I realised I haven’t reviewed a TV show in a while so let’s discuss the latest fad. The new Disney+ exclusive series, Loki, is a show that’s going to be tricky to write about because of the super tight spoiler minefield surrounding this show. I’ll just do what I did for WandaVision. I’ll split this post up into a vague general thoughts section and a spoiler section hidden underneath the rating. Lastly, before you ask, I didn’t review Falcon and the Winter Soldier, simply because it bored me to the point of not wanting to finish it. That’s of course until only a week ago where I wanted to wrap it up in preparation for Loki. I’m glad I did, because it wasn’t too bad in the end, but it’s still the worst MCU Disney+ show.
Anyway, this new show focuses on Loki, the original greatest villain in the MCU, until some giant purple guy literally murdered him for the mantle. Since Tom Hiddleston is still ever so charismatic as this character, Marvel decided we needed to follow an alternate version of Loki, which is a big red flag for me. I originally wasn’t going to watch this show because the whole premise is fixated on alternate timelines, which I’m not a real fan of. You’re just very fortunate that lots of praise and strong recommendations is all that’s needed for me to try something out. Anyway, I’ll explore this a bit more in the spoiler portion of this post, so for now we’ll swing back to the premise.
During Avengers Endgame when Loki 2 grabbed the Infinity cube he apparently upset the space-time continuum so he’s quickly apprehended by the time police. This time law enforcing agency work outside of the main timeline and monitor it from their green secret space office building. Loki, the ‘Time Variant‘, was intended to be erased in order to restore the timeline until he’s saved at the last minute by time detective Owen Wilson who has other intentions for him. I’ll say no more about this plot, but I will conclude this paragraph with how strange it was to see Owen Wilson in a modern show. It’s the same feeling I had when I saw Vince Vaughn in that horror movie I reviewed last year.
Despite my initial hesitation for this show, I would say it was better than expected. The first two episodes in particular did an excellent job at reeling you into this time police station and some of the mysteries it develops. Like the other Marvel shows it gives extended development to it’s title characters from the movies, even if Loki still had the most out of all those characters up to this point. The big surprise from this Marvel show is that the main character wasn’t the only one holding my interest for once. For example I very much enjoyed Owen Wilson in this show and he had the best chemistry with Loki out of all the other characters. I would even call this a negative because once Loki ran off with other characters I found myself significantly less interested as the show started to feel like one of the more generic Marvel movies. I’ll share more details in the spoiler section, but the baseline is the ending did not at all excite me for a possible continuation of this story.
Overall Loki was an alright show. Disney+ products are overhyped, it’s a fact and it kills the view experience. I’ll give it credit for being well made and I guess it’s unique for a Marvel show. I would say WandaVision is better, mainly because it’s got way more personality in how the episodes are presented. That’s it, the next review you can expect from me is for the new Space Jam movie and I have been The Blog Complainer, signing out, unless you’re going to be reading the spoiler section, then I’ll see you there.
For spoilers, let’s start from the top. My favourite part of this show is the buddy cop dynamic between Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson. It’s from this relationship that we get the most insight into Loki’s character, making it so great. It’s in the first two episodes where the mystery behind the Gravity Falls time police (that’s what I called them in my head) are the main focus of the show and I loved this as this organisation is well set-up and had solid laid out rules backing it up. My suspension of disbelief is fully intact and it’s the show’s peak. I also really loved the revelation and Loki’s reaction to the Infinity stones being nothing more than just shiny rocks in the time police station because this place works beyond the main timeline. It added to the intrigue, but unfortunately the season finale did undo this by making this revelation more confusing than anything else.
While we’re being negative let’s talk about girl Loki, who’s introduction catapults this show on a downward spiral that it never recovered from. She isn’t a bad character, but she cast a spell on Loki which I’m going to call the Baby Yoda effect. This refers to when the morally grey hero meets a character at the end of an episode that guarantees the fans will definitely lose their marbles. This reveal set-ups the next episode where they proceed to goof about for the entire episode doing nothing important other than developing a bit of a bond. One episode later the two characters meet up with the bad guys again, who have an intent to kill the newbie. This lights a spark in the morally grey hero who out of nowhere endangers his own life while going full good guy for a character he’s known for one day or less. The moment Loki became a good guy is the moment I became less invested in this show and character. Loki has it worse than Mando because he actually falls in love with this girl, which feels so rushed and also kind of weird considering the context.
Let’s jump to Episode 5 where the real crux of the show is introduced, that being multiple versions of Loki, just hanging out at the end of time. There’s Richard E. Grant in a cheap Loki Halloween costume, a little alligator with a Loki hat on and a bunch of other Loki oddballs. You might laugh at the silly characters, but you know you’re supposed to take this show seriously, right? As I said earlier I’m not the biggest fan of alternate timelines in any media as they tend to kill my immersion. There are a few exceptions of course like, Rick and Morty and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse where they did make the alternate versions of the main characters not only funny but I actually cared about some of them. In Loki, not only does the novelty of the alternate Lokis die off really quick, but these weirdos also become serious in helping the main Loki save the universe. I forgot to mention that Loki is not the only one on this show who is having 180 degree character turns.
Anyway, let’s finish by going over the ending. I debated about including the words Season 1 in my title because the predictable plotting suggested that everything would be wrapped up this season. It turns out that required a surprise reveal too because it basically ends with introducing The Mandalorian’s Giancarlo Esposito main villain type character for this show and leaves all the unanswered questions up to next season to resolve. It even creates loads more questions and as I mentioned earlier it even screwed over some of the reveals from earlier in the show. It was a completely underwhelming finale to the first season of Loki, so much so that The Game of Thrones series finale was more satisfying than this. I have no excitement for the next season, which I will watch only out of obligation and I know first seasons of shows can usually be the roughest launching pads, but if it doesn’t improve, then I’m sorry, Loki will get the boot.
