To follow up the first season of “Loki” is a tough task. The fantasy series’ debut in June 2021 received overwhelmingly positive critical and fan reception on its way to blowing up the rules of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Still, Tom Hiddleston and company had more stories to tell, and the two-year wait was … almost worth it. Season 2 of “Loki” features a strong cast and excellent production design, but ultimately fails to be something truly special.

The new season picks up right where the first one left off, and introduces its latest puzzle pieces pretty rapidly. This new slate of episodes centers around an intergalactic machine called the “Temporal Loom,” which is meant to hold the entire world together but has begun to malfunction. Ke Huy Quan joins the main cast as Ouroboros, a quirky and fast-talking time engineer, and the “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (2022) star makes an absolutely electric addition.

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The other main changes come from behind the scenes. While season 1 was the brainchild of a five-person writers’ room, season 2’s head writer, Eric Martin, wrote four of the six episodes by himself. Season 1 director Kate Herron departed and was replaced by a directorial team led by “Moon Knight” directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.

This new and overwhelmingly male creative team seems correlated to the sidelining of Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) for the majority of the season. Sylvie was a huge part of what made season 1 so compelling, but now she appears mostly to move the plot along or argue with Loki for a couple minutes before eventually being ignored.

It was really disappointing to watch Sylvie spiral into irrelevance, especially because her fundamental disagreements with the titular character make for some of the best moments of the season. It’s sad that these flashes of greatness are relegated to a B-story.

The rest of the cast continues to shine, led by the stellar ensemble from season 1. Owen Wilson still shines as the wise-cracking and esoteric Mobius and Eugene Cordero is hilariously meek in his beefed-up role as space-time receptionist Casey.

Wunmi Mosaku remains a powerful force as Hunter B-15 (though much like Sylvie, the writers relegate this compelling female character to the sidelines for much of the season’s central plot). There’s also more time for this cast to shine than season 1, including an interrogation gone wrong led by an excellently-anguished Wilson.

But the show’s main strength remains in its production design. The sets are delightful, with the first season’s bizarre mishmash of modern sci-fi and vintage technology returning in even greater force. “Loki” is a show that rewards the viewer if they pause to catch all the little in-jokes and quirky details. One scene early in the season involves a strange “key lime pie” room that was deliciously compelling and detailed, down to the pie itself. Costumes also obey this weirdo style, though they are a little less colorful and entertaining than in season 1.

As for the plot … that’s a different story. The “Temporal Loom,” as mentioned before, anchors this new adventure. However, the script quickly gives way to convoluted sci-fi nonsense about this “Loom.” This would be less of a visible problem in a more action-packed series, but “Loki” remains a slower, conversation-driven show.

The show’s pace can lead to a lot of strong character moments and delightful exchanges, but “Loki” seems a lot more interested in explaining every little detail about how Marvel’s space-time bureaucracy works — and it usually doesn’t make a lot of sense regardless. There are a lot of entertaining fantasy concepts here, but all of them are either too confusing or become the focus for far too long.

The whole story comes together in a finale with an entertaining time-loop conundrum and immensely high stakes. While the end of this story stays exciting and brings every idea explored throughout the series together, it’s still dominated by way too much sci-fi jargon to be fully satisfying as a conclusion. The show becomes haunted by the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe in the finale, leaving our heroes’ fates ambiguous enough that Kevin Feige’s production juggernaut can adjust the ending as needed.

“Loki,” as a superhero show from an action-driven studio, doesn’t function like an action series nor a superhero production for much of its runtime. The series, especially this season, drives its plot forward through conversation. To the show’s credit, the creative team made a perfect decision. “Loki” continues to be at its best when characters are having bizarro philosophical debates on who gets to control the entire multiverse (and how they should do it).

But “Loki” also found its footing during season 1 by resembling a normal television show, intentionally operating differently than its fellow Marvel programs. The cast consisted of original characters instead of preexisting heroes, the writer’s room was more diverse and the focus remained on the central characters’ inner struggles.

This new season, while far better than many other superhero projects nowadays, makes a crucial mistake, falling short of greatness.  Simply put: The audience cares a whole lot more about central characters like Sylvie than a “Temporal Loom.”  It’s disappointing to watch a show that gets so much right, only to get its priorities wrong.