Last Wednesday the highly anticipated Marvel Studios original series Loki premiered on Disney+. A lot of excitement has surrounded the series leading up to its release, and if the pilot were to say anything about the direction that the series will go in, it’s bound to be one of the studios’ best shows yet. Getting a deeper look at the psyche of Tom Hiddleston's Loki, whose a sometimes misunderstood and sometimes actually villainous villain, is a fun, yet weird, kick-off to the long-awaited series.
The episode begins right where we saw Loki in Avengers: Endgame where he went into a portal to escape the Avengers back in the 2012 film. A TVA (Time Variance Authority) agent named Hunter B-15 and fellow agents take Loki and bring him to the TVA headquarters. After being processed by their system, Loki gets a quick rundown on the TVA's existence, an organization created by the mysterious Celestial beings known as the Timekeepers, to basically keep small aberrations in the timeline from creating multiversal madness.
Image: Screen Rant
We then meet Agent Mobius, played by Owen Wilson, who's investigating the deaths of a TVA squad in 1549 France. Mobius is confused by the case, even after talking to a young boy who identifies the culprit by pointing at a stained glass window of the devil (Mephisto?) He then hands Mobius a pack of bubble gum which indicates that the culprit was clearly from a different period in time.
Loki's trial for the crime of leaving from his set timeline isn't going great for the God of Mischief, since his magic won't work in TVA headquarters. But just as the judge (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw whose character Ravonna Renslayer had a relationship with the villain, and time traveler from the future, Kang the Conquerer) sentences him to be reset, Mobius shows up asking if he can get some time alone with Loki. He’s basically hoping that Loki can help him to crack his current case that he is investigating.
Loki doesn’t seem too excited by this, as he's still trying to figure out what exactly is going on and how he might manipulate the situation to his advantage, as he’s a master schemer. Loki seems interested in learning more about the Timekeepers, and potentially speaking to them directly to get his own “case” resolved.
Image: ComicBook
Mobius scoffs at this and sits down for a conversation with Loki for one of the best scenes in the MCU’s history. It also brings out the question of: who is Loki, really? This was some of the most in-depth examination of a character we've ever seen in an MCU property before, and the show’s lead writer, Michael Waldron, director Kate Herron, and the actors involved did a phenomenal job at delivering one of the most interesting 45-minutes in the MCU to date. Not only Loki is forced to confront his past choices, including the truth that yes, he's caused a whole lot of people an awful amount of pain, but he also uses the TVA records of his pre-established timeline to see what his future has in store for him: losing both of his adopted parents, his reconciling with Thor, and then eventually getting his neck snapped by the guy (Thanos) that he was working with just moments ago in 2012’s The Avengers.
After this emotional moment, Loki attempts to escape the TVA. However, Loki isn't able to outrun the truths that have been thrown onto him, he offers a confession and an apology for his past actions by saying: "I don't enjoy hurting people. I don't enjoy it. I do it because I have to, because I've had to. Because it's part of the illusion. it's the cruel elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear."
It's an emotional moment, and based solely on Hiddleston's performance, it's easy to want to believe him. Mobius seemed convinced enough by Loki's apparent willingness to cooperate that he reveals why he wants to work with Loki on his current case: "the variant we're hunting… It's you."
Image: Nerdist
And in case you needed additional explanation as to what Mobius means, we see said Variant in action. Well, not their face, but we do get to watch a hooded figure get the jump on a TVA team in 1858 Oklahoma, setting them on fire and releasing a reset charge. It's an ending that delivers a lot of fascinating questions to be answered in coming episodes, and in short, it’s also a great way to end a pilot episode.
The series is shaping out to be pretty stellar, and with Sophia Di Martino and Richard E. Grant playing currently unknown characters, we’re in store for quite the ride as the season transpires. My theory on who these talented actors could be playing are simple. I think Grant is playing “He Who Remains” who is the director of the Time Variance Authority at the Citadel at the End of Time, the last reality of the Multiverse. As for Martino, it’s safe to assume that she’s Lady Loki, who I also think is the Loki from the multiverse whose wrecking havoc across time for the TVA… Unless it’s of course Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer using his not so familiar alias Immortus. But if the Disney+ MCU shows have taught us anything, it’s to not expect someone major to appear that every fan and their mother theorize to appear before the pilot is even released.
You can see Loki every Wednesday, only on Disney+.