Revisiting Loki Season 1
The first trailer for Loki season 2 has released, injecting some much needed excitement into the MCU fandom. Although Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 was fantastic, both Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion have made 2023 a big disappointment for Marvel thus far. It’s a running theme for Marvel Studios, where even heavily anticipated projects somehow under-perform and divide audiences. Nonetheless, Loki season 2 looks exciting, and it’s made me revisit my thoughts about season 1.
When Loki released in 2021, I wasn’t necessarily a fan. I love Loki in the comic books, I’ve always found them captivating and complicated, however the show wasn’t my cup of tea. In my 2021 end of year review for Marvel, I ranked Loki as ‘low tier.’ In hindsight, that may have been a bit harsh. The only way to know for sure is to give Loki a second chance, which is what I’ve done. I recently rewatched Loki, to see if my thoughts have changed.
Earlier this year, I revisited and reviewed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, for the same reason. I wrote about how beneficial it is to rewatch MCU content. With so many projects releasing, it’s easy to get swept away. Rewatching shouldn’t be something we reserve for projects we liked; it should be an option for projects we didn’t enjoy / appreciate the first time around. It’s important for fans to swim against the overwhelming tide of constant content and let our thoughts settle.
So, I’m going to see what I thought of Loki after two years. I’ve rewatched, I’ve noted the positives and negatives - has my verdict changed?
Positives
- Mobius - Owen Wilson’s performance was fantastic. Mobius is a character of subtlety and restraint. He remains professional while everything he knows is pulled into question. Owen Wilson captured that perfectly, offering a warm, likeable character of integrity. In fact, he was so good he pulled a better performance out of Tom Hiddleston. Simple interactions between Mobius and Loki were some of the best scenes in the series, and Owen Wilson drives that.
- Sylvie - Arguably, the most captivating Loki in the series. It was an interesting spin on the character, and the show did a great job of exploring her back story and explaining her motivations. This wasn’t simply a gender swapped Loki. She never felt like an echo or a copy; she was her own unique character with her own complexities. Sophia Di Martino gave a wonderful performance.
- Ravonna Renslayer - I don’t think people talk enough about how great Ravonna was. She’s stern, powerful, conflicted, but there’s also fragility. As the story unfolds, Ravonna only became even more dangerous and intimidating. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is phenomenally talented, and put so much life into this character.
- Hunter B-15 - Again, one of the most interesting yet overlooked characters. Tracking their arc from start to finish and watching them unravel gigantic secrets was fascinating and emotional, and Wunmi Mosaku’s performance was outstanding.
- TVA design - On a technical level, the show looked amazing. The design of the TVA office was particularly brilliant, which helped make a more immersive experience. It’s cutting-edge technology trapped in 1980s bureaucracy. The oxymoron of being futuristic yet old fashioned reminded me of Beetlejuice, without feeling like a lazy imitation. The practical sets were gorgeous, and the exterior shots of the weird pocket space the TVA inhabits were just bonkers.
- The score - Natalie Holt’s musical accompaniment was astonishing, and it’s one of the best scores in MCU history. The theremin provides an otherworldly feel, and the score bounced between delicate intrigue and bombastic tension. The music felt like a natural extension of the story, the characters, and the tone.
- Timeline explanation - Considering this series had to reframe how the audience view time, they did a solid job. They explained what the TVA does, what the “sacred timeline” is and what variants are, which is no easy task. There’s a great joke in episode 1 about infinity stones being so common that the TVA use them as paper weights. It showed this was a new era, and fans should abandon the notion they have all the answers.
- Weirdness - The start of Phase 4 was a time for Marvel to do something different and take some risks. WandaVision set the tone in spectacular fashion, and Loki understood the assignment. It was wacky and obscure, which added to the atmosphere and entertainment factor. Episode 5 in particular was an absolute joy.
- Easter eggs without smugness - For a show which utilises time travel, it was surprisingly restrained in terms of references and call backs. Fun easter eggs were scattered, especially in episode 5, but they were mostly subtle. They showed Frog Thor as a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment, which was terrific. It’s nice to know there was a time when Marvel’s multiverse saga was less reliant on overt fan service.
- Understanding Loki - This series did a good job of exploring who Loki is, his purpose, and his place in the universe. He wasn’t born to be a king; he was born to cause chaos and ultimately lose. They deconstructed a literal god of deception and trickery, put him through an existential crisis, and made him question everything he thought was true. Marvel could’ve used any character to start the multiversal saga, but there was something profound about Loki taking us on this journey. I don’t think the writing is consistent, and unfortunately Loki’s deconstruction was lost in the mix, but the show has a strong thesis statement which is founded on many great comic books.
- He Who Remains - Episode 6 brilliantly established Kang as the next big villain. They did just enough to wet our appetite and create a sense of dread, without going too far.
Negatives
- Tom Hiddleston - I’m just going to rip the plaster off: I don’t think Hiddleston was very good in this series. He’s been great as Loki in the past, and there are moments in this series which are good, but his performance overall was a little stale. He occasionally gets to have fun and cause chaos, but it felt forced, and his smaller emotional moments often rely on the same few tricks. It felt like Tom Hiddleston deliberately delivered an over the top performance, which unfortunately stood out for the wrong reasons.
- Fighting styles - The action sequences overall were nothing special, but the combat in particular was clunky. It often felt like we were watching fight scenes being choreographed for the first time, with lots of slow, rigid, almost uncertain movements. The director has spoken about Loki and Sylvie’s differing fighting styles. Loki is elegant and theatrical like a matador, whereas Sylvie is a survivor who learned to fight through necessity, adopting a more rabid fighting style. That’s a fascinating perspective! I just wish that vision made its way into the final product.
- Lack of originality - Even from the first time watching, the story didn’t feel unique. Key plot points are too familiar, or even lifted directly from other stories. The latter half reminded me of Christopher Eccelston era Doctor Who, and the reveal of “the Time Keepers don’t exist, there’s a man behind the curtain” dates back to The Wizard of Oz. I appreciate it’s difficult to craft a unique story, but the main tools and tricks Loki used were unimaginative, which reduced the impact of big reveals.
- Lack of mystery - As fun as this series was, the twists were fairly predictable. The Time Keepers not being real? Pruned people aren’t actually dead? Pruned people are actually transported to another location? The TVA is a front for something / someone else? These are all twists which could be guessed ahead of time unfortunately.
- Pseudo allyship - Episode 3 features a very brief and vague discussion about Loki’s sexuality. Considering how far into the franchise we are, and considering Loki is a trickster god whose gender identity and sexual preferences are fluid, this series didn’t even meet the minimum requirement. They’re paying lip service to diverse representation, without committing to it, and Marvel should do better. Marvel have such a rigid sense of heteronormativity that they let Loki kiss a female variant of himself, but haven’t let him kiss another man.
- Emotional engagement - Writing is an area Loki falls down in a big way. The script handled big concepts well, but it struggled to deliver solid emotional arcs or meaningful character progression. Crucially, Loki was quite a flat character. It’s not always clear what his goals and values are, his emotions bounce around rapidly and don’t always match situations, and he’s overshadowed by other characters. I won’t deny the writers clearly understand who Loki is, but they didn’t always know how to use him or which version of Loki they were writing.
- Cheesy writing - It’s frustrating, because some of the best moments consist of characters simply talking, but the quality isn’t consistent. The dialogue frequently made me cringe in all the wrong ways, including multiple instances where it’s unclear if lines were used sincerely or for comedic purposes. Key moments didn’t always land in the right way, the inconsistent tone was jarring, and the themes were explored mostly at surface level. The lack of depth is a problem, especially when the script uses humour to diffuse tension. The audience can’t invest in characters when the show isn’t focused, and the dialogue undercuts emotion.
- Overshadowing - As I mentioned above, there were many interesting characters in this show (Ravonna, Sylvie, Mobius etc.) but unfortunately Loki isn’t one of them. When the title star slips away from being the most interesting character in their own show, that’s not a good thing.
- Loki mismatch - This series immediately ran into complications, because it’s about the 2012 Loki from Avengers Assemble, rather than the Loki who died in Avengers: Infinity War. This Loki hasn’t been through the various emotional events we’ve seen in subsequent films, but the show still wanted / needed it to be the Loki we know. So, they microwaved some character development. 2012 Loki watches his life through a highlights reel, which is supposed to cover the gaps. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work. There’s a lack of natural progression, which means Loki consistently feels like a different character throughout the show. It’s hard for the audience to invest in a character when the script doesn’t fully know what it’s doing.
- Isolation - In hindsight, it’s frustrating this show doesn’t connect to anything else. We’re in the multiversal saga, yet every story takes place in its own bubble. The season finale made it seem like the multiverse has burst open, and this is the first domino to fall in a bigger picture. But nothing else followed on from this. Other stories which dabble in the multiverse, like Spider-Man: No Way Home, didn’t connect. The lack of connective tissue makes the impact of Loki feel diluted.
So, we reach the all-important question: have I changed my mind about where Loki sits in the MCU? Originally, I placed it in the ‘low tier’, which felt right at the time. Upon review, Loki is still a mixed bag. I enjoyed rewatching it, but there are still noticeable flaws. The show got a lot of things right, and balanced weird sci-fi spectacle and delicate character moments nicely. However, it also made many missteps, and unfortunately the elements it got wrong were big and important (narrative structure, character development, themes etc.) It’s not the worst MCU show, but it’s also not high tier. If I were to rank Loki again, I’d place it firmly in the ‘middle tier.’
I’m glad I rewatched Loki, not just because I found more to like and I changed my ranking, but because it felt good to let my thoughts settle. I’ve found Marvel’s strategy overwhelming over the last two years. They seem to be deliberately drowning us in content, constantly shifting our focus to the next scheduled release, which means nothing has time to digest. I’d rather take my time, let something settle, then try to talk about it.
As far as season 2 of Loki is concerned, I’m going in with an open mind. Even though I found Loki underwhelming, I don’t see a second season as anything to be concerned about. If anything, the opposite is true. The first season wasn’t my cup of tea, which means there isn’t much room for the second season to get worse. There’s far more room for a second season to improve upon the first and to do something different. I might be wrong later, but for now, I’m hopeful.
To finish, I’ll express my excitement for Loki season 2 by amending the words of Ted Lasso:
“I do love a second season. Smells like potential.”
If you’ve enjoyed this article, please check out my other Marvel articles:
