Loki, Season 2 (6 episodes) picks up where Loki, Season 1 left off. The Timeline is in crisis and disaster approaches. Loki leaves the shadow of Thor and becomes a “variant” of the Norse trickster god held by the Time Variance Authority, or TVA, who controls Time…at least for now. The first series paired impeccable production design with a simple emotional narrative — especially once our primary Loki (Tom Hiddleston) met his match in his female counterpart Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), a relationship that opened questions of identity, free will and self-determination.

“Loki” Season 2, has seen some changes in personnel behind the scenes. Eric Martin takes over head writing duties from creator Michael Waldron, while sole director Kate Herron has passed the baton to a larger group led by collaborators Justin Benson and Aaron Morehead.  Based on watching Episode 1, this new lineup is inferior to the original group. This season introduces new MacGuffins like the Temporal Loom and characters like Ourobouros (Ke Huy Quan), a kind of cosmic IT guy tasked with keeping TVA equipment in shape.  While there’s a flurry of running around and shouting, the story and the situations seem static. I’ll keep watching (new episodes drop on Thursdays), but so far the uniqueness of the first season is Missing In Action. GRADE: Incomplete (but trending towards a C)