Director: Kate Herron
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Sasha Lane, Jack Veal, DeObia Oparei, Richard E. Grant
Ok, so Loki (Season 1). Before I get into what the series is all about and give you my thoughts on it, I’d like to preface all that by saying that never have I ever been so impressed by a series based on a comics book property.
Loki is by far the best series Marvel Studios has made yet, and I’m including all of them in that list.
And, by that, I mean the Netflix ones too.
Right, now that I’ve got all that out of the way, I can give you a brief overview of the show’s premise.
Oh, and before I forget, there will be spoilers in this review of Loki Season 1.
Don’t say you weren’t warned (I also put ‘Spoiler Review’ in the title).
SPOILERS FOR LOKI SEASON 1
Read more: What Is Sylvie’s True Identity In Loki On Disney Plus?
Loki’s Mysterious Villain Revealed In Episode 1’s Credits?(Opens in a new browser tab)
So, Loki starts off during the events of Avengers: Endgame.
More specifically, it starts at the moment when Captain America goes in the past to relive the events of the first Avengers movie.
That’s when the Tesseract falls down right in front of Loki – who’s just been caught after this evil doings during that movie.
He sees the Tesseract, picks it up and uses its power to get out of there.
However, he then ends up being caught by the TVA (the Time Variance Authority), who then tells him that he’s a variant and has created a branch in the Sacred Timeline and will be ‘pruned’.
Before he’s sentenced to be erased from existence, Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius steps in because he thinks he can use this Loki variant to find a mysterious killer.
This killer is targeting TVA agents and is creating all sorts of havoc.
It turns out that this killer is actually a female variant of Loki who goes by the name of Sylvie.
Tom Hiddleston’s Loki works with Mobius to try and track down the other Loki variant, and the rest, as they say, is history – or the future…?
All this talk of timelines and alternate timelines and variants gives me a bit of a headache.
Rights, now that I’ve given you a rather twisted overview of what the show is about, let’s talk about what I thought of the six-episode series in more detail.
In short, I loved it – from start to its incredible finish.
Loki Season 1 is incredible from start to finish
Credit: Marvel Studios
Read more: Loki’s Mysterious Villain Revealed In Episode 1’s Credits?
Where the other Marvel Studios TV shows have failed, Loki succeeded.
Loki keeps you guessing from the very beginning and each reveal is as good as the next.
It actually delivers on its intrigue, which is what WandaVision and The Falcon And The Winter Solider kind of failed to do.
The best way to describe this show is as really good Doctor Who.
I couldn’t help but think that the show has a kind of Doctor Who-vibe about it.
The thing this, Loki is by beyond anything we’ve ever seen in the BBC’s Doctor Who.
However, Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino (who plays Sylvie – the female Loki variant), would both make excellent Doctors.
There’s the whole timeline aspect of the show and the fact that both its leads have British accents.
That’s probably the main reason why I kept on thinking of the Doctor.
But, as I said earlier, the show, which was created by Michael Waldron and directed in its entirety by Kate Herron, is just so much better than anything we’ve seen from Doctor Who.
Tom Hiddleston delivers his best performance as Loki
Credit: Marvel Studios
Read more: Loki Episode 4 Post-Credits Scene Explained
I also think Loki features Tom Hiddleston’s best-ever performance as the God of Mischief.
This show is about timelines and variants, but it’s also about the ability to love oneself.
Loki is, at the start of the show, the old version of the character in the MCU.
He’s still, at his core, a villain and only cares about one person, himself.
However, as the show goes on, we see him start to explore new possibilities.
Could Loki actually end up being more than just a villain, a trickster who’s only after one thing: glorious purpose.
Then, there’s the question of could Loki actually love someone.
It’s ironic that the person with whom he ends up falling in love with is a female version of himself, Sylvie.
However, I also think that’s perfect for the character.
There’s only one person who could make him see things differently, and that person is himself.
I think this is where the show really succeeded.
They set out to tell a story and delve deep into Loki’s psyche, and they succeeded.
Loki Season 1 delves into Loki’s psyche
Credit: Disney Plus
Read more: Deadpool 3 Could End Up Being A Prequel Set Earlier In The MCU Timeline
We also meet multiple other variants of Loki, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how good each of them was.
We had Classic Loki (played by the always brilliant Richard E. Grant), Jack Veal as Kid Loki and DeObia Oparei as Boastful Loki.
There was also Allegator Loki who was also brilliant.
I think a special mention has to go to Richard E. Grant’s performance as Classic Loki.
He was kind of born to play that role and I’m so glad they had him in the original Loki costume from the Golden Age comics.
It was pure perfection.
The other thing that I really loved about this show was that there was an actual build-up towards something.
Not only that, but when it all ended up culminating in a finale that actually delivered an incredible payoff.
I won’t go into it too much, but all I need to say is Kang and you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve watched the show already.
The show’s payoff was perfection
Credit: Disney Plus
Read more: Tom Hiddleston Could Be Replaced In The MCU With A New Kid Loki
And, if you haven’t, then why are you reading this review!?
I also loved the fact that this show actually has huge ramifications for the rest of the MCU.
It basically created the Multiverse and also gave us our first look at the MCU’s next big bad, and it seems as though he’s going to be a pretty tough villain to beat.
There’s so much to love about Loki that I could go on about it for pages and pages.
Suffice to say that it’s one of the best things Marvel has ever done.
I know that sounds like hypobole, and it probably is, but I also really mean it.
Marvel has been in search of ‘glorious purpose’ as far as these new series are concerned, and with Loki they’ve finally found it.
I cannot wait for Loki Season 2 to arrive.
What did you make of Loki Season 1?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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