1x01 Glorious Purpose

[7.7/10] What would you do if you went through life convinced that you were “burdened with glorious purpose” when, in fact, you were just another cog in the machine? What would you do if you found out the artifacts of power you so desired were mere trinkets that other beings used as paper weights? What would you do if you believed you were in control of your own destiny, your own choices, only to discover that you’re the plaything of greater beings and your life story has already been written? What would you do if you thought you were the protagonist of this story, only to realize that you’re a mere springboard for others to become their best selves?

What I like about Loki, at least in its opening outing, is that the show is equal parts meta, loopy, and existential amid this inquisitive backdrop. There’s not a lot of action in the series’s opening episode. Instead, there’s a lot of table-setting, a lot of throat-clearing, and a lot of talk. But it able sets the tone for Marvel Studios’ new villain-fronted show, one that’s irreverent to be sure, as befits the “mischievous scamp” at its center, but also willing to delve into personal pain and deeper questions of self that also feel true to form for the MCU’s favorite trickster god.

On the meta side, Loki’s opening hour features beaucoup winks at Loki’s status as a villain in the wider MCU. His handler and assorted captors poke fun at him for being a side character who fancies himself a protagonist. A particular stretch of the first episode goes so far as to deconstruct Loki’s need to be a villain, as a pose or posture to compensate for his own perceived weakness. There’s plenty of gags about his penchant for speechifying and betrayal, laced with deeper (if still funny) examinations of why he falls into these cycles that double as both psychoanalysis and gestures toward the nature of superhero storytelling.

More than anything though, the show starts out as something of a mood piece or curio. The first episode sets up the basic premise. Loki is in a Silence of the Lambs-type situation where he’s tasked with helping a timeline investigator pursue another temporal agitator. And that works. But it’s more fun just to hang out in the world that creator Michael Waldron and his team conjure up. Waldron is the screenwriter for the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which gets a name drop here) and has credits on the likewise metatextual Rick and Morty, and his penchant for off-the-wall, science fiction-y fun is in full view here.

Waldron and company’s vision for the realm of the Temporal Variance Authority, an organization policing the “sacred timeline” to prevent multiversal war, scans as of a piece with Beetlejuice and Defending Your Life. The show frames this afterlife-esque realm as a Catch-22-esque bastion of bewildering bureaucracy, where gods are reduced to powerless pawns. Watching Loki flail through ridiculous set pieces of processing, adjudication, and interrogation that would make Terry Gilliam smile is a treat throughout, and the mixing of the wild and fantastical with a humdrum civil servant feel works like gangbusters.

In the same vein, Waldron has called to Mad Men as a reference for the show, and it’s a palpable influence beyond fellow star, Owen Wilson, cutting the spitting image of fellow MCU denizen John Slattery (who played Roger Sterling on Mad Men and Howard Stark as recently as Avengers: Endgame). The entire production design has a 1960s kitsch vibe, which makes the show’s take on a realm out of time more distinctive and fun. Seeing clean cut office drones and bulgy computers and a brilliant homage to sixties animation gives the place a flavor that would be missing from the standard “ten minutes into the future” set design. There’s even an homage to Don Draper’s famous carousel speech.

And yet, as entertaining as it is to watch Loki stumble through a byzantine tangle of afterlife-like red tape or engage in time-dilated shenanigans with judges and enforcers, Loki aspires to something deeper amid the gonzo antics. In the early going, at least, the show contrasts the central place we all occupy in our own minds, our sense of agency and even importance, with epiphanies about the depth and breadth of the universe and those with powers and interests far beyond our understanding and control that render those choices inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Loki enters the TVA believing himself a god in control of his destiny, and eventually prepares to leave it a man disquieted by his tiny place in the world, knocked around by forces he cannot comprehend, forced to confront himself (in more ways than one) and find a new purpose beyond the pose.

That is -- separate and apart from the fourth wall-cracking bent, inventive world, and existentialist metaphor -- the most promising aspect of Loki’s self-titled series. It is, like so many of the MCU’s best outings, a character piece. The first episode may offer a de facto recap of Loki’s journey so far and poke fun at his persona both in- and out of the universe. But it’s focused first and foremost on what changes these realizations provoke in Loki, what his connection to his family members spurs him to do and be in the coming years and episodes, and the well of pain and insecurity he’s making up for with this timeline-jumping jaunt.

Like the shows Loki is paying homage to, the series promises to match its humor and outsized premise with real pathos and big questions. Finding the right tone to do both is a tricky business, but also a trademark of some of television’s best shows. With a wry, talky vibe; creative production design to spur the imagination, and a plot that offers enough twists to keep casual fans talking for six episode’s worth of adventures, the series has plenty going for it out of the gate. Despite those advantages, I don’t know if Loki, or the show that bears his name, will be able to find a satisfying answer to such questions, but I’m excited to see both try.

• I don't expect to like this
• I like how they ask "Where's Loki?"
• That's a green Marvel Studios logo
• One timeline is sacred? Timeline supremacy?
• There's always a bare chest scene
• Is that Goose the cat? Maybe not
• Why are they all just regular humans?
• You might not know if you're a robot? Loki, you didn't know you were Frost Giant!
• Ah, it is timeline supremacy
• A "Multiverse of Madness, perhaps?
• But like, why is it so old-timey?
• Wait, what the Avengers did was supposed to happen?
• What made you think there was no magic here?
• Is Loki going to have to come to terms with his lack of agency?
• Freedom, huh? I don't think you're gonna get that, Loki
• Wait, wasn't it on the ground?
• That's some good drama
• You thought he wasn't going to try to escape? Ok
• Lol, nice. Infinity paperweights
• Dang, that's some good drama
• Shieeet
• Dang, this is really working for me

Review

It's aptly named!

I went into this episode and expected another disappointing MCU TV series. Thankfully, the MCU has proven me wrong, once again!

The show gives Loki more development, and I'm so relieved. In this episode, there's some interesting commentary on freedom, destiny and identity. It hooked me when Agent Mobius interrogates Loki or when he peers into his preconceived future. When he finally comes to terms with his insignificance, Loki's finally ready to look inward. I mean, if the universe has already set his existence, why pursue his goals so blindly? It's good stuff, looking inwards at a character like that, especially with these existentialist themes.

Despite all these weird changes, Loki's still got that aggressive, cocksure attitude as always, and Tom Hiddleston still plays him to a T. His comedic timing is phenomenal, and when he needs to get emotional, he gives me goosebumps.

Anyway, this is a pleasant surprise! The aesthetic is neat, and the comedy is sturdy (works more for me than WandaVision and TFAFWS). I like this episode, and I hope I enjoy the rest of this series too!

SCORE: 7/10

I actually don't love this pilot despite being a huge fan of Loki as a character. First because we're using Avengers-Loki but the show wants us to actually like him we're forced to speedrun through several movies worth of character development via clip show in like a half hour. Not only is it repetitive it doesn't say much new or interesting about his character. And as a Loki fan I did find it glaring that in all the monologues about the "true nature of Loki" no one mentions his relationship to his Jotun identity.. It's a huge part of his character largely unaddressed by any of the movies so its strange to me that in all that psych-analysing we never touch on that. I mean the TVA calls him Loki Laufy son there's a whole back and forth abut not knowing your true identity we even get a clip show of Loki's worst misdeeds and attempting to genocide the Frost Giants and killing his own bio Dad never makes the cut. It feels like an such an oversight

I will say outside of that I did think this episode was solid. The production design of the TVA is absolutely gorgeous. This show is far and away the best looking MCU tv show my a country mile. I also do like how the over arching mystery of the show is set up here.