So, About "Loki"

Spoilers for the first three episodes ahead.

Of all the MCU Disney+ series that have been released so far, "Loki" feels the most of a piece with the cinematic releases, specifically the more comedic installments like "Thor Ragnarok" and the cosmic adventures like "Guardians of the Galaxy."  Part of this is because "Loki" is a show that serves as an immediate sequel to the recent "Avengers" films, tying up one of the loose ends.  We finally get to learn  what happened after Loki (Tom Hiddleston) got his hands on one of the Infinity Stones during Tony Stark's trip to the past, and got a chance to change his fate.   

"Loki" has a very high concept, very comic book premise.  After his escape, Loki is almost immediately caught by the TVA, the Time Variance Authority, which is an organization in charge of correcting anomalies in the timeline.  The TVA exists in one of those fabulous fantasy planes of existence, like "The Good Place," where the metaphorical and metaphysical are whimsically rendered as a somewhat sinister bureaucracy.  The TVA has agents, judges, "hunters," analysts, and receptionists, who work in a swankily designed retro office environment, shuffling paperwork, monitoring data, and taking their orders from the unseen big bosses upstairs.  Loki is deemed a "variant," an alternate version of himself that is a threat to the sanctity of the timeline.  He's slated for "pruning," until a TVA agent named Mobius (Owen Wilson) recruits him to help chase down a more dangerous variant.

Creator and showrunner Michael Waldron is an alumnus of various Dan Harmon shows like "Rick and Morty," and I can definitely see some DNA from those projects in "Loki."  The series has a knowing, satirical attitude towards its fantasy concepts and an immense scope, where the characters are using portals to jump to different worlds and different time periods at the drop of a hat.  We're in the Gobi desert one minute, then ancient Pompeii the next, and then a futuristic big box store the next.  And with Marvel's resources, everything looks fantastic.  It occasionally feels like watching "Doctor Who" with a budget that "Doctor Who" could only dream of.  However, the show does suffer from being too ambitious - it keeps trying to top itself with wilder and wilder concepts, and executes these hairpin turns that sometimes work and sometimes don't.  Nearly every episode introduces major new characters all the way through to the end.  I'm glad "Loki" is getting a second season, because it doesn't feel like the show has done enough with half of the concepts that it introduces.

The talented cast do the bulk of the work making sure that this thing is grounded in some kind of emotional reality, and the mystical babble is able to be mistaken for sane, coherent dialogue.  Hiddleston's Loki has already had a redemption arc in the movies, and here we get a very different version - more self-reflective and self-directed.  Hiddleston makes the most of his new wealth of screen time to really dig into what makes Loki tick.  Without his powers as a prisoner of the TVA, he finally has some time for introspection, and to consider alternate pursuits - like friends and a potential love interest.  Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha Raw, and Wunmi Mosaku as TVA employees are great - Wilson in particular brings a wonderful comedic energy to this universe.  However, the actor that really got my attention was Sophia DiMartino, who plays a variant named Sylvie.  This is the first thing I've seen her in, and her presence is amazing.      

 

At six episodes, "Loki" really only feels like half of a proper season of television.  An awful lot of the show feels like it's setting things up for bigger payoffs down the line, not only for itself but for the rest of the MCU.  This is infuriating to some degree, but Loki as a character progresses enough during the show that I found it a worthwhile watch anyway.  Too much ambition is always better than too little, and while some of the show's conceits fall flat, it's plenty entertaining the whole way through.  

The show also has my favorite surprise cameo so far - I won't spoil it, but it's nice to know that "Loki" is in the hands of complete and utter nerds.

    

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