It is almost impossible to follow the plot of the first episode of Season 2 of Loki. I say this as someone who has been writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a decade. I’ve seen every major Marvel release more than once, and have enjoyed most of them. I’ve also paid close attention to the events of Loki Season 1, Avengers: Endgame, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, all required viewing for this series. The characters spend most of the first episode explaining to the audience everything that happened in Season 1, which ended in one master timeline branching into many parallel timelines. Simultaneously they embark on vaguely related adventures.

Here’s what I can divine from the episode: Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Mobius (Owen Wilson…