Loki S2 REVIEW: The Unbinding Reality of Fate
Loki season 2 is phenomenal in every way. If season one showcases the change of a selfish person to someone who cares then season 2 is the excruciating challenge of that change. I want to start off with Loki first.
In this season Loki has to choose between power and the ones he cares about. What I love about this season is how every time he chooses his friends over power, the challenges presented are always tougher. The first episode with his constant time slipping makes it tough to reconnect with his friends. His decision to intervene with his friends’ lives before the TVA would have led them to not have their own lives in eps 5. Loki’s selfishness of wanting his friends caused them to lose the lives they had. In that episode,Loki also learns that sometimes being selfish is fine because we are all selfish people who want something but how we constraint and sacrifice our own needs for others is what defines us. When he chooses power,it is either a way to hold onto suspense as to whether he is still the evil Loki or used for a greater purpose.
By the finale, we see Loki making the ultimate choice of his friends and power as reality itself would seemingly collapse. He tires everything he could as he keeps time slipping to the past. He does it over and over and it breaks our hearts to see how much effort and sacrifice he had made. Unfortunately none of it ever mattered which was the final blow to our hearts. All that effort was for nothing, leading onto a dreaded path of unfairness. As he goes back even further towards the finale of season 1,he knows he needs to convince Slyvie to stop but he can’t. He truly loves her.
Notice how I never mentioned the eps 2–5 as this is mainly because all the emotional choices of his friends were from Sylvie. Loki’s relationship with Slyvie is the best of the MCU. If you have seen Past Lives you will see how both the guy and the girl had always loved each other. Their eyes would linger on each other,echoing the desires of their love. In the end they still cant be together. This is very similar to Loki and Slyvie. Loki loves her and he just wants her to be okay. She is they very reason he had changed. However Loki knows the bigger picture of the TVA being more than just an organisation which prune timelines and the people in it. He knows that pruning is needed for reality to be saved. Slyvie does not get that and only sees how the TVA kills innocent people like she was innocently taken away as a child. This stark contrast makes them unable to connect but their love continues to linger on.
When Loki confronted He Who Remains once more, he knew this was going to happen. He imposes the major flaw of Loki that Loki would never be in power because he can’t make the big choices due to his heart to care for his friends. Finally, Loki knew what he must do but before he was sure he had to say goodbye to Mobius. Loki went back to the interrogation room for the first time with Mobius. This scene is the most perfect scene ever written. Mobius establishes how power is just a burden,no one truly wants it as it always betrays your own life but as long as we care for the people around us then no matter what we do at least we could truly be satisfied. In the end,Loki destroyed the temporal loom and weaved in all the timelines. Now,he is burdened with glorious purpose as he had always wanted but due to his change of heart this is ultimately the greatest tragedy of all time. He can never be with his friends but at least they are okay now as Loki could only be isolated at the end of time,watching his friends as he is alone.
For Sylvie as mentioned her relationship with Loki is both tragic and beautiful. What I think highlights her character is what she represents to Loki. She is everything that he does not really believe in. She never sees the bigger picture and uses her feelings way too much. However, through Slyvie Loki is also able to start caring for others. For Loki,his love for Slyvie is described in season 1, like a dagger. It could be beautiful and heartwarming yet it could hurt you in the most painful way.
For Mobius,he is a character who uses his heart for the job as opposed to being a cold hearted person. He knows how by pruning the timelines people will die so he would do anything in his power to save as many lives he could. Like the relationship with Loki and Slyvie,here Mobius truly reveals his kind heart through Ravonna. Her delving deeper into a heartless person is in contrast to Mobius who cares about everyone, especially the person he was once friends with. It is heartbreaking as it is for him as for us. As time comes crumbling apart, we see how Mobius genuinely cares about Loki. By the end,Loki is gone and he is left without a purpose. Loki was the prime example of how everyone has a heart and now he is gone so what is the point. Truly tragic and heartbreaking in every way.
Then there are all the supporting characters here which were just amazing. Everyone was well defined and had a time to shine.
Taking Ouroboros first,he is the newly introduced character played by Ke Huay Kuan. Instantly in the first episode, we see his optimism and enthusiasm for his work in the TVA. But inside that passion and smile he also has a more vulnerable side as we discovered how lonely he is with no one ever noticing or visiting him. He was the guy who wrote the TVA handbook but nobody cared. When someone like Casey or Victor Timely appreciates him then we will be happy too as we know how lonely he had been. His personality is just so likeable and rootable to a point where you can’t hate him.
Hunter B-15 would do anything in her way to ensure all timelines are protected. We see how she was willing to argue with the board with this matter. Her core trait is definitely her heart. It is because of her kind heart that she was willing to negotiate with the hunters who had gone rogue. When they were unfairly killed off,she was genuinely shocked due to how cruel it was.
Casey is just so much fun. He seems to be your typical office guy but then we gradually see his skills in engineering. This allows him to be noticed and gives him the confidence he needs.
Victor Timely is just pitch perfect in every way. He seems like this guy who wants to be left alone to work on all his inventions but he still wants others to notice his brilliance. Simultaneously he is also afraid. He easily gets nervous around others and may have social anxiety. This stark contrast makes some conflict in his initial introduction.
Ravonna Reyslayer is such a compelling character. All she ever wanted was to create peace through the TVA. She goes on this journey to essentially he Who Remains but this flaw of creating peace is what led her down. She lies and betrays her own friends for it. She manipulates Victor Timely to her own disposal. She tries to take over the TVA. Her ending was the tragedy of her flaw. She could have been a great judge but her power and heartlessness made her into a villain.
Miss Minute was a scene stealer. Every time she is in it,it just seems unsettling as if she were planning something. Her being obsessively in love with Victor Timely is haunting. The extent she was willing to go was what made her terrifying.
Finally the villainous Hunter X-5 is unbelievably punchable. He specifically uses others’ core flaws and insecurities to break them. He only cares about himself with all his doings benefiting him only. He just makes people hate him.
The theme for this series gives off a philosophical question that had never been tackled before. Whether we should live our lives differently even if our fate would always put us back to the beginning. The series then explores this theme in the most thorough and thought provoking way possible. For Loki,he represents how fate would eventually give us the very thing which we desire but places us back from the beginning. Ever since Loki got captured,he has been trying to redeem himself and even found the goodness of his heart from the friends he had made. His life was different because of this change. If he had gone for the throne then he would not have experienced life with his friends. That is where fate comes in. In the end Loki still has to live his life alone as he has gained the throne. His ultimate sacrifice is the life he had while the result is fate circling back on itself. Mobius was different. His fate no longer started from the beginning but rather he took a different approach to observe the life he had. He no longer adheres to fate as his life has become meaningless. Slyvie does not believe in fate and only life so she constantly runs and jumps to different timelines. Ouroboros is always a writer who nobody cares about but the various life he had is what makes him special. Whether or not our fate ends up as the beginning,our life and experience we gain is what will settle with us forever. Loki would not be sacrificing if he had not experienced anything.
Now visually the series has some of the greatest visuals of the MCU. This is even better than most of the films released nowadays and it just shows. The detail on the time slip is sickening as it invokes the terror and fear of the unknown. The aesthetic especially in 1893 is lifelike. The score for this is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of music to exist. Every scene is filled with tension as the music plays.
In the end I honestly could find any imperfections from such a splendid series. Sure some plotlines could have been stretched or had an impact but it was perfect as it was. Loki season 2 is officially one of the series ever made and perhaps being one of the best Marvel projects to be released of all time.
Loki Season 2 is now streaming on Disney Plus.
