I liked parts of this, but not the episode as a whole, I think.

The execution of how they jumped in mid-scene at the start didn’t work for me. Like, I know what they were doing…but it didn’t land when I was watching. It felt like a genuinely skipped scene, like they were airing episodes out of order. I feel that was a directing problem, as the individual acting from everyone was great, and I especially liked Loki being reminded he’s a villain and mischief-maker. Hiddleston is wonderful as Loki.

However, I didn’t feel the emotion I should have later on in the episode when the branches were being pruned. But that might have been a “me” thing, as I’ve noticed I don’t get as much enjoyment from things as I used to. So I will defer to others here, and whether it “hit” for them.

I think over all, I liked a lot of little details, and I liked how it set up various things for later, and I liked the banter between Loki and Mobius, but the episode as a whole didn’t gel as a narrative whole. I almost wonder if it was intended to be shown as a two-parter with the first episode.