TV Review: Loki Season 2 (2023)

Loki Season 2 (2023) created by Michael Waldron based on the character from Norse mythology and Marvel Comics

Apparently I never reviewed season one of Loki. It's a fun outing for the Norse god of mischief (Tom Hiddleston), where he gets involved with the Time Variance Authority (TVA). The TVA polices various timelines and other universes, making sure things go properly or at least don't get out of hand. Loki travels to different times and encounters other Lokis from other branches of the main timeline. Those other Lokis include an alligator version of himself! The most significant one is Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), who teams up with the Hiddleston Loki to stop whatever nefarious scheme the TVA is hiding. A big bad is hiding behind the scenes, manipulating realities for some purpose. Sylvie winds up killing the big bad, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), a variant of Kang the Conqueror, a time-traveling baddie from the comic books. The ending of the season wasn't as good as the build-up to it.

In this second season, the TVA has run into trouble. The main timeline is branching more than usual, causing an overload in the Time Loom that is supposed to keep things running smoothly, presumably by weaving variant branches back into the "sacred timeline." Loki needs to get a group together to fix the problem, though convincing people like Sylvie of the plan's value is difficult. All the people that work at the TVA have been plucked from various timelines and don't remember their previous, normal lives. The TVA is a bit of a dystopian bureaucracy which Sylvie thinks is awful and doesn't mind if it collapses (thus, she killed its organizer in season 1). Some factions in the TVA want to take over, others want to fix the problem. Things get more complicated and out of hand. Even the god of mischief has a hard time sorting things out and getting them back in order. What exactly is the order they are supposed to be in anyway?

The show suffers from too much time travel. Loki involuntarily travels to other moments and places, which causes him agony and problems, though it does help with the narrative. Towards the end of the series, he gets control over it and uses it for what he thinks is good. Loki is persuasive and charming (Hiddleston is a master actor) but his transformation from selfish con artist to, ultimately, a self-sacrificing hero is not quite believable. The story creates problems and complications that are not very convincing, as if they want more problems to stretch out the story and give Loki time to change. 

The ending gives Hiddleston a chance to bow out much like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans did in Endgame. This isn't as great an ending for him as it was for them; Loki seems more like he's in a Purgatory burning off the consequences of his previous sins. I find that very satisfying but I don't think the creators of the show had that idea in mind.

Mildly recommended--Tom Hiddleston is great as usual but the story is a little too convoluted to be really satisfying.