'Loki' Season 2 Has Difficulty Producing Magic
Where the stakes are high, my interest is moderate to low for Loki season two. The mysterious elements of Loki looses its luster after Kang (Jonathon Majors) reveals all of his sinister plans in black and white at the end of season one. To make matters worse, Kang's conniving appearance in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantomania deflated his threatening presence. He's supposed to be terrifying but behaves bombastically to throw everyone off. It's a clever acting choice to make Kang the Conqueror come off as Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka so he can appear as a nonthreat only to trick people later on. In season two, this Kang variant is a stuttering showman who makes presentations for an electric machine that could power the earth. Or so he says.
Major's acting is decent in its vaudevillian performance. He stammers over his words and makes emphatic gestures and vocalizations. Kang isn't like Thanos, who has a threatening physical appearance. Thanos is a tactician whose strength is powerful enough to face the Avengers head-on. He's a far more fascinating villain than Kang, who doesn't wield as much power physically but is a chess player mentally. He's able to manipulate his foes into believing him. Is Kang's ability to outsmart his foes enough to keep the show going? A little.
Season 2 wastes no time kicking itself into high gear. Following the events of season one, everything has gone to hell. The timelines have branched off in multiple paths, unleashing utter chaos across the globe. Although that sounds dramatic, we don't see much of the consequences play out. It's a letdown since season one ended on such a dramatic note. Kang, or "he who remains," is killed by Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), triggering the sacred timeline to branch into multiple paths. One would think there'd be madness going everywhere. Certainly, it's a madhouse at the TVA (Time Variant Authority) where everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But what is happening across the world that's such a disaster?
How the breach of the sacred timeline affects people's lives is off-screen. Everyone talks about how people are dying, but it's only expressed through dialogue. It's similar to The Phantom Menace, where the Trade Federation invaded Naboo, but we don't see how they're dangerous to everyone. There's a throwaway line from Queen Amidala saying, "Our people are dying, Senator." If you didn't catch the line, you'd assume the droids are patrolling Naboo but not using deadly force. If we saw some Trade Federation tanks opening fire on random buildings in Theed their invasion would be far more dramatic. It would echo remnants of World War II, where the Germans destroyed the homes of French villagers, leaving a lasting impact on the audience to want to stop the evil robots.
I'm not asking for mass carnage in Marvel or Star Wars, but some resemblance of the antagonist affecting other people's lives would have been nice. How is everyone dying? Are they looking at a nuclear explosion in the form of a timeline breaking? Perhaps I'm asking for too much darkness from a Marvel show. Then again, Marvel had no problem with brutally murdering everyone in the Illuminati, from spaghetting Reed Richards and snapping Professor Xavier's neck in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The main appeal to Loki, of course, is Loki himself. Tom Hiddleston once more is fantastic in his role. From his gentle mannerisms to his smooth speech, Tom Hiddleston captures the God of Mischief wonderfully. There's one particular scene where Loki is getting scolded by a prisoner he's interrogating, who brings up Loki's past to get a rise out of him. The camera stays focused on Loki's face as he's reacting. The expressions Hiddleston makes are outstanding. Hiddleston doesn't say anything, but we can tell from his face what he's going through.
Complimenting Tom Hiddleston's acting is a colorful cast that doesn't skip a beat. Owen Wilson as Mobius is as loveable as ever. Tara Strong, voicing Miss Minutes, continues to add a delightful southern hospitality to an otherwise devious A.I. Ke Huy Quan is a wonderful addition to the cast playing O.B., an important man from the TVA who works in a lonesome basement, trying to keep the sacred timeline from falling apart. Quan's energetic optimism radiates on screen, giving us one of the funnest Marvel characters we've seen recently.
Sophia Di Martino reprises her role of Sylvie, a variant of Loki we met in season one. Martino brings a sense of sadness to Sylvie. She's a person who's been on the run her whole life because the TVA has been hunting her since she was a little girl. Never for a moment has she been able to relax and reflect. Sophia Di Martino strengthens her character, never appearing too wounded or weak. She brings the perfect balance of sorrow and strength to her character that shouldn't go unchecked. To match the strong performances are stunning visual effects.
Like many of the Disney Plus series, Loki is meant to, and in some states, is being shown on a big screen. The golden metropolis the TVA is located in is a gorgeous sight to see. It's incredibly detailed to the point where television shows match big-budget movies in visual effects. Mostly thanks to the revolutionary work The Mandalorian has done with VFX, television shows can make the impossible possible on screen. Flying spaceships and magical powers no longer have that WB channel fake look.
It's nice to see a Marvel project that actually has vibrant color grading instead of their usual RAW code that's hardly adjusted in post, giving a stale look to each project. Everything (for the most part) is so believable visually it's tangible. There are still moments where the VFX looks spotty, especially during one of the big climactic scenes where it looks like the characters are fighting against a cartoon wormhole. Natalie Holt's music isn't bad either, with Loki's theme hitting huge notes as an homage to classic villains entering the room with a commanding musical tone.
Loki's interesting to watch as he isn't clear-cut ethically. He's not like his brother Thor, who strives to do the right thing. Loki is, above all else, a selfish person. He killed his mother and tried to gain world domination. Early in season two, there's a gag that's very telling of who Loki is. When trying to escape from TVA officers, he jumps out the window and onto a flying car like he's Anakin Skywalker from Attack of the Clones. When he lands in the car, it crashes and dangles off a high floor of the TVA building. The flying car doesn't wobble for very long as it falls to the ground with the driver inside of it and Loki out. Loki suggests to the people watching him in the office the car crashed in that the driver will be fine when, in all probability, she's dead. There's no remorse for the loss of human life; Loki only cares if he's okay.
Having a morally grey protagonist makes the show interesting, as we're constantly questioning Loki's intentions. Is he a changed man, or is Loki the same old monster he was? The show leans on him being an anti-hero, although his motivations are hardly heroic.
With the multiverse brought into full light, it's clear that Marvel is running out of gas. Despite its rich color scheme, dazzling visuals, and strong performances, Loki season two is missing that special something that made season one so memorable. It might be an overabundance of Marvel properties that makes season two feel so dry. After Thanos snapped half the world out of existence, and our heroes came back from the abyss to destroy him, the Marvel franchise hit its peak.
Since Endgame, it has been struggling to reach that point ever since. The most gratifying post Endgame movie we got was Spider-Man: No Way Home. By uniting three Spider-Men in the film, the movie had a purpose for its multiverse appearances, being more than just cameos. While watching Loki season two, I was hoping for something to gauge my interest more than stopping the portal from opening. There's some interesting character development with he who remains (Kang), but it's hardly enough to keep the show's plot afloat.
Loki doesn't seem to be heading much of anywhere. After getting The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Secret Invasion, and Ms. Marvel, along with more Marvel movies coming out, the Marvel fatigue has settled its way in. Loki season two does little to elevate itself past other Marvel shows. It's just too much material coming all at the same time. The same argument can be made for Star Wars, but at least there's a gap of time between the months ahead and television shows where there's room to breathe. The effect Loki leaves is little. It makes its strides in production value but fumbles over storytelling.
Season one felt fresh and original because it was a time when I was still excited about the multiverse. Spider-Man: No Way Home hadn't come out yet, nor did Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The multiverse was something that was still exciting as we didn't know who would show up. After seeing Spider-Man wildly surpass my expectations, my hopes for the multiverse were high. But Doctor Strange 2 popped that balloon for me, while Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantomania threw the balloon in the garbage and set it on fire.
By the time I saw the fourth episode of Loki, I noticed all the familiar storytelling techniques that left me bored with much of the story. Loki can feel directionless. There's too much exposition in the plot. It's supposed to be interesting information being fed to us, but it gets redundant. The show could have greatly benefitted from doing something fun and wild with the multiverse. Give us some of those cameos we desperately want to see. But don't make them fan service. Treat it like how Spider-Man: NWH did it by making whoever pops out of that multiverse loop part of the story affecting the main characters. With four episodes down and only two to go, I'm not holding my breath for Loki to impress me the way Star Wars shows such as Andor and Ahsoka have. Loki is too little of a payoff for a show that is otherwise aesthetically fantastic.
