Loki Spoiler Recap: Glorious Purpose
Welcome to the Time Variance Author- I mean...to Loki Wednesdays.
That’s right, the God of Mischief himself is back on our screens, but now in a weird, offbeat time-travel adventure that is so far the perfect blend of strange and emotional that defines my favourite entries in the MCU.
And what better way to kick off this timeline hopping adventure by picking back up directly where the timeline went askew - namely at the midpoint of Avengers: Endgame, when Loki steals the Tesseract from the squabbling Avengers and disappears into parts unknown.
Well, not that unknown, as the scene now follows him, rather than Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. He lands smack in the middle of the Gobi Desert, and immediately - as in, hilariously quickly - finds a little rock to stand on, so he can begin subjugating the people of Earth again, one small family at a time. The language barrier trips him up just enough that the Time Variance Authority has an opportunity to show up and arrest him for his crimes against the Sacred Timeline.
The premiere episode of Loki does a lot of work in setting up the central mystery and story arc for the whole run, but it also does something absolutely brilliant and long overdue: it gives Tom Hiddleston the opportunity to showcase his fantastic comedic timing.
We can sit here all day and talk about how Loki is another in a long line of tall, dark-haired broody men that drive people wild - and that would still be true - but he is also just plain funny. And he’s allowed to be! The situation he is stuck in, in some kind of amorphous past/future that feels reminiscent of The Commission from The Umbrella Academy, is completely absurd.
While the Would-Be King of the Nine Realms is freaking out about the soulless TVA bureaucracy, one of his demands for clarification triggers a helpful video narrated by Miss Minutes, an anthropomorphic clock, who explains what exactly the TVA is and what they do. In essence, they are in charge of maintaining the Sacred Timeline, established by the Timekeepers to prevent another “Multiversal War”. They do so by ensuring Variants - people out of their own timeline - are put back where they belong.
I’m not going to lie. This is the part that made me pause. One reason I got into the MCU but never really got into Marvel comics was the concept of the Multiverse. My brain cannot handle multiple intersecting continuities. I just want one coherent narrative to follow. Following WandaVision, and knowing now that the second Doctor Strange will be delving into the Multiverse as well, it seems inevitable. But if it’s presented as accessibly as it is here, then perhaps I can be convinced.
Though the supporting cast looks very promising, only one of them is really given a chance to shine in this first episode: Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius.
Though his actual role within the TVA, beyond being responsible for Variants far more dangerous than Loki, is unclear, it’s obvious he must be an important guy based purely on how big his office is. Though Loki isn’t his responsibility, he spares him from his guilty sentence because he believes he could be of use. The TVA is trying to apprehend a dangerous Variant who is travelling through time and killing off their agents (also called Minutemen).
Though the bulk of the episode is just Mobius trying to convince Loki to work with them, it’s how he does it that makes it my favourite part of the whole thing. That’s right y’all. We’re talking about feelings. Loki’s, specifically.
Mobius tries several different ways to get to the heart of who Loki is and why he does what he does. Does he enjoy hurting people? Where is the line between mischief and violence? These questions are examined by taking a look back at Loki’s life. Not just the life that he knows, up to and including The Avengers, but his life as we know it to be, even though he hasn’t experienced it.
We watch Loki experience the death of Frigga, wallowing in the knowledge that it was his fault and there is nothing he can apparently do to stop it. He later continues watching the film reel, and watches as Odin dies, as he reconciles with his brother, and finally as he stands up to Thanos, losing his life in the process. Not that I needed it, but this was a reminder of why Tom Hiddleston is such a marvelous choice for Loki, and while he inhabits the role so well.
It would be so easy for the scales to tip into the ridiculous, and over the top with this character, but with Hiddleston it never does. He walks that line, and brings such a quiet passion and drama to the character, and I really wasn’t expecting to get this emotional this early.
Loki agrees to help Mobius track down the dangerous Variant in the end. It turns out he is uniquely qualified because said Variant is...Loki himself?
It is a credit to the show that they took the time in this first episode to really explain things to their fullest - or as least, as fully as they can while still keeping us hooked week to week. Did anything much happen this week, plot-wise? No. But what we got instead was a very solid basis for a wild ride, and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.
Lingering Thoughts:
We all saw Loki take the Time Stone from the Infinity Stone bin right? Do we think he’s going to try and save Frigga?
The child in 1589 France points at a stained glass window of a Devil when asked who was killing the Minutemen and I am not playing this Mephisto game again.
Speaking of 1589, when Mobius insults the Minuteman in French to calm the kid down, the Minuteman counters with the fact that he too, speaks French. As a language nerd, I checked to see how this would carry over in the dub, and it turns out it’s just an “I heard that”. There’s your translation fun fact for the day. Look, ma, I used my degree for something!
Did not know who D.B. Cooper was prior to this episode. But then again, the sight of Tom Hiddleston in 1960’s clothing made my brain short-circuit, so I’m not convinced I would have picked up the reference even if I had known.
Loki airs Wednesdays on Disney+. Check back here every week for our spoiler recap at noon Eastern.
