Loki Episode 1+2 Review: The best Marvel Show is still here

Loki Episode 1+2 Review: The best Marvel Show is still here

I just watched episodes 1 and 2 of Loki and was caught up in a whirlwind of emotions. One moment I was grinning at a new character I couldn't help but love, and the next I was sad and mournful. And just before the moment of confusion (in a good way), I found myself laughing so hard my sides hurt.

In fact, these first two episodes are so great, I'm ready to say this will be the best Marvel show ever. The "Loki" TV series succeeds in many more ways, and I am absolutely in love with this show so far. I am happy with it being another series that Disney is releasing weekly. Such a good show. I won't be watching it in one sitting. Here's why.

Throughout each episode, Loki has a great sense of fun. It starts with familiar scenes from Loki's past, which makes me chuckle and helps me catch up on the timeline if I haven't re-watched the MCU recently.

But once that dies down, the show's secret weapon makes things more fun. The Time Variation Bureau (basically a police station dedicated to stopping time crimes) is filled with many odd and quirky things about the workings of space and time. This gives Loki Shaw a lot to work with to set up a world full of gags and excitement and strange whimsy.

And while I expected Tom Hiddleston to nail every Loki-worthy moment, it became clear early on in the show that the casting agent for this series knows a gold find when he finds it: TVA agent Ummi Mosaku, who plays Hunter B-15 conveys so much with minimal dialogue that one immediately wants to know more about her character.

Even the little things work. For example, Loki, in his formal human attire of shirt and tie, is somehow smiling. He is in his element and really funny; TVA clerk Casey (Eugene Cordero), who has very little knowledge of the outside world, gets far more laughs than the usual tertiary characters.

And, dare I say it, Tara Strong's work as the voice of the animated Miss Minute probably doesn't get enough credit.

Later in the episode, Loki delves into grief and sadness, but it all feels self-inflicted, despite the references to deaths outside of this series. This is all thanks to Hiddleston's performance, which always gives the characters a sense of humanity.

In "Wanda and the Colossus," he took his time with Wanda's grief, but in the "Loki" series he attacks it head-on, and it feels more natural. It does not seem to require one episode near the end to explain all the engineering aspects of the show, as in the eighth episode of "Wanda Vision". That episode was well received up front, but it felt a bit overstuffed.

The Loki TV series is so focused on answering the question, "What drives Loki?" that Mobius M. (Owen Wilson) actually asks him that question. He is focused on answering the question. But as we are reminded in "Avengers: Infinity War," the real Loki is dead.

Instead, Hiddleston plays a version of Loki whose life was split sideways in the "Avengers" films (as seen in the time heist scene at Stark Tower in "Endgame"). In other words, he does not know the end of Asgard, nor does he know most of the MCU as we know it.

However, he is able to experience his own future thanks to a number of gadgets in the TVA. This (plot) device opens up so much character work, giving Loki the opportunity to actually examine himself on a very meta level.

And that is what is so great about The Loki Show. Rarely does a film or show kill off a character and bring him back to life, and yet do it very well. Somehow, the writers of "Loki" found a way to make the series' tricks (which Loki himself makes fun of) work to their benefit.

But why are we here, aside from gaining a deeper knowledge of the MCU characters we already know (the mission underlying all early Marvel Disney Plus shows).

Now, Mobius is seeking Loki's help to stop him. There is a fugitive Loki variant on the loose that matches Loki's temporal aura and is doing evil.

And here is what seems to be the root of the Wanda-visionary Loki's interest. The time Wanda and Vision spent in Westview, NJ, was not merely entertaining with references to old TV shows, but the great ongoing mystery generated much talk and chatter.

The first two episodes of Loki also provide ample answers, so there are no strings attached. However, the ending of the second episode, "Wait, ...... and you'll wish episode 3 wasn't a week away.

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