(series review) - Loki: Season 2

Phase Four of the MCU does not seem to make much sense, nor does it gel well with the other films and shows around it. Having a global pandemic was surely going to mess things up for the well-oiled machine that was Disney's MCU. Phase One, Phase Two, Phase Three and the Infinity Saga was concluded with a big nice bow around it. We were told of another villain, Kang the Conquerer and how he would be the big bad of the Multiverse Saga, Phase 4, 5 and 6 and that everything would lead up to Avengers Kang Dynasty and then Avengers Secret Wars. Interestingly enough, I heard that the reason they wanted to go the Kang Dynasty route, was due to the performance of the actor, Johnathan Majors, how he wowed everyone at the end of the first season of Loki. The MCU found their guy and found their story arc. Johnathan played Kang the Conquerer in Ant-Man Quatumania and it was going to be a wonder, how he would factor into the second season of Loki due to the events of the first season.

After the events of the first season, things have now changed, like He Who Remains said it would. He Who Remains is now dead, Sylvie is gone and Loki remains at the Time Varients Authority, but things are different this time around. Instead of the Time Keepers, we now have statues and iconography of He Who Remains and Loki is terrified of what has been released. Loki discovers the Temporal Loom is collapsing and has to find a way to fix it by not only partnering up with Mobius and some of the other agents of the TVA, but also travel through time to find the only person they think could help fix the loom and stop all the other variants of He Who Remains from causing a multiversal war.

I do not want to defend Disney and the MCU, or harp on about Disney's decisions etc, but I do try to put things into perspective. Since the pandemic struck, there has been a huge push for Disney Plus and for more MCU content. Some show's release dates had to be switched around, and stories had to be changed due to the similarity of real-world events, the MCU was simply trying to find its feet due to the current global environment and the decisions and changes made. I personally feel that, with the new direction and push, a lot of the MCU's most recent content has been lacklustre (in MCU standards) due to this, but only a handful of projects have been really good and have been as close to the bar or at the bar Marvel has set for themselves. With that said, whilst the really good to great films and TV shows are very few and far between, the Loki series is by far, one of the best MCU TV shows and content the MCU has put out in a while or, frankly, period.

Loki season 2 not only seamlessly continues from the first season, the transition is simply unrecognisable. The two seasons play as one long movie and if everything was filmed at the same time and simply broken up into bite-sized episodes. The story, superb. The writing and script, incredible. The special effects were not spared and looked amazing for a TV show. To be fair, yes, the special effects were used sparingly but practical sets helped with budgets, so when the special effects were used, it looked amazing. The show seemed to have as much love and attention put into the show like the first season and a handful of other MCU TV shows. You can tell the attention to detail was there. It was all in the writing, script, story and performance.

The performance from Tom Hiddleston as Loki, will go down as one of the best story arcs in Marvel acted out by a single actor who simply owns the character. Like Robert Downey Jr. is to Ironman, Tom is to Loki. If you follow the story arc from the very first Thor, then Thor: The Dark World, The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, going into this series, you will love what they have done here and what the MCU has done with the Loki character. As for Jonathan Majors, the actor is incredible, simply incredible. The artistic vision he is able to put in his performance is soo good, when you simply look at his body of work and his performance in the last season, you see why they chose him. Not to get into his personal life, but should he not beat his trial, I do believe Marvel should replace the actor, but the new actor will have some huge shoes to fill. Without getting into any spoilers, seeing Johnathan continue in the MCU would be great, simply put. Ke Huy Quan, Sophia Di Martino and Owen Wilson are top tier next to Johnathan and Tom. I do feel Owen and Sophia had a slight smaller role in this season to make way for Ke and Ke knocks it out of the park. Every single moment he is on the screen, you gravitate to him and his energy. As for the other supporting cast such as Wunmi Mosaku and Rafael Casal, they were also good, but it would have been nice to have a little more from Wunmi as she is another great actress who has also worked alongside Johnathan before.

Lastly, the music by Natalie Holt is amazing. The music for the first season also by Natalie Holt is on a playlist of mine, so to know she has come back for season 2 brings comfort to me and she does not miss. I am yet to sit down and listen to this season's score, but from what I heard in the show, especially near the end of the last episode, the scene with Loki, simply sounded amazing and I will definitely Identify that and add it to my list. While the MCU is not in the best place right now, us fans want consistency, but we also want great storytelling. A vision, love, time and passion put into the writing, the stories will help the MCU going forward, this series is a testament to that as this is, as I have said, is by far, one of the best MCU TV shows and content the MCU has put out in a while or, frankly, period. Get to watching it.