Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant
Director: Kate Herron
Screenwriter: Michael Waldron
For all time. Always.
If there’s one word that can sum up the first season of Loki, it would have to be wow (and yet, ironically, Owen Wilson in his role as TVA analyst Mobius M. Mobius does not use his iconic catchphrase at all during the season). With Tom Hiddleston returning as the devious, titular character, season one of Loki, directed by Kate Herron, follows the escapades of the trickster god after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
The third of Marvel’s TV shows to be released this year, Loki is set to lead into future instalments of the MCU, with head writer Michael Waldron also working on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Accordingly there are some big concepts introduced in Loki in just six episodes. Fair warning to any Marvel fan, the following contains spoilers for not just the show, but also, it seems, for the future of the MCU.
When Loki was last seen, appearing in Avengers: Endgame during one of the jaunts into the past, he was stealing the Tesseract (aka the Space Stone) during the 2012 Battle of New York. He scooped up the shiny blue cube, vanished and… as Loki now reveals, he lasted a whole of maybe one minute (in which he does attempt to conquer a new place) before he gets caught and arrested by a portal-opening uniformed unit of armed soldiers and taken to the mysterious Time Variance Authority (aka the TVA), to face trial for his “crimes against the scared timeline.” In a matter of minutes we get the first real introduction of the Multiverse, handily explained by a holographic talking clock named Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong), and accompanied by an equally helpful corresponding informational video.
And things just get bigger from there.
It is revealed that the TVA monitors the timeline of the Multiverse. Their job? Catch and prune variants, people whose actions jeopardise the sacred timeline and threaten to disrupt the flow of time from continuing in the way it’s supposed to. Although, exactly who decides what is “supposed” to happen remains one of the biggest mysteries of the series. Loki, at the behest of Owen Wilson’s Mobius, is temporarily detained and then employed to put his unique “Loki” skills to use (i.e. thinking deviously and just generally being Loki) to catch a dangerous variant who is running rings around the TVA—a variant that is another version of himself. Whilst at first it seems that this could be the central conflict of the show, the identity of the second Loki, the debatably “superior” Loki, is revealed by the end of episode 2, and the show shifts direction as more is discovered about Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), a female Loki variant who has quite the agenda (and skills to match).
Despite the magnitude of the concepts being woven into the plot, which is tackling not just the Multiverse but all of time, the series is incredibly introspective. At its core, this is a show about identity, about the struggle between who you are and who you want to be. The character development is masterfully constructed, with everyone (or well, perhaps, everyone excluding Miss Minutes) forced to confront some element of inner turmoil, be it trauma or insecurity or both, and make a choice about how much their past lives, their past selves and their inner insecurities are going to decide their future going forward. Despite appearing in 6 movies and being a staple character of the MCU, this series is Hiddleston’s first time leading an MCU project. Previously, across all six of those movies, Hiddleston’s Loki had a total of 78 minutes, 30 seconds screen time; in this series he gets nearly six hours (almost 3 movies worth) of development—and it’s brilliant. Out of control and uncertain about his role in the universe for perhaps the first time, Loki is forced to re-evaluate his inner self and his glorious purpose, to look beneath the mask he puts on for both the world and himself, and to consider whether he is, could be, and wants to be, something more than just a master of deceit and harbinger of mischief. He isn’t the only one reckoning with self-knowledge and self-acceptance either; throughout the series Sylvie and Loki constantly challenge the question ‘what makes a Loki a Loki’ in their quest to understand who they are and what they want, while at the same time, the TVA agents are forced to confront the fact that they were mislead by the mysterious Timekeepers who govern the TVA and were not, in fact, created by three lizards who oversee all of reality, but are variants who were pulled out of their own timelines and previous lives.
Along with the individual character arcs, the character interactions are some of the most compelling elements of the show. Relationships blossom and fracture, crumble and reform—trust plays a big role in the series; the characters are constantly questioning who they can rely on, what is safe to believe, and what is merely lies and deceit. Watching from the outside, the audience is challenged to ask those same questions too (after all, can you really trust a Loki?), which make following along with the plot all the more interesting. Standout relationships from across the series include Mobius and Ravonna’s relationship (and their shared history and betrayals), Loki and Mobius’ friendship, and of course, Sylvie and Loki’s growing connection.
As Mobius puts it (semi-eloquently), you can be whoever, whatever you want to be… just in case anyone ever told you different.
Whilst Hiddleston’s Loki, was, as always, a standout, the other big star of the show was Sophia Di Martino as Sylvie. Much the way Sylvie gave Loki a run for his money in the show, Di Martino’s on-screen presence proved a perfect match for Hiddleston’s, bringing the same sense of chaotic energy and underlying fragile inner-self to Sylvie that Hiddleston crafts for Loki. Captured by the TVA as a child (it was strongly hinted that Sylvie was causing her timeline to branch simply by virtue of being good and thereby being more inclined to save Asgard than to cause it trouble), Sylvie quickly transforms from the mysterious, shadowy antagonist into an interesting and complex character in her own right. She is revealed to be brutally fierce but emotionally vulnerable, with a tough exterior but harbouring severe trust issues stemming from a childhood spent living alone in various apocalypses, constantly on the run from the TVA. Di Martino’s powerful performance captured all the nuances in Sylvie’s character, beautifully portraying her spark and strength and at the same time, conveying all of her underlying emotional insecurity.
Through a mad-cap misadventure that involves just narrowly surviving an apocalypse, Loki and Sylvie’s relationship grows and they unite to take down the TVA—a relatively straightforward goal with an anything but straightforward path. The writers throw twist after twist into the mix that ensures that the 40-50 minute episodes feel like they couldn’t possibly have lasted more than 10. The series is, it has to be said, delightfully bonkers, but in the best way. After all, this is a show based on the inner workings of a hyper-bureaucratic organisation that has TemPads that make it possible to travel anywhere, any place, in time yet rely on battery to keep the devices running. The TVA can monitor the universe (and travel into the future when who-knows-what tech would be available) but can’t upgrade from a manual, paper based filing system. This says nothing of the fact that during the series we meet Alligator Loki, along with many other variants of the mischief god. Easter eggs pop up for the hardcore Marvel fans (Throg aka Frog Thor, Thanoscopter), and the story is peppered with loops both big and small to keep the audience on their toes (this is a place where infinity stones are being used as paper weights), to the point where, as Loki perfectly surmises in episode five, the strange occurrences do not even seem that strange anymore.
The show balances its poignant moments with humour; the writing is consistently witty and entertaining and there are some brilliant exchanges between characters. The sepia-toned colour palette of the TVA and occasional use of unique camera angles only add to the droll, mind-bending (or perhaps reality-bending) tone of the show. The series does a good job of maintaining a sense of intrigue and anticipation for the audience not only during the episodes but also week to week, constantly scattering more questions to be pondered even as the plot unravels. With a persistent sense of urgency carried throughout, the series is well paced; in every episode our characters are hurtling towards something and there is not an idle minute or wasted moment— every line, action and scene contributes to either the plot or the character development.
As things heat up, part of the ruse surrounding the TVA is uncovered. Loki and Sylvie battle their way to the Timekeepers only to discover that the enigmatic giant lizard rulers were nothing more than robots. Loki and Sylvie’s continued struggle to reach the real Timekeeper sees them pruned and sent to the Void where they meet some of the best additions to the show—numerous other Loki variants (Kid Loki, Boastful Loki, even President Loki) for some of the funniest scenes in the series. Thanks to a noble sacrifice of glorious purpose by Richard E. Grant’s Old Man Loki, Sylvie and Loki make it to the Citadel at the End of Time and face He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). He Who Remains (who is human but still unsettlingly creepy), torments and teases Loki and Sylvie with a frustrating barrage of half-truths and riddles until, in a heart wrenching move that sends Loki back to a different version of the TVA where Mobius no longer recognises him, Sylvie kills He Who Remains and takes the MCU into an uncertain future for everyone.
What follows is an ending that shows the timeline now splitting into hundreds of branches, promising more multiverse shenanigans to come. The mysterious warning given to Sylvie by He Who Remains suggests that Major’s character may return to the MCU again, though perhaps this time in his conqueror form. Too many questions and too much unfinished business remains—thankfully a season two is confirmed—though less fortunately, we now have to wait more than a week to see where everyone, and the universe itself, goes next.
