TL;DR – A follow-up that plays with intensity and emotions.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

Loki Review –

Last week, we dived into the first episode of Loki’s second season with Ouroboros, and to be clear, we came in with a bit of trepidation. But after a solid first episode, it made me a touch more assured, even more so as we end the follow-up today.  

So to set the scene, the TVA is barely holding on by the seams as timeline after timeline branches off. At the same time, OB (Ke Huy Quan) is trying to find a way to help the temporal loom handle all the new branching timelines. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are desperately trying to find Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) before it all falls apart. They have one hint: a temp pad used by Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe (Rafael Casal). But when they return to 1977, London, they find that Hunter X-5 has become Brad Wolfe, actor extraordinaire. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

I think what made this episode stand out a bit for me is that it let Tom Hiddleston shine as Loki. With the chase and then interrogation, we see Loki, the magician and Loki, the villain. There is an intensity in those moments that it was nice to see the actors really lean into it. Respect to Rafael Casal for holding his own in a room with Tom and Owen Wilson because you believe that he got under their skin. Sure, there is a little torture afterwards, where I don’t think anyone buys that Mobius is not in on it, but the tension works. It will be interesting to see how Loki, being very flippant about the first Avengers film, goes down with people.

If the first half of the episode was about finding Sylvie, the second half is the fallout after discovering why Brad Wolfe was hiding out on the prime timeline. Once again, I have to give the show props because it sells abstract emotions. You have to believe that all those people on all the different branching timelines are real, for the weight of what Dox (Kate Dickie) is doing to land like the show wants it to. We don’t see the timelines getting destroyed other than a changing graphic, but two things make that emotion translate from the abstract to the real. The first is the actor’s performances, which bring you into the unfolding horror. The next is the musical score by Natalie Holt, which captures that chord and plucks at your soul.

The build-up in the episode is so good that you can almost excuse the really tacky product placement on full display. Maybe I am just a bit tired of all the ads for Maccas featuring Loki and all the other films that they have slipped their product placement into, like The Fifth Element. After last week’s mid-credit scene, I thought we would be back there this week, and if this is the worst of it, fine, but if the climax of this show is set in a 1980s MacDonalds, I will be quite put off.

In the end, do we recommend Breaking Brad? Well, maybe yes, for the title alone. But this is another solid episode that hangs nearly all on the actor’s performances, which always leads to a stronger outing. There are several plot threads to propel us forward, and I am interested to see where they go from here.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Loki yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Loki
Directed by – Dan Deleeuw
Written by – Eric Martin
Created by – Michael Waldron
Based On – Characters created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby, Walt Simonson, Sal Buscema & Don Heck
Production/Distribution Companies – Marvel Studios & Disney+
Starring – Tom Hiddleston, Sophia di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Rafael Casal, Kate Dickie, Neil Ellice, Ke Huy Quan & Owen Wilson with Jack Cunningham-Nuttall & Sion Lloyd