Review: Loki Episode 2 goes deeper down the rabbit hole

The first episode of Loki  was a fun introduction to the weird world of the Time Variance Authority, one that promised a fun romp through the time stream with the ever-charming Tom Hiddleston as our guide. With the basics of the series laid out for us, gives an advanced course in time travel, time stream disruption and the like. And if that’s not enough, there’s a banging use of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For a Hero” in the episode’s opening minutes.

Episode 2 might be light on the action, but honestly I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun watching people do paperwork, nor has anyone had as entertaining a teacher as Miss Minutes, the cartoon TVA trainer who attempts to teach the basics of time travel in an initially uninterested Loki. It was fascinating to watch as Loki actually threw himself into his new mundane role working alongside TVA agent Mobius M. Mobius, researching the time crimes of a violent Loki variant running around the time stream. Hiddleston plays it perfectly, beginning by disdaining the job before eventually throwing his considerable wit (which is his real superpower, let’s be honest) at the problem.

It’s not long before Loki discovers a pattern in his evil alter ego’s actors: the Loki marauding around murdering TVA agents is hiding in apocalyptic events, the idea being that the variant can’t be detected there because if everyone is going to die anyway, no new time streams can be created. With a vague plan in place, Loki and Mobius head off to a Walmart-esque department store about to be wiped off the map. It’s a cheeky setting for the show’s most entertaining brawl yet, one that involves all manner of household items, including a vacuum.

That all leads us to the show’s first big twist: the evil version of Loki wrecking havoc with the TVA is a female version. And before anyone screams about some sort of liberal agenda, remember there’s abundant comic book precedent for her. At any rate, the show hinted at this early on when Mobius explained there are infinite versions of Loki.

Female Loki makes her grand entrance in the show’s closing moments, setting off some sort of massive time explosion using the time reset devices she’s been acquiring. To what degree this will effect things remains unclear but judging by the reaction back at TVA headquarters, it doesn’t look good.

As the episode concludes, Loki 1 follows Loki 2 through a portal, and despite Mobius believing this a betrayal, it seems pretty clear that Loki 1 has finally found a version of himself even he cannot tolerate.

This early on, I don’t know if the series will deliver on its promises, but if it can manage to make office training videos this interesting, it’s hard to see how we aren’t in for one hell of a ride over the next four episodes. The fact that all of time is at risk raises the stakes for the series far beyond almost anything we’ve seen in the MCU so far, and the Timekeepers might be the only opponents capable of giving Loki a run for his money intellectually.

In the meantime, Hiddleston and Wilson’s chemistry, witty dialogue and solid action sequences, is sending Loki into the stratosphere.

Episode Grade: A+

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