Summary: Loki and Sylvie meet Kang who won the multiverse war that was waged between different variants of himself. He reveals that he made the TVA in an attempt to prevent more Kangs from rising up. Kang gives Loki and Sylvie the choice to kill him or rule in his place. Sylvie wants to kill him, Loki doesn’t. They fight, they kiss, and Sylvie teleports Loki away before killing Kang.
The Good: This was really strong stuff. Jonathan Majors stole the show in this episode, and his performance as He Who Remains/Kang was terrific. He was threatening, charismatic, and engaging in a way that made it impossible to take your eyes off of him. Introducing Kang in such a passive way before we presumably see much more ruthless variants in future MCU projects was a brilliant idea, and it does an excellent job of building up this character as a major villain. I thought this episode tackled a lot of really excellent themes regarding free will and destiny. This show has explored these questions many times before, but this episode took it to a new level, with Kang openly revealing that free will ends in death and tragedy every time. The only way to have peace is to take away free will. Loki and Sylvie are left to grapple with this idea, and their opposition is intense to watch. The episode ramps up the tension towards the end when they pass the threshold, and it feels like anything can happen. The fight between Loki and Sylvie, resulting in Sylvie killing Kang was terrific television that had me at the edge of my seat. The end of the episode promises that Sylvie’s decision will have dire consequences, further elevating the moment. The Bad: Loki and Sylvie’s relationship doesn’t quite work. The kiss is hard to get into, and I still find it tough to care about the relationship between these two characters. The scenes in the TVA felt out of place in this episode. Mobius and Ravonna’s conversation wasn’t very interesting, and it was ridiculous how easily Mobius was outclassed by her. It made him needlessly look pathetic. The Unknown: Where did Ravonna go? Will she meet a variant of Kang? What timeline was Loki teleported to? How is he going to get back to the TVA he is familiar with? What about Sylvie? What’s next for her? It looks like Kang has already risen to power. How long will it be until he attacks the universe that we’ve been watching the MCU in? Best Moment: Sylvie killing Kang. Character of the Episode: Kang. Conclusion: Having the finale essentially be an expositional dump was a bold move, but it was one that really worked, and led to an excellent climax. It wasn’t perfect, but it tackled interesting themes, had some powerful moments, and gave us a memorable conclusion. Score: 70
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Summary: Loki wakes up in The Void and sticks with another group of Lokis to survive being killed by Alioth. Sylvie tries to get information from Ravonna but Ravonna is able to call for help. Sylvie realizes the person in control must be at the end of the timeline, after The Void, so she prunes herself to get there. After a fight involving several Lokis, Loki escapes and finds Sylvie who was saved by Mobius. Together they decide to enchant Alioth to get to the end of the timeline. Mobius returns to the TVA. With some help from Classic Loki, they are successful.
The Good: This episode is based on a very interesting concept, with Loki trying to escape The Void by taking on the mythical beast Alioth. It’s a totally insane idea, and yet the wackiness somehow works and turns this into a more engaging experience, akin to the mesmerizing unpredictability of “International Assassin” in “The Leftovers”. While this one isn’t as good (see: The Bad), it still does excellently in numerous ways. The zany concept is just one success of the episode. The dialogue is terrific here and I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions between all of the Lokis. It’s impressive how well the writers understand this character. To successfully create so many varied versions of a single character and still have it feel like the same person requires a thorough understanding of Loki and his story; and this episode nails it. The story told here about Loki overcoming his personal weaknesses is superb. It’s sad to think that any time Loki becomes better, he is whisked away to The Void to be killed off. Having Loki and Sylvie fighting against this idea in their effort to escape creates a really strong emotional core to the story and keeps us engaged on a more personal level. We want to see Loki change and overcome his weaknesses to become a better person. It’s what Mobius wanted and it’s what we want. Along the way we get some lovely moments like Loki and Mobius’ hug and the lovely conversation between Loki and Sylvie, which established their relationship far more effectively than “Lamentis”. The Bad: The story of the other Lokis helping the main Loki didn’t entirely work. It felt too rushed, and it’s hard to believe that a single Loki battle royale would cause such a sudden change in heart within Young Loki and Classic Loki. These Lokis have lived for centuries, they can’t change that easily. This episode was missing the emotional heart that it needed to be a next-level episode. It felt too plot-heavy, without the complex character work needed to make this work as the amazing character-piece it could have been. The Unknown: What was the one good memory that Sylvie mentioned? Who is in control of everything that’s going on? What will Mobius do now that he’s back in the TVA? What’s Ravonna’s plan? Best Moment: The climactic confrontation between Loki/Sylvie and Alioth. The music was outstanding, the effects even better, and it felt like a cathartic climax of the episode. It’s like a successful version of the action scene at the end of “Lamentis”. Character of the Episode: Every Loki. It’s so much fun seeing so many different versions of the same character. Conclusion: Where “Lamentis” failed to create a compelling experience, “Journey Into Mystery” succeeded. This was a wacky, creative, and tense episode that accomplished a lot for the story. While it does have flaws, the episode was written well with solid dramatic beats to make you enjoy the spectacle. Score: 69 Summary: Loki and Sylvie fall for each other and cause a nexus event. The TVA finds them and imprisons them. Loki suggests to Mobius that he’s being lied to, and after some investigation Mobius realizes it’s true. He breaks Loki out but is caught and pruned by Ravonna. Sylvie gets through to B-15 as well. Ravonna takes Loki and Sylvie to the timekeepers but B-15 helps free them and they fight everyone. Sylvie kills the timekeepers but realizes they aren’t real. Loki gets pruned by Ravonna and Sylvie tells her to explain everything. Elsewhere, Loki wakes up surrounded by other Lokis.
The Good: I really enjoyed this episode’s dim view of the TVA. After the first two episodes positioned the TVA as the good guys, that gets completely turned on its head here as the show tackles the idea of how the TVA steals people’s lives away and how unjustified it is. And all for a cause that may very well be entirely false since the timekeepers aren’t even real. These ideas are explored well and they enrich the show. I really liked Mobius’ story in this episode. The character confronts the idea of his reality being a lie, and it is gripping to see him finally realize the truth only to tragically be pruned once he decides to fight the system. Mobius’ death is a huge shock and it massively raises the stakes for the rest of the episode. The climactic confrontation with the timekeepers was well done and it had a lot of dramatic twists with B-15’s arrival, Loki benign pruned and the timekeepers being exposed as fakes. This episode also does well to explore Loki’s inherent struggles with loneliness through his imprisonment with Sif. It’s a good bit of character growth for him and gives us more clarity as to why he would have fallen in love with Sylvie. The Bad: I’m not completely on board with the Loki/Sylvie relationship. It feels very icky since they are essentially the same person. While that’s certainly the point, it makes it difficult to buy into this relationship actually happening. And since “Lamentis” did a poor job of constructing a real connection between these two, their relationship feels underdeveloped. I was disappointed in B-15’s arc in this episode. Unlike Mobius, her story happened offscreen so it had very little impact on me when she joined forces with Sylvie. Lastly, I thought it was really poor to have no follow-up to the large amount of branches that popped up at the end of “The Variant”. It seemed like a massive moment back then, but the TVA apparently handled it easily off-screen. It’s not even mentioned in this episode. The Unknown: What did Sylvie do that got her noticed by the TVA? Who created the TVA and the timekeepers? What does Ravonna know about it? What happened to Loki after he was pruned? How will he come back? If Loki can come back, can Mobius come back too? Best Moment: Ravonna not even remembering what Sylvie did that made the TVA notice her. It’s a terrific moment that hammers in how horrible the idea of the TVA really is. Character of the Episode: Loki. Conclusion: This was a packed episode that moved the series along in a big way. Though it’s still flawed, I enjoyed this a lot. Score: 66 Summary: Loki and Sylvie teleport to Lamentis, the worst apocalypse, and the tempad runs out of power. They fight and argue but eventually decide to work together to survive, and they bond. They go to escape on the ark but are unsuccessful and the tempad is destroyed.
The Good: Visually, this was very impressive. The purple colour grading of the episode was gorgeous and the visual effects were movie quality. I was impressed by the ending sequence, which was a stylish long take filled with effects. The Bad: Unfortunately this was all style and no substance. The pacing of this episode was really slow and there was no tension. It’s obvious that Loki and Sylvie aren’t going to die here, so the episode feels like it’s killing time until they escape. We get some scenes for them to bond but unfortunately the dialogue doesn’t feel natural and I never got a good sense of their relationship to each other. We get some contrast between both characters, but for a 40 minute episode with not much else going on, it’s not enough. Part of the issue comes from how we don’t learn much about Sylvie, and the need to keep her mysterious destroys any chance of emotionally investing in her story in this episode. I thought that the lengthy conversation about love was awkward. It didn’t feel organic and I don’t think that the dialogue was strong enough to really make this work. The action was really poor overall. The choreography was fine, but there wasn’t a single drop of suspense or drama and I never got into what was happening on screen. That impressive long take at the end of the episode feels wasted because I didn’t get invested. It’s just an impressive piece of visual effects, it had no emotional impact on me at all. The ending is disappointing. The episode feels incomplete since we are still on Lamentis by the episode’s end. The Unknown: What is Sylvie’s past? How different is her life from Loki’s? How has she been able to stay away from the TVA this whole time? We learn that the TVA soldiers are all variants. How is this important? Will Loki reveal this to the TVA soldiers? How will they take this reveal? What does this mean about the existence of the timekeepers? Best Moment: The opening scene was the highlight of the episode. It was great to see Sylvie’s enchanting ability in action, and the scene cleverly sets up the reveal of the TVA soldiers being variants. Character of the Episode: Loki. It’s probably going to be him every episode. Conclusion: You can’t ground an episode of television in visuals alone. There needs to be a good story underneath for it to mean something. In the end, this episode was well produced and stylistic, but severely lacking in substance and suspense. For that reason, it was a flat and uninspired watch. Score: 48 Summary: After another group of Minutemen are killed by The Variant, Mobius brings Loki into the field with no real success. Afterwards, Mobius and Loki work together and develop a theory that The Variant is hiding in apocalyptic events. The TVA pinpoints the apocalypse to be in Alabama and they head there. Loki and B-15 partner up and find The Variant. B-15 is knocked out and Loki tries to strike a deal with The Variant unsuccessfully. The Variant uses reset charges to make multiple branches to the sacred timeline and then leaves with Loki giving chase.
The Good: This is a funny show and most of the jokes are great. Unlike “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, this show nails the dynamic between Loki and Mobius and every scene with them is a blast with some excellent comedy. Watching their detective work was a lot of fun and it does well to make us care about the relationship that they are forming. The climax of the episode was really intense, and the meeting between the two Lokis was a ton of fun. Loki continues to be used superbly in this show. He’s not a good person and he’s motivated by selfish goals. I love that he has decided to try to overthrow the timekeepers. It’s also fascinating to watch such an unpredictable character that you can never trust. Loki’s attempted con in the tent was almost enough to fool me, and it was executed tremendously well. The Bad: Not every joke lands. Some of the humour felt very forced. This episode had a bit too much heavy-handed exposition for my liking. It was handled much better in “Glorious Purpose”. The Unknown: Even Mobius hasn’t seen the timekeepers. Who are they? Do they even exist? Who is The Variant? Is she really a female version of Loki? What is her motivation? How is she aware of the TVA? What’s her plan? Best Moment: Loki and Mobius in Pompeii. Their dynamic is really funny, and it was coupled with an important plot reveal. Character of the Episode: Loki. Conclusion: This was a step back from the pilot, and it was always going to be. Still, this was another fun episode with several good twists and turns. Score: 65 Summary: Loki is teleported to Mongolia but is picked up by the TVA that hunts down variants from the set timeline established by the timekeepers. Loki is amused at first but is subdued and is sent to die. However he is saved by Mobius who intercepts him to question him. Mobius is interrupted with a problem and Loki manages to escape. He learns of his fate and is horrified by how irrelevant he will be. He accepts who he is and complies with Mobius. Mobius reveals he needs Loki’s help to take care of another rogue variant: a different Loki.
The Good: This episode was an in-depth character study of Loki and I loved it for that. In a TV pilot it is essential to make the audience care about what is happening and the best way to do that is by making us care about the characters. So many TV shows fail to do this in the first episode, but “Loki” totally nails it. We learn so much about Loki as a person in this episode, and we get a thorough introspection of who he is, what motivates him, and what he thinks of himself and the things that he has done. It’s a fantastic journey of introspection for Loki, and by forcing him to confront himself, the show expertly takes a villainous character and makes us understand him and sympathize with him so that he can function as a protagonist. It is brilliant. The writers also show that they have a perfect grasp on the character, evidenced in the opening minutes when we see Loki instinctively look for an elevated rock to speak to the TVA members, attempting to establish some form of dominance to make up for his inner weakness. The clear understanding of who Loki is allows the writers to tell this story with all of the perfect dramatic beats. Mobius’ conversations with Loki are superbly written and reveal a lot about both characters while also being packed full of suspense and mystery. The episode does brilliantly to tell this character story while also engagingly introducing us to a dystopian reality with the TVA. This world is beautifully explored in the first half of the episode, giving us exposition in really creative ways at a pace that never feels overwhelming. The comedy in this episode is very well done. Loki is an inherently funny character and watching him in this unfamiliar environment provides some good laughs. I loved the brief story of Loki being DB Cooper all along. The Bad: Nothing big. It’s convenient that Loki only sees the most important parts of his future and nothing else. The Unknown: What was the multiverse war? Who started it? What was the result? Who are the timekeepers? Who is the rogue Loki? What time period is he from? What is he hoping to accomplish? Why is he attacking the TVA? Best Moment: Loki seeing his fate was impressively moving. Loki’s journey in this episode was written so well that the episode earned this final moment, and it was powerful. Character of the Episode: Loki of course. Conclusion: I’m disappointed that I’m not doing full-length reviews because this is one of those episodes that I could easily talk about for ages. Everything here was executed tremendously well and it made for a compelling pilot episode that immediately got me invested into the show and the characters. This is going to be difficult to top. Score: 74 Summary: After escaping with the tesseract, Loki is immediately apprehended by the TVA for breaking the sacred timeline devised by the timekeepers. After learning about his eventual fate, Loki helps Mobius, a TVA agent, track down another variant: Sylvie, a female Loki. Loki tracks down Sylvie and they end up escaping together to Lamentis where they get trapped but form a bond. Their relationship attracts the TVA who bring them back and arrest them. They are taken to the timekeepers, but they break free and Sylvie kills the timekeepers, discovering they are fake. Ravonna, Mobius' boss, attacks them and eventually Mobius, Loki, and Sylvie are "pruned". This teleports them to a distant location where they have to survive being consumed by Alioth, a being that eats matter. To survive, Sylvie enchants Alioth and discovers that the person in charge is living on the other end, at the end of time. Loki and Sylvie go forwards and discover Kang, who controls everything. Kang explains that he made the sacred timeline to prevent variants of himself from existing, causing a multiverse war. He gives the Lokis a choice: take over the TVA for themselves or kill him. Sylvie chooses to kill him and teleports Loki away after he disagrees. Sylvie kills Kang, and multiple branches form on the timeline.
The Good: "Loki" ended up being a perfect title for this show because this was all about him. Whether it's Tom Hiddleston's Loki, Sylvie, or some other variant, the show does a fantastic job of thoroughly dissecting and exploring this character across its six episodes. From the first moments, it's clear that the writers understand this character deeply, and Loki is given a unique personal conflict in every single episode, forcing him to face his own personal shortcomings and weaknesses. The excellent character writing elevates this show so much, and it ensures that Loki always feels like a proper protagonist instead of a villain. It's so much easier to relate to a character with flaws and shortcomings instead of a supervillain bent on ruling the world. Fleshing Loki out to this degree was a masterful decision, and it gave this show a lot of its emotional weight. Mobius is an excellent addition to the MCU. Usually the side characters in MCU films are my least favourite parts. The characters are often one-dimensional, or annoying, or poorly acted, or all of the above. However, Mobius is a surprisingly well-rounded character and I came to love his relationship with Loki. Owen Wilson puts in a good performance, and it's nice to see how complex Mobius' feelings for Loki are. It allows them to create a really strong bond. Mobius isn't defined solely by his relationship to Loki either. He's a fully fleshed out character with ideals, goals, motives, and personality. There are many things that make him who he is, and that's part of the reason that it's so much fun to watch this character on-screen. The TVA was an integral part of the show, and also a big reason for its success. Early in the show's run, the TVA was so mysterious, and it was fascinating to learn more about how it all worked and what its purpose was. The setting made this show feel almost dystopian, which was a really refreshing take on the MCU. Setting the show in such a unique setting with such an empty atmosphere was a stroke of genius, and it gave "Loki" something to stand out from other shows. The TVA story brings us to the introduction of Kang, who was such a brilliant element of the final episode that he deserves an entire section of this review. The slow build of the TVA mystery leads us to the big reveal of who is running the whole thing. And this character, played terrifically by Jonathan Majors, lives up to the hype. Kang is not at all what we would expect. He seems almost jovial, in a very sociopathic way, but is also surprisingly normal. It's a great set-up for later when we inevitably encounter a much more ruthless and villainous version of the same character. Kang has all of the charisma, motivation, and threat that you want to see from a villain, and I think he has potential to be even more effective than Thanos. I love that all six episodes of this show feel wildly different and function as their own standalone stories within the greater plot. This led to some fantastic experiences throughout the seasons, the best of which being the outstanding pilot "Glorious Purpose". I'll have more details in my review of that episode of course, but it was a really terrific piece of television. As mentioned above, this episode single-handedly made Loki a suitable protagonist for the show by putting him through an intense emotional experience that fundamentally changed who he was. And on top of doing that, it had some masterful mystery storytelling with the introduction of the TVA, including some terrific exposition that was given to us at a perfect pacing so it was never overwhelming, and we were never left feeling confused. No other episode felt similar to this, but that is a good thing. The show didn't get hung up on elements of the story and constantly tried new things, which made for a fresher overall experience. One thing that complimented every aspect of the show was its presentation. This looks even better than most movies because everything here is high budget with tremendous execution. The soundtrack was incredible, and it elevated every single scene when it played. The show wasn't just a bunch of high quality visuals either, the direction, editing and cinematography was superb and it made the most out of the heightened budget. I think this is the best looking TV show I've ever seen, and that does give it some bonus points. Lastly, I will say that this show knows how to use surprises and twists to its advantage. There were plenty of twists and turns throughout the season, and they elevated the story quite a bit. After each episode I never knew what to expect in the next episode, and the very premise of the episodes were surprising to me. I didn't know what was going to happen, and I didn't know what direction the story was going. The unpredictability coupled with the creativity of the episode premises made for a thrilling and surprising story that you don't often see on television. This entire show felt like a rollercoaster ride with how creative and unpredictable it was. Every twist landed, and every turn changed the direction of the show in an important way. The Bad: "Lamentis" was a weak episode with a lot of flaws. I'll be going more in-depth in my review of the episode, but it was the one weak episode of this show. I was underwhelmed by the character work in this episode and I thought that the dialogue and writing was quite clunky. I typically enjoy character-centric episodes like this, but there wasn't enough substance to make this episode work. In the end it just feels like a waste of time, and it's an episode I'd almost be comfortable with skipping. One of the core problems of "Lamentis" spread to the rest of the show. That was the romance between Loki and Sylvie, a relationship that felt rushed, clunky and unsatisfying for almost the entire run of the series. It was difficult to invest in this relationship because we didn't get a good sense of why they were into each other and what it was that got them to form a strong bond to begin with. This is where "Lamentis" comes in, because that episode failed to build a proper foundation for their relationship. They simply started talking about love and personal things because the story demanded it, and it never felt natural. This unnatural feeling persisted for the rest of the show, and it became especially tedious when just about every side character started to talk about their relationship in an effort to make us buy into it. It didn't work and ended up being pretty annoying. They started to work a little bit better towards the end of the series, but I still didn't quite buy into the idea of them getting together, and that made it difficult for me to emotionally engage in this aspect of the show. It was also especially difficult to get past the icky feeling of Loki falling in love with himself since I didn't buy into Loki and Sylvie's relationship. Outside of Mobius and Kang, the side characters were disappointing. Ravonna and B-15 are really weak characters and nothing they did interested me throughout the series. The lack of resolution for these characters by the end of the season only makes me question their existence even more. While watching the final two episodes, I found myself waiting for the story to get back to the more interesting stuff whenever it cut to what was going on in the TVA. Best Episodes: E01 Glorious Purpose: This was an excellent character study for Loki to transform him from the despicable villain in The Avengers to the morally grey protagonist that this show needs him to be. Add in the mystery elements as we are introduced to the TVA and the tremendous writing, and this was a superb pilot. E06 For All Time. Always.: The finale of this season delivered, which is even more impressive when you consider how poorly "WandaVision" and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" ended. Kang was portrayed tremendously, and the climax of the episode with this massive decision for Loki and Sylvie felt like a monumental moment that was perfect to end the season on. Worst Episodes: E03 Lamentis: The only disappointment of the show was "Lamentis". This episode felt like filler and it didn't do enough to explore the characters of Loki or Sylvie or their relationship to justify its existence. I feel like this episode should have been far more impactful than it was. Character of the Season: Loki. Conclusion: The MCU TV shows have been either decent or weak so far, so I didn't expect much from this show. But this was actually a really good show. It was well-produced, well-written, well-acted, and emotionally engaging. Plus every episode told its own unique story while also fitting together to tell one cohesive story. This didn't feel like a stretched out movie, and it avoided all of the trappings that MCU content typically falls into. There certainly were flaws and problems with the storytelling, but overall it was a blast to watch these six episodes, even if it wasn't top-quality television. This exceeded my expectations for an MCU TV show and I can't wait to see what happens in the second season. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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