The Mosley Review: Loki (Season 1)
If there's one character that I thought had a great arc and ended exactly where he should've, its Loki. For over the past decade, he has been the most prolific Marvel Cinematic Universe villain that was so much fun to watch and his end was tragic and glorious. Once it was announced that he would be getting his own series, I wasn't looking forward to it. We all knew that it was gonna splinter off from the moment he took the tesseract in Avengers: Endgame and eventually circle back around. I thought the character had lived past his means story wise and I'm here to say that I was completely wrong. The Marvel tv series offer us a deeper understanding of each character and this series was no different. I thought Loki's arc was excellent in the films, but now his entire life is completely flipped upside down. I loved the doubling down on time travel and how we see an organization that keeps the timeline on track. These series have expanded the universe in such fascinating and smart ways that not only have ramifications to the MCU, but also gives multiple layers of character development in such intimate ways.
Tom Hiddleston returns as our favorite MCU villain Loki and he was better then ever. Tom has taken this character from being the constant malevolent, mischievous dominator to someone you can't take your eyes off of. Loki goes through such a drastic shift in personality that by the end he is humbled. I loved that we get inside of what goes on in his head and the amount of humanity that resides in his heart. It is truly the most fully realized Loki has ever been and the best performance Hiddleston has given as the character. Owen Wilson joins the MCU as the investigator assigned to Loki, Mobius. I loved his detective skills and he has such an average Joe vibe that was so refreshing. The moment he meets Loki is when the show really takes off. The two of them together are fantastic and their chemistry is straight out of a great detective story or even a buddy cop film. Wilson is so charismatic as the character and he shines the most during the many conversations he has with Loki. Their bond is so strong and you couldn't imagine the series without the them together. Wunmi Mosaku is always fantastic and as Hunter B-15, she shows strength, fortitude and at times wisdom. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was excellent as the judge for TVA, Ravonna Renslayer. She commands the screen in every scene and her friendship with Mobius was great. You since the respect they have for each other, but also a few moments where there’s more than just friendship between them. Tara Strong was fun as Miss Minutes and I loved her bubbly way of explaining all of the rules and exposition. Even though she is fun, helpful and bubbly, at times she comes off as a creepier version Mr. DNA in a few scenes toward the end of the season. Sophia Di Martino was outstanding as Sylvie. Since this show deals with different realms and universes, she is a variant of our Loki. She captures the vengeful nature of the character and I loved her physicality in all of her fight scenes. The more you start to find out about her backstory, the more she is intriguing and similar to our Loki. Once they're on screen together, it is magic. I loved that even though they're different in belief structures, they are almost one in the same. Their bond is so strong and you get a bit of a love story which was fun because Loki is essentially falling in love with himself.
The score by Natalie Holt was fantastic and reminded me of 90's B movies with a hint of a spiritual hymn. Its haunting, soothing, suspenseful and I loved every bit of it. It has been tough for Marvel to have themes that are distinguishable from the rest, but this score I’ll always be able to pick out. The cinematography of the show is beautiful and I liked how the TVA was bland and sterile in its color scheme. This series was the lowest on my anticipated list of Marvel series to come and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It was a deep dive into a character that has evolved exponential past what’ve known. The first season is now streaming on Disney+ if you haven't watched it yet. Definitely stick around for the end credits scene on Episode 4 and the season finale. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
