Loki season one was a total ride, took me years to watch this one even though back then everyone was loosing their minds for it but its just that Loki is not my type of character, I went in thinking we would just get more of the same Loki doing his usual tricks and causing trouble but instead Marvel decided to get weird with it and I mean weird AF because this TVA concept has so much in it with how time works and how time ends that there were some confusing moments as to how each action had a consequence in the time line and how they kept it under control, its crazy stuff. The whole TVA thing with Owen Wilson showing up as this agent who loves jet skis but has never actually been on one was genius casting, Wilson just brings this laid back energy that plays off Tom Hiddleston so well and their back and fourth was probably my favorite part of the show as it kepts me watching one episode after another to see what would happen next. The bureaucracy angle was funny as hell too because you got these people monitoring all of time and space but they are stuck in this 1970s office setup with what looks like terrible technology and mountains of paperwork, it should not work but it does and I think thats what makes the TVA so interesting as a concept. Then they throw in Sylvie and at first I was like okay another Loki but she turned out to be way more interesting than just a female version of him, she had her own story and her own motivations that actualy made sense when you think about what the TVA did to her as a kid. The romance between them was strange technically they are the same person but also not really and Marvel took a risk there because if they are the same person how could they fall in love? but at the same time it makes perfect sense since Loki is that narcissist so why not. The whole thing with the TVA being this massive time cop organization but then finding out its run by variants who had their memory wiped was such a good twist, you start the show thinking these are the good guys keeping everything in check but then you realize they are just pawns too and that changes everything. Mobius finding out he was a jet ski salesman or whatever his real life was before the TVA grabbed him and erased everything hit different, Owen Wilson played that confusion and betrayal so well that you actually felt it. Miss Minutes was hilarious and annoying at the same time like this cartoon character thats supposed to be helpful but really just reminds you that your stuck in this beurocratic nightmare where nobody knows whats realy going on, at times the TVA felt like a loop you never escaping from.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9140554/
- Platform: Disney+
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Jonathan Majors showing up as He Who Remains in that finale was insane, he completely stole the show from everyone else and he just sits there in his castle at the end of time eating an apple and explain the entire history of the multiverse like its no big deal, I hate Marvel had to dump his character because it has so much story and I really hope in the future they can pick up on the Kang story. He tells Loki and Sylvie that there used to be infinite timelines and infinite versions of himself and some of those versions started a war that almost destroyed everything so he ended it by creating the TVA and the sacred timeline to keep it all under control. The whole speech about how he is actually the good guy compared to his other variants was very fishy to me, you could tell he very Thanos like by telling the truth and this dude has been running things for so long that he is tired and just wants out but he cant leave without making sure someone takes over who wont let the bad versions of himself come back to cause chaos. Loki starts to see that maybe killing this guy is not the answer because it could unleash something way worse and thats such a huge moment for his character, hes finally thinking about consequences instead of just his own ambitions and what he wants. Sylvie on the other hand is so focused on revenge that she cant see past it and shes spent her whole life running from the TVA so now shes finally got the person responsible for all her pain right in front of her and she wants him dead no matter what but her motivations are way more complicated as she essentially embrace chaos with pure liberty, by killing Kang there wont be more TVA keeping everything under check meaning everyone on every other reality can do as they want without the TVA pruning people. The fight between Loki and Sylvie was very intense because their motivations were clear as contradictory, shes not wrong for wanting revenge and he is not wrong neither for wanting to think things through, aside form the fact he had feelings for her. That moment when Sylvie kisses him and then pushes him through that portal so she can kill Kang, that was a brutal moment, you see Loki's face just fall apart because he realizes shes not gonna listen to him no matter what he says. Then He Who Remains dies saying he will see them soon and the timeline just explodes into infinite branchs and thats the "here they come" moment as the multiverse war was expected, so I wonder if this was actually part of what was written already even though there is a moment where Kang said he doesnt know whats going to happen next anymore like that moment was the end of time.
The relationship between Loki and Sylvie was one of those things that could have gone completely wrong but somehow worked because both actors sold it so hard and made you believe it. At first it feels weird watching Loki fall for basically himself in female form but then you start to see that Sylvie is not just a female Loki at all, she was someone who had a completely different life because the TVA took everything from her when she was just a kid and shes been surviving on her own ever since without anyone to help her. She taught herself magic and how to enchant people by jumping into their minds and she used those skills to hunt down TVA agents one by one trying to find whoever was in charge of the whole operation, those episodes hunting Sylvie down gave both so much context. Loki by comparison had a cushy life in Asgard even if he always felt like an outsider so when these two meet its like two sides of the same coin finally seeing each other for the first time. The romance builds slow over episode three and four and that train scene where they are talking about their pasts and Loki gets drunk and starts singing was so good, it showed him letting his guard down for maybe the first time ever in his life. You could tell Sylvie was not used to trusting anyone and Loki was not used to caring about anyone besides himself so watching them figure out how to work together and then develop actual feelings was cool to see play out. The nexus event that happens when they are about to die on Lamentis actually backs up how their conection was strong enough to break through even an apocalypse which should be imposible but it happend anyway and thats when the TVA realizes they are in trouble.
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The way the show handled the whole time travel and multiverse stuff was confusing at first but once you understand the rules it makes sense in a weird way I guess. The sacred timeline is not really one timeline its more like infinite timelines that all follow the same path so they dont create branchs that lead to another multiverse war like what happened before or at least thats how I understand it because Im sure there is probably more than one way to look at it. Anytime someone does something that creates a branch the TVA shows up and erases it with those reset charges and they take the person who caused it and either erase them too or turn them into TVA workers with their memories wiped so they dont even know who they realy are. Loki finds out that everyone at the TVA used to be normal people living their lives until they did something that made a branch and then they got grabbed and brainwashed into thinking the time keepers created them when that was all a lie because how if they prune all this people only the ones who are Loki are at the end of time in that void?. Mobius was probably some guy who loved jet skis, Ravonna was a school teacher and Hunter B 15 was just living her life until the TVA decided she was a problem and took her away from everything. The fact that these people are hunting down other variants and erasing them without knowing they are variants themselves is such a dark concept, they are completely convinced they are doing the right thing because thats what they were programed to believe by whoever runs the TVA. When Sylvie starts enchanting TVA agents and showing them their real memories it breaks them and you see B 15 realize she had a whole life before this and it was stolen from her without her knowing. Mobius finding out the truth about himself and then getting pruned by Ravonna was one of the saddest moments in the show, Owen Wilson played that so well and you felt every bit of it. But then we find out that getting pruned does not kill you it just sends you to the void at the end of time where this giant cloud monster named Alioth eats everything that gets sent there. The whole episode with all the different Loki variants hiding out in the void was hilarious like you got old Loki who survived by faking his death and hiding, kid Loki who killed Thor, boastful Loki who lies about everything and alligator Loki who is just an alligator for some reason that nobody realy explains.
Its the ending with Kang that get things to another level of craziness and confusion, the hole Sylvie and Kang fight was never going to happen as he just wanted to either die or be replace, although he knew he wouldnt abandon the chair. That whole scene had me on edge because you could see both sides of the argument, Sylvie wanted revenge for her stolen childhood and everything the TVA took from her and Loki was finally thinking about consequences for once instead of just acting on impulse like he always does throughout his entire life. The fact that her choice unleashed the multiverse and probably doomed everything was such an awesome moment to develop the entire Multiverse saga but we already know how Marvel fuck it up. The statue of Kang at the end instead of the time keepers was such a perfect way to show that everything has changed now and the TVA is under the control of one of those evil variants that He Who Remains warned them about so things are gonna get way worse before they get better if they ever do. Marvel really swung for the fences with this show and even though some episodes were slower than others the overall story was incredible and took risks that actually paid off in the end. Tom Hiddleston proved how he is the real live Loki just like Hugh Jackman is the real life Wolverine and the supporting cast all brought their A game especially Owen Wilson who needs to be in more Marvel stuff going forward because he was perfect in this role, I would love to see him next to Deadpool. The cliffhanger ending leaves so many questions about what happens next like is Mobius gonna remember Loki eventually, what is Sylvie gonna do now that shes alone at the end of time and how bad are things gonna get now that the multiverse is unleashed and all these Kang variants are free to do whatever they want across infinite timelines. Loki season one gets a solid 8 out of 10 from me, it was weird and ambitious and took risks that paid off even when the pacing was not perfect in every episode but overall it was one of the best Marvel Tv shows we have gotten ever.
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