Since they started, the Disney+ Marvel shows have been very hit or miss for me. “WandaVision” and “Moon Knight” were excellent, “She Hulk” and “Hawkeye” were terrible and “Secret Invasion” gave off such an abysmal first impression that I stopped watching 30 minutes into the first episode. Then there’s the ones that have been fine or just okay: “What If?,” “Miss Marvel” and “Loki.” The latter show is the first of the Disney+ batch to receive a second season, currently airing weekly as of the time of writing.
I liked the first season of “Loki” well enough, I would probably place it at the top of the “average” list. The cast pretty much carried the whole thing, but they couldn’t prevent the plot from feeling a bit convoluted at times, and not in a good “Inception” way. Despite definite Marvel fatigue, I was encouraged to watch the second season on the assumption it would be at least another average experience, hopefully comparable to the first. Halfway through the season I would say that assumption has been pretty much true. There’s a few new high points and low points, but, so far anyway, it’s just another average MCU entry.
Once again, the cast members have been doing a lot of the heavy lifting, although, I don’t think quite as successfully this time around. Whereas, last season, Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) had this very tumultuous relationship, constantly flipping back and forth between whether or not they loved or hated each other, so far this season they’ve just been on the same page with no conflicts, and it doesn’t work as well.
This leads into a bigger issue with Loki’s characterization, which is to say, he doesn’t feel like Loki anymore. His whole thing is that he’s always looking out for himself, which causes him to flip-flop back and forth between sides in order to do what’s best for him at any given moment. So far, there’s been absolutely none of that this season. He’s just like a hero now, on the straight and narrow. I understand that he underwent a bit of a transformation last season, but to completely throw away any of his old habits or tricks feels like an overestimation of that transformation’s effect. So far there’s been a single scene where Loki did anything remotely questionable:the way he decides to interrogate Brad in the second episode. As soon as he gets the information he’s looking for, however, he stops and faces zero consequences. In fact, Mobius offers praise for his handling of the situation. Part of what made Loki and Mobius’ relationship fun and interesting last season was the way it was so unstable. Now, it feels like too much of a good thing.
In terms of supporting cast, so far Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) has been nothing more than a thorn in Loki’s side, popping up every now and then for an extra dash of conflict. This is a total underutilization of her and her character. Then there’s Jonathan Majors. I was shocked when he showed up during the third episode. I figured, amidst everything going on with him and Marvel’s indecision towards his future with the company, that his character’s inclusion would be left to just name drops or an occasional statue here or there. To see him actually in an episode himself felt very uncomfortable considering the accusations currently against him. I’ll leave it at that for him, he’s not what this article is about. I just think Marvel has handled the situation very poorly.
A much more positive inclusion to this season has been Ke Huy Quan, who just seems like one of the sweetest human beings in the world. He’s been a much-welcomed burst of fresh energy, albeit an underutilized one. He had a pretty strong presence in the first episode, but, since then, he’s only popped in here or there to dump some exposition about the state of the situation the protagonists are in. Even in these short scenes, however, he manages to add this great splash of vibrancy and fun. I hope the second half of the season sees more of him, with longer scenes and more material for him to play around with.
In terms of objectives, this season’s story has definitely been on a smaller scale compared to last season’s. While at times the slower pacing makes it feels as though the writers weren’t really sure what to do with this season, it also makes the story much easier to follow, so I don’t mind overlooking flaws in this case.
The third episode felt like the most meaningful out of any of them so far. Again, the first and second, especially the first, kind of just felt really drawn out to pad time. The third episode did some interesting things with time travel elements while also creating fun conflicts that felt necessary and impactful. I really enjoyed the plot point about Ms. Minutes and Victor Timely. It had that same thriller/horror feeling that “Multiverse of Madness” touched on. I like seeing Marvel branch out and try new things like this. The same formula over and over again gets really tiring after a while.
In terms of predictions for the rest of the season, I have a feeling it’s going to be more of the same. It feels like a pretty straightforward path from here to resolution at this point: get Victor to fix the Temporal Loom. Still, I’m sure there’s going to be a bunch of stuff that gets in the way of that. I don’t know if I would say this season has been quite as good as the first so far, but it’s certainly more entertaining than some of Marvel’s worse shows like “Hawkeye.” If you’re a Marvel fan or if you’ve seen the first season, I would say it’s worth catching up on. Yet, as with pretty much any MCU property, if you have no idea about the storyline they’re on right now, there’s little point in checking it out. I don’t think it’ll do anything for you.
