The final episode of LOKI S1 dropped two years, two months, three weeks, and two days before the premiere of LOKI S2, and I have to admit: I did not remember where we left off. I planned on rewatching S1 but ran out of time, so I went straight to the finale of the 2021 season. It didn’t make much sense to me. I wrote about what I did remember on social media, and a friend shared this video to get me caught up. Watch it, and you’ll be all ready for S2 of LOKI. Â
OUROBOROS picks up immediately after S1 ends. Loki has returned to the TVA without Sylvie, and everything has changed. The premiere is a literal race from when it starts until it ends x minutes later. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are on such a fast-paced journey that there were moments I had a hard time keeping up.Â
I was absolutely delighted when Ke Huy Quan was introduced as O.B. because it finally gave us a moment to breathe and get some exposition. What a time to be alive for the Ke Huy Quan Renaissance! After winning an Oscar for my favorite film of 2022, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, and turning up in earlier this year in AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, also on Disney+, I was absolutely ecstatic to hear he was joining LOKI this season. O.B. is tailor-made for Quan’s sweet and slightly nerdy disposition. The highlights of the episode are Hiddleston, Wilson, and Quan’s pitch-perfect dialogue delivery between one another. It flows quickly enough to keep the excitement going but remains tight enough to explain what the hell is going on.Â
Also back is one of my favorite characters, Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), and I really hope her presence is bumped up this go-around. We also get to meet some more TVA employees in a scene that had me replay a favorite pastime head game of mine: “Are they from Game of Thrones or Harry Potter?” Every time I recognize a British, Irish, or Scottish performer in a movie or T.V. show, but I can’t quite place them, this is the question that goes through my head. Sometimes, the answer is both! In the interest of remaining spoiler-free, I’ll let you find out yourself who it is and where you might know them from.Â
Even in an episode that’s mostly at breakneck speed, Ouroboros puts introductions and plot setting above, moving the story forward too much too fast, and that’s okay. It’s been a minute, and we need to get our bearings before we slip down a branching timeline too far. Â
LOKI streams on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. P.T. on Disney+.
