Loki & Glorious Purpose

The first season Loki has come to an end and with it he has finally revealed his glorious purpose.

When it was initially announced, I’ll admit I wasn’t super pumped for a Loki series. Though Tom Hiddleston is incredibly charming, Tumblr kind of ruined him for me for a little while. He had died multiple times in the MCU with the last one seeming quite final. However, when it comes to comics, the dead never stay dead.

Unlike Falcon and the Winter Solider which tried unsuccessfully to portray multiple heavy themes, Loki was a lot more fun. We got a whole new cast of characters in a new environment where the Infinity Stones mean nothing and TVA workers have never seen a fish. One thing I really appreciated was the style and beauty of the TVA. It was quite unique with its retro vibes, and actually reminded me of the Fallout series. The Vault Boy could easily be a stand in for Miss Minutes if she wants a day off.

Courtesy Warning – Spoilers Below

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That being said, as much as I enjoyed the series, it wasn’t really about Loki. Like WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the purpose of Loki is to set up the events that are going to take place in phase 4 of the MCU. His glorious purpose was to explain the multiverse and introduce us to Kang the Conqueror – the next big bad our heroes will have to face. Jonathan Majors as Kang was an absolute delight to watch. He played the role with the same jovial levity that Hiddleston brings to Loki. They are quite similar after all, narcissistic super villains who believe they are the ones who can govern and rule all. Most of the finale was a verbal chess game between Loki, Sylvie and He Who Remains (a.k.a Immortus a.k.a Kang), but the fact that it wasn’t at all boring is all thanks to Majors. I was really disappointed to learn that Lovecraft Country won’t be coming back for a second season – but can’t wait to see Majors’ Kang variants pop up throughout the MCU.

Because the series is a set-up for what’s to come, we didn’t get as much time to explore Loki as a character. His traits are relatively the same. Being a variant that escapes after the first Avengers movie, he hasn’t been transformed by the latter half of the MCU, and starts the series back at square one. He’s cocky and entitled. That doesn’t last for long though, after watching a playback of his life 50 First Dates style, he speeds through his character development to wind up right where he was at during Infinity War – Loki trying to be a good person.

We do get a bit of added spice to his character. Loki is confirmed to be canonically bisexual and gender fluid in the first episode, but doesn’t explore this any further. You could take the emotional hug between Owen Wilson’s Mobius and Loki at the end of episode 5 as a hint of something more but I’d call that a very weak effort if it was. Instead we watch Loki become enamoured with Sylvie, though they don’t make it as weird as they should. And in falling in love with her, Loki eventually learns to love himself.

It’ll be interesting to see where Sylvie goes from here. She was kind of one-note with her determination to (understandably) exact revenge on those who stole her life from her. But now that she’s accomplished this goal, we’ll have to see what’s next for her. I’m not sure if she’ll appear again in the MCU movies, or just return in Loki season 2, but I imagine she’ll have to go through a similar character arc and deal with the repercussions of what she’s done.

Another character who was kind of lacking for me was Ravonna Renslayer. I really like Gugu Mabatha-Raw but her character was really lame. She’s very loyal to the TVA, even when she finds out everything she knew to be true was false. Maybe she knew all along, but it was played off as earnest. I have trouble understanding how she lost Sylvie so easily considering she was a hunter. You can’t say that was the first time a variant tried to get away. In any case, I’m sure she’ll turn up again as learn more about Kang due to their history.

I would have loved to see more of our Loki’s past adventures – he is the God of Mischief after all. We only get one glimpse of this in episode one when it’s revealed that D.B. Cooper was actually Loki, pulling off the heist after losing a bet to Thor. In episode 5, we see Frog Thor – and though he is a completely separate character in the comics, Frog Thor was voiced by Chris Hemsworth so it’s possible this was just another prank by Loki. If Marvel/Disney were to make a Loki and Thor adventure series, I would watch that in a heartbeat. Show me the creation of “Get Help!” and all its subsequent uses. I hope that we get more Loki variants. Though Richard E. Grant’s Classic Loki seemed to bite the proverbial dust, I hope we get to see him again. The multiverse definitely allows for this. I also need the origin of ‘Gator Loki – if he really a Loki – because let’s be honest he’s truly the break out star of the show.

Loki ends on a bit of a frustrating cliff hanger that didn’t really feel earned. After they finally kiss, Sylvie pushes Loki through a time door sending him back to the TVA so that she can finish off Kang-not-Kang. In doing so, the timeline fractures and branches off into multiple streams. Loki runs through the TVA looking for Morbius, but when he finally finds him something is wrong. Morbius doesn’t remember Loki. If you were at all confused by this, as my mom was, it’s basically Back to the Future Part II after Bif steals the almanac.

Well, with Loki finished the next thing we have to look forward to is Marvel’s What If…? which starts streaming on August 11th and is literally about alternate timelines. It was the series I was most excited to see when Marvel announced Phase 4. It’s also the last time we’ll get to hear Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther which is truly bittersweet.

If you somehow read this entire review and haven’t watched Loki, you can now binge watch all 6 episodes on Disney+.