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Loki begins in New York City, 2012, with the The tesseract being stolen by one Loki Laufeyson, God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston), then seeing him head to the Gobi Desert, in Mongolia.
This series is set mainly after the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Obviously, our titular lead died in Avengers: Infinity War, but the overlong sequel made everything fine again. Hence, death is not the career setback it used to be.
He tells the Mongolians how he’s burdened with glorious purpose, but is soon caught up by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) who slap him in chokey, never to escape, maybe… but it gives us an early bizarre comic moment where, in the TVA building which looks like it was made in the ’60s, he’s asked to sign a form to say it contains everything he’s ever said, to which he replies, “What?”, thus generating an extra piece of paper. And so on…
In fact, it’s all a bit daft.
For a bit further time-jumping, we’re taken to Aix-En-Provence, France, in 1549, where Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) is investigating a murder, although it’s clear he’s gone back in time to that point, given the tech he’s carrying with him. Yes, he works for the TVA… and Mrs Wilson fits in rather well.
His world is a much more progressive one, including flying vehicles. It’s like the Family Guy futuristic episode – Road to the Multiverse – where the world has been allowed to progress after Christianity was scrapped.
But don’t celebrate just yet, Loki, since while he thinks he was born to be God King, Mobius confirms he has other ideas. The TVA has stripped him of all his powers, and he’s sentenced to be ‘reset’. EEK!
For a series mostly shot in 2.39:1, when he’s given a cartoon explanation of the multiverse, the 2.39:1 widescreen ratio changes to 4:3. In fact, in a scene where he jumps out of a plane, that one gradually opens up to 16:9, so the aspect ratio changes about quite a lot.
So, we have a reasonable opener, and on their weekly ‘broadcasts’, I will check more of them out – which could not be said for the dire Wandavision or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
It’s also worth noting that Tom Hiddleston has said he thought he was finished with the role of Loki, so had to be surprised to come back and take an easy cheque…
Oh, and as a post-credits moment…
Loki is a six-episode series, which began with a single episode on Wednesday June 9th, and continues weekly.
Episode 1 Score: 7/10
Director: Kate Herron
Creator/Writer: Michael Waldron
Cast:
Loki: Tom Hiddleston
Agent Mobius: Owen Wilson
Ravonna Renslayer: Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Hunter B-15: Wunmi Mosaku
Casey: Eugene Cordero
Miss Minutes: Tara Strong
Hunter B-92: Derek Russo
Flight Attendant: Erika Coleman
Gobi villager: Munkshur Bolbaatar
Martin: Josh Fadem
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.