Loki S02E02 Review: Happy Meal

Loki, Season 2, Episode 2: Breaking Brad

The opening of this episode was a bit jarring, with our heroes already in motion in 1977, with Loki and Mobius chasing down Hunter X-5, who in turn is supposed to be hunting down Sylvie before going AWOL. It's a bit off coming from last episode's final scene, so much that I thought I'm watching episode 3 instead. It's a small complaint, though, because 'Breaking Brad' is otherwise a far more fun Loki episode than the season premiere. 

Hunter X-5 has returned to 1977 London to 'live his life', which is finally a nice pick-up on one of the huge revelations of the first season's final episodes -- that all the TVA agents are actually plucked from the timeline and had their memories and past lives erased. There's a nice fun moment as X-5, or rather Brad Wolfe, runs around and tries his best to escape Loki and his allies. We get perhaps my favourite sequence in this show so far, as Loki uses his illusion powers to great effect. He generates the illusion of a bunch of over-the-top London goons, appear as multiple versions of himself, and two of his shadows hold Brad Wolfe's shadow in place as the creepy horn helms grow on the shadows. Some really great banter between Loki and Mobius as always. 

And I do really feel that these scenes are the highlight of the episodes. Loki, Mobius and Hunter B-15 try to interrogate Brad Wolfe, but he's just indignant that all the TVA staff are just so happy to accept their false lives... and then calls Loki out for being a villain. There's an amazing moment as Loki is just struck dumb for a moment when Wolfe reminds Loki that, yeah, he's still got the past of a supervillain and a loser one at that -- a nice little nod to the earlier episodes of the first season. So that this episode isn't just a rehash, however, it's Mobius that clearly ends up getting rattled by Brad Wolfe's statement about Mobius having a life somewhere, somewhen. Seeing Brad live it up as the actor that plays 'Zaniac' is probably something that shook Mobius up a little bit, too. 

Loki and Mobius call a time-out, and they bond over key lime cake. Again... all the scenes with Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson are the highlights of the episode, and we get a great sequence as Mobius confesses that it's not having a bad life that scares him... but what if it's a good one?

We also get a very excellent interrogation scene as Loki pretends to lock Mobius out of the interrogation room, and begins to use the TVA material and hams it up to wring Sylvie's location out of Brad Wolfe. Obviously Loki isn't going to turn evil, at least not in this episode, but it's a fun sequence as Loki plays up the whole "fine, then let me be a villain" angle. 

And... I really do find myself not caring all that much about the rest of the plot. There are a bunch more bits and bobs of worldbuilding here and there. Ouroboros is fiddling around the Time-Pad that Brad is holding, the Temporal Loom from the season premiere is still destabilizing, Casey has memorized the TVA handbook and is an Ouroboros fanboy, and Hunter B-15 is still extremely underutilized that I had to double-check that she's even in these scenes. From here, we learn that the missing Ravonna Renslayer is actually working alongside Miss Minutes, and the big door to the big time loom is locked out unless they can get Kang there. We're saving that for the rest of the season, presumably.

...but I really do find it hard to care about this plotline, and I find the sequence of Loki, Mobius and Brad showing up at the McDonalds that Sylvie has sequestered herself in to be far, far more engaging. On paper it really isn't anything much -- Sylvie has decided that she's free from predestination and whatnot, doesn't give a shit about the TVA and just wants to live her life. I'm not sure why this ends up becoming her working for minimal wage in McDonalds, but, well, the scene is well-acted. Loki tries to make an argument that the TVA is important because it's the only line of defense against the Kangs, but everything is interrupted as Brad Wolfe panics and tells them that Dox and her loyalists are planning to prune the branching timelines. 

And... yeah, this is where we tie in to the confusing 'destruction of the universe' plotline that B-15 and the rest of the TVA are trying to stop, and... I really confess that I don't really care? God bless Wunmi Mosaku for that distraught expression, but that's about it, really, for me. It's not like we've seen anything from these other branching timelines within the show, and not showing alternate timelines being destroyed means that it's a bit hard for me to buy into the emotion of "billions are dying!" Dox herself is only introduced for maybe a minute last episode, and is absent from this entire episode until our heroes see her implementing her plan. 

We get the requisite action scene as Loki, Sylvie and Mobius attack Dox and her troops, and we get some fun action scenes... but the bombs went through and pruned a good chunk of the timelines. Sylvie tells Loki off that the TVA is the problem, leaves to her McDonalds timeline, and Loki angsts about how it's so hard to want to stay. And... I'm actually not sure why Loki is staying, other than some vague sense of loyalty to Mobius and maybe it's "the right thing to do". I hope the next couple of episodes explores this a bit more, but not really understanding Loki and Sylvie's proper motivations other than the broad strokes is a bit damaging to the plotting. 

And... yeah. The episode is a bit better than the season premiere, but Loki's second season really does feel a lot messier compared to the first episode. The best parts of this episode really is giving the main characters (Loki, Mobius, Sylvie) and the guest star (Brad) time to shine... but I'll also acknowledge that it really ends up being hard for me to care for all of the more cosmic aspects of the plot, especially since the episode really only pays mostly lip-service to all of this, focusing more on Ouroboros and Casey being oh-so-quirky! Dox is barely a character, the mystery about Ravonna is less interesting than the show thinks it is to be stringing it along, and Hunter B-15 has so little material to work with. It's a bit better, but still rather messy. 

Random Notes:

• In the comics, Brad Wolfe is a character introduced in the 80's Thor comics, and an actor that was famous for the slasher film Zaniac. During the filming of the movie, an accidental explosion caused an extradimensional entity from the Dark Dimension to possess Wolfe, fusing him with the costume of The Zaniac and giving him super strength and the ability to generate energy knives from his hands. Driven mad, Brad Wolfe began to act out the movie's script in real life until he was stopped by Thor.
• The demonic entity called the Zaniac would then hop out of Brad Wolfe's body after his death, killing Jane Foster and causing Thor to seek out the aid of the T.V.A. to save Jane's life. 
• A Kingo movie poster can be seen outside of the theater. 
  
• Loki describes in detail about the events of The Avengers, specifically the moment when his mind-control powers did not work on Tony Stark's chest and he tossed Tony off the side of the building.