’s difficult to see what comes next, and I’m excited to see what twists “Loki” has in store for the final two episodes. The Bad: The Dox storyline is over, and it all feels completely pointless. They didn’t end up doing anything for the plot, and the resolution with all of them being killed by Ravonna was underwhelming. I was also disappointed with how things were resolved for the Ravonna/Miss Minutes storyline. I expected them to play a bigger role and have a more climactic finale. Instead, the story fizzled out after a very simple enchantment by Sylvie, and one technical adjustment from OB. The reveal that Loki pruned himself in “Ouroboros” fell flat because it didn’t really add anything interesting to the story. The Unknown: Is this the end for Ravonna and Miss Minutes? What will become of Brad? Is the TVA going to be destroyed now that the Temporal Loom has exploded? Can Loki do anything to stop this? What will come next? Best Moment: Everything going up in smoke at the end. Character of the Episode: Timely. Conclusion: This is a fun and climactic episode, but some disappointing aspects of the story prevent it from reaching the highs I expected. Score: 62 Summary: Loki and Mobius hunt for Miss Minutes to try to help OB. Miss Minutes is with Ravonna and they are meeting Victor Timely, a Kang variant. Loki and Mobius arrive and the two parties fight over Timely, each trying to use him for their own ends. Ravonna and Miss Minutes betray each other, Sylvie arrives, and Timely ends up being taken to the TVA successfully by Loki and Mobius. Sylvie sends Ravonna to the End of Time, and Ravonna allies with Miss Minutes again to fight against He Who Remains.
The Good: I thoroughly enjoyed this episode’s mad scramble to get to Victor Timely. There were almost countless different groups all hunting him down, and this led to a momentous and thrilling chase episode. Timely is the star of the whole process. He’s much more than just a smart man as he exhibits a feigned innocence to sell his act of being a con-man that profits off of the stupidity of rich white men. On top of that he’s incredibly prideful and arrogant, so it’s fun to not only see him try to grasp what is happening around him, but to pick an choose who he wants to support because of how they treat him. It’s amusing to see him betray Ravonna for the crime of viewing herself as an equal, just as fun as any other exciting chase sequence in the episode. The Bad: I’m disappointed that there was virtually no follow-up on the end of the previous episode. It’s quite convenient how quickly Loki and Mobius find Ravonna and Timely in an enormous fair. Motives are once more a problem. I’m not sure what Ravonna and Miss Minutes are after with Timely. Are they trying to make another He Who Remains? How will they do that, and why do they care to do that? These are important questions, but they aren’t addressed throughout the episode. After, we get a twist that their motives changed and they no longer need Timely, which just confuses me more. Sylvie’s motives are even worse. She’s a wild card, but I fail to understand why she wants to kill the HWR variants when she is the reason for their existence. I don’t understand why she cares so much. That’s the issue with this episode, it’s fun on the surface but the muddled motivations make this harder to enjoy. The Unknown: What will Timely do now that he’s in the TVA? Will he comply with Loki and Mobius or does he have other aspirations? What is Ravonna’s secret? Best Moment: Timely’s introduction on the stage is a brilliant moment, and Johnathan Majors’ performance is electric. Character of the Episode: Timely. Conclusion: The mad chase for Timely was fun to watch and it gives this episode a unique premise. Unfortunately the muddled motives get in the way and damage the episode’s quality. Outside of that, this was a good episode. Score: 59 Summary: Loki and Mobius track down X-5 to find Sylvie. They find him living normally as Brad and they capture him. Together they wear him down and convince him to reveal where Sylvie is. Loki meets with Sylvie but she doesn’t want to help him save the TVA. OB works to repair the Temporal Loom, but is stumped when he needs a scan of He Who Remains, who is now dead. Brad reveals that Dox plans to prune all branching timelines, which she does, causing mass casualties.
The Good: I’m thankful that this season is giving us plenty of scenes with Loki and Mobius together as they were one of the highlights of the first season. The whole section where they had to get the truth out of Brad was very well done and made good use of the characters. Loki got to show his development by using his mischievous nature with some restraint, Mobius got some much-needed direction as we explore how his character has handled learning about the real life he has, and Brad was entertaining as a sleazy villain that they needed to break down. This was fun stuff, and the heart to heart over pie between Loki and Mobius was especially compelling. The Bad: Unfortunately things start falling apart when we look at the bigger picture. Loki and Mobius spend the episode hunting for Sylvie, and I can’t quite figure out what they want to accomplish with her. When Loki and Sylvie finally meet, all he wants is answers but surely he knows that she won’t have any for him! It’s Brad who knows what Dox is up to, which should be a more urgent issue for Loki and Mobius right now. I was also very confused why Brad didn’t reveal anything to Loki and Mobius, surely giving up Sylvie’s location won’t interfere with Dox’s plan. I was also confused why Dox seemingly didn’t make any contact with Sylvie after the last episode established that she was going after her. The end of the episode completely falls flat. The TVA being able to prune entire timelines came out of nowhere, and everyone’s horrified reaction at what happened did not have any impact. I’m not sure how this will affect the story at all (what’s stopping more timelines from popping up), and I struggle to believe that the TVA will be so horrified about all this death when they have been killing variants for centuries, which is surely a bigger tragedy to process than this. It also felt redundant to have Sylvie return to the TVA, only to leave again immediately after what happened. I also found the episode’s pacing to be inconsistent. We sped through the opening and ending scenes without giving any context to what was happening, yet we spent an eternity on the Loki/Mobius/Brad storyline. It felt wrong. The Unknown: What will be the consequences of the timeline destruction at the end? Why isn’t OB allowed into the Temporal Loom? Did Miss Minutes change this? Where has Ravonna been found? Best Moment: Mobius and Loki having a heart to heart over pie. It was nice to see Loki diving into Mobius’ psyche to help him process his meltdown against Brad, a nice inversion of season 1. Character of the Episode: Mobius. Conclusion: Loki and Mobius do their best to make this enjoyable, but the episode is weighed down by strange pacing, murky character motivations, and a confusing ending. Score: 55 Summary: Loki is time slipping, constantly jumping uncontrollably between timelines. Mobius and B-15 meet with the TVA judges and convince them to stop killing branched timelines with help from a manic Loki. General Dox doesn’t agree and sends out X-5 to find Sylvie. Mobius takes Loki to Ouroboros (OB) to get help. Mobius and Loki learn that Loki has to prune himself while Mobius uses a Temporal Aura Extractor on the Temporal Loom with risk of death if they fail. Mobius uses the TEA properly but Loki is unable to prune himself in another timeline. However, he is somehow pruned anyways and survives. Meanwhile, Sylvie starts a new life in 1982.
The Good: The time-slipping concept is a lot of fun, and it’s executed well in this episode. It’s simultaneously dramatic and terrifying, while having an amusing comedic timing that works very well. Loki being stuck with this condition immediately gives this season momentum as there is a rush to get him back to normal, and healing him also puts the lives of Mobius and Loki in danger. This makes the premiere episode unexpectedly climactic and intense, and this works to make season 2 immediately exciting and interesting. I really enjoyed the presence of OB, played by the talented Ke Huy Quan. OB is instantly charismatic, and his way of talking is quite funny. He seems like a good addition to the cast while also offering some important information about how the TVA functions with the Temporal Loom. The Bad: This episode missed the mark a few times. There is a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo thrown into the exposition scenes, which has the unintended side effect of making it hard to engage with the plot since it does not make sense. I’m also quite certain that OB’s explanations will not hold up to scrutiny if you think about it, making the convoluted exposition feel like a plot device whenever I hear it. I enjoy this show’s mix of comedy and drama, but sometimes it was too much. For example, a joke about a random TVA lady overhearing Loki’s crazy explanations breaks my immersion because this is information that Loki and Mobius should be keeping to themselves to prevent a panic; we should not be laughing at the fact that someone else is learning this stuff. The Unknown: Will Mobius talking to OB 400 years ago be an important plot point? How did Loki get pruned? Why was Sylvie there? When did this happen? Loki heard Kang and Ravonna talking? When did this happen? Where is Ravonna? What is Sylvie doing in this new universe? Will Dox find Sylvie? Best Moment: I’ll go with the charm of OB’s introduction. The character is so fun and full of energy, and he plays the role of all-knowing helper very well. Character of the Episode: OB. Conclusion: This was a fine way to start a new season. Things were immediately dramatic and there’s plenty to enjoy here. Score: 66 Summary: Loki is time-slipping uncontrollably and he and Mobius get help from OB, who gives them a task to do to fix him. It works, so Loki and Mobius move on to finding Sylvie, and they interrogate Brad, a TVA hunter who was hunting down Sylvie. They find her and realize that General Dox intends to destroy all the branching timelines, which she does, horrifying everyone. Sylvie agrees to work with them again after this happens. Ravonna and Miss Minutes meet with Victor Timely, a variant of Kang. They are tracked by Loki and Mobius who need Timely's help to fix the Temporal Loom to stop the TVA from being destroyed. The groups all try to get Timely, but Loki and Mobius end up succeeding and bring him back. Ravonna and Miss Minutes return and get Brad on their side after murdering Dox and all of her soldiers. They intercept Timely, but are ultimately defeated. OB explains that Timely needs to correct the Temporal Loom, but they are too late and he dies. The TVA is destroyed and Loki is stuck time-slipping again as he desperately tries to correct the past> Eventually he realizes that he can't save the TVA since this is all predetermined since Sylvie killed He Who Remains. Loki realizes he has to kill her, but he finds a new solution and ends up taking the place of He Who Remains, keeping all the timelines intact while the TVA manage the Kang variants.
The Good: It's clear as day that the second season of "Loki" was the second half of a single story instead of a cash-grab sequel, and I thoroughly appreciate that. The cohesion between seasons 1 and 2 means that the show feels focused, important, and thematically relevant at every turn. When I watched the finale, it felt like the story had been building up to this episode from the very start, developing Loki and destroying the balance of time specifically so that Loki could finally make the benevolent decision to save the world and finally claim the throne he long sought after, even if it was not the throne he had imagined. The storytelling here was exceptional, and it's a big reason why "Loki" is a step above every other MCU TV show. The show develops Loki organically and gives him a wholly unique arc, letting the emotional aspects of the character sink in and hit hard. Season 2 has numerous terrific Loki moments. The highlights have to be his admission that he values his friends and his final conversations with Mobius and Sylvie, leading to his fateful decision. Great character moments that the whole show had been building towards from the beginning. Compared to most Marvel projects, this show has excellent side characters. I'm pleased to say that season 2 does not change that. Mobius was a highlight in season 1, and I'm glad that season 2 did not diminish or simplify the character in any way. Mobius was very well-written in this season as he maintained his usual aloof style while his over-arching story of being scared to find out what his real life was served as an interesting way to explore the character further. The final scene where he looks at his reality is surprisingly beautiful and impactful. I wasn't the biggest fan of Sylvie in season 1, but she is used superbly in this season. I'm thankful that the writers put the romantic aspect of the story away and mostly utilized Sylvie as a wild card, a character who finally achieved her dream but is now willing to do anything to preserve that dream. I'm also pleased that Loki and Sylvie's great debates about the importance of freedom continued into this season, as freedom is a very important theme of the show that is explored in a fairly compelling way. I'm less positive on the Ravonna and Miss Minutes storyline (see: The Bad), but I still appreciate that the show found a good use for the characters, giving them a mostly satisfying conclusion albeit one that felt a bit rushed. Lastly, there's B-15 and Casey, who I enjoyed more this season. B-15 played far too big of a role in season 1 considering how flat of a character she was, but I enjoyed her role in this season. The character has inexplicably had the biggest change of heart since the end of season 1, but the new role suits her better, and I'm glad that she spent most of this season in the background. Casey didn't do much in season 1, but he was pretty fun in this season as somebody who isn't important to the plot and it pretty much just there. He adds a more human element to the wildly sci-fi plot which I appreciate. While the old characters were utilized well, the new ones were the highlight for me. Ouroboros, or OB, was a ton of fun in ever scene he's in. The character is written brilliantly, and his quirky style makes him play the typical role of all-knowing scientist wonderfully well. Ke Huy Quan's performance is what sells the character to me as he brings the role to life with his amusingly straightforward line delivery. Victor Timely was a thoroughly entertaining Kang variant. I was expecting to see a more ruthless and terrifying version of the character in this season, so I was caught off guard by the nervous, stuttering Timely. But I really enjoyed the character and I thought that he added a lot to the show. It was amusing how Timely was such a brilliant mind that was sought out by everyone, but he had next to no physical skills and was left at the mercy of those around him. Yet the character was still a proud, conniving con man who took advantage of situations using his sly nature, which consistently entertained me. I wish there was more of him in the show, but what little we got was entertaining. As for the plot of the show, I had more problems with it this time around (see: The Bad). But that doesn't mean that there aren't aspects that I greatly enjoyed. Season 1 had some brilliant twists and creative episode premises that made the plot so engaging to follow. While season 2 doesn't hit that same level, it still has some truly great aspects. For twists, season 2 has some great highlights like the destruction of the TVA in season As for creativity, the fifth episode, "Science/Fiction" is a very fun episode that turns Loki into a typical 1900s sci-fi flick, which was a lot more entertaining to watch than it should have been. The Bad: This season was not without its flaws, and I took more issues with this one than with season 1. The biggest deterrent for this show is how much sci-fi expositional mumbo jumbo we get. I'm okay with expository dialogue, but when the exposition is just meaningless words that go in one ear and out the other, then it's disengaging me from the story. That's what happens in "Loki" season 2 because the content is so needlessly complex and confusing that exposition is difficult to grasp. Plus, I'm sure that actually thinking about what is being said will only make the story feel more flimsy and half-baked. It's a shame that this type of exposition is all over "Loki" season 2 because the first season was notable in its ability to keep the story grounded. Season 1 handled the concept of the TVA and time travel brilliantly and I was never confused or overwhelmed by the story. I can't say the same about this season, where the main plot is centered around the complex and confusing concept of the Temporal Loom, which is never adequately explained or visualized to us at any point. This season also very clearly did not have as much story as season 1, and some secondary storylines highlight this a lot. The most damning storyline is the one involving Dox, who shows up out of nowhere as a character in this season and offers damn near nothing to the story. Her entire subplot doesn't amount to much more than a convoluted way to have the TVA destroy the branching timelines, a plot point that was ultimately unnecessary in the grander scheme of the show. Furthermore, we spend a ton of time with her and Brad, two characters who did not captivate me. Dox was always half-baked in her morals, and then she has a half-baked character turn before being killed off in an underwhelming matter. Brad is another character who disappointed me. The concept behind the character is great (a disillusioned hunter who went to live his real life), but the show doesn't do enough interesting things with him, and he's not given a proper resolution. While I enjoyed Ravonna's storyline to an extent, I thought that it was resolved far too flippantly and did not have the importance that I thought it would. I was also disappointed by how the TVA reacted to Ravonna, as they never treated her like the major criminal she is supposed to be after season 1. I never found Ravonna to be the most interesting character either, and I was hoping that season 2 would change my mind on her role overall. It did not. The final issue I took with this season concerns character motivations. I enjoy the characters and their personalities a lot, but a lot of their goals left me scratching my head throughout the season. It was never clear what exactly the major characters were after, and this made several dramatic moments fall flat because it was hard to understand why the characters did what they did. A few examples stand out in particular. Loki was hard to connect with until the final two episodes because it was difficult to understand what he hoped to accomplish by saving the TVA and what his overall goal was. Sylvie was similarly difficult to understand because she seemingly only wanted to live in her own timeline, but kept getting involved with the TVA for increasingly unclear reasons. Ravonna and Miss Minutes were especially perplexing because I never knew what they wanted to achieve. Did they want to save the TVA? Destroy the world? Simply create a new Kang? Rule the world on their own? None of this ever became clear, and it affected how I viewed them and their stories. Best Episodes: E01 Ouroboros: The first episode of the season was one of the easiest to wrap my head around: Loki was stuck time-slipping and he and Mobius had to get help from OB, the expert to save him. A simple concept can sometimes lead to very entertaining drama, and that's what happened here. E06 Glorious Purpose: The season finale was a beautiful piece of work, concluding Loki's story and bringing the character full circle in a wildly entertaining and compelling hour of television. Worst Episodes: E02 Breaking Brad: Barring the amusing episode title, this episode doesn't do much for me. Character motivations and plot points are quite confusing, and the show doesn't help itself by moving through the Brad storyline at such a slow pace. E03 1893: This is a fun episode, but it's still hurt by the confusing character motivations. This is especially problematic since the episode is focused on how almost every character wants to find Victor Timely, but without knowing exactly what they have to accomplish it is not as engaging. Character of the Season: Loki. This was his story through and through. Conclusion: In the end, I'm very glad that I watched the second season of "Loki". I've been disillusioned with the MCU for a while now and have grown weary of the constant influx of mediocre TV shows. But amidst all the garbage, "Loki" shines brightly. This show remained creative and unpredictable throughout its run, it had excellent characters and storylines, brilliant visual presentations, and an impactful story with themes I have never seen explored in the MCU before. Sure, season 2 had its fair share flaws and wasn't as well-written or compelling as season 1, but I enjoyed the season overall and I found it to be a great way to conclude "Loki". I hope we see more creative TV shows like this going forwards. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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