It is fortunate the good continues to outweigh the bad, but with a serial release schedule, as opposed to a season dump, it means that when it is bad people are going scrutinize it all the more.

So my 9 is representative of the series as a whole, not the expository frustrations of episodes like 3 and 5 in Loki, 2 and 7 in WandaVision, and 1 and 5 in FatWS. Understand, there are some excellent character development pieces in these episodes, but their function, in the profession of writing, is exposition. Little is done to move the plot.

Marvel needs to address this moving forward if they are to continue with the serialized releases. The people deserve more than just exposition if they are waiting week to week. Every episode MUST answer narrative-important questions in this episode. Not all of them, but I would say 3-5 is a solid target.

That said, Loki does a terrific job of setting up questions while answering others, for the most part. It is a masterful deconstruction of Loki's motivations, and generates the key ingredient necessary for the finale: will Loki be Loki, or will he become something else?

The series is funny, thoughtful, poignant, and maddening. What else could you ask for?