‘Loki’ episode one review: the god of mischief returns
It’s not hard to enjoy something with Tom Hiddleston in it. Marvel made an excellent decision by keeping him around for this TV show, and after just one episode, I can already tell “Loki” will be significantly better than ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.’ If Disney+ decided to release the entire season at once I would’ve binge-watched the whole thing in one sitting, but sadly, they’re still petty and like to make us wait a whole week for a new episode.
The pilot introduces an unusual and cryptic setting that lets us relate to Loki’s confusion from the start. The Time Keepers and the Minute Men are some of the lesser-known Marvel characters, so we enter the show with very limited knowledge of the context, which is a good change of dynamic when compared to the previous movies where audiences had perfect knowledge of what to expect because of the comics. It’s safe to assume this will be another weird and unconventional show, bold like “WandaVision,” with the difference that “Loki” deals with time travel instead of warping reality.
The episode shoves Loki into a severe existential crisis, as he relives his most shameful defeats, his fits of cruelty and violence, and must come to terms with who he is and what he’s done in the past. Loki tries so hard to be a villain but deep down he knows, just like we know, that he is far from that. He isn’t evil. Loki is simply misunderstood and lost, perhaps a little desperate to find his place in the world. The episode also shows that everyone’s place in the world is predetermined by a higher power, something that Loki finds ridiculous as he believes that every choice has been his own. This is a philosophical discussion that most of us have encountered in the past, and it is also the basis of many religions. Since we have no way of proving that everything happens by chance or by design, stories that tackle these questions help us assimilate different possibilities regarding our place and purpose in the Universe. There is no better character for this journey than Loki, who has done both good and bad in his life and has lost his place in the Sacred Timeline for being a deviant. Is he left without a purpose? Without a chance to atone?
The heart of the episode was when Loki watched his own death at the hands of Thanos and the screen read “End of file.” Imagine that your life is labeled as a file, like one you’d keep in a computer, just a tiny piece of data, so easily discarded. That realization was a slap in the face for Loki, and he could only laugh at himself and the absurdity of life. But he was able to look inside himself and accept his greatest flaws and limitations. And with that self-awareness comes the greatest character development we’ve seen in Loki so far. It’s impossible not to want to hug him right there and tell him everything will be all right.
But, that’s probably a lie. Agent Mobius reveals that an alternate version of Loki is out there messing with the sacred timeline and killing Minute Men, who at first appeared overpowered compared to Loki. The end of the episode shows this other Loki in his full power, his plans unknown, but his methods as violent as they were before. The final scene promises a conflict between Loki and himself, the classic man versus self, something unseen in Marvel. It’s exciting to see the studio walk away from the generic and forgettable villains they’ve had in the past.
Overall, episode one of “Loki” lived up to people’s expectations, and it featured the perfect balance between drama, comedy and a little action. The rest of the cast seems interesting enough to follow Loki along the crazy journey that awaits him, with my personal favorites being Casey and Hunter B-15. My theory is that they’ll become best friends by the end of the show, and if that doesn’t happen, I’ll cancel my Disney+ subscription.