Loki – For All Time. Always. Review

So, it was Kang the Conqueror all along! Or rather, some version of Kang who saw the devastation wrought by his own Variants and took steps to orchestrate a universe in which such chaos and destruction would be banished from existence. I was on the “There’s no way they introduce Kang on a Disney+ show!” train, but I was surprisingly happy to be proven wrong – all because Loki and the MCU managed to pull off the perfect character introduction. Kang now exists in the MCU (played by the great Jonathan Majors – more on him and Kang at the end of the review), but he exists in a way that allows those who aren’t watching these shows to still keep up with the story.

As fun, interesting, and needed as these Disney+ shows have been, it’s been clear that Marvel (and Kevin Feige) wanted to make sure that fans who don’t have access to the shows wouldn’t feel lost or get frustrated if they didn’t watch. If you didn’t watch The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, you only need a single sentence (Sam is now Captain America) to get the gist of how the series will broadly impact the MCU moving forward. If you didn’t watch WandaVision, the explanation is a tad more complex (Vision is now White Vision and Wanda essentially enslaved an entire town with her grief before running away to try and deal with everything on her own – while not having to really face the consequences of her actions in a meaningful way), but again, you can read a bit and understand enough to be ready for their next MCU appearances. Throwing the villain for the next Ant-Man film into Loki could have made things a mess for those not up to date on their mythology, but Loki managed to side-step any potential issues by introducing Kang but also not introducing Kang. And that’s a genius move that protects the fanbase while also allowing the series to tell the story it set out to tell: Loki’s journey from spoiled megalomaniac into a real boy.

The pay-offs we received to both Loki and Sylvie’s arcs in the finale were hard won by both characters. For Loki (and Tom Hiddleston, who finally got the chance to show the world the different shades of his signature character), it was the reveal that he can genuinely care for others and work to protect those he loves even if it means sacrificing his own goals to do so. He can be trusted. This new and improved Loki isn’t a wholly altruistic character, of course, and there are bound to be a number of growing pains in season two (chief among them: how to convince Mobius and B-15 that he’s come from a timeline with dire news they need to listen to, even though they have no memory of his existence in their current timeline), but he’s far more interesting than the brash character we met back in episode one. He’s grown, changed, and been betrayed, and now understands that there is more at stake than his own individual wants and needs. It’s a big jump for Loki, and one that Hiddleston pulled off seamlessly.

As for Sylvie, well, I think we all recognized that her particular brand of trauma wouldn’t be as simple to overcome as Loki’s, and she proved us right with her continued need to achieve vengeance. The most interesting part of that choice was that the series didn’t set it up as wrong, or misguided. Sure, it meant the potential destruction of the timeline and the multiverse explosion (which we all knew was coming thanks to the upcoming slate of MCU films), but there was the lingering question of just how trustworthy Kang was. After all, these are Lokis who are now used to not trusting those around them – the only person a Loki can trust is themself. And Kang? Didn’t seem to be all there in his pontificating (a great performance by Majors, who managed to make his exposition dump compelling). But the driving force for Sylvie, in contract to Loki’s, was her own need for revenge. To strike back at the man who caused her a lifetime of solitude and pain. I can’t fault her for making that choice and damning the universe. Even in finding someone who can understand elements of her life, Loki could never really understand it all and truly empathize with the pain inside her. So, she did the one thing she knew would give her joy – even if only for a moment – and killed this version of Kang. And, by doing so, kicked off the MCU Phase Four in true chaotic fashion.

This also won’t be the last we see of Loki, Sylvie, Mobius, and B-15, as the mid-credit scene revealed that the series – unlike WandaVision and TFATWS – will be coming back for a second season. A great decision, as it keeps Loki a player within the MCU, allows the series to build up its secondary characters (Mobius, Ravonna, Sylvie) before they are eventually sent out into the MCU proper (you don’t keep Owen Wilson under contract and not let him out and about in movies), and gives the series the chance to properly build up Kang the Conqueror prior to his real villainous turn in Ant-Man – and, judging from that Kang statue at the close of the episode, this isn’t one of the chill Kangs we’re dealing with now. The decision to give us another season of Loki also allows the MCU to have a true anchor series on Disney+. One-off appearances by Avengers are well and good, but they don’t inspire folks to keep up that subscription once the shows are off the air. Having one series that people know will be back can make them more likely to keep that subscription year-round – and for a streaming service that has been spotty with non-big IP shows (think anything not Star Wars or MCU), keeping more subscriptions can only help the streaming service (with the caveat that this is Disney and they have a monopoly on entertainment even without their streamer). It’s a smart business decision in addition to making creative sense.

So, where does Loki rank in the MCU television universe? Well, I’d put this one at the top of the heap, as it managed to do the one thing WandaVision failed on: stick the landing while never feeling like homework for the next big MCU film. From start to finish, I certainly enjoyed Loki more. And I’m incredibly excited that we get another installment, with more time to watch Loki develop into a multifaceted character – and to see just who Sylvie will become now that she has slayed her demon. After all, achieving your goal only feels like an accomplishment for a brief time. What’s next for these characters? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Final Thoughts:

— Ok, so Kang the Conqueror. A bit of housekeeping before jumping into a mini-primer on Kang (who was, ultimately, the man behind the curtain, even if he wasn’t going by that particular moniker on Loki): the character pulling the strings was technically He Who Remains, who is the guy pulling the strings of the TVA in the comic incarnation of the TVA. But this version of He Who Remains is also a Variant of Kang the Conqueror (or Nathaniel Richards – his original human name, Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion, Iron Lad, etc.). Kang is, essentially, a super villain of Marvel who travels throughout time wreaking havoc and attempting to conquer the universe (hence the Kang the Conqueror title). He’s not the kinda guy you want to see at your doorstep. But he’s here, and I suspect we’ll get a better look at the not-so-nice guy version of him in season two of Loki (which should debut ahead of the February 2023 premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) or even in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, as Kang has a comic history with Wanda.

— You know who falls in love with Kang in the comics? That would be Ravonna Renslayer – who happens to be a princess there, or at least that version of her in the multiverse is. So, it makes sense that Kang’s key lackey (even if she isn’t aware of it) would be a Ravonna Variant – one who escapes on her own mission at the close of the episode. I doubt this is the last we’re going to see of her.

— So, who is Jonathan Majors? If you’re looking to get a solid look at his impressive acting abilities, check out HBO’s Lovecraft Country – a limited series that just racked up a bunch of Emmy nominations, and one that also starred Wunmi Mosaku (B-15, but who was just sensational in Lovecraft). Once you see his work, you’ll realize just what good hands Kang is in here. He’s going to be great.