Loki

It can sometimes be a bit too weighed down by its ideas and could arguably get even more surreal given its ambition, but there’s so much to like here you almost forget it’s a Marvel show.

Season 2 of “Loki” is a return to form for what fans expect from Marvel Studios.

There is a slight loss in momentum at the beginning of season 2 after the world-ending stakes at the end of season 1, but the show quickly finds its stride again and by episode 3, gets into the heart of the story. .... But it seems the god of mischief is very much back in business.

With the multiverse teetering all around it, Loki is one strand of the timeline that is sustaining its originality and intention — and actually thriving. It’s about time.

Loki really is set in its own corner of the MCU—perfectly positioned to operate in its own little bubble, while still having an outsized impact on the world at large. At least judging by what we’ve seen of Season 2, Loki continues to thread that needle.

It’s remarkable how Hiddleston, now in his second decade playing the God of Mischief after making his debut in 2011’s “Thor,” continues to find unexcavated layers of pathos and complexity in the fan-favorite former villain. Sure, sometimes it’s good to be bad, but watching someone struggle to be good can often be just as compelling.

The new season of “Loki” is a scrappy time-travel caper, a ticking-clock sci-fi thriller and a workplace comedy all rolled together, and a reminder that oddball creativity still goes a long way in the MCU.

Season 2 proves that the series not only hasn't lost its touch but remains one of the stronger pillars of the MCU as a whole.

The storytelling chaos that Loki sews can cause headaches. But this series remains worthwhile and entertaining because its cast is so great. Tom Hiddleston, Wunmi Mosaku, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Owen Wilson, and Sophia Di Martino keep us in this thing even as the premise sometimes skids along the edge of a deep, unknowable chasm.

The second season of “Loki” feels more assured and focused if still decidedly out-there, all while toting around its fair share of baggage.

Time will tell if the final two episodes can stick the landing, but there's reason to hope that, at last, the unending nature of the franchise needn't overshadow its creative ambitions. For better or worse, the ball is firmly in Marvel's court.

If emo Loki is a bit of a drag — “Stop trying to be a hero,” someone tells him, “you’re a villain. You’re good at it. Do that” — Hiddleston gives the whole thing the patina of class. Even so, he’s not given much character motivation.

A few episodes in, things are settling into an enjoyable enough – if not tremendously exciting – groove.

Online explainers will surely lay out the logistics in exhaustive detail, but they can’t create the sense of emotional urgency the season palpably lacks. At least there are the performances, delivered by an ensemble within the MCU’s mega-ensemble that remains one of its best.

The four new episodes sent to critics have only a little of the esoteric oddness that so frequently made the first season a blast. The plot is so convoluted that the sense of fun rarely breaks through, but thanks to the sterling cast and some of the best production design on TV, there’s almost always something to hold your attention — if not to trigger any emotional investment.

Its convolutions overwhelming its charming personalities and freewheeling spirit of paradox-laden adventure, it’s another indication that the once-mighty franchise has lost its direction.

“Loki” looks grand and ups the ambitious scale factor by a large degree. But as penned by head writer Eric Martin (who seems to have taken over for Michael Waldron, having graduated to writing ‘Avengers’ level events), the narrative leaves much to be desired.

Loki Season One was able to move nimbly despite being tethered to so much of the larger MCU. Season Two, though, frequently feels so sluggish that it may as well be locked into one of those puffy suits.

Those expecting a new multiversally manic season of Loki should temper their expectations; the absence of director Kate Herron has seemingly removed the series’ wily sense of anything-goes possibility, effectively turning Season 2 – and, shockingly, Loki himself – into an obedient, uninteresting cog in the MCU’s increasingly unwieldy mega-structure.

It’s with great regret and zero surprise that I can report “Loki” Season 2 does not evolve, does not bring its best parts to the forefront, and does not escape the stagnant familiarity hindering Marvel’s uninspiring spate of recent projects. It’s more of the same. And it knows it.

Loki season two is nowhere near as dreadful [as Secret Invasion]. Instead, it is merely dreary and hollowed-out.