Loki (2021-Present)

*Premise spoilers, which include spoilers for Infinity War and Endgame.*

We’re now through the first season of our third Marvel Disney+ show. As with WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it ventures into ambitious territory that the films haven’t really explored and gives us a closer look at a long-running supporting character who’s shone in the movies despite limited screentime. It also looks like it will have implications for the wider MCU beyond its immediate protagonist

In Endgame, the Avengers’ time heist of the Infinity Stones leads to a few timey-wimey snags, including Loki from 2012 absconding with the Tesseract at the end of The Avengers. Loki escapes the Avengers but is almost immediately snatched up by the Time Variance Authority, an organization that’s equal parts bureaucracy and jackboots, whose job it is to monitor the “Sacred Timeline” and get rid of uncooperative “Variants” to predestined events. Fortunately for Loki, he avoids being pruned from reality and is instead enlisted by TVA analyst Mobius to help them track down an even thornier rogue Variant.

While, like I said, none of them skimp on the character development, it sort of feels like each Disney+ show gets successively plottier. In the case of Loki, it feels extremely stuffed for a 6-episode season, which might be part of the reason why it was the first to get an official renewal announcement. WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier both star dual MCU protagonists and feature other established MCU characters, whereas Loki surrounds the titular trickster with mostly-new characters. From the start, this gives the series a lot more legwork to accomplish in a short time. We have to meet and learn to care about Mobius, Hunter B-15, Judge Renslayer, and others, along with establishing the TVA in relation to the larger Marvel universe. As such, the storyline can feel rushed or overpacked at times. There were occasions in which I accepted that I was basically just hanging on for dear life with this series and waiting to see where it was going to take me.

But for all of that, we do still get some good insight into Loki. Even though this isn’t precisely the Loki that we know from the MCU – this is the Avengers version of Loki, having jumped a track before he goes through the development of The Dark World and Ragnarok, ultimately dying in a futile attempt to stop Thanos in Infinity War – we’re still given a lot of good insight into his character. The TVA setting offers us a chance to explore Loki across the timeline, and the premise serves up the time-honored tradition of an antagonist being forced to work with ostensible good guys for a particular purpose. It’s fun to watch Loki in full scheming mode trying to get one over on the TVA, just as it’s compelling to see him drawn into a deeper connection with some of the characters. The show features some fine contemplations on the notion of “what makes a Loki?”, which give Loki the opportunity to examine what I think is the key to any type of genuine redemption arc: the realization that much of his pain/alienation/failures are brought about by his own choices and actions.

Cards on the table: The Avengers was the second MCU film I ever saw, after watching the first Iron Man when it came out, and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki was the reason. I’d just seen Hiddleston in a few smaller roles in which he left an impact on me, and IMDb told me he was in this Avengers movie that I kept seeing previews for. That intrigued me enough to read a few reviews, all of which mentioned Loki as a standout. So, I decided to dip my toe into the MCU several films in, and the rest was history. That sounds like such a cliché fangirl thing, but I make no apologies about it. Hiddleston has always been incredible in this role, and he does a superb job here, teasing out the nuances of taking a Loki from earlier in his timeline and taking him down a new journey of growth and change. He’s funny, he’s commanding, he’s infuriating, he’s heartbreaking, he’s mischievous, he’s ruthless, and he’s keenly intelligent, often several at once. If the show were nothing but six solid episodes of Hiddleston just being Loki, it would still be worth watching.

Hiddleston is backed up by a topnotch supporting cast. At the front of the pack is Owen Wilson as Mobius, whose usual Owen Wilson routine fits into this setting surprisingly well. The first film I ever saw Hiddleston in was Midnight in Paris, which starred Wilson (obligatory Woody Allen shudder.) In light of that, it’s really fun to see them acting together again, and they play off of one another splendidly. The show also features Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who I’ll always remember best from Belle) and Wunmi Mosaku (who was recently so excellent as Ruby on Lovecraft Country) as Judge Renslayer and Hunter B-15 respectively, other important characters at the TVA. Both get the short shrift in terms of screentime, in my opinion, but both make the absolute most of what they have. In addition to a brief turn from the always-welcome Eugene Cordero (Pillboi!), we’re also offered up some excellent acting from several other performers who I won’t mention today for the sake of spoilers. Believe me, I’ll have more to say soon enough.

Warnings

Violence, language, drinking, and thematic elements.