(CCR Original Content) Loki Episode Review - [Spoiler Free Review and Spoiler Section below picture] (8/10)
Loki: is a 2021 Marvel tv series created by Michael Waldron and directed by Kate Herron. It's produced by Marvel Studios with executive producers Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, Tom Hiddleston, Kate Herron and Michael Waldron and distributed by Disney Platform Distribution. The series stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
During the events of Marvel's Endgame, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) escaped using the Tesseract when the Avengers went back in time. Many fans wondered what happened to this "alternate" Loki, as the Loki in the present timeline met his demise at the hands of Thanos. This "Loki" is captured by the TVA (Time Variance Authority), a mysterious bureaucratic organization that monitors the timeline and exists outside of time and space itself. He's put on trial before Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) where he is found guilty for his crimes against the "sacred timeline" and sentenced to be "pruned". However, Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) enters the picture and Loki is given a choice to help fix the timeline and stop a great threat or face being erased from existence for being a "time variant". He agrees to help Mobius hunt down another Loki variant who has killed several TVA agents and has become a serious problem for the TVA.
So usually going into a movie or show with high expectations is a guarantee to be disappointed but I'm so glad this show wasn't a disappointment. First off, I was super excited for this highly anticipated series since Marvel was finally going to answer the question of "What happened to the "other" Loki?". The third Disney Plus series to be released after Wandavision, and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Loki brings us more of Tom Hiddleston and the fan favorite character Loki. Loki was a really great show that I enjoyed every episode of. There was so much that it did right. It had great actors like Owen Wilson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw and acting with great performances by Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino who had really good chemistry. It had awesome special effects and CGI throughout the whole show from the incredible views of the TVA and Lamentis-1, to the animated character Miss Minutes, to the amazing intro of the final episode. It also had an excellent plot and story that kept the show going at a good pace, with a nice mystery that kept you intrigued and hooked with a twist at the end of every episode. It also had movie quality cinematography you expect from a big budget blockbuster and definitely felt like this could have just as easily been on the big screen in theaters as it was on Disney plus. The first episode starts off with Loki finding out who and what the TVA are and what they want with him. Which is to help them hunt down a Loki variant. It feels like there was a lot of attention to the plot and detail of the storytelling, although a lot of it was building up what was to come, I think it did a superb job of setting the vibe and feel of the series and the storyline from the first episode on. I really liked Owen Wilson and his character agent Mobius, he came off as serious but funny in a aloof kind of way. Kind of reminded me of a teacher who is nice until you start giving them trouble and they have think of some way to deal with you. There was a really good mix of humor and emotion and action as well, although some episodes were more action heavy than others. The music and score were very fitting of the MCU but with a clear influence of Loki's personality in it as well as the mystery and grandness of the plot and story. So without giving away any spoilers in this section I give this series a 8/10 and my "Must See Seal of Approval". I know this review is super late to the party but if you're late too and haven't seen this show you need to definitely check it out.
Look Below This Picture For Spoiler Section Or Click On Picture For Our YouTube Review
Spoiler Section Review:
So once again I can't say enough how much I liked the Loki show. Wandavision was really good but it lacked the action that we're used to with most Marvel movies and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was great but it didn't have that same kind of mystery that had me hooked on Wandavision. Loki seemed to create a great balance of both. I was excited that it immediately picked up from the scene of Loki escaping with the Tesseract from Stark Tower in Avengers. They did a good job mixing in the comedy right away in the beginning of the first episode as they show Loki dealing with how "bureaucratic" the TVA can be and having to jump through all their hoops. It reminded me of how the Vogons were in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or more recently when I saw Jupiter Ascending before it left Netflix and that scene where Jupiter (Milas Kunis) has to go through all these lines and paperwork to get inheritance on the planet Ores. I especially laughed out loud at the part where they "pruned" disintegrated the man arguing about not having a ticket in the line and how quickly Loki began to look for his afterwards. The animation playing on the tv in the lobby explaining the history of how the TVA came to be was a nice touch too. I liked how it explained things without seeming like an info dump and it looked cool too. Miss Minutes being an animated character was another nice touch and I liked her design, seemed real old school like Cuphead or old school Mickey Mouse and her voice with the accent was awesome. I also liked how the end of every episode had a twist and left you wondering but also wanting more. At the end of the first episode it was that they were after a Loki variant, at the end of the second it was that it was a female Loki Variant, at the end of the third episode it was that all the TVA's workers were variants not created by the TVA like they were told. I don't want to make this review super long so I'll just mention a couple of other things that I really liked or didn't. I thought the design of the TVA was awesome and everything on Lamentis-1 looked really cool. I was super disappointed that we didn't get to see them really explore the city or culture and see anything there besides them passing through. I also didn't like how there was a part where Loki used a sort of telekinesis power to stop a building from crushing him. I was totally like, where did that come from and why hasn't he used it before. The acting and rapport between Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston was phenomenal and the chemistry between Sophia Di Martino as well. The special effects and CGI were just out of this world. The creature Alioth, and the ruins of what looked like New York on that planet where they go when they get "pruned" looked superb and the opening of the last episode with that cinematic of the universe/multi-verse showing space and galaxies and planets was beautiful. Another thing I didn't like was how they didn't really go into more detail about the other Loki's that were shown and how they didn't play a bigger role. I think some definitely had potential there. A special treat for me was when they finally showed "He Who Remains", the guy behind the TVA and everything from the beginning. As soon as I saw that it as Jonathan Majors, I knew it was Kang The Conqueror because of an article I read about his casting for the role. Man, I can't believe that I never guessed that a time-traveling/ time-manipulating character would be behind what was going on. I loved the way he portrayed Kang and even though it strayed far and wide from the iterations I've come to know in the cartoons and comic books, I really dug it. It reminded me of how James Woods did the voice for Hades in Disney's Hercules and wasn't the typical low, deep voice you would expect but instead did it sounding like a used-car salesman. Kind of made the character/role his own by doing his own interpretation of it. Anyways I give the Loki show a 8/10 and my "Must See Seal of Approval".