"Loki," Year Two

Moderate spoilers ahead.

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead are known for their indie films about time travel and time loops, so it makes perfect sense that the two of them were recruited to direct most of the second season of "Loki."  However, this doesn't become clear until the last two episodes of the season, which are far and away the best part of any Marvel television series so far.  These episodes provide, unexpectedly, an ending for a storyline in the MCU - an ending that is as epic and definitive as anything they've ever done.  

The last time we saw Loki, he and Sylvie had killed He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), resulting in multiple timelines being allowed to grow, and the leaderless Time Variance Authority, the TVA, being thrown into chaos.  The second season takes a while to get going, but involves Loki dealing with "time slipping" - being jerked around in time and space at random - and fixing the temporal mess they created.  This involves getting help from TVA's chief engineer Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), an 1890s variant of He Who Remains named Victor Timely, and hunting down Sylvie again - who for cross-promotional purposes is working at a 1980s McDonalds.  

It's a little hard to follow what's going on at first, because the show isn't interested in any of the characters besides Loki.  Jonathan Majors and Ke Huy Quan get a few good scenes apiece, but the show completely wastes everyone else, which is a terrible shame considering the caliber of the cast.  Fortunately, Tom Hiddleston is very good at making a lot of science-fiction gobbledegook sound compelling, and manages to muddle through a lot of very half-baked concepts and ideas.  Fortunately, the one big idea that the show manages to get right is the most important one.  Eventually, enough plot and thematic threads do tie together enough to let Loki actually face a meaningful choice and embrace a new direction.  I did not see the ending coming, which isn't so important because of how Loki's story ended, but because it was an ending, full stop.

We've actually had a lot of wrap-up stories in the MCU lately, from "Wakanda Forever" to "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," though they haven't been nearly so explicit.  Having an unmistakable end point in "Loki" makes the whole series look better in retrospect, because it means that we now have a rare example of a Marvel character actually having a full, complicated character arc that pays off, and most of the journey takes place onscreen.  The MCU has notoriously let this sort of emotional growth happen offscreen for many characters in the past, such as the Hulk becoming stable between "Avengers" movies.  Loki, like Nebula, has always been one of the best MCU characters because he changes so significantly over the years, and we're with him every step of the way. 
    

It also helps that "Loki" is one of the better looking shows in the Disney+ catalog.  We get to see more weird corners of the TVA, and there are more trips to different time periods.  The show is very effects heavy, and really leans into more stylized, unique visuals this year.  I especially like the effect where people who are removed from the timeline disintegrate into floating tangles of string before they disappear.  The bulky retrofuturist style of the TVA and its tech also presents endless opportunities for fun interactions.  Part of the big finale involves having to repair a major piece of TVA equipment through a laborious set of steps, while wearing a clunky space suit connected to a giant accordion hose.    

I'm sure Tom Hiddleston will show up in future Marvel projects, but Loki's story is done and "Loki" is the best Disney+ Marvel show by a pretty comfortable margin.    Count this as a win for the MCU in a very rough year for this franchise, and let's hope they learn the right lessons from its success.  

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