“Breaking Brad”
What They Say:
With the TVA on the verge of a temporal meltdown, Loki and Mobius will stop at nothing to find Sylvie.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The opening episode of Loki’s second season is one that, while in some ways may not have seemed like it accomplished much, did get a lot set up that will come back later to be important. But it also did the hugely important thing of feeling like it’s moving somewhere and doing something. The analogy I’ve used before is that I’d rather drive a bit longer to get where I need to go than to sit waiting in traffic. So many streaming shows feel like you’re sitting in traffic and I’d rather take the scenic route, see some new things, and get to the destination. Loki felt like we were on the move and while some of that eases here a bit by the necessity of the situation, it still at least feels like it’s progressing and we’ve got the gang all back together by the end of the second episode and can continue to do just that – move forward.
With Loki trying to figure out why he’s got the time hopping thing going on, he’s got OB on his side now and is continuing to work with B-15 and Mobius as they, and the rest of the TVA, now get just what kind of bad situation they’re all in because of the events of the first season and the truth of the TVA. Loki is also acting selfishly here as he wants to find Sylvie because of his own reasons in addition to the fact that she was there when all of this went down. The main focus is on Loki and Mobius going after Hunter X-5 who, as it turns out, has set up shop in 1977 London and is a very famous actor at this point known as Brad Wolfe. He’s there to celebrate the opening of his new movie Zaniac and that’s when Mobius and Loki show up, dressed to the nines, to confront him and try and get information about him as to why he dropped out from hunting down Sylvie as per his mission.
That gives the pair a few goals to work with and it occupies a large chunk of the episode. Brad’s particularly fun because he’s taken to heart what Loki and the others revealed about the truth of the TVA and he just wants to get a good life for himself, even if he was probably a bit shifty in doing so. There’s a good chase sequence involved in getting him with some fun location stuff and a good sense of grounded reality as they go through it. But it all ends up back at the TVA – with all of its glorious design and excellent score – with him as a prisoner in order to get the truth out of him. This is a complicated situation for our two leads because they’re trying to do it right but the reality is that they need some of the old Loki to do it. We get a number of glimpses of the old Loki here but I like the conflict he has in wanting to be who he has become but also acknowledging what he has within him. And using it as needed, with it uncertain as to how much of it is him playing a role and how much of it really is who he is at this point. Loki’s complexity continues to be fun and Hiddleston nails it again.
While this unfolds we also get to spend some time with OB but it’s best to include him in the larger picture of the secondary TVA characters. He’s finding problems with the temporal loom that could cause a serious end to everything so things have scaled up fast and he’s handling it well overall. I just love the way Ke Huy Quan moves and interacts with things so that adds a lot of fun. We also get Casey finally being brought down to that level to do research on the TemPad that Brad had and his meeting with OB feels like a beautiful weird friendship in the making as they work together set against what they’re facing. The little moments throughout all of this with those that work in the TVA and how when the situations build up and they’re in the room they’re paying attention and quietly interacting in their own way. They don’t feel quite like the usual props that background characters are and that adds a lot to the life – and the movement – of the show.
Thankfully, finding Sylvie doesn’t take long overall but it doesn’t come quickly or easily either. Bringing Mobius and Loki with Brad to 1982 in Oklahoma is a delight, especially since Brad has reasons for wanting to get out of there, but the whole sequence is given time to breathe. Sylvie’s displeasure at seeing Loki show up but still giving him time to talk is great as she’s made a life for herself here. Brad and Mobius enjoying some McDonald’s is a lot of fun, especially as Mobis is really enjoying that apple pie, but it also adds to the tension as the dialogue between the two continues to move things forward with the bigger threat since Brad knows what some of it is – and explains what he wants to get back to the Sacred Timeline. And all of it is enough to eventually draw Sylvia back into the TVA, at least for a bit, because of the threat to what she’s built for herself there. She doesn’t want to get into this pre-written future that Loki claims to have seen, since eliminating He Who Remains was supposed to stop that, so the curiosity level is enough to make her go back in an honest way.
When we get to the crux of the matter and discover what Dox has been up to since the council meeting in the previous episode, it’s pretty intense since they’re looking to stay on-mission and prune the timelines that shouldn’t exist. That’s the mission of the TVA and it’s no surprise that a good number of them will stick to it – even Mobius doesn’t want to know about his past life. He’s on the right side of things here to figure out what the TVA should be at this point but even then he doesn’t want to know what could have been for himself, which is interesting to watch play out. There’s a good sense of dread over the event as timelines begin to be culled, and we see how Loki and others work to save as many as they can while also giving us an action sequence as they deal with Dox and the others aligned with her. It’s a bit too short if only in that Dox wasn’t well-defined going into this – it took me a minute to remember her from the first episode – but it all serves to highlight the schism that exists in the TVA.
In Summary:
Loki delivers another strong episode for me with this one as we get a lot of neat little moments to it – and even a fun Eternals reference during the 1977 movie aspect if you watch closely. The show has such a great cast and they’ve got so much good stuff to work with in the dialogue and pacing that it feels engaging and exciting to watch as the events around it all are building. The small moments are a delight, the action sequence while brief is solidly engaging, and the character material is hitting a really strong sweet spot for me. Even just the bits about McDonald’s and how accurate it all is does something magical in a way that as someone from that time can appreciate. There’s a lot of moving parts here and I’m curious to see the pivots but I’m enjoying the strength of its direction, set design, and especially its score and music. Just a very strong experience.
Grade: B+
