Loki: A Premiere Worth Waiting For

SPOILERS FOR LOKI, EPISODE 1

When I first heard that Marvel was going to be starting off its next phase by airing a bunch of direct to TV mini-series, I was intrigued but largely unexcited. The characters of the MCU and their stories always felt like they were made for the big screen, and I thought that by condensing them into a shorter format, a lot of the charm and uniqueness of the shared universe was going to have to be sacrificed. I’m happy to say that I was proven wrong…so far.

As of now, three of the Phase Four series’ have released on Disney +, with the newest one, Loki, premiering just yesterday. I watched WandaVision and found myself enjoying it – sure, it started out slowly, but the mystery aspect of it drew me in, and by the 4th episode or so, I was hooked. Unfortunately, it did not finish off as strongly as I would have liked, and that brought the show down a little bit in my eyes, but it was by no means a failure. I haven’t seen Falcon and the Winter Solider, but from what I have heard, it’s thoroughly enjoyable and does exactly what you’d expect a show about Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson to do. As for why I haven’t seen it….I was never terribly interested in the storyline after watching the trailer – both WandaVision and Loki seemed more original and interesting as concepts, while FWS just seemed like a generic superhero series. Of course, I may get around to watching it one day, but for now, all of my attention is focused on a certain god of mischief and the shenanigans he will inevitably throw himself into in his latest misadventure.

When I started watching the premiere episode of Loki, I was only mildly intrigued as to where the series would go. I knew that it would pick up right after the 2012 version of Loki made off with the Tesseract, but that was about it, and when he seemed to wander off to a faraway land, I figured that the show would depict him trying to regain power using the Tesseract by enslaving people and building an army, and the tiniest twinge of worry began to set in my system, as the plot seemed awfully by the numbers.

However, as soon as the Time Variance Authority officers showed up, the show completely changed its tone, and the rest of the episode was an engaging roller coaster that, despite the rapid delivery of one-liners, didn’t hesitate to delve into the emotional side of things, which made for a wonderful first episode. Tom Hiddleston truly is in a class of his own, and watching Loki and Agent Mobius’ back and forth about the god’s psyche and why he enjoyed cruelty was riveting. Seeing Loki come to grips with his powerlessness in his current situation, and watching his reaction to the events of the MCU timeline that occurred in the Thor movies as well as his death in Avengers: Infinity War was heart wrenching, and it served as good a wake-up call as any for him. It was definitely the best scene in the episode, and I’m hoping for more scenes like it in the future.

I don't enjoy hurting people....I don't. I do it because I've had to...because it's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick, conjured by the weak to inspire fear.

The heavier feel of the episode with how it thoroughly dissected Loki’s character, combined with the prospect of seeing this version of Loki chase after another version of himself from a different timeline, is what intrigues me so much about this show, more so than the other two MCU originals we’ve gotten thus far. Of course, it helps that Loki is a far more dynamic character than Wanda, Vision, Bucky, or Sam, and the familiarity that comes with him being one of the earliest figures in the MCU is another major plus point, but at the end of the day, this honestly feels like a series that is primed to be a shining example of what a Marvel TV series can really bring to the table. I can only hope that the show won’t disappoint me during its run.

I started watching Loki with a little bit of trepidation at what the series would bring me. After just one episode, I’m convinced that it was definitely worth the wait, and that it’s well worth your time if you’re an MCU fan – I know many won’t even think of passing up another opportunity to see Tom Hiddleston as the brother of Thor once more, but just in case you are on the fence, get off it and come join us - seriously, it looks like it’s going to be worth it.