Warning: spoilers ahead for Loki episode 1 and review of first 4 episodes.
Fans of Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief haven’t seen Loki in action in over two years… However, the wait is over, as the season 2 release date has officially come.
After Loki and his variation Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) confronted He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) at the Citadel at the End of Time, Sylvie killed him for the role he played in her tragic existence, Episode 1 of the Marvel series on Disney Plus takes up exactly where we left off.
Loki is forced through a Time Door back to the TVA, where he and his close buddy Mobius (Owen Wilson) recognise he’s sliding through time and seek assistance from newcomer and TVA repairman Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan).
Anyone who saw Quan’s Oscar-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, which came decades after he rose to stardom as a child star as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, knew that hiring him was a stroke of genius.
We saw the first four episodes of Loki season two ahead of the debut on Disney Plus, and we can guarantee you that the fun and exuberance that the actor brings to the first episode continues over to the next three instalments, as he effortlessly steals every scene he’s in.
One of the first episode’s highlights is Loki’s crucial meeting with Ouroboros, often known as OB, as his frustrating timeslipping results in his having simultaneous discussions with the repairman in the past and the present.
OB informs Loki and Mobius of what they must do to prevent the Asgardian from timeslipping – the pair must embark on a perilous mission linked to the TVA’s Temporal Loom, which could result in Mobius having all of his skin ripped from his body and Loki being lost to time for eternity. So it’s not a huge deal.
Being the first episode, Loki and Mobius certainly make it back safely.
While the aesthetics of the interesting Temporal Loom are magnificent to see, the stakes in the first episode seemed to be too high to make us feel frightened.
Despite OB’s warnings, Mobius wasn’t going to perish suddenly, and Loki wasn’t going to be trapped in time. While the episode was compelling, we never had the impression that their lives were in danger.
So, now that Loki’s time lapse has been resolved, what comes next? Of course, there’s Sylvie.
In the first episode’s post-credits sequence, it is revealed that Sylvie stepped through a Time Door into Broxton, Oklahoma in 1982, when she visits a McDonald’s.
When her server asks what she wants to have, Sylvie glances around wistfully at the happy guests before telling him she wants to ‘try everything’.
After spending almost her entire life on the run, it’s no wonder that she now wants to just enjoy life, with all of its large and small pleasures.
While viewers have yet to see Loki and Sylvie reconcile, despite the fact that they kissed at their previous meeting, fans know from the teasers that they will appear together again in the future.
So, what can fans anticipate from future episodes of Loki season two after the action-packed opening episode, the danger of Kang the Conqueror following the death of He Who Remains, and the mayhem unfolding at the TVA?
The second season maintains the Marvel show’s particular verve – although it can be difficult to keep up with all of the Temporal Loom and doom language that follows.
If you don’t mind sometimes scratching your head in confusion, you’re in for a thrilling and spectacular trip, with OB delivering another stellar performance and much more of Mobius and Loki’s charming relationship.
Victor Timely, a version of He Who Remains and Kang the Conqueror, has yet to make his appearance – and fans may be astonished to find how Victor’s story threads into the drama.
There’s also Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who remains as fearsome as ever as she unearths truths that even she wasn’t privy to during her time as a TVA judge.
Having only seen the first four episodes out of six, we have high hopes that the final two episodes will tighten up the plot elements that may prove difficult to follow, and hopefully point towards how Hiddleston’s Loki can be reintegrated into the larger plot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe once again.
Loki is available to watch on Disney Plus with new episodes released on Fridays.
