The Reel Rejects - LOKI SEASON 2 PREMIERE - Episode 1 REVIEW!! 2x1 Breakdown, Reaction, & Ending Explained | Post Credits Scene

Episode Date: October 6, 2023

THE WAIT IS OVER! Snag Yourself Some Reject Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Loki Season 2 Episode 1 Reaction, Recap, Breakdown, Commentary, Analysis, Theories, Ending Explained, & Spoiler Review for the Marvel Studios Premiere episode where we await the dawn of Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) as Loki, Mobius, Hunter B-15, The TVA, and Ke Huy Quan Obi Ouroboros (Everything Everywhere All At Once) fight to save the timeline leading to a McDonalds Post Credits scene involving Sylvie. The series is helmed by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead (Moon Knight) and the Loki cast consists of Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Mobiuis M Mobius (Owen Wilson), He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), Ke Huy Quan, Sylvia (Sophia Di Martino), Miss Minutes (Tara Strong), & Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). Loki Season 2 is a big part of the MCU Multiverse for Marvel Phase 5 before we get into Avengers Kang Dynasty, Avengers Secret Wars, Deadpool 3, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, The Marvels, & So MUCH MORE! #Loki #Marvel #MCU #MarvelStudios #LokiSeason2 #TomHiddleston #JonathanMajors #KangTheConqueror #Kang #Avengers #AvengersSecretWars #AvengersKangDynasty #AvengersEndgame #AvengersInfinityWar #multiverse Loki Episode 1 Full Reaction Watch Along: https://youtu.be/9eXDiNWzXpw Become A Super Sexy Reject For Full-Length T.V. & Movie Reactions! https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Aparrel - including brand new LOKI Designs! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Season 2, Ouroboros is the name of the episode. Very excited to have you here, very excited to be back watching Loki. We are about to share our fresh thoughts hot off the reaction, Greg Coy and myself. If you want to see the full highlights real, that is available on YouTube.com. or inversely, if you'd like to sync up with your own copy and enjoy every single Loki moment alongside us. That experience is available on patreon.com slash the real rejects. And, of course, if you'd like to support the channel

and rock a little swag in the process, we've got some fresh Loki-inspired and other designs up in the Rejectnationshop.com store. It's a blast. There's a ton of cool stuff over there. We appreciate any and everybody checking it out. And, hey, without further ado, let's get back to the Multiverse Saga, boy. Here we go.

I want to try everything. Oh, my gosh, she's going to be fat as hell in 20 years. Very quickly. She won't make it in 2023. Damn. That was brilliant, guys. Was that the best episode one? I mean, it's the first.

It's the first. season two we've ever had of any Marvel property and uh yeah episode one that was insanely great um yeah they because the last episode of season one ended on on a great ominous horror horrific vibe and the there were so many theories of what was happening when they saw the king's action they didn't remember them like did they rewrite time the king rewrite time is he in an alternate timeline and the explanation that they ultimately gave us like, oh, that's genius. And they work it into the physical stakes and what's at hand for what they got to solve.

Like, it's not just something that they explain away and then they resolve it because I saw like this one very little tiny nitpick. And it was something, but then there was one bigger criticism that I was actually having that I thought might have undone some of the goodwill of season one for me when I was seeing the trailers was like, oh, man, you know, I like, I love the ending of season one. It was so menacing, and then you're like, but it kind of one does that whole, like, character arc and the journey that Loki and Mobius went through in that season. Oh, if you don't remember each other. Yeah, yeah.

But then they solve it. And then they solve it. And have a buddy. But it doesn't feel like course correction. Like, no, that feels like that's maybe what the plan was the whole time. Yeah. Maybe it was. Maybe it was it.

It fits perfectly. Is this going to do writer, remember? The original show around a writer is not on season two. So, Waldron? No, no, no. the woman who directed... Oh, the director, Kate Heron. Yeah, yeah.

Sorry, there's no showrunners in Marvel. The Kate Heron is not on this. So I don't know, because you're right. I was a little worried about the pivot, but it is totally played. It totally played perfectly, and I know we said somewhere during the reaction, but if you listen to this on, like, Spotify or Apple,

we just watched Loki, season two, episode one, and we are reviewing it right now. And I was so impressed with the way it was shot, you know, Justin and Aaron, who did moon night, who I thought they did great work in there, And it seems like they just kind of got their feet wet with that.

And they were able to come over here. And one thing that I feel like with Marvel, the last thing I actually expected to talk about was specifically the way this is directed. And like the filmmaking behind it was the last thing I expect. All of the production design, cinematography, and directing. The editing, the music. And it does feel like there's a distinct voice.

That is one of the biggest criticism that I feel like we often say with Marvel is you don't feel like, like when I was revisiting season one of Loki, I was hit with this nostalgic feeling of, man, I forgot how composed this was. I forgot just how it felt like Kate's voice was behind this. So hearing that they were switching directors, maybe go, okay, did they just get a hired hand so they could just kind of do the show they wanted to? That's not the impression I'm getting. Like what Justin and Ernest and I've done, there's, they've, I kind of liken it to

when Doug Lyman did Born Identity and then they got Paul Greengrass for Foreign Supremacy where okay now we're handheld we're a little bit grittier and alien to aliens how the action like accelerated but it still felt like in a world definitely but it's

and it kind of adapts a little bit of Ridley Scott's dread here because it does have this 70s sci-fi horror touch laced throughout without losing its sense of wonder I was enamored with this I thought this was, I thought this was brilliant, like, just talking about, like, the filmmaking right at hand.

John, what did you think of filmmaking? No, yeah, I'm absolutely kind of, I'm so happy right now because I'm a little blown away because of everything you just pointed out. And, yeah, like, this feels like it's crafted, like it's distinct. And, like, this is really able, I don't know, I'm almost a loss for words to how to describe it. But, yeah, it's like they really, the first season, you know, felt. tangible and it and it had all these earmarks of quality filmmaking but this you know use of these long zooms and these you know kind of frantic but very you know composed uh you know like tracking shots and clearly you're like walking around with the steady cam like there's just so much

legitimacy that that lends to the sets to the stakes to the circumstances and like throughout this i made a remark about movie magic and i feel like you know a lot of marvel movies don't give me that or marvel things are fun that they're dazzling, but they're not always giving me that sense of like, wow, I am beholding the possibilities of movie magic. And this had that, because it was like, it legitimizes all these sets and stuff like that, then where there is CGI, like, you know, it blends really nicely, but clearly they're really throwing down on all these designs and things. It has humor without feeling jokey. It's foreboding. It's thrilling and exciting. And you care about

each beat of the character's journeys as well and yeah I don't know this was just so rich to me this gave me kind of everything I was hoping for and so much more and it also feels like we just immediately picked up from the end of season one and we're just going

like and it even it's funny that they had that back and forth with Kee Kwan's character about like how long has it been you know because sitting down to this I was like God it feels like Loki was a century ago and then during the episode I was like I feel like I just watched it yesterday.

Yeah. You know, or like we were just doing the experience of, you know, seeing it the first time just yesterday or something like that. So, I mean, I could go on forever. But, yeah, I thought this was terrific, amazing. Coy, what did you think about Obie? I love the, obviously they cast perfectly, but I love especially in that scene how the time editing

and time displacement and the sets were like full power because they framed him in the center of a circle. and then not only did the circle slightly get fuller for the future and a little bit emptier for the past but it wasn't obvious and the fact that they had like match edited the circle behind Loki

so it was super disorienting and you felt like stuck out of time they made you feel like you were out of time while Loki was discovering what to do with his being out of time like that was genius Justin and Aaron are our buddies of mine and I love their work so dearly

and I will totally admit there was a part of me that was so afraid that the world would be robbed of some of their more insane cinematic skill by them going to a major studio. Like I legitimately obviously love Marvel, but there's a lot of directors that can make Marvel stuff

and they can like blend their style with the Marvel style. And that's great. I'm happy for them. But I was so worried that we wouldn't get more things like Spring, which is one of my favorite horror movies ever that they did years ago. And I was so like, oh, this is years of their lives. And then I liked a lot of Moon Night, but I didn't love the ending. This was what I was hoping would happen when you hire directors like Justin.

in an errand, like where they let them paint with their paint brushes, where you let them have, here's a blank check because we can afford it, but also make the thing you'd make, but in our universe. That's what comics are. To me, you give a writer you trust and an artist you trust the character

and you just say like, okay, we're not going to make coloring in the lines too detailed, but just don't do these things, but everything else just go nuts. And that way you can keep it in your universe, but it's also their book. That's why I like Tom King's Batman, because it feels like his, and that's why I like what Mitch Gerrads does with his characters because they feel like

kids and this feels like Justin and Aaron were like, okay, we just can't kill Loki in the first episode because anything else is fun and it's their style it's their world, it's that 70s horror, it's the music that feels original, it's the production design that feels like not just like this feels like you can walk through this set.

It doesn't feel like the void or the volume, whatever they call it. It doesn't feel like the volume. That's what it feels like to me. But I love when things are tangible and real and I love that two people that I really respect got to make something to scale, that still feels like something they'd make not in this universe. Yeah, yeah, no, it feels like it's, it has this combination where it feels storyboarded,

yet off the cuff at times, like, oh, let's just watch the actors work, now let's shoot around them. There is such energy and vibrancy. Like, it's literally about the mood of it is a race against time. Yeah, the destruction of time. They keep adding ticking clocks. Yeah. You could feel its reverency for the last season.

all over it but yet completely doing its own thing here everyone's like the performances of obviously Tom Hittleston great again I'm I want to Wilson's thumbs up was the funniest thing to me like I couldn't hang I can't wait for him to get his jet ski it's coming yeah

just getting their chemistry back feeling like man they haven't missed a step not one bit not one bit here have they missed a step I am hoping though that in some ways they do retain some of the bit of what we love about Loki instead of him just being like a TVA agent this time who's on edge you want a bit of that god and mischief in some capacity oh i think that's definitely coming even though he's been even though he's had a complete character arc you i wanted to still have a bit of what we know about loki you know you want a little bit of his

duplicitousness yes of course no i i think that's coming i think what i'm really intrigued by is the raphael cassel footage we saw in the trailer had his him as like an actor like a theater actor. And I didn't realize he was going to be a TVA agent. And then we've also seen some stuff where there's like, yeah. Yeah, so I'm curious what like Loki has to do to manipulate Rafa's character or like how he's going to get around the TVA that are clearly going out and hunting Sylvie. That's where I think we're going to get some mischief in there.

Yeah. You know, last season, we didn't really, like, we're going to the political bureaucracy a lot more here this time around. And before it was just kind of Ravona saying shit. Yeah, now there's a board. There's like a board. Okay, there's like a lot more people here than just Ravone. It seemed like it was, it seemed like she was answering to timekeepers, timekeepers, and then there was Ravona, right? And last season, so we didn't really see much of, like, the political debates, but clearly there's a lot more cover up.

There's a legislative branch. Yeah, she was judicial, like, there's other branches going on. I mean, like, King has created, or he who remains, has created such a dichotomy for everyone, such a problem that there is, that does come into question. It literally was what Loki and Sylvie were arguing about is telling the truth better than the lie that comforts everyone. Can I say before all of the internet does? Because we will hear this ad nauseum. This isn't Marvel's back, but it is to me, hey, they can still do that magic

and they just need to like narrow it down. If we could prune some of the phase four stuff that didn't work in the holy timeline, then like King Dynasty I think that's what King Dynasty is going to do I think King Dynasty is going to show that we're on disparate timelines not everything is canon and then Marvel can just keep the stuff that's

sure and I think this show is like they still got it definitely and I think with Kang like this was the it's so weird because revisiting season one wow what a perfect setup for Kang and the multiverse consequences they shouldn't have touched it until this and then you know we saw what happened

and it felt like a lot of Loki season one ending was not really consequential to the films and shows that came following it. That big moment, everybody's like that's the moment everything changes. I'm like, so when do we find out what changed? And this feels like everything changed. It's two years there. Yeah, it picks

and it's like, all right, I'm in it and King is back to feeling it makes you forget about his Ant Man appearance. Which is like Jonathan Majors did a fine job as Kang in that film, but he was in a different movie. He was a different movie and overall he got killed by Antswell, right?

And then here, this is the threat. guy that we were all worried about it and just of how the recluse about him laced throughout. And one thing I hope this show does is to kind of give you a sense of the TVA society a bit more. It seemed like we've got a hint of that in the opening action scene, especially when you got all these different characters here. But then when King,

I imagine that he's going to be connected that Ravona's true past is probably connected to Victor timely. Right? Because that was what it's established in the end of the, regardless going to see victor time as established an ant man quantum man we're going to see victor timely and i imagine that's where ravana part of her history

truly lies there as well because yeah she left the last season she said she was going to go look for him essentially implying that she was going to go look for him and it seemed like the message that uh loki was playing was the thing that was left for him and i think some of those tv a are going to there i think they're going to rovona and i think that's

where we're going to see raffa as the actor right okay yeah that makes that's my theory is that he's going and hunting her, so it's not just Sylvie they're going after, it's also Rivona into the original timeline, because if they cut off her, then we don't find out all this about Kang, and it goes back to status quo. So why are they going after Sylvie, though?

John, what are your theories? You don't think they are? Didn't they partly establish that, or at least that's what... That's what Loki assumes. Loki assumes, but they... But the old, the Irish people and the guy who like...

The Scottish or whatever, they said They said we have to go after Sylvie, we have to get Sylvie. They said it in the boardroom and B-15. I mean, maybe, but then B-15 said this is seen success. I think it's not just Sylvie or it's a mislead. But what, did they need to go after Sylvie? But maybe they know more than the rest do. At least the woman from Game of Thrones seem to know more.

The woman from the Witcher seemed more earnestly, you know, surprised by this revelation, whereas the woman from Game of Thrones seemed to be like more aware, more in control and trying to just not let that on so much. So I wonder if maybe she has got some kind of awareness of He Who Remains or the truth of the matter and is trying to maintain

and protect the lie that everybody lives under or something, I guess would be, because you know, if she knows Sylvie killed him, then that would be, you know, the reason to prioritize her. But there's also just like this the leftover circumstances from last time, too, with them

being on this manhunt anyway. I wish the trailers didn't reveal that she works at McDonald. I know. I know. I'm thinking too. I would have loved to have almost no Sylvie in the trailers, and then to have this little post-credit bit would have been really nice. Well, it's weird.

I personally watched the one trailer, so I don't really know anything about what's supposed to happen. I only have those two things in my head. Yeah. Yeah. The actor scene and the Sylvie McDonald's scene. Yeah. When I wonder, too, if the, if the Rangers and stuff are going to start encountering variants of themselves. who get to live, you know, or something, you know, as they're going around.

I can't get over the visuals. Because they're all going in such numbers. Like, I don't know, maybe that's a possibility, too. Man, this is brilliant. I can't get over the visuals of the cosmic time distortion, the time waves and stuff. That's going to, like, stick with me. That's what the comics feel like. And that was so cool to see something that feels like a comic I've read, but, like, in a more tense 3D way.

Yeah, yeah. That was beautiful. I mean, this is up there with my favorite first episode of anything. This is special. This is one of the best episodes of The Loki Show. Yeah. Yeah. Confidently say that. Yeah. This is one of the absolute best episodes of the Loki show.

I'm so glad Justin Aaron and all of it. Like, I'm so glad it's their show, not like, you know, switch around directors. I'm sure everybody can do great. But this, like, this gives me so much hope for the whole season. Yeah, but what I just really appreciate, too, is the, they are providing a uniqueness here. That feels, that feels different and distinct from season one. And it, and it's still, they still understand, like, turmoil, psychological turmoil. Like, where Moon Night was obviously very character focused, uh, which,

which made more sense for that and here you still get the emotionality of what everyone's experiencing so there's still going to be character-based stuff but it's more of about immediacy of what they're experiencing and the tension that they're going through so I really really I was really impressed

with this I was surprised by how it's like I had a feeling it would be good but I didn't think it would be that good I didn't want it to end and I was gobsmed I don't often get like I don't have words and then I also don't want things to not end forever this is Well, it feels vintage in throwback, but also new. You know, like the first season.

It feels vintage, it feels now, and it feels future all at the same time. Yeah. Time. Time. Well, and part of me, I'm curious, too, about what they're going to do about that past beat that we saw with the, you know, Kang statue. Because it's clear Mobius has had his mind wiped a number of times. So I'm like, is there a recent previous iteration of the TVA that was like Lord Kang Central or something like that? Oh, yeah. I think that's what it seemed to clearly establish.

At some point, they didn't have to hide it. And, like, why did he start hiding it? And, and, I don't know, because Moby is going to find out, like, some kind of horrible, complicitness that he's had to, you know, be a part of in the past that he's not aware of now. I was like, there's a strange parallel, too, to bring it back to Obie, obie and he who remains, you know, like, they're both there with these really important jobs about time displacement and whatnot. They're just kind of on their own.

They're isolated and wait for visitors to come to see. Yeah, he hasn't seen anyone in hundreds of years. and he seems fine too I want more like he's almost like a supplement for Miss Minutes possibly I don't know it's something

there's something really interesting about a mirroring effect with that see that's the magic is I'm like I have so many you can draw theories out of this there are so many curiosities and they're all in different directions there's the circumstances of the story but there's the character qualities in that and and it's been a long

time for me since I've like coming into Loki season two is like you know i'm happy to be here i loved the first season so like this is a pretty easy bar to clear like it can be you know if it's just okay i would be honest about that but i would be still pretty pleased to be here and so it's been a long time so i've had that vibe coming in and then been so bold over like wow this went far above and beyond any expectation i would have had i'm happy enough to be back but also i'm overjoyed that they like really pulled all the stops out it's like guardians for me i knew i'd love it and then i was like whoa do i think is this my favorite of the

If you look at what's been beloved, like our feelings for this, I mean, I have a feeling people are going to love this. Yeah, sure. This, Guardians, director's vision. Yes. And mostly isolated, like mostly to itself, not trying to start 500 spinoffs. Yeah, but you also know it's connected at the same time, without it, like, really reaching for that connection. Like, Loki Season 1 and Wanda Vision, I think, are the two most separate of the shows, and they did well. And here we are.

Yeah, this is something really, this felt very special to me. and this it's when you get shit like this of when you get something mediocre of why mediocre thing in Marvel stings even more right prune it capable because you know what yeah you know what the potential is and phase four people dogg on phase four but let's not forget it started off of wanda vision and loki yeah wandavision loki no way home and shung chi came out of that it's just other stuff did yeah and wakonda forever came out of that but then other stuff and then it's connective tissue and the lack of consequent like this feels like

like, oh, the repercussions, the consequences of their actions, of the Loki's actions from the end of season one. And I think the benefit of this and Kang and everything else's time travel does mean you can clean that up. Like, I do think Secret Wars and King Dynasty mean like okay, guys, we hit me, listen, we read the message boards, we're so sorry, sweep, sweep, and

like this is totally a thing. Yet I feel like the marketing for this, and maybe it has something to do with Jonathan Majors' is, you know, personal life troubles. It's been pretty quiet. I feel like the marketing for this has not been as ramped up as it normally would be for Marvel. I'm hoping. But the word of mouth has got, like, know the trailer did phenomenally well,

but yet I still feel like the marketing feels a little quieter than usual. Sure. Yeah. I agree. I mean, I'm really curious how it ramps up and what order to mouth is once it's out because I do think this is exceptional.

And I think that quality is going to make people. That's why I said the first thing like, Marvel's back. Like, I do think it's going to be that kind of rush. And especially post-gardians. Now they're two for two. And so I hope this leads to, and the next thing after this is going to be,

they're doing a whole day, I think for last we heard, they're doing everything at once with that go. And then the Captain America Five is, is the first thing under Iger's new stuff, four. Yeah, I skipped a whole Captain America. Captain America, four is the first thing under Marvel's whole.

Scrap four entirely. We skipped four. We're on to Sam Wilson's Five. But yeah, I think that, you know, Bob Iger's new vision and, like, Kevin Feigey haven't time to readjust to everything that had to be changed with the pandemic and everything else. Like, remember Falcon Winter Soldier had to be like half reshot.

Like, things had to really change with phase four. So I do have some faith in where we go from here. Okay. So I'm very hopeful. Guys, what did you think about? It. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. A plus for me. That is damn good television right there. The best Marvel movie since the Dark Night is what Twitter will say. Easily. Truth. Leave your thoughts down below. Thank you to all who have been getting some RR apparel. It means the world. And we will catch you all very, very soon. Stay tuned for next week and whatever else gets uploaded on this channel. See you guys. Thank you.