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.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|