Loki Season 1

3.5/10 After having (incorrectly) been informed that “Loki” was the best live action Marvel show succeeding “WandaVision” and “The Falcon & Winter Soldier”, I had high hopes going in. Unfortunately, critics and fans alike were wearing their Marvel fanboy goggles which prevented them all from using the Reality Stone to see that this show is largely a failure. Before I explain why “Loki” keeps piling on the MCU’s Phase 4 disappointments, I will give this season credit where it is due. In terms of what worked, the visual effects did look fantastic and since the visuals increased with each passing episode, the show only continued to look better as it went along. Tom Hiddleston could play Loki in his sleep by this point and he wasn’t the only impressive actor here. Newcomers Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Owen Wilson were both fantastic in their parts. Wilson in particular surprised me because I initially was concerned over his casting. Having such a comedic actor who has never been in anything superhero related before gave me pause but he fit in nicely without trying too hard to be funny, as many Marvel characters tend to do. Since this season is only six episodes long, this is a relatively quick binge watch so even though it ended up being a waste of time, it didn’t waste too much of my time. Besides, it was still much better than “The Falcon & Winter Solider” so thankfully this washed the taste of that out of my mouth. As for why this show fails…strap in. Loki has been in the MCU for 10 years now. Unfortunately, his character has stayed the exact same for that entire time. Deep down he is a good guy but he wants so badly to rule and is jealous of his brother so he causes mischief and commits evil acts but he actually has a heart and wants to do good in the world(s). This has been his character in every MCU film he has been in and he is similar to Magneto, another antihero, in this regard. Now that he has his own entire show, you’d think he would get some new development and maybe grow as a character. Nope. His character has become so repetitive that the only thing different about him in this show is that he is somehow much less powerful than he has been in past movies and continues to get bested and/or outsmarted by other characters quite frequently. A little bit of Loki goes a long way and he became irritating and predictable about halfway through this season. I’m also frankly getting sick of time travel. These timelines are so confusing and convoluted at this point that not only are there a ton of contradictions and moments that make no logical sense, but the show banks on its confusion so that the audience won’t try to think about any of this. When 20^th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise became so confusing with their timelines so they could keep bringing back dead characters (never a good idea), it essentially killed the franchise. Marvel is walking that same path where all these timelines make it impossible to keep track of what happened, what was erased, what was changed, etc. It takes away a lot of the fun of just turning off your brain and enjoying what you are watching. Now you are doing mental gymnastics to try and understand what is happening. Due to the confusing nature of this show, there is a ton of exposition. You’d think the season finale would be an action packed adventure to wrap up the season nicely but instead it is 90% exposition and many questions remain unanswered. Out of every Marvel film or show, this also has the worst action. There isn’t much of it between the endless dialogue scenes and what is there was completely underwhelming. Nothing in this show blew me away or excited me. Even bad movies like “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at least had kick ass action to help make that pill easier to swallow. We get no such relief here. While the woke, PC bullshit that Disney has been forcing in every property they own isn’t nearly as bad as “The Falcon & Winter Soldier”, we do get some here which made me cringe multiple times. In the end, a few fine performances, a solid score and terrific visuals can’t save this underwhelming disappointment. What timeline can I be sent to to where I never watched this show?

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