Skip to main content

TV Series Review: Loki (2021) *Spoiler Free*

Loki Season One Poster
Marvel's third, direct movie tie in series, Loki immediately piqued my interest tenfold when I heard it would be a time travel themed series. Basically completing the trifecta of my favorite themes, Sci-fi, Superheroes, and Time Travel (pretty much the ingredients of Avengers: Endgame with a lot less superheroes).

While it's not really fair to compare any of the three series, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki to each other (they're all very different), Loki, for me, had the most satisfying season finale of them all... and not just because it's the only series confirmed for a second season. Which is important to mention because it's possible to forgive a few loose ends if you know there's still more to come.

Loki follows the journey of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as we know him to be at the end of the first Avengers movie, where we saw him escape in Avengers: Endgame. His escape sets off a Nexus event, an anomaly in the timeline, that attracts the attention of the Time Variant Authority (TVA), an organization working outside the main timeline. From there a mystery and a chase ensues.

A lot of Marvel fans are all about the action of superheroes being superheroes, saving the day etc. so this series may have slightly less appeal however, Loki is very much a series of extremely thoughtful conversations between different pairings of characters. While it does have many action sequences, I found myself really looking forward to the next conversation.

In particular, any interaction Loki had with Mobius (Owen Wilson), playing what is essentially a time detective role, and Loki's handler. It works so well because Owen is very much playing the laid back, easy going type character he's known for but, right away, you know he's also smart enough to spar with Loki's quick intelligence and not take any of his BS.

So much character development for both Loki and Mobius is achieved just through their conversations that it's almost a disappointment when we cut away to a new scene.

Tom Hiddleston's performance is truly next level, having to revert back to the arrogant and inflated ego Loki we first met years ago, and then going through an entirely new character arc that sets Loki up once again as one of the greatest anti heroes in the MCU.

The supporting cast is equally as strong with no weak links at all. I'd name drop a few but I'd potentially be giving away minor spoilers.

I have seen some people's enjoyment marred by their expectations of characters not being what they expected based on their comic book counterparts but, at this point, you should be well aware the MCU is inspired by the comics and is not an exact retelling of any comic book series. 

Sometimes I feel lucky to have not read most of the comic books Marvel movies and shows are based upon. I get to go into everything with no preconceived expectations of what characters should be like.

I would highly recommend you just let characters in the show be who they are in the show... particularly in a show that is all about different variations of characters (not a spoiler since you learn this almost from the get go in episode one).

If I could cite any disappointment at all (and this is relatively minor) is the time travel element of the show didn't particularly jump around many familiar timelines from actual Earth based history. The trailers felt like more of this was promised than we actually got. It was fine though. The time travel we did get, and the reasons for choosing those locations made plenty of sense. I didn't really miss seeing real world timelines being disrupted.

Overall I really enjoyed the series. I feel watching this will give you a better understanding of what's coming in Marvel movies going forward but I can see it's not necessarily critical either. 

That said the entire team that put this together have done some amazing work, with some of the best acting performances you'll see anywhere on a big or small screen. With only six episodes, each less than an hour long, you've got time for this.

Comments

Buy Whimsical Cat Art Prints by TET (Redbubble Store)

Enjoy Your Favorite TET Art Up Close, Interactive, and so Relaxing!

Enjoy Your Favorite TET Art Up Close, Interactive, and so Relaxing!
Relax and Challenge Yourself with a Fun, Whimsical Cat Art Jigsaw - 30-1000 pieces. Click Image for More.

Popular posts from this blog

Review: ArtHelper - The All-In-One AI Writing + Marketing Assistant for Artists - 'ChatGPT for Artists'

ArtHelper prides itself on being all 'human-made' art. T he idea of an AI, trained specifically on art business marketing, that can not only offer advice on marketing your work, but also assist with creating all the content too, is certainly appealing. Especially to those of us who would rather spend more time creating our art than trying to sell it. ArtHelper does just that whilst attempting to be your 'home' on the internet. A destination for your profile and portfolio, a marketplace for your art, and a directory of artists as well, with one distinction - all the art must be human made. Which, for you AI artists, doesn't count the prompt for AI generated art - because the idea, according to ArtHelper's creators, isn't the art. Which is a fair point, in terms of promoting art 'made by a human', but can get kind of murky when you understand that not all AI art is generated from a single prompt... and 'found object art' isn't actually ...

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art  image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart...

West Beach Skatepark, Adelaide, South Australia

Main Vert Ramp, West Beach. West Beach Skatepark , Adelaide, South Australia, is one of my favorite skateparks, even though I can barely skate anything in it well. Most of the park is way above my ability. Located not far from the end of the runway at Adelaide Airport it can be a bit disconcerting seeing how low the planes get as they come in to land. From certain vantage points you'd swear they're about to crash into the park instead of fly over to the runway. The park is nearly an hour's drive from my house in Gawler so the only time I get to visit is if I'm dropping my partner off at the airport (which is a rare occurrence). This particular day was a hot 41 degrees celsius. I didn't think I'd skate but the heat guaranteed the park to be virtually empty (except for one other skater who lasted about as long as I did before giving it away). Below is a video with some highlights from my, about an hour long, session. As you can see, my ability is l...

Tesla Unveils Optimus Robot Prototype and Second Generation Prototype - Movie, iRobot, May Be a Documentary?

Tesla Optimus Prototype One, Development Platform. September 30th finally rolled around along with Tesla A.I. day and the unveiling of not one but two Tesla Optimus Robot prototypes. Which was quite a bonus since we hadn't heard anything much about these robots when I wrote about them in July of 2022. Before revealing the first prototype, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, made a point of managing everyone's expectations, just in case anyone was thinking they were about to see anything close to the actual human concept 'robot' we saw last year. I honestly don't think anyone was expecting that. Prototype One - Development Platform The prototype that walked out on stage, for the very first time without ever being tethered to anything (apparently), was still incredibly impressive despite not being streamlined and highly refined in its capability. It walked quite well - eerily similar to the first generation robots in the 2004, Will Smith movie, iRobot , and even did a bit of a dan...

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de...

Mount Lofty Botanic Garden & Stirling Hotel, Adelaide Hills, South Australia

My partner, Enigma and I stayed overnight one weekend at an Airbnb in the Adelaide Hills to attend a wedding and needed something to do the following day to make our stay more of a weekend away. Enigma suggested a visit to the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden followed by lunch at the Stirling Hotel. If you're curious about our Airbnb stay it was in a self contained guest house known as Borow in the township of  Uraidla. Definitely a very pleasant stay, but more functional than a relaxing getaway in itself. Best suited to someone touring the Hills region and just in need of somewhere comfortable to wind down at the end of the day that's more roomy and homelike than a hotel room. Mount Lofty Botanic Garden I've visited the Mount Lofty Summit several times over my last 23 years in SA, most recently as part of a guided bus tour , and I've never heard of the Mount Lofty Botanic Garden . Enigma and I were expecting something along the lines of the Adelaide Botanic Garden which i...

The Liberal Party Attempt to Win Back One Nation Supporters By Stepping More to the Right

Federal Liberal Party Leader, Angus Taylor, and Deputy Leader, Jane Hume. Image: Gemini and TET. G enerally I try to keep one eye on Australian politics, mainly at the Federal level because that affects the whole country. State based politics really only become interesting at state election time, as they're something of an indicator of how the various parties might fare in a Federal election. As indicated by the gains One Nation has been making at state level, with a recent Australian Financial Review/Redbridge Group/Accent Research poll suggesting the party is now the most popular party on primary support . Much of this surge has been at the expense of the Liberal Party of Australia with former supporters seemingly agreeing that you may as well be voting for Labor since the parties are so similar (they aren't but they're both close enough to the political 'middle' it can certainly seem that way). It seems the all new Liberal Leadership of Angus Taylor, and Deput...