9/10
In Loki on Disney+, the events of Avengers Endgame have resulted in a separate timeline. This one's Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) is arrested by the TVA, time cops, for going against the timeline and finds himself recruited to fight a bigger foe.
This is a wondrously weird and creative show. Tt has kind of a Terry Gilliam feel to it. Loki finds himself running into several fantastical and intriguing situations and concepts. It's also kinda like WandaVision in that there are many mysteries and twists and turns.
Although time authorities have been done before, the TVA manages to carve its own space. Admittedly, there are blatant comparisons to the time organization from The Umbrella Academy, especially since they both have anachronistic designs and dress codes. Still I think the two organizations do enough differently that the similarities aren't a deal killer.
Be forewarned that I didn't find the last episode as satisfying as I'd like. I didn't dislike it, but I feel there was room for improvement.
Unsurprisingly, this show titled Loki is mainly about Loki. The character has always been fun, but he always had to play second fiddle. Here the character gets to shine, and this turns out to be an incredibly strong character piece as the show goes into what makes Loki tick and his personal journey. I think we all know Loki has issues and damage, but I'm surprised how much introspection and pathos is in this. It's also kinda fun to see Loki, who's been selfish and usually pursuing his own goals and not having a lot of time to interact with people, thrown into other people's plans and conflicts and seeing him try to adapt to these situations. (Basically if you're tired of people falling for his tricks ALL the time, you'll be pleased with the change of pace here.) Hiddleston's performance has always been what made the character popular, and man does he really nail the character here but in a new way.
However, I think the show spends too much time on the title character than it really needs. You can only see Loki do Loki stuff and say Loki things for so long. The cast is smaller than WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which admittedly allows the story to be more focused, but I think the supporting characters could've had more to do. Loki's intelligence and strength does seem to vary drastically based on the situation. The show also has a nasty habit of putting Loki through the wringer, throwing heavy thing after heavy thing onto him, and it gets exhausting.
Going back to the characters, we've got some great casting. Owen Wilson is in this as TVA investigator Mobius and he brings a nice chain of pace from what he usually does. The character is a smart, level-headed, and nice guy, plus a solid foil for Loki. Mobius kind of serves as an audience surrogate, knowing all of Loki's tricks and exactly what makes him tick. The two of them got a good odd couple buddy cop thing going on.
The show looks great. Of the recent MCU shows, this is the most theatrical looking. The show really outdid itself with all the different places Loki visits. The design for the TVA headquarters is really, really impressive (especially the exterior). Though, the low lighting and monotone color scheme of the place does get on my nerves a little. The costume design is also really good, again being pretty diverse.
Highly recommended. I did prefer Wandavision and F&tWS. The show doesn't feel quiiiiite as solidly put together and like I said it tries a little too hard to be dramatic. Could've lightened things up a little. Still, compared to a lot of the shows out there there, it's surpasses a lot of them. Very entertaining.
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