Loki is a TV show set in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is six episodes long and stars the titular character Loki. As expected, it takes place after Avengers: Endgame and deals with an aspect, or loose end, of its events. Loki, who was in the movie, had managed to change his fate. It’s interesting because this version of Loki is the one that didn’t experience all the character development after the first Avengers movie.
Loki was always a charismatic character and he is no exception here (boosted by the excellent performance of the actor). The timeline aspect was always a confusing and lacking aspect of Endgame, and the plot of Loki decides to focus on that. To be fair, it is a bit of a stretch with the introduction of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), which is pretty much an easy way out for all the problems that Endgame had caused.
The Time Variance Authority has an absurd power over and above everything we’ve seen so far in the MCU. They’re formidable but also makes you ponder what if they had corrupted members since the amount of damage that could be done would be significant. They’re responsible for controlling the timeline and Loki ends up helping the TVA. Despite their abilities, TVA has a 1980s or so theme, where things look like it’s from that era.
The show takes an interesting turn of events in the second episode where the scale of TVA is shown. Loki asks the same questions that the viewer would, such as how they came into existence, or how time will end etc. The plot quickly moves forward and Loki being Loki, tries to double cross everyone. He has no loyalty but that’s why he’s so likeable as a character because you don’t know what to expect from him, and that carries onto the show as well. The writing of the show captures the essence of Loki well, especially the playfulness. While the show is serious overall, there are plenty of scenes that it gets a bit silly, and it works well here.
The show significantly expands upon the time traveling and timeline aspect. There are exposition dumps, some well done, some not, on how it all works by giving it rules and examples. You know that probably something is up with the TVA and it’s probably hiding something significant, since it’s too big and important an organisation to just be glossed over like this. The second half of the show really gets into things as Loki dives into the history of the TVA, and the various aspects of the time traveling. It keeps ramping up to an epic point near the end of the season, complete with visual spectacles and rousing music.
Perhaps something unexpected is how well the show manages to get you attached to the characters. It’s not only Loki himself, but the other characters newly introduced. Not only will you get shocked at some of their fates, but also when everyone teams up together, helping each other, you can’t help but feel satisfied that things worked out this way. This is especially so since the original Loki isn’t that type of character, but we see him naturally change and mature. The show, like the other Marvel shows, has high production values. There are whole episodes where you know it would have been expensive given the various special effects. The flipside is that it’s obvious that they are special effects and there is an overreliance on them.
It has a big build up to the last episode, where it was set to reveal nearly everything. As you might have feared, the actual reveal may not satisfy the huge amount of anticipation, and this is the case here. It felt like the episode deflates a bit, and you get a case of “that’s it?”. It then proceeds to try to present a dilemma to Loki, then upping the ante, before finishing the season with a big cliffhanger. However, for the amount of impact that it has, it’s still underwhelming and seems self-contained for now. There’s also a confusing mix up between the usage of multiverse and time travel here.
Overall, Loki had a lot of potential and it does fulfil most of it. The titular character is as charismatic as ever, and he is the one that holds the whole show together. The other characters still have strong performances, and the show does frequently subvert your expectations in good ways. It presents its own spin on the subject matter, done in an interesting but also at times, a confuddled way. The finale is weaker than one would hope for but considering the amount of mystique and hype it built up towards it, it was hard to do right.
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