If one thing has become evident after Loki's first two episodes is that the Time Variance Authority gave the god of mischief and downtrodden Asgardian prince his first real job. Contrary to his entire journey throughout the MCU's entire Infinity Saga, the new Loki features Tom Hiddleston playing his beloved character in a much wider range after he already got the story of his life presented to him in the first episode.
Yet, while Loki's initial moment of revelation after seeing Thanos snap his neck and going through Loki's improv therapy session with Mobius M. Mobius already did a lot toward establishing the character as a slightly different anti-hero than he was by the time the first Avengers movie came out, it's his TVA internship that looks to shape him even more into who he was around the time of his death.
After all, the Mobius and Loki pairing is the kind of unlikely partnership that has for decades made other iconic duos like Tango & Cash, Miami Vice, Lethal Weapon, and Bad Boys, featuring plenty of banter between the more strict cop and his more unorthodox -and often undesired- partner. Funny enough, it was The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that early on hinted at Marvel Studios may be taking this approach for an MCU property, however, for all its merits that show ended up being a more serious affair in order to showcase Sam Wilson's journey to becoming Captain America, which involved a pretty serious overview of racial issues and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as having to share screen time with plenty of other interesting characters like John Walker.
This resulted in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier not really being a buddy cop comedy by any means, but instead more of an episodic presentation that came very close to replicating the same type of MCU stories that fans have been flocking to watch in theaters for years. Nothing wrong with that, it's just that while WandaVision felt very distinctively like a TV series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier brought a much welcomed cinematic vibe; on the other hand, Loki is already showing its TV credentials in full strength, something the studio knew very early on since the company had all but confirmed Loki would have several seasons, a commitment producers and writers have not signed on for what would be an eventual second season for Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
That's not to say Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes didn't have plenty of chemistry and their fair share of funny moments, but in only two episodes Loki has already proven this Marvel's detective show. In episode two, "The Variant", audiences are treated to a glorious glimpse at Loki's first day at the office ad he really doesn't try to adapt to his new surroundings skipping most of his training materials and Miss Minutes's lessons on what exactly makes the TVA's sacred timeline tick, but most importantly seeing the new mischievous detective suit up into his new bureaucratic duties.
Loki's second episode basically follows the blueprint set by so many shows before, where our protagonist who doesn't like to play by the rules has to be reigned in and taught the ropes by the uptight veteran, Mobius. The result is the two exchanging plenty of funny dialogue, their musings about life, radically different approach towards their assigned missions, and -most importantly- casual conversations about jetskis. In fact, many of the scenes inside the TVA headquarters feature Mobius and Loki doing things taken straight out of a police series, like briefing the rest of the task force, theory crafting over current cases during lunch, "walk with me" sequences, and "aha!" moments when Loki finally proves his worth to find a real breakthrough on the agency's case.
To be fair, Loki really doesn't limit its detective influences to the show's lighter funny moments, even the sequences where Loki and Mobius hit the crime scenes give off plenty of police drama vibes as the pair make their way into an 80s Rennaisance fair, a futuristic Roxxcart retail store, or even testing out their hypothesis a good couple thousand years ago in Pompeii. Obviously, Loki is the protagonist in his own show, but Owen Wilson's Mobius is already making a case for fans to want him riding a jetski before the season is over because his character is pretty likable.
Naturally, Wilson's past experience as the less-serious half of the Starsky & Hutch duo greatly adds to him being the perfect complement to Loki's mischievous ways, but it's already looking pretty likely that some of it will rub off on the Asgardian god's character before the show is over. The same thing could happen the other way as the series is starting to shine a different light on the TVA's true purpose and methods, which might reverse the series' "villain" role from the rogue variant the duo are hunting down to the TVA itself, thus maybe pushing Mobius to reevaluate the entire purpose of his existence.
Unfortunately, episode two's ending means it's hard to know where the series will go next, but so far in so little time, Loki has made a compelling case for viewers to want more of the show's detective duo because no matter what timeline they're exploring Loki and Mobius are pretty good at churning out something good out of it.