Loki

“Love is a dagger. It’s a weapon to be wielded far away or up close. You can see yourself in it. It’s beautiful. Until it makes you bleed.” When this show was first announced, I was very skeptical. I wasn’t sure how a show based on a character that died could be very impactful or necessary. Boy, am I glad I was wrong. Loki is truly a fresh, unique and creative project from Marvel that brings fresh new concepts to the table and lays the groundwork for the next era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as the God of Mischief and once again, he is absolutely phenomenal. I love how this Loki is a variant from the main timeline, allowing us to follow a brand new, yet familiar character across his journey. It challenges the character in new and interesting ways, showing us the power hungry Loki from Phase 1 while showing him his future as we watch him change to be the redeemed version that we saw in Infinity War. Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie is another incredible addition to the MCU. Being a another variant of the main timeline’s Loki, Sylvie is such a tragic character and I love it. Being a victim of the TVA’s timeline restoration makes for a very interesting character as she reflects our Loki, but unlike him, she was just a child and has known fear and being on the run throughout her life. She makes for a fantastic companion to Loki and their dynamic is immensely fun to watch. Many people aren’t a fan of the “self-cest” but what I find ironic is that it’s the most Loki thing. Falling in love with a variant of himself is literally the most Loki thing he could do. Owen Wilson’s Mobius is also a fantastic character. He’s a complete scene stealer and is really hilarious. His interactions with Loki are truly amazing to watch and I love they’re buddy cop partnership. He’s completely amazing in the role, and I love the idea that the TVA agents are also variants, but they just don’t know it. It makes for some truly interesting storylines. Ravonna Renslayer is a intriguing character. Being the chief of the TVA, if you will, is such an interesting take as much like the rest, she also does not realise she’s just a pawn in a much larger game. Gugu M’Batha Raw puts in a brilliant performance and her scenes with Wilson are so great. Richard E. Grant makes for an incredible variant of Loki. I love seeing different versions of the character we all know and love, and Grant is literally the perfect older variant version of Hiddleston’s Loki. Jonathan Majors is so charismatic and energetic in the role of ‘He Who Remains’ or Kang the Conqueror. I absolutely love what they do with his character and Majors is clearly having a blast in the role. He’s so unpredictable in his performance that whenever he appears on screen, there’s just so much tension that makes him such an entertaining character. The rest of the supporting cast are also absolutely amazing in their roles and make for such great inclusions in an already brilliant series. Kate Herron’s direction for the show is absolutely incredible. Some of the best directing within the MCU. She captures the scale of the series immensely well and it makes the show so much better. The action within the show is really great. It’s very creative with the inclusion of magic and time travel tech. Thus, we get some really interesting and unique fights that are immensely entertaining to watch. I especially love the opening fight in the beginning of Episode 2, it’s such a cool sequence that introduces you to how dangerous this new variant is. The overarching story of the series is also really interesting. The idea of the TVA overlooking disturbances in the timeline and rectifying them, with no thought as to the consequences of their actions is really cool. Having Loki being consulted into helping track down his variant only to end up joining them in attempting to bring down the TVA is also a great idea. We see how the TVA are not as perfect as they think they are nor do they really know what is going on. The show feels very much like Doctor Who in the idea of visiting different time periods and locations and fixing the mistakes. I really love it as Doctor Who is one of the best sci-fi shows, so seeing the MCU take inspiration from it is really dope. I also love the mystery behind the Time Keepers. Building up to meeting them, only for them to be killed relatively quickly and learn that there is another behind them in the shadows, gave me major ‘The Last Jedi’ vibes and I’m here for it. It’s a really cool concept and leads us into meeting Kang the Conqueror and setting up further MCU projects. Having Kang’s death lead it’s way into the timeline being broken with major consequences is something I cannot wait to see unfold and I hope we get more multiverse projects like this in the future. The visuals for the show, much like the direction, is some of the best in the MCU. The VFX are truly amazing and are on par with some of the greatest sci-fi films out there. The CGI also holds up really well which is great to see. I don’t think we’ve had visuals like this since Thor (2011) and I love how Phase 4 is slowly transitioning back to gorgeous visuals with this and the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder. The cinematography is also another strong aspect. There’s some really beautiful shots within this series and I think it really benefits the overall show. You really understand everything that is being shown to the audience and again, it’s some of the best in the universe. The aesthetic of the show is glorious. I really love seeing the TVA HQ be inspired by a 50s/60s type setting which instantly makes it a very unique location in the MCU. While being very futuristic, it’s very old fashioned which adds to the idea that it manages time related occurrences. The other planets are also great to visit, especially Lamentis-1 which is an absolutely incredible location. Kang’s castle is also really dope, seeing the dystopia influences that create a truly unique base for our villain. The score for the show is beautiful. It’s very reminiscent of Blade Runner which is truly amazing and packs so much weight whenever it’s used. Some of the best tracks used and again, the Blade Runner influence is perfect. I do have some issues with Loki. I don’t hold it in as much high regards compared to other people since although it’s really great, it I wouldn’t consider it top tier MCU. There’s a lot of exposition for the show, which is fine, but it can sometimes rely too heavily on it. The pacing can also be a tad slow for the first few episodes, but I don’t mind because it’s a very engaging story that keeps you wanting to know more and more as the series progresses. The self-cest is weird, but again it’s the most Loki thing to do. Although it does feel a tad rushed, but again not too big of an issue. Overall, Loki is one of the most unique entries within the MCU, giving us our first glimpse at the next era of the MCU as well as the wider multiverse. The introduction of these concepts opens up so much more narrative scope for the MCU that the possibilities are endless. I cannot wait for Season 2 to be able to further explore these wonderful characters as it truly is a standout amongst the rest of the projects within this vast universe.