Say what you will about this season of Loki (and I certainly have over my previous reviews), but you cannot say that Tom Hiddleston hasn’t left it all on the pitch this season with his portrayal of the titular character. Sure, the story has been way too centered on the mechanics of time travel rather than character-driven storytelling for my tastes, but Hiddleston has been so game with his physical comedy (that sequence where Loki kept trying to time slip on command was pretty funny) and injecting a true earnest desire into his performance as Loki (and one could argue that this addition of a true earnest desire to save the TVA is character development, although you could also argue that saving the TVA also feeds into Loki’s desire for self-preservation, so maybe it’s a wash) that at least watching our titular character make it through this confusing and ultimately disappointing season of television has been worth some of our time.
Because this penultimate episode was . . . weird. And not a good weird. On the one hand, we got to see our central characters living out alternate lives on the timeline. While it was nice to see that B-15 seemed to have a nice life in her branched timeline, it was also a bit troubling to see kind, sweet Casey was one of the Alcatraz escapees. But ultimately, the only mini-arc that really worked was, unsurprisingly, Mobius’. And it only worked because Owen Wilson was given a chance to try to imbue this version of Mobius (Don, the jet ski salesman) with a bit more humanity than any of the other alternative character versions we get (and seeing as how we spent a good chunk of time with Don and much less time with the other variant character versions, this isn’t too surprising). You see, Don is a single father to two mischievous tween sons (one of whom has a troubling relationship with fire that Don should probably look a bit deeper into). And if Loki can’t save the day, these boys will cease to exist. For the first time in the series we’re given a tangible reason for preserving the branches of the timeline: Don’s terrified to lose his sons, who we have met (albeit briefly), and who we know he loves deeply.* Now, is it too much to ask an audience to sympathize with Slyvie’s “save everyone” ethos without providing us with characters we can latch onto in those threatened timelines? No, I guess it isn’t. But when you have the ability to pull something like this off – to show us how the loss of life will shatter a character we’ve grown to care about? Well, that’s absolutely the right play. And one that should have been made earlier in the game.
*There’s absolutely a correlation to be made between Don’s sons and Loki and Thor. I mean, you have to make it, right? The one younger son who is acting out to get his father’s divided attention (dad works long hours and doesn’t have a ton of time for the boys) and the elder son who is asked to find the younger one and keep him in check? I appreciated that the writing didn’t expressly highlight this dynamic, but simply let it sit there for us to pick up on.
And while the penultimate episode was a game of “getting the gang back together for one more mission,” I appreciated that, in the end, Loki really didn’t need everyone there after all. He simply needed the time to think through how to get where he needed to go. As for just who the who will turn out to be, I’m not sure if it’s Sylvie (which would be a nice realization, considering the series has really ignored her character a great deal this season in favor of putting much more focus on Kang than it probably – in retrospect – should have) or if it is Kang himself. But, either way, Loki has found his center and will be on the path to save all of the various timelines come next week’s finale. Although I’m sure something will go awry so that it can set things up for some other movie or television series in the MCU.
It’s unfortunate that this season of Loki has felt so scattered when season one was telling such a clear story. I’ve missed getting a chance to spend time watching characters grow and interact. But, then again, this confused, plot-forward storytelling has become a hallmark of Marvel over the past few years, ignoring character in favor of simply getting us from Point A to Point B in order for the next piece of the storytelling puzzle to make sense. My hope is that, moving forward, Marvel can finally take its foot off the gas and spend some time crafting compelling, character first stories that allow us the chance to see characters we love take journeys that seem incredible. Because, at this point, season two of Loki doesn’t fall into that category at all.
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