Yahoo News Loki season 2 review: The God of Mischief tries to avoid a time war in high-stakes follow-up
The Marvel show returns on Friday, 6 October
Where to watch Loki season 2: Premieres on Disney+ on Friday, 6 October
⭐️ Our rating: 3/5
🍿 Watch it if you liked: The Marvel Cinematic Universe.
🎭 Who's in it?: Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jonathan Majors, Wunmi Mosaku, Ke Huy Quan,.
⏰ How long is it? 6 episodes, approximately one hour each.
📖 What’s it about? After Sylvie killed He Who Remains at the end of season one the Time Variance Authority is in meltdown, and Loki, Mobius and co. must find a way to reverse the impact of the multiverse expanding.
The multiverse is ripping itself apart and it's up to Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to solve the crisis in the second season of the character's Disney+ series.
It has been two years since viewers last got to see the God of Mischief in all his glory, but viewers are swept right back into the drama that the character was left in at the end of season 1 — which saw his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) kill He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) in order to destroy the Sacred Timeline and the Time Variance Authority (TVA).
Read more: Loki recap: What happened in season one?
Now Loki, Mobius (Owen Wilson), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) and more are racing to save the TVA from being destroyed completely by the multiverse, which is expanding ever quicker, and find a way to stop the oncoming time war that the variants of He Who Remains could unleash.
After the drama of the first series Loki season 2 feels a bit more modest in comparison, the majority of the storyline takes place in the same location and is focused on the main objective at hand: saving the TVA. That is not a bad thing necessarily, but certainly makes the narrative feel like it's at a smaller scale than what came before it
Season 2 feels slower, taking it's time to reacquaint the audience with Loki and Sylvie, played brilliantly once against by Hiddleston and Di Martino who have an electric chemistry together. But the leisurely nature of the plot seems like a strange decision when one thinks of how few episodes there are to tell the story — perhaps the series will pick up speed later, but it was noticeable.
It does introduce us to some fun new characters, Ke Huy Quan's Ouroboros (or O.B.) is a highlight of the series as the Everything, Everywhere All At Once actor lends the character a quirky, nervous energy to the TVA engineer that makes him instantly loveable.
Majors too does interesting things with his new iteration of Kang the Conqueror, this season's variant is known as Victor Timely who was previously teased in the end credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and the character is very different to what we've seen of the character before.
The actor has an ability to make each variation of his character unique, altering his voice and mannerisms ever in subtle yet clever ways to create a standout performance.
It is important to note that Majors is currently awaiting trial for an alleged assault of a former girlfriend, he has denied the allegations made against him, so it may be difficult for viewers to not think about this as they watch him onscreen.
Of the four episodes given to press the most intense is the fourth episode, which ends on a mind-bending cliffhanger that will have viewers reeling and waiting impatiently for the next episode.
What other critics thought of Loki season 2:
The Telegraph: A bloodless cover version of Marvel's lapsed glory days (3-min read)
USA Today: Marvel's 'Loki' returns for a scrappy, brain-spinning Season 2 to save time itself (4-min read)
Evening Standard: This is getting as tired as the sacred timeline (4-min read)
The stakes are high, with the drama reaches its peak in the fourth episode's closing moments, leaving viewers with plenty of questions of what this will mean not only for Loki but the MCU in general.
While it is nice to return to the world of the God of Mischief, Loki season 2 doesn't feel as singular as the first outing from the outset, but the fourth episode's thrilling conclusion promises the Norse deity still has some tricks up his sleeve.
Loki season 2 premieres on Disney+ on Friday, 6 August.
Watch the trailer for Loki season 2:
