Hey, Hollywooders! What’s Good in the ‘Wood? Last week’s series premiere of the Loki TV show blew us away, and the cliffhanger ending had us waiting on the edge of our seats for Episode 2!
In the season premiere of Loki, we saw the God of Mischief Loki (Tom Hiddleston) get taken prisoner by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) after stealing the Tesseract and deviating from his proper timeline. Now, hard-boiled TVA detective Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) has recruited Loki to help him defeat a time-traveling villain with a mysterious objective.
So, with the groundwork all laid out for the second episode of Marvel’s newest TV show, here are five spoiler-free thoughts I had while streaming Loki Episode 2 on Disney+.
#1: What’s the meaning behind the episode’s title?
Once again I find myself trying to decode the episode’s title. Episode 2 of the Loki TV show is called “The Variant,” and much of the episode follows Loki and Mobius hunting down an (even more) evil version of Loki.
Avengers: Endgame set up the fact that there are now multiple timelines within the MCU, and with each timeline comes a different variant of certain characters. Throughout Episode 1 as well as “The Variant,” we learn that the TVA is using Loki to track a variant version of Loki, so the second episode’s title is alluding to uncovering who this mysterious variant of Loki is.
#2: I’m really vibing with all the time travel
Time travel has been a crucial element in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since the Avengers famously pulled off a “time heist” in Avengers: Endgame—and, I must say, it was my favorite part of the movie. Now, Marvel has given us an entire miniseries dedicated to time travel, and I’m LOVING it.
“The Variant” sees the Loki TV show characters travel to years ranging from 79 A.D. to 2050. Additionally, the Disney+ show is keeping the locations fresh as the time travel also allows the characters to transport all over the world. This element of Loki’s storyline hasn’t really been pulled off yet in the MCU, which makes it incredibly exciting.
#3: I can definitely get used to white-collar Loki
Now a ward of the TVA, Loki has traded in his Asardian armor for a button-up shirt and a clip-on tie. Spending part of the episode in a cubicle, this white-collar Loki is a hilarious change of pace from the high-fantasy version of the character we are used to.
Additionally, the writers of the Loki TV show are incredibly self-aware, and all the office-life jokes 100% hit. That’s not to say Loki wasn’t seen in action this episode. The trickster God showed off his magic and got into a little fight, however, doing so in slacks was a funny subversion of my expectations.
#4: How many variants of Loki are there?
Episode 2’s title is alluding to THE variant, i.e., the show’s antagonist. However, a few minutes into the episode we get a brief history lesson about the numerous variants of Loki that have appeared throughout the years.
According to “The Variant,” each version of Loki may possess different powers as well as an entirely altered physique—which got me wondering, “Just how many variants of Loki are roaming around in the MCU?”
#5: Loki’s buddy-cop subgenre is perfect
Given MCU’s massive catalog of films, they’ve had the opportunity to experiment with each individual project. As a result, Spider-Man: Homecoming was a high school coming of age comedy, WandaVision was a sitcom, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was a political action thriller.
Now, the Loki TV show has perfected the buddy-cop genre. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Owen Wilson’s Mobius bounce off each other so well and execute the genre’s tropes wonderfully. Loki’s buddy-cop elements are strikingly reminiscent of fellow buddy-cop films Lethal Weapon, The Other Guys, and The Nice Guys.
How’s Twitter reacting to Loki Episode 2?
As was the case for Loki’s premiere, Twitter is loving episode two of the Loki TV show and came in clutch with some hilarious memes.
Loki’s flow is receiving high praise.
#Loki SPOILERS
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God bless Loki’s messy hair pic.twitter.com/CL6o1gMTDq— Ana (Loki Spoilers) (@ashes_ana) June 16, 2021
Twitter is ready to ship Loki and Mobius.
mcu phase 4 really said power couples pic.twitter.com/wL8shfNjKL
— sez | loki era (@sezsvision) June 16, 2021
Just give Tom Hiddleston an Emmy already.
Me, after the episode 2 of #Loki pic.twitter.com/rd3mXBivOG
— Mickey?️? (@MickeyNotMouse) June 16, 2021
We are all Loki during finals week.
#loki spoilers
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loki studying vs. loki passing
for finals the finals pic.twitter.com/YVPxvPlO2T— ju loki era (@thesunwiIIshine) June 16, 2021
Have you checked out the second episode of Loki yet? Let us know what you thought of “The Variant” and any predictions you have for Episode 3 in the comments!
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