Marvel's Loki Series Review: Episodes 1 and 2

Marvel's Loki Episode 1, Episode 2 Review: An Exciting Time Travel Adventure - Loki: The Series

Marvel’s Loki follows the God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother Thor’s shadow. The series takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Marvel’s Loki stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Kate Herron is the director of Loki and Michael Waldron serves as the head writer.

After seeing Loki on screen for the first time, I felt like Marvel could do a lot more with the character. His personality seems perfect for an anti-hero, who could do good in his own way. In the series, Marvel hasn’t really made him into an anti-hero at least in the first two episodes. Instead, it explores the character much more deeply compared to the MCU movies. By putting Loki in a much different setting than he is used to, the series attempts to show a different side of the character.

Since his cinematic debut in The Avengers, Loki has been one of the most complex and interesting characters in the MCU. After playing the antagonist in the first Avengers movie, Loki was never the main focus of any MCU story. With a dedicated Marvel series, we get to see Loki like we have never seen him before. From the first episode itself, the series starts digging into the complicated past of Loki and holding him accountable for his actions. This might be one of the few times, where Loki seems incredibly vulnerable and remorseful, which adds a whole new layer to the character.

The unpredictable nature of Loki keeps you second guessing everything he does in the series. As the character is known to be a pathological liar, you never know what he’s truly up to. This makes the narrative feel even more mysterious.

Marvel’s Loki introduces the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to the MCU. As an organization that works tirelessly to ensure that the timeline stays as it’s supposed to, the TVA headquarters is a unique place. The TVA explains several rules about time travel, splitting timelines, and more, which are essential to follow along with the story. Marvel’s Loki focuses heavily on time travel and you can expect the God of Mischief to pop up in multiple points in the human history as well as the MCU timeline. Although Loki doesn’t get as wacky as WandaVision, the time travel element in the series is pretty exciting and keeps you hooked.

Loki’s interactions with the TVA lead to some of the funniest moments in the series. Considering how rebellious Loki is, it’s funny to see how he reacts to the dedicated employees of the TVA. With Loki and the TVA being forced to work together, the series balances out all the complicated time travel stuff with humour. At certain points, Loki feels a bit like a buddy cop series similar to The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but it differentiates itself with time travel.

Just like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Marvel’s Loki’s spends too long to set up the antagonist. It makes sense to spend time to establish all the time travel rules and the TVA. But the writers keep teasing and setting up the antagonist for too long to maintain the mystery around them. The narrative would feel much more interesting if the series revealed the antagonist in the first episode itself.

The first two episodes of Marvel’s Loki do a great job of setting up the story and establishing the stakes. It would be interesting to see where Marvel decides to go with the bonkers time travel-filled narrative. With an unpredictable character like Loki and chaotic antagonist, the series will only get better with the upcoming episodes.

Watch Marvel's Loki premiering on 9th June in English on Disney+ Hotstar Premium and in Hindi on Disney+ Hotstar VIP . Telugu and Tamil viewers, watch this space, Loki’s tricks have changed your time — but Disney+ Hotstar VIP has you covered.