It should have been impossible to make Loki dull.

The very concept of the show invites play and excitement. You have Loki (Tom Hiddleston), full-on god of mischief, paired with the technology to travel anywhere in time and space. Season 1 used this combination to bring us from the destruction of Pompeii in 79 A.D. all the way to the far-off moon of Lamentis, but that's just the tip of the iceberg of what Loki could accomplish. Truly, the possibilities for his time travel adventures are endless!

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Yet instead of digging into what makes Loki fun, the show's second season doubles down on Season 1's worst tendencies. The first four episodes screened for critics are full of exhausting discussions of time travel mechanics and forced build-up for the rest of the MCU. It's a drag when it should be thrilling, an exposition-filled trudge when it should be an exciting romp.

What's Loki Season 2 about?

Tom Hiddleston, Ke Huy Quan, and Owen Wilson in "Loki" Season 2. Credit: Gareth Gatrell / Marvel

These problems come as no surprise following the Loki Season 1 finale, which ground the show to a halt to introduce He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), a variant of the MCU's new Big Bad, Kang the Conqueror. Loki variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) killed He Who Remains for establishing the Time Variance Authority (TVA), splitting the Sacred Timeline in the process. She also sent Loki back to the TVA, which he found full of statues of He Who Remains.

As Season 2 picks up, Loki is trying to understand what has happened to the TVA, and why he's being uncontrollably pulled through time. To get to the bottom of these problems, he'll team back up with TVA analyst Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), as well as helpful TVA mechanic Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), aka OB.

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But these aren't the only issues Loki will face. There's the matter of finding Sylvie again and preparing for Kang's arrival. Plus, where have treacherous TVA Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) gone off to? The clock is ticking, and the survival of all of time rests on Loki and his crew.

Loki has forgotten how to have fun.

Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston in "Loki" Season 2. Credit: Gareth Gatrell / Marvel

Unfortunately, Loki and his crew's exploits are about as exciting as reading an instruction manual — probably because OB spends most of his time on screen parroting the TVA's manual in order to explain what the heck is going on. Talk of time looms and pruning timelines dominates the season, to the point that it seems like Loki thinks its appeal lies in increasingly complex time time travel mechanics, instead of its central character.

Thankfully, Loki himself remains a constant source of charisma, even as his own show buries his story under stepping stones for MCU's next projects. Hiddleston is great as always, tapping more into Loki's magical side this season as well as unleashing his villainy for an admittedly enjoyable interrogation sequence. His chemistry with Wilson and Di Martino also remains a delight, with both performers wringing all the verve they can from the many, many quips the script throws their way. Elsewhere, Mosaku lets her dramatic skills shine as B-15 reckons with the TVA's pruning methods, and Quan proves a wonderful addition to the cast (even though he deserves better material than "quirky exposition machine").

Sticking out like a sore thumb is Majors, who returns this season as Kang variant Victor Timely (as teased in the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania end credits scene). Between his momentum-killing monologue as He Who Remains in Loki Season 1 and his underwhelming debut as Kang in Quantumania, Majors has yet to really click in the MCU. But at least Kang and He Who Remains had some sense of weight to them — Victor is a joke by comparison. Majors takes any verbal or physical tics from his prior MCU performances and dials them up to caricature level. When paired with any of his discussions of time-related technicalities (of which there are many), the effect is absolutely insufferable.

Loki Season 2 works best when it's outside the TVA, be that a trip to a '70s movie premiere or the Chicago World's Fair. Unfortunately, the show fails to recognize the power and fun of these larger set pieces, choosing to return again and again to the retro-cool offices of the TVA.

Here, we're treated to speech after speech about how millions of people are dying as chaos reigns on the timeline. Yet without exploring these horrors in-depth, Loki's stakes remain strangely hollow. Add to that the fact that future MCU projects are already on the way — meaning the world doesn't end this season — and it's difficult to bring yourself to care about everything Loki is throwing at you. In some other timeline, there is surely a variant of Loki Season 2 that rules. But it certainly isn't this one.

Loki Season 2 premieres Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.