Loki Series Review

Danny Oliveras, Multimedia Editor

Warning: Spoilers

The Disney+ Original Series Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino and Owen Wilson, released the sixth and final episode two weeks ago, marking the end of season one. Warning spoilers ahead. 

Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as the Marvel fan-favorite villain Loki, the God of Mischief.  The series opens with a scene from Avengers: Endgame, during the time heist where 2012 Hulk knocks the tesseract out of 2023 Tony Stark’s hands and allows 2012 Loki to pick it up and escape. Loki lands in the Mongolian desert, where he is immediately arrested by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) but rescued by Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius. Mobius then takes Loki into what looks like an interrogation room, where he questions Loki about his life motivations. Through these interactions with Mobius, viewers are able to get a deeper understanding into who Loki is, and that’s what made this first episode not only great but also set a high bar for the rest of the series. In this heartbreaking episode, Loki finds out that he is not the author of his own destiny, and that his only purpose is to be a stepping stone for others to become who they are meant to be. Mobius explains to Loki that he catches dangerous variants or those who have stepped off their path on the sacred timeline, and he needs Loki’s help catching one in particular. Loki agrees and it is revealed that it is a female version of Loki himself in the next episode.

In episode three, “Lamentis,” it is revealed that Lady Loki goes by the name Sylvie, and we get more insight into who she is and her motivations. In this episode we get a clash between the two Lokis, more time travel that requires the Lokis to work together, some great visual design and some memorable examples of Loki’s hedonistic antics. My only complaint about this episode is there is no Mobius.

In episode four, “The Nexus Event,” opens with a young Sylvie playing with her toys when the TVA shows up and prunes her timeline. She steals a Renslayer’s TemPad and escapes. We then flash forward to the present where Renslayer stands before the timekeepers. After this, all the weird little moments between Loki and Sylvie in the previous episode come to a head, where they have a sort of romantic bond that reveals their location and allows them to get. They were arrested and taken back to the TVA to be interrogated and sentenced. Mobius comes to the rescue again. And some of the best scenes in this show come with Loki and Mobius just sitting and talking. We get to see more of Loki’s feelings revealed and the biggest tearjerker in the whole series happens, until we find out that maybe it’s not as big of a tearjerker as we think because there seems to be more than we’ve been lead to believe about what pruning someone from the timeline really means. In this episode the biggest standout is Wunmi Mosaku portraying Hunter B-15 and showing this badass TVA officer having a crisis of faith, which was very well-acted.

In episode five, “Journey into Mystery,” we learn about what happens when things are pruned and there is a big battle with other Loki variants. We are also introduced to Classic Loki, and Richard E. Grant’s performance in that role steals the show. Grant is the perfect actor for the role and his performance watching him find his glorious purpose in life.  

The last and final episode, we spend most of the time in the Citadel, where He Who Remains watches over the sacred timeline. He Who Remains explains to Loki and Sylvie that he had stopped a multiversal war and created the TVA to maintain the sacred timeline. He offers them the choice of taking over the throne or killing him and unleashing another multiversal war. This is a fantastic episode with a great performance from Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains. This episode ends in a major cliffhanger, and now we will have to wait in suspense for the now confirmed season two of Loki.

With season two being confirmed, I can’t help but wonder what’s next for Loki. Jonatha Major has been confirmed as the main villain in the upcoming Antman and the Wasp:Quantumania, so where does that leave Loki? Overall I thought Loki was a great series, with excellent performances from the cast, fantastic set design, and a great musical score. Although there were only six episodes, I was left wanting more, so I am eager to see whether or not season two will be able to live up to the high bar set in season one. The only complaint die-hard fans will have at the end is not seeing Mobius on a jet ski, but here’s hoping for that to happen in season two.