Loki (TV)
Natalie Holt is one of the key components that makes “Loki” an enthralling experience. You never see her onscreen, but she impacts everything we see. She is the composer for the series, and her mixture of synthesizers, orchestral stings and a style that can only be compared to Wendy Carlos’s film scores is essential to making the weird, existential journey the God of Mischief goes on throughout Season One’s six episodes successful. This is one of the best soundtracks the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever unleashed (if not the best); of course, by the end, that’s not the only thing that’s unleashed.
As much as Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hiddleston has become indistinguishable from the character he plays for Marvel, and so, for many, not only was his demise at the beginning of “Avengers: Infinity War” sad, but his 2012 self’s escape with the Tesseract in “Avengers: Endgame” exciting, as it opened up the door for the character’s return, as the franchise began to lay the groundwork for the introduction of the multiverse. Here, we see what happens to Loki after that escape, and whatever you thought was going to happen, it’s fair to say you didn’t expect anything like this to happen.
With “WandaVision” and “Loki,” the “big idea” appears to have been to throw these characters into sitcom situations, but twist the concept to make it fit into the MCU. With “WandaVision,” that twisting wasn’t quite as successful by the end, but “Loki” makes it work because of creator Michael Waldron and director Kate Herron not going super high concept at the start before grounding it in a noticeable reality halfway through. Loki isn’t stuck in “The Office,” but the TVA does function as a grounding device for the adventures he is going to have throughout the show’s six episodes. They balance the MCU reality with the absurd really well, landing this in the upper tier of MCU stories.
The TVA stands for Time Variance Agency, which is an intergalactic organization intended to keep the main timeline, as designed by the Time Keepers, in order. The comedic absurdity of putting Loki in their care is highlighted in the first two episodes, and one of the most enjoyable things in those episodes is how the TVA throws our concepts of what power is in the universe out of whack, as demonstrated by the idea that Infinity Stones- you know, the things Thanos just needed to have throughout the first three Phases of the MCU- have no power in the TVA, and are even used as paper weights. In a way, how “Loki” the series unfolds feels like Marvel poking fun at the nature of comic book reality- and especially, Marvel Comics and the MCU- in how some things like continuity or magical items are treated with such seriousness by some people, while others prefer to just lean into the craziness of these worlds, and throw caution to the wind. One person’s “most important thing ever” is another person’s paper weight. As seriously as fans of this franchise take each project, sometimes we need someone to just remind us to enjoy these for what they are, and to not take them so seriously. That’s part of what has made Hiddleston’s Loki so fun over the past decade; his God of Mischief may have been burdened with “glorious purpose,” but he also has seen the dark humor of the universe first hand, and isn’t afraid to exploit it for his own means.
Owen Wilson has not been this good in a project since “The Darjeeling Limited.” His Mobius is a lifer with the TVA who is assigned to catch Loki before he branches off the main timeline too far; he eventually takes him under his wing, hoping to use him to capture someone throwing off the main timeline. That someone is…Loki. The MCU has never leaned into the multiverse so hard as it does here, and in the first two episodes, it’s a lot of Mobius explaining the concept of the multiverse, the importance of the main timeline, and trying to get into Loki’s head so that he can understand the Loki he’s hunting. Wilson is enjoying playing off Hiddleston, and is a nice foil for Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer, his boss at the TVA, who does not want him getting too close to this Loki. He’s basically an everyman for us at the TVA, whom basically just wants a jet ski and to eat his salad in peace. When Loki enters the picture, that becomes a little trickier.
Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), the Loki variant causing all the issues, is one of the most intriguing characters we’ve gotten in the MCU. Not only is this the case because of the individual character, but how she reflects upon Loki. Di Martino and Hiddleston have wonderful chemistry together, and while much was made about the brief acknowledgement of Loki (in dialogue) as being bisexual, their unusual attraction to one another is far more noteworthy. This is the most complicated acknowledgements of romantic attraction we’ve gotten in the MCU, and all the way through the end of the season, it’s interesting to see how Waldron and Herron build that dynamic to the crescendo it reaches in the finale, where they are faced with a choice by the character puppeteering everything, played by the wonderful Jonathan Majors. Seeing how the climax of this series ripples throughout the rest of the MCU, and the role these Lokis have in it, has me excited.
“Loki” ended as the most entertaining, deviously plotted of the Disney+ series for Marvel, and it’s because it feels like everything was headed in the same direction throughout- rather than pivoting like “WandaVision”- and was grounded, but not beholden to the real world like “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” I hope Waldron, Herron and Holt are back for more in the MCU in the future; they are the type of inspired voices that are needed moving forward.
