Hey everyone, I’ve just finished episode 1 of the new Loki series, and so far I have to say I’m intrigued. I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow review here, if you’re reading this you’ve probably already seen it, but in a nutshell: due to the events of Infinity War, the 2012 Loki who attacked NYC was able to escape with a stolen Tesseract, but is apprehended by the Time Variance Authority. He is recruited by TVA Agent Mobius, who hopes to use this Infinity War Loki to track down another Loki variant who is running amok in the “Sacred Timeline.”
The episode was not the high-action opening we saw with Falcon and the Winter Solider, choosing more of a slow burn where we got to experience the strange world of the TVA and Loki’s failed attempts to escape with the Terreract. This has garnered some angry reviews from those who think Loki should have been the amoral, ultra-capable villain that many loved from the movies, but I disagree. Seeing Loki break down from both his powerlessness and his realisation at the fate the Sacred Timeline intends from him immediately opens up two important character developments. Firstly, it allows our 2012 Loki to “get up to speed” with the redeemed Loki who died at the hands of Thanos. Even from his first appearance in the MCU movies, Loki has always had a spark of longing to be recognised and loved that forms his pathway to redemption. Think about it – the smiling assassin Loki who can simply kill everyone and escape is already present in the timeline as the Variant Loki antagonist.
(side note – if you want to see a truly amoral, capable and charismatic villain running rings around the hero, check out Moriati the Patriot, you’ll love it)
The second story that this episode lays some solid groundwork for is the question of fate vs free will. Now that Loki understands he was always fated to lose from the outset, simply to unite and bring out the best of the Avengers, how will he react to his new circumstances? Will he come to accept the nobility in embracing his inevitable defeat for the greater good of a predetermined universe, or will he happily smash the Sacred Timeline to give everyone a chance at truly forging their own good and bad futures, even with the multiversal chaos that this will cause? As much as a noble, redeemed Loki is a satisfying end, I’m secretly hoping for the latter.
So even if this episode was a bit slow, I’ve been drawn in. There’s some good storytelling here in that Loki is in the front seat of his own story from the word go, and they appear to be keeping this plot to a small, tight-knit cast of recurring characters. It may not have the delicious mystery of Wandavision, but the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy feel to the eternal TVA office is entertaining, and it’s clear this series will affect many of the upcoming MCU titles.
So, roll on Episode 2 and fingers crossed the series gets better and better!
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