A second season of Loki is definitely needed right now. In the first appearance, Tom Hiddleston's endearingly egotistical Norse deity enchanted audiences with a humorous journey across time and space. Wild cameos appeared (Richard E. Grant as an odd alternative Loki, for example). There was hot chemistry (see out the bromance with Agent Mobius, played by Owen Wilson!). Even the sweet flowering of love took place (with Sylvie, Loki's metaverse alter ego; unquestionably the most touching relationship a TV character has ever had with themself). So, naturally, the Marvel Cinematic Universe chose to follow up this televisual triumph with a disastrous series of flops, culminating in June’s Secret Invasion: a slog of a show that felt like the death knell for the franchise’s entire TV future.

Fortunately, Loki's action-packed comeback hints that it is more than capable of up to the challenge of shattering Marvel's history of boring TV. We are immediately transported to the same location where the last season left off: the aftermath of Sylvie's (Sophia Di Martino) murder of He Who Remains, the mysterious entity who controls the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a temporal police force. Loki frequently collides with effigies of He Who Remains and is involved in slow-motion chases and car accidents involving flying cars. One thing becomes immediately obvious: if you want any of the following to make sense, you really can't ignore season one.

A good chunk of the opener consists of Hiddleston vanishing into another timeline. His body briefly turns into something that looks like it belongs in Stranger Things’ Upside Down, while he makes the sound of a man who has eaten some seriously out-of-date scampi. “It’s horrible,” quips Wilson’s Agent Mobius. “It looks like you’re being born, or dying – or both at the same time.” There are temporal loops, baffling causality chains and the establishment of what will be a series-long plot about stabilising a “temporal loom” – whose explanation is so convoluted the characters may as well be repeatedly chanting the word “MacGuffin”. Compared to the first season’s simple thrills, it’s all a bit overcomplicated – a disappointing choice of direction, if predictable.