DUBAI: It has taken two years and almost 20 other Marvel shows and movies in that time, but Tom Hiddleston is finally returning in his fan-favorite role as Loki as he turns to more multiverse shenanigans in the second season of his eponymous Disney+ series, arriving at the streaming service on Oct. 6.
And just in time, too. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe currently experiencing loss of tempo with multiple flops in the last two years, including the most recent series “Secret Invasion,” “Loki” brings a fresh breath of originality, injecting the MCU with its much-needed whimsy once again.
Picking up where it left off, season two finds Hiddleston’s Loki being pushed out from the End of Time by his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) back into the Time Variant Authority office, but his old friends such as Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) do not seem to remember his existence.
This event also was most recently preceded by the fact that Sylvie had just murdered He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), the Kang variant who apparently created the TVA. His death now opens the Pandora’s Box to more Kang variants threatening the very existence of all life.
While the superhero stakes may seem very familiar, the new season ups the ante on its time-jumping plot by giving more screen time to its expanding cast, with its most significant addition being Ke Huy Quan, who plays Ouroboros, or OB for short, the TVA’s friendly engineer, who brings giddy, childlike enthusiasm to the role.
Mosaku’s B-15 also turns in an attention-grabbing performance, standing in as the voice of Variants who were pruned from the sacred timeline, stolen to work at the TVA.
But the selling point of the show remains the good cop-bad cop dynamic between Hiddleston and Wilson, the chemistry from season one effortlessly transferring over to its new episodes. And when the two are on screen, it is hard to focus on anything else.
The show’s visual language remains strong with its grainy, film-like texture and retro-futuristic vibe; and while other MCU films and series have begun to feel samey, “Loki” continues to forge its own identity.
