Ryan Shoots First: Loki (S1 Ep1) “Glorious Purpose”

Fangirls rejoice! Put down your laptops and stop writing your fan fic cause Disney Plus has you covered with their new series Loki! So Watch Loki essentially play The Doctor traveling through space and time to solve mysteries as one of the last of his alien race! 

Things kick off right away with the recap from Endgame when Loki in 2012 manages to Get the Tesseract from the Avengers time heist, cue Marvel Studios logo. We see Loki spit out in Mongolia where he immediately tries to subjugate the locals when a gateway opens and some troops from the Time Variance Authority show up to arrest Loki. They call him variant since he is from an alternate timeline. Loki tries to get by them but is hit with a literal time stun stick that freezes him. They haul him off and use some device to “reset the timeline” ; we don’t really see how this works as they pass through the gateway. Loki is thrown into a cell after trying to get away with little effort and is stripped down from a robot wearing a smiley face. He is then dropped into a room with the scene we saw in the trailer where he is asked to sign a document attesting to everything he has ever said. After he signs he is dropped into another room where he has to confirm he is not a robot. The next room he is forced to take a deli counter like ticket in a waiting room with obnoxiously long lines then a TV explains to him he is on trial for crimes against time. 

The video gives us some exposition that at one time there was a time war between alternate timelines that almost ended everything so the time keepers re-organized everything into one cohesive timeline and they look after it. Sometimes people step off the path which creates a Nexus event and they have to fix it before another war breaks out. That’s what the TVA does. The other guy on trial that has been causing a stir talks back to a guard and is instantly evaporated causing Loki to make sure he has his ticket at hand. 

After the opening Title credits we see Owen Wilson’s character Mobius is investigating a Nexus event happening in France. There have been many attacks in the last few weeks. A small girl walks into the room and when he asks her if she knows who did this she points to a stained glass window of what appears to be Satan. As they are setting the reset charge a man comes in and shows him Loki’s file. Loki heads into his trial where he makes some valid points that the Avengers were the ones traveling through time but he thinks to stop him not Thanos. Loki learns what the Avengers did was supposed to happen, not what he did. Loki tries to use his powers to get out but Magic will not work here. Owen Wilson approaches the bench and vouches for Loki to be released in his care to help him. Mobius asks him some questions like what he would do if he was to go back. Mobius then hits a button and projects some of Loki’s crimes during Avengers questioning his motives and goals. He then tells him he is great at escapes and tells him this is one of his favorites and plays back a scene where Loki is on a plan and tells a stewardess he has a bomb. He jumps out of the plan and is zapped up by Heimdal, he was DB Cooper the thief because he lost a bet to Thor. He then starts playing clips from his future that should have happened. He plays him back the death of his mother and the events of Thor 2. He teaches him Loki’s purpose is to destroy so that others can achieve their best versions of themselves. They are interrupted and Mobius leaves Loki in his office. When Mobius returns Loki is gone, the place is on lockdown looking for him and Loki is able to retrieve the Tesseract from Casey who works behind a desk. Loki is shocked to see a massive collection of Infinity Stones just chilling in Casey’s desk. At this moment Loki realizes his whole existence is kinda a joke. Loki deciding THIS is the ultimate power in the universe decides to change his plans. He goes back to Mobius’s office and proceeds to watch the events of the rest of the Infinity Saga including his death at the hands of Thanos. Mobius comes back in his office and Loki realizes he can’t go back to his timeline, he tells him he doesn’t enjoy hurting people he does it because he has to. Mobius tells him he doesn’t see him as a villain he tells him he can’t offer him salvation but maybe something else, the variant they are hunting is in fact Loki himself. 

We cut to Oklahoma in 1858 where there is a futuristic weapon in the ground they decide it is nothing and decide to just set a charge but there is someone off in the distance, the figure sets fire to the squad and the credits roll on the hooded figure. 

Slick first episode with Hiddleston and Wilson being the stars, their interactions and back and forth were the highlight and the show will have a lot of theories going forward. A pretty great exploration of Loki’s character and motivations as well. 

Observations

• Loving the music already
• “Time shit” are fun weapons. 
• Those fangirls I mentioned are enjoying that strip down scene. Well done Tom. 
• I know the “sign everything you ever said” bit was in the trailer but thats funny. 
• It’s weird to think this is a Loki that didn’t experience the events of Thor 2 or Ragnarok, he is still for the most part 100% heel post Avengers. Kinda robs his story as by his death in Infinity War he is a very different character.
• Tom Hiddleston is great the “What if I was a robot” line where he lets his guard down for a moment is perfect. 
• The Multi-verse is here! And they just say “Multiverse” and “Madness” 
• I hate being “plot hole” guy but how did Cap avoid all this? Maybe they did but since he was fixing the timelines they helped him??? Maybe.
• Thanks little girl now I have to hear Mephisto theories all over again. 
• Also do a lot of catholic churches had stained glass paintings of Satan like that? 
•  I mean he is kinda right this is The Avengers fault. 
• Hearing him called Mr. Laufeyson is funny. 
• I like the idea that Thor and Loki were alive for thousands of years before we ever met them. They had to be up to some stuff. 
• Wilson and Hiddleston are tearing it up I could watch them just talk back and forth the whole episode. 
• Sign me up for Loki and Casey Adventures. 
• Oh they def cranked up the volume on that crack sound when Loki died.