TL;DR – An episode of two halves, one fascinating and the other frustrating.

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

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

Loki Review –

This season of Loki has been delightfully refreshing, as it is clear that they have learned from their mistakes on the first time out. However, after setting up the narrative drive for the season, it is time to get into the meat of things, and that is when things could go awry.

So to set the scene, we opened in 1868 in Chicago, Illinois. After fleeing the TVA at the end of the last season, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) jumped back to find Miss Minutes (Tara Strong). But the unpaved streets of Chicago were not where she expected to end up. Even more so when she discovers Miss Minutes’ plan. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Now I am a sucker for when a show changes up their logos to make them fit the episode’s tone. I think the best example of this was Fringe shifting or changing depending on the time or universe. So, playing a honky-tonk piano version of the Marvel Logo before we jump into 1868’s Chicago was a delight. However, it did make me a touch sad that we will never get the final season of Westworld. They did an excellent job of representing Chicago and then the World’s Fair. Even if the details are not perfect, they nailed the vibe. However, I am not sure we needed a sepia filter over everything.   

From the narrative perspective, I found the first half of this episode to be a delight. The buddy-cop team of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) is coming into its own. They both know how to get a slight rise out of each other and also how to support each other when they are struggling. We are also seeing how Loki, as the God of Mischief, will work in this context. Now, we do have to attack the issue of Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors). The actor has been accused of some serious issues, so it will be challenging to see them here. Overall, I think they performed well, but I am not sure they nailed that stuttering delivery. The episode’s highlight was the escape from the mob, and I liked their turn as a confident man.

However, I was deeply disappointed in the second half of the episode. The whole subplot where Miss Minutes and Renslayer turned against each other because they were infatuated with Victor just rang hollow. It was a profoundly messy direction to take the episode in and felt more like a way they used to fix a problem with the script rather than a natural evolution of the characters. This and Sylvie’s (Sophia di Martino) turn in the back half made the episode feel like it was floundering in a way we have not seen this season.

In the end, do we recommend 1893? While there are still aspects of the show that I found frustrating, overall, I did think it still held together … just. The performances and production were able to smooth over some of the issues with the script, but I am not sure if that can last going forward.

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 – Kasra Farahani
Written by – Eric Martin, Kasra Farahani & Jason O’Leary
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, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Richard Dixon, Jonathan Majors, Ke Huy Quan & Owen Wilson with Ross Hatt, Alex Forman, Nasri Thompson & Natasha Arancini.