TV REVIEW: Loki S1E1: “Glorious Purpose”

With Loki, the third Disney+ series to center on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I have grown somewhat more skeptical with these launches. In the case of this show, I am somewhat more interested because I enjoy Tom Hiddleston’s performance as Loki and I felt like the character had more potential after Avengers: Infinity War. I never found his death in that film plausible, so I’m glad Loki returned in some form, even if it’s as a “variant” from another timeline. At the same time, the past two MCU shows have followed a certain pattern—a promising idea with some good episodes, and then a disappointing finale. Hopefully, Loki can be the show to break that trend and give the character the development he deserves.

The basic storyline offers a good setup to Loki and the world of the Time Variance Authority, the mysterious organization who abducts and recruits him in this episode. While the episode attempts to recap information to make it accessible, this show is unfortunately dependent on knowledge of Loki’s past from the Thor and Avengers films. This is unavoidable, since Loki’s awareness of the true timeline and the events of those films drives his decision in this episode. The Loki of this episode starts as the man he was before Thor: The Dark World, still driven by his ideas about control and freedom. Those ideas connect well with the themes of this episode, especially given that it is a story that asks compelling questions about fate and free will. Are our actions truly our own decisions, or do we follow the patterns that have been designed for us? The script doesn’t provide any of those answers, nor should it at this point in the series, but it sets up the ideas that the story will be addressing quite effectively. The idea of recruiting Loki to chase a multiversal criminal that may also be a Loki variant opens up some fascinating questions as well. It could even be that the TVA is creating the monster that they’re hunting for, and if so, that could lead to a strong finale if executed well.

The show’s interpretation of the Time Variance Authority is generally a reasonable take. One of my favorite things about this concept is the idea that the upper-management agents are all clones of Mark Gruenwald, the late, great writer, editor, and continuity expert at Marvel. I was pleasantly surprised that not only that they remained true to that notion, but that Luke Wilson played a convincing Gruenwald. The show takes license with virtually everything else, including the nature of the TVA, its history, and the worldbuilding, but not so much that it feels untrue to the original idea. Some characters are completely altered like Ravonna, which I’m bothered slightly by given her relationship with the Avengers villain Kang. However, mostly it works for the show, and the changes aren’t so drastic that it breaks my immersion as a fan of the comics.

In terms of the casting, only characters truly matter in terms of storytelling—Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and Owen Wilson as Agent Mobius (the Gruenwald clone who works for the TVA). The other characters work well enough as window dressing, though the characters themselves don’t matter in the scheme of things. Fortunately, Tom Hiddleston’s charisma and performance carries the show, and he could easily make the show entertaining by himself. It helps that Hiddleston is given good material to work with, ranging from comedic scenes to darker dramatic scenes. Hiddleston clearly has a knowledge and passion for the Loki character that drives his acting, and that makes him a pleasure to watch every time he appears. Owen Wilson is an actor that I tend to underestimate, but he does quite well in the role of Mobius. Wilson’s past roles have typically been comedic, but he does a good straight man opposite Hiddleston. This is a good character contrast as well, as Mobius’s straight-laced middle-management executive gives Loki the right elements to bounce off from. Wilson’s performance here is more subdued than his past roles than I’ve seen as well, and it’s to his credit that he remains in character and resists the urge to bring more comedy to the role. Veteran voice actress Tara Strong is also notable in her role as Miss Minutes, the corporate mascot character who narrates the animated segment early in the episode. Her tone of voice is just right for that character, and Strong always delivers when it comes to her voice work. The remaining cast does well enough, considering how little the script gives them, and they bring the TVA’s reality to life effectively.

Thus far, “Glorious Purpose” offers a reasonably good start to Loki, and it gives the viewer enough to stay invested for the time being. I am pleased to see Hiddleston’s Loki again, and his performance alone makes this worth watching at least once. However, the real question from here will be how well the series can stick the landing, and if it can do better than previous MCU finales. For now, I remain intrigued by this series, but time will tell if Loki will repeat the previous patterns of the past few months or if it can set itself apart.

Score: 4.5/5

Writer/Creator: Michael Waldron

Director: Kate Herron

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Tara Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero

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Steve Sellers

Steve Sellers had been a fan of superheroes ever since Superman: The Movie. But it took the JSA, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, Twilight Zone, and Chris Claremont's legendary run on the X-Men to make him a writer and a longtime fan of comics, fantasy, and science fiction. Steve is the co-creator of WHITE DRUID & MICHAEL NERO and GUARDIANS OF ELAYIM for Omen Comics, and he is also the creator of BLITZ and SHOCKWAVE for Revelation Comics (an imprint of Omen Comics).