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Tag: Loki review

October 15, 2023

Why Loki is the Best MCU Series on Disney+

Season 2 of “Loki” has arrived, and it’s even more weirdly wonderful as the first.

With the exception of “The Hobbit” and “Harry Potter” movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has often dominated my son’s movie streaming over recent years. (A “Star Wars” film occasionally shows up on our 13-year-old’s list, although he was absolutely all in while watching the “Andor” series.)

And I’ve been exceptionally happy to join him on his MCU viewing odyssey (#geekdad #trekkie).

But MCU movies don’t come out that often. So, it’s really the series on Disney+ that have carried the MCU forward across these past few years.

Loki Branches Out
“Loki” kicked it all off back in 2021. The show starred Tom Hiddleston as our reborn God of Mischief, Owen Wilson as Agent Mobius and Sophia Di Martino as variant Sylvie. “Loki” gave us a mind-bending and universe-expanding storyline featuring the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and its questionable mandate to protect the ‘Sacred Timeline.’

There were only six episodes, and of course, the last scene ended with a cliffhanger. This first season was way too short, but every moment felt so fresh.

“Loki” was funny, clever, weird, touching and totally fun. Beyond the great writing, top-notch acting, future/retro look and cool music, its success was mostly driven through character development. Season 1 wasn’t about the explosions and special effects. It was about the people. Each and every character mattered.

“Loki” succeeded because it was a completely different MCU experience. It opened up so many new branches to explore (literally and figuratively).

The MCU Needs to Find its Mojo
Other MCU series on Disney+ followed, and the ones that also focused on being different and not simply a retread were also more appealing. (“Moon Knight” was a perfect example.)

Not to overgeneralize, but as a whole, the current state of the entire MCU (not just the Disney+ series) feels a bit like Thor and his dad bod.

Thank the gods that season 2 of “Loki” has finally arrived.

Ouroboros Rocks!
The premiere did not disappoint. It packed in everything I love about this series. They obviously had some time to tinker with every element, and this first episode demonstrated nice polish.

It was so smart and even more trippy than the first season. Plus, we were introduced to the wonderful new character Ouroboros (O.B.), played by Ke Huy Quan (from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

In many ways, O.B. represents the quirky and magical energy of the entire series. It’s like he’s simultaneously in on the joke and also a part of it.

Pay Attention
Everything doesn’t always make sense (at first), and a casual viewer may feel like the show is choppy, inconsistent and hard to understand.

Exactly. That’s the beauty. There’s a mystery here that needs unraveling. And you’d better pay attention to… everything. (Even what’s blurred out in the background during a climactic moment in the first episode).

The Beginning of Season 2 doesn’t Disappoint
I’ve seen the first two episodes as I write this. The premiere is arguably the best in the entire series to date. The second runs a bit more mainstream, though it also has its moments, including the wonderful pie-eating scene…

The whole story grinds to a halt as Loki and Mobius spend a few minutes eating key lime pie in the TVA cafeteria’s automat. This moment reflects the secret ingredient to this series’ successful recipe: This show takes it’s time to tell its story.

It’s About Time
That doesn’t mean “Loki” is slow. Hardly. But nothing is rushed either. There’s time for character development… for innovative shots… for a great script.

There’s always time for fun and playfulness. And time to simply let a joke… land.

And that’s why “Loki” continues to be the best MCU series on Disney+.

My son and I love it. For all time. Always.

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June 13, 2021

Why “Loki” is my New TV Series for Father and Son Streaming

If you’ve been looking forward to watching “Loki” on Disney+ with your kids, you won’t be disappointed. Here’s my review.

I always enjoyed watching Tom Hiddleston’s Loki throughout the Marvel movies. His god of mischief was especially interesting because of the flaws and tragic elements of his early story that made him who he was.

The end of his story in “Avengers: Endgame” was tough to watch, not only because it was so brutal, but because he would never get his chance to redeem himself.

At the end of the day, even though Loki always caused problems, we were still rooting for him…at least I was. All that pain and anger that was just under the surface and rarely revealed by the talented Hiddleston was plenty reason to forgive his naughtiness.

It was hard to say goodbye. And I’m really glad his departure was short-lived.

It’s All Part of the Plan
As I expect you already know, Disney+ has resurrected Loki and given him his own series. It picks up after that time-altering glitch during “Avengers: Endgame” when the Avengers go back in time to get the Tesseract as part of their Infinity Stone collection project. They mess up this part of their mission and Loki escapes his custody via the Tesseract, which isn’t what happened the first time around.

Beyond a momentary setback for the Avengers, it’s an amusing scene in the movie. And the consequences for Loki aren’t addressed. He’s still (spoiler alert) dead at the end of the story, but when you mess with time, there are always unexpected consequences.

It’s a fantastic bread crumb, and I applaud the architects of the larger MCU for dropping it in this way.

Loki Variant
I watched the series premiere of “Loki,” and I couldn’t be happier. Yes, Loki gets another chance to get it right, but this clever and snappy series is much more than that. It introduces so many new elements into the MCU that you’ve got to pay attention…Time Variance Authority/Multiverse/Time Keepers/Variant People/Sacred Timeline. You need a training film to keep it all straight. (Yep, they’ve got that!)

It’s fresh. It’s retro. It’s trippy.
It’s really fun.

The writers also quickly get to the heart of Loki’s flawed character and make him face his past and future choices. It’s essentially a breakthrough therapy session managed by Mobius (Owen Wilson’s TVA character). It feels quite cathartic.

I can’t wait for the next episodes where Loki and Mobius try to fix the timeline and confront the big threat. Plus, you’ve got the god of mischief being asked to follow the new rules and prevent multiverses. What could possibly go wrong?

Family Friendly?
Across the pandemic, my eleven-year-old son and I effectively consumed all the Marvel movies on Disney+. We also massively enjoyed “The Mandalorian” series.

Sure, the Marvel movies have some bad language and plenty of intense action, but it’s been okay for our kid at his particular stage of development.

My wife and I did watch the first episode of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” with our young Padawan. (Apologies for mixing universes.) We felt the increased level of bad language and violence was a step too far for our boy. (The whole series is pretty dark.)

So, I did not suggest that we watch the next episode, and my son didn’t complain. (Instead, we moved on to “Agents of Shield” on Netflix. That series also got too dark for him.)

I enjoyed “WandaVision,” and will eventually introduce that Disney+ series to my boy. I haven’t done that yet, because it moved so slowly in those first few episodes. Plus, you’ve really got to be a child of ‘60s and ‘70s television to appreciate them.

Granted, I’ve only seen the first episode of “Loki,” but I feel this series is perfect for my son. Like me, he’s especially enjoying the humor and mind-bending quirkiness.

Plus, there’s minimal bad language (so far) and the violence is relatively tame. That’s not to say there’s no action… there’s plenty!

Yes, I did prescreen the first episode, (after being burned by “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”) but now, I’m planning to watch the rest of the “Loki” series alongside my son.

Wednesday is the New Friday
I’m not sure why new episodes of “Loki” are dropping on Wednesdays as opposed to Fridays. Perhaps it’s a summer scheduling strategy. I’ll still plan on making it a Lester Friday night family event.

So please don’t give anything away while I time shift our viewing. We’ll be just a bit behind everyone else’s timeline.

Looking forward to a summer of Loki-goodness!

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