Loki — Season 1 Review
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by KJ Proulx
As much as I love Tom Hiddleston in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Loki, I never once thought he deserved his own film or series. He is easily one of the best aspects of every Thor film and also one of the best villains the franchise ever had, but after how many times he has died and come back throughout the years sort of made me wonder how a series like this could win me over. Well, the first six-episode season of Loki has just concluded and it’s easily one of the better pieces of content Marvel has given us in a while, so yes, I ate my words as I watched it. As long as you are at least a little bit familiar with the character, appreciate what Marvel has done over the years, and have at least seen Avengers: Endgame, this series takes off in a new direction, making it pretty easy to watch for newcomers. Here’s why I loved watching Loki.
When I say that you needed to have a bit of knowledge of the character, along with having seen Avengers: Endgame, I really mean that, because this series takes place after that film, but the character hasn’t experienced any of those events yet. As previously seen, due to an error by the Avengers during the events of the 2012 Avengers film, Loki escapes, never to be seen again. He ends up landing in a place where time and space are truly non-existent and is captured by an organization known as the TVA. Here he learns that these people are the keepers of the timeline, which in turn keeps the universe moving forward in time. Glitches in the timeline can cause massive ripple effects, so things like Loki escaping just can’t happen.
Throughout this series, you get all the parts about Loki that have made him so enjoyable through the years, but also a completely new side to him. I never once thought I would feel further empathy for this character, but they have written him in such a way here that feels the most compelling he’s ever been. With the fun addition of Owen Wilson as Mobius, providing entertainment and an emotional core to the series overall, I was just happy to see him back in a great role. On top of that, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna stole a few scenes too, but that didn’t surprise me all that much, seeing as I have thought her performances have all been great since Beyond the Lights back in 2014. Every character is written very well and there are quite a few surprise characters that also steal the show. To say the least, Loki is better than he has ever been, but also has his own show stolen from him on multiple occasions, but that should just tell you that the show is well-written all around.
As far as how this series fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, I think the franchise is about to explode in many new directions. This series deals heavily in describing the multi-verse, which is absolutely coming with films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness very soon. There are moments when the multiverse was brought up where I found myself uncontrollably excited for what it could mean moving forward. In particular, there is a scene/monologue in the final episode that I couldn’t look away from. One of the best scenes I’ve witnessed on television in a while is in the final episode here and I can’t wait for them to expand on it.
Overall, this first season of Loki works in its own right as a fun, entertaining, emotional story, but also as a jumping-off point for fans who may be too confused with multiverse stuff. I thought they casually laid a lot of groundwork here without ever throwing it in your face. For me, it’s very hard to top what Marvel did with WandaVision, but Loki is nearly there or very close. Again, I never thought I needed a story about just Loki, but there was so much about this story to enjoy. If I had to complain about something, it would probably be about most of episode three. That was the only episode where it felt like about five minutes was actually interesting or useful. I’d likely be raving ever harder about this series if it wasn’t for that episode, but overall I still loved it. Loki is now streaming on Disney+ and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 4.5/5
Check out the trailer below:
