‘Loki’ Premiere Review: Loki has a New Glorious Purpose

Out of the three MCU series so far, Loki has the best start out of all of them with Glorious Purpose.

Loki covers a lot of ground in just under an hour. Writer Michael Waldron and director Kate Herron find fun and inventive ways of recapping Loki’s arc throughout the MCU. They establish the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and take their time to develop Loki’s character.

Tom Hiddleston is fantastic reprising his role as Loki. He has the difficult task of jumping back into a different version of Loki from his last appearance in Avengers: Infinity War. Hiddleston dumps all of the insecurities from 2012’s The Avengers back into the character. He’s more venomous at the beginning of the episode, but he veers close to the Loki who died thanks to some fantastic character development.

Owen Wilson makes for a fun screen partner opposite Hiddleston. He gives the character of Mobius that lowkey charm and comedic timing you expect from Wilson. However, what stands out is Wilson’s command of every scene. There’s never a moment from the time he’s on-screen where Loki is close to being on an even playing field with Mobius. Watching Wilson hold his own while never raising his voice much higher than a whisper is a blast to watch and serves as a nice contrast to the more theatrical Loki.

Glorious Purpose is an exposition-heavy episode and there’s not much action. The exposition is delivered in a fun, unexpected and artistic way. However, if you’re expecting action like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, that’s not here in the episode. The TVA is far more powerful than anything seen in the MCU to an almost ridiculous degree. Thanos, Infinity Stone and Avengers come across as insignificant in comparison to the TVA.

Production is top-notch as usual for Marvel. Making the TVA look like a futuristic DMV is a smart way to introduce the audience to this surreal organization. Natalie Ann Holt‘s score is phenomenal. Her heavy use of Theremin in Loki’s theme really adds to the feeling of being out-of-step with time.

With the non-spoiler details out of the way, lets dive into the journey into mystery of a Glorious Purpose. Loki is available to stream on Disney Plus.

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Loki’s Past Revisited

Beginning with Loki’s timely escape in Avengers: Endgame is a clever device for understanding Loki’s mindset during phase 1 of the MCU.

2012 Loki’s glorious purpose comes off as childish thanks to Wilson’s subtle probing as Mobius. Adding to Loki’s torment is the replaying of events from his past and future self. Mobius even points out everything Loki does is destined to bring out the best in others. Killing Phil Coulson, which allows The Avengers to form is one of the examples.

Hiddleston’s best scene is when Loki is forced to watch his future play out in front of him. His tearful reactions to his parents’ death and brief exuberance showed when partnering up with Thor and Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok is just wonderful. However, it’s his meltdown after watching his demise at the hands of Thanos and the powerless Infinity Stones that sets Loki’s new Glorious Purpose.

Yes, this entire episode is basically exposition. However, when it’s handled as creatively as Loki, it’s proof that heavy exposition can work just fine. Fittingly, this leads to another fun dump of exposition.

The TVA

From the moment Loki interacts with the TVA, he is out of his depth. Loki’s first encounter results in a collar being placed on him that restrict his movement.

His charm, intelligence and anger has no effect on the TVA agents. Turning the set of the TVA into a futuristic DMV is such a great way to relate to Loki’s torment. Once you feel comfortable, Loki is thrust into one bewildering scenario after the other, are simply scenes where the rules are explained to Loki.

The TVA history lesson by Miss Minutes is a phenomenal way to explain the organization’s founding and operational parameters. The old-school animation has a very similar vibe to Mr. DNA in Jurassic Park.

After the fun history lesson, Loki tries to place the blame for violating the sacred timeline on The Avengers and is more or less sentenced to death. Mobius steps up and asks Ravonna Renslayer played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw to allow Loki to assist him.

Loki’s New Glorious Purpose

The highlight of the episode is the pseudo therapy session between Mobius and Loki. Wilson’s calm, knowing and enigmatic demeanor as Mobius creates a great atmosphere opposite Hiddleston.

As Mobius shows Loki a replay of his greatest hits, he begins to prod the god of mischief. He asks Loki about his vendetta against freedom, desire to rule and whether he enjoys hurting others. Loki is thrown off by Mobius during these scenes to an astonishing degree. When Mobius asks a question, Loki will respond with something like his goal is to rule Midgard. Then Mobius will turn around and ask Loki what he will do after ruling Midgard. Loki doesn’t have good answers to any of these follow-up volleys. The dialogue in these scenes is simply perfect.

Mobius: Big metaphor guy. I Love it. Makes you sound super smart.

Loki: I am smart.

Mobius: I know.

Loki: Okay.

Mobius: Okay.

Mobius spells out Loki’s purpose. Loki’s glorious purpose is to help others achieve the best version of themselves. Finding out his purpose is to be a stepping stone for others, doesn’t sit well with Loki. Mobius is interrupted and Loki uses the distraction to attempt an escape.

He’s able to evade his captors for a bit, but a sudden discovery shocks him to his core. Loki makes his way back to the reception desk. He wants the Tesseract back and threatens Casey’s life. Casey opens a drawer revealing the Tesseract and several Infinity Stones lying around like a lost and found drawer. The Infinity Stones are powerless outside of their own universe and since these stones are outside of the time stream they are simply decorations.

Loki returns to Mobius’s office and watches the death of his future self. Earlier in the day, Loki was working on the behalf of Thanos. Now, he’s watching his death at the Mad Titan’s hands. Hiddleston’s facial reactions are something else in this scene.

When Mobius returns, Loki becomes quite introspective. He explains the reason why he hurts people. Loki doesn’t enjoy it. He has to hurt them because it’s part of a trick for the weak to gain control. The important takeaway from this scene is that Loki is unmistakably referring to himself as weak. Loki has always been full of bravado and charm, but to see him stripped bare here is a beautiful place to begin Loki’s new journey into mystery.

Glorious Purpose Final Thoughts

The episode ends with Loki agreeing to help Mobius catch the variant he is searching for. I can’t wait to see where this buddy cop MCU series takes us next, but rest assured it’s going to be a multiverse of madness.