If the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe can be said to have one outstanding breakout character and actor, there's a strong chance most people would say it was Tom Hiddleston's Loki. Since his debut in 2011's Thor, Hiddleston's formidable acting jobs, superb comic timing, gravitas and ability to turn his performance on a dime has made him one of the most popular actors in the genre. It was fitting, after the length redemption arc he went through in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) that he was allowed to die heroically, fighting the evil Thanos, in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). But, Marvel being the canny exploiters of character popularity that they are, wasted no time in restoring Loki to the MCU via time travel in the following year's Avengers: Endgame. Loki lives!
Loki is the third TV show produced by Kevin Feige as part of the canonical Marvel Cinematic Universe (earlier TV shows, like those produced by Netflix, are in various stages of being retconned into the canon), following WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but it is the first planned to be a multi-season TV show rather than a mini-series (a second season is in pre-production). This allows the show more time to breathe, which is good because it has a lot going on.
Loki can be best-described as "the MCU does Doctor Who." Loki and his TVA colleagues get into various hijinks in time and space, with the TVA cleaning up damage to the timeline and restoring things so they make sense again. Loki is partnered up with Mobius, played with typical laconic charisma by Owen Wilson. Disappointingly, their partnership (played up in promo material) is not as dominant as might be expected, with Loki spending most of his time allied to Sylvie, a female variant of Loki from another timeline. Played exceptionally by Sophia Di Martino, Sylvie is a worthy foil for Loki with the two sharing a nice chemistry on-screen.
The episodic appeal of an MCU Doctor Who is briefly compelling but, aware it only has six episodes to get stuff done, the show quickly pivots into being a thorough exploration and deconstruction of Loki. "This" Loki missed the events of Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, and as such has not gone through the redemption arc the original went through. This means that we are dealing with full-on supervillain Loki, apprehended whilst he was still in the middle of trashing New York City, and he has to undergo his own redemption arc. This risks being redundant but Marvel makes it work through sheer charisma - Hiddleston is still one of the heaviest weapons in the MCU arsenal and has possibly never been better than during this show - and also by underselling this Loki's villainy a little bit. It does feel like this Loki switches from villain to hero a bit too easily considering where he started, but given we've already seen Loki's capacity for good and also the need to get on with fresh business, the rapidity of his turn to good can be borne.
The latter half of the series gets a lot weirder and more epic, with multiple Lokis, various planets exploding or crashing into each other, more shifts in the timeline and huge revelations that should have an impact on the future of the MCU.
Negatives are minor: the tight, six-episode runtime means some ideas are under-serviced. A couple more episodes with Loki as a Time Cop could have been great, and the revelations at the end of the show risk feeling a little rushed. But the negatives are fairly minor.
Great pacing, effects and performances uplift one of the oddest and most interesting slices from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Loki's first season (****½) is enjoyably odd. The season is available worldwide now on Disney+.
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