Loki (Season 1) Review!

 Alright! Today I'm reviewing the newest MCU show for Disney+, Loki, whose first season finale premiered today. And I am really, really happy to report that Loki is miles ahead of both WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  

Like, seriously. It blows them out of the water. Interestingly enough, I wasn't terribly hyped for Loki. I thought this might happen in the back of my mind - of course, the series I'm least looking forward to becomes the best one. Something like this always happens. 

The moment I knew I would love Loki was when the first episode aired and the title card showed up. Something that hadn't happened in the other two shows was catchy theme songs. Loki fixed that problem instantly. Natalie Holt absolutely destroyed the rest of the MCU's musical scores. This is awesome.

Honestly, Loki sets the bar too high. As a general rule of thumb, the MCU lacks good compositions, with the main standouts being the Avengers movies (Try humming the theme from Captain Marvel. You can't). I think the last time we had a non-Avenger movie to have a fun score was Thor: Ragnarok? 

Kudos to the composer.

It's irrelevant, but it's a good point. Loki has an incredible musical score. I would honestly look forward to the new episodes just to see what Ms. Holt would come up with. Something else I loved about Loki was the visuals. The cinematography and CGI were absolutely impeccable for the entire first season, which is fun.

I honestly had very few problems with this series. The characters were fun, the music was fun, and the finale wasn't butchered. My only complaints are really that the third episode dragged and that I wished there was more. Six episodes were too little, this could have gone on for a lot longer. Thank goodness we're getting a second season.

The god of thunder always comes after... lightning....

The action wasn't particularly impressive, I will say that. That's why the best parts of the series come from the script - the sharp dialogue between Mobius and our Loki makes the show. Based on episode two, I thought this would be a buddy cop series where every season gets a new threat to the TVA. I was looking forward to it as well! I loved the dialogue! 

I think the best description I've heard is that this series has the top-notch banter that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier thought it had. That's 100% accurate. 

Another thing that I wasn't totally on board with was the logic. The TVA makes sense at a glance, and they certainly take the time to explain it, but it very rarely adds up. Luckily the show is so fun you'll barely notice, so who cares? 

And what were Loki's powers again? His past few MCU appearances had been mega nerfing him, it's been so long since we got a true manipulative and mind-twisting Loki action scene that these felt strange. I also wasn't the biggest fan of taking the 2012 villain Loki, who had just suffered defeat at the hands of the Avengers, and turning him into 2017 antihero Loki within the first episode. I guess an unreliable narrator type would've been fun. 

Canonically, the Loki that stole an eye was, like, two days ago. 

Loki was also, in many ways, a side character in his own show. Or, rather, most other characters are more interesting. Loki's still good, but the new additions like Mobius and Sylvie became more compelling as the series went on while Loki barely gained any depth after episode four. 

I actually wasn't the biggest Sylvie fan when she first showed up. She was a bit... grating in episode three. I was won over by episode four, but I found her characterization to be far less likable. Mobius remained perfect throughout the entire show. Owen Wilson was another amazing MCU casting decision, his laid-back presence basically carried the entire show. It was pretty sad that he was underused after episode two. 

Sylvie/Lady Loki/The closest we'll get to Enchantress got better as the show went on.

I also liked most other characters. While Judge Renslayer remained a hard character to find motivations for, I know she'll eventually wind up in a tube on Kang the Conqueror's ship, Nora Fries style. I also really, really liked the Throg cameo. Apparently, he had a scene cut from episode one, which is... absolutely devastating... if we can get an hour of Zemo dancing, can we #ReleasetheThrogCut? We need more Throg. 

Speaking of animal-based variants, Alligator Loki was absolutely incredible and I want a Disney+ show for him as soon as humanely possible. I actually liked all the Loki variants from episode five - Classic Loki was awesome, Kid Loki was intimidating (Look for him in Young Avengers), Boastful Loki was fun, and President Loki was accordingly backstabby. But Alligator Loki remained chief among them. 

This better be setting up some Pet Avengers Disney+ show

But above all else, Loki really needed a big floaty CGI sky beam fight to cap it off. Sure, a slow and talkative finale with satisfying twists and exciting character introductions was fun and actually fit in with the rest of the show, but the entire time I was sitting there thinking that it sorely needed a CGI fight where Loki fights a villain that's basically him but evil. That would've made it a 10/10. 

But yeah, Loki was good. It got me hyped for a second season, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, so... well played, Marvel.

Overall, I give Loki a 9/10. "With absolutely delightful visuals, musical score, and a solid cast, Loki creates some of the strongest MCU content in years."

I really wish we had gotten more President Loki. The attire was so iconic from the marketing.