Everyone, it seems, likes a good bad guy. Ever since the show Loki was announced in November of 2018, audiences have waited patiently to see what Marvel would do with this beloved character–one of the fan favorites of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). With the drop of Season Two on Disney Plus, here is a revisit of the whole TV series. When Season One was released in June 2021 and again when Season Two was dropped in October 2023, the consensus was that it was well worth the wait. The show follows the villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after the events of Avengers Endgame, in which he took the Tesseract (an infinity stone) and disappeared through a portal.
In season 1 of the show, we find Loki lost in a desert, where he ended up after using the tesseract to escape the Avengers. After he arrives in the desert, he encounters the Time Variance Authority (TVA) , who capture him and bring him to their headquarters.
In the Marvel Universe, the TVA is an organization that exists outside the flow of time and keeps the sacred timeline in check. This means that whenever a change in the timeline occurs, they send people to go to that point in time and fix the altered timeline before things fall apart. In the show, this action is referred to as “pruning” the new variant of the person from existence. Loki is one of these people they “prune”; he is soon introduced to Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson). Mobius is a case worker for the TVA. Mobius decides to recruit Loki to work for them under guidance from the ominous Time Keepers, ancient beings who demand the timeline be kept. Loki, while working under them, travels across many timelines and meets many different versions of himself while trying to stay safe and figure out what is going on.
I personally gave this show a 9/10, but IMDb gave it an 8.2/10. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 89% out of 100%, and Common Sense Media gave it a 4/5.
Wondering what students thought of this show, I interviewed junior Will Simpson III about his opinion on the show. Overall he gave it a 7/10, explaining how he liked some aspects, such as how they diminished the significance of some items (like the infinity stones) and the interesting character development, but overall the show was dampened by it’s confusing nature. When asked why he gave it just a 7/10 he said “Some parts were confusing, but overall it was pretty good.” For a second opinion, I also interviewed freshman Brice Myers. He also liked some parts of the show, such as the TVA and liked how they had to find the other Loki’s across time, however he found some flaws with the show. Feeling that some parts were overly rushed, Myers rated the show an 8.2/10. When asked to justify his rating, he said, “It’s a good story, if they didn’t rush it as much it would have gotten a 10 in my books.” When asked if he would recommend it to others, he said yes, also stating, “if you like Marvel then I’m sure you’ll like the series.”
I agree with these opinions but I also believe that Disney and Marvel felt pressured to make this show good enough since Loki is a beloved villain turned anti-hero in the MCU and they didn’t want to ruin his character for the fans. I feel it succeeded in its purpose of showing us more about Loki and what happened to him after the events of Avengers Endgame.
