‘Loki’ Season 2, Episode 2 Review: Characters Without A Purpose
by Frank Martin
It’s fairly obvious when a show doesn’t necessarily know where to go next. The first season of Loki felt like it had a purpose. Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) was out there causing trouble because she wanted to find out who was behind the TVA, and the plot of the show just kind of fell in place from there. In just two episodes, though, the second season already feels directionless. That’s not to say it doesn’t have a point. He Who Remains’s variants are coming. That much is obvious. But the show hasn’t gotten there yet. Instead, the story is just trying to find its footing after the ramifications from the first season. But the character arcs and plot feel disjointed in the meantime.
This episode begins with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) going after a hunter ordered to find Sylvie. He did, but decided to find a life for himself along the timeline instead. Mobius and Loki have to work together to get that information out of him. They eventually find Sylvie, but discover she’s happy in a new life in a branched timeline. Unfortunately, her happiness is threatened when certain factions of the TVA try to prune all of the branched timelines, resulting in the deaths of countless people — variant or not.
The show is in tumultuous territory. The TVA has been turned on its head and has effectively entered a civil war. Half of it wants to continue with their work while the other half wants to allow the branched timelines to grow. Loki understands that there can’t be any half measures with the evil variants coming. This leaves the show in a strange gray area where they are trying to have it both ways. But the plot doesn’t work like that, which means the stakes don’t feel nearly as high as they should be. There are still many episodes left, so hopefully things will make more sense once the real threat emerges.
Loki streams Thursdays on Disney+.
