The Loki series has a leg up with it being centred around an established MCU villain that we all generally like. But this leads into one of my biggest criticisms of the show. Loki is understandably upset after learning of his fate after Thor: The Dark World but this realization completely changes his character for the rest of the series. Hiddleston is still great (more on that later) but I missed the mischievous and villainous Loki. The reason his character is so much fun in the other Thor/MCU movies is that he's grinning and pretending to play along while he's got a knife behind his back. Loki is kind of mopey and sullen in this and while I understand why they went that direction, it partially robbed him of his charisma. I also just didn't care about his budding relationship with his female variant, she's too dour and while it's funny that Loki would be into a female version of himself, their banter and collective scheming didn't grab me. I wanted more adventures with Mobius and Loki, I was surprised how good of chemistry Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston had. While the premise of Loki hopping across time with the TVA is exciting, unlike so many other superhero properties, with Loki's character changing so much, the story was the driving force instead of the characters.

I want to put a disclaimer ahead of my plot description, parallel universes and time travel is right up my alley. I love this kind of sci-fi so I was stoked when details started to leak about what they were going to do with the Loki series. They throw you right into the world of the TVA, the mystery surrounding their operations and their operatives and I was immediately intrigued at how Loki was going to maneuver his capture to his advantage. I think they expanded on the premise well and while they didn't fumble the ball, I still wanted more. The closest they got was when Loki was trapped with his many other variants, this kind of idea is a licence to get really weird and those scenes were on the right track. But they were also pretty fleeting and while this was made for a more mainstream crowd, Loki felt too safe. It may be a controversial take but I thought the Umbrella Academy took this type of story and capitalized on it far better. To be fair, there's a huge cliff hanger at the end of Loki season 1, maybe they'll use that as a launching point to some crazier stuff going ahead.

Tom Hiddleston has always been the proverbial "ace up the sleeve" of Marvel's featured players. He might not be Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans or Scarlett Johannson but he's been consistently good/great in every movie he's showed up in and he's almost the co-lead of some of the Thor movies. He's still good here but as I mentioned above, the character has changed a lot. He plays Loki appropriately and he's a good lead but he's not the scene-stealer he had been in previous projects. Sophia Di Martino is fine as Sylvie; I didn't find her character as compelling but that was a result of the writing and not her acting. Owen Wilson was a better fit than I thought he would be. I was surprised he was cast in a big superhero project; I don't know if this type of project had ever been in his wheelhouse. But he did a really good job, he plays off of Hiddleston well and its on me for being surprised by that. I was excited to see Gugu Mbatha-Raw in this, she's one of the more underrated actresses out there and she's on her way up. She gets the job done in this but I felt like they weren't sure what to do with her character. Ravonna would come off as evil in one scene but she would attempt being sympathetic in the next, again I point the finger at the writers. I'm hoping she'll get more to work with going ahead. Wunmi Mosaku's character didn't get the most screentime or character development but she did well with what she was given. It was fun to hear Tara Strong again, even in a smaller voice over part as Miss Minutes. I don't want to spoil what part he plays but Jonathan Majors might have been my least favourite cast member. I've liked him in other projects (Lovecraft Country, Da 5 Bloods) but I don't know if his portrayal of his character worked for me.

I also wanted to comment on how Season 1 wraps up and sets up Season 2. I'm pretty mixed on it, when the villain's revealed and they explain their decision making, it undercut what our main characters had been fighting for. I actually sympathized with their point of view over Sylvie and Loki's and while I might be in the minority, it made the two of them seem petty considering the larger picture. Getting past that though, the final scene does a great job setting things up. The decision made by Sylvie and Loki has huge implications and the creative team helps you understand the gravity of their actions in the last few moments of the episode. So, while I didn't love the ending, they hit the mark with keeping you interested in what will happen next.

Loki just doesn't equal the sum of its parts. I wanted to like the show more than I did and while I didn't waste my time or find myself disappointed, I turned it off and shrugged my shoulders. I haven't seen Falcon and the Winter Soldier yet but while Loki Season 1 is more consistent than Wandavision Season 1, I'd actually grade Wandavision Season 1 higher. Wandavision starts off amazing but fizzles out in the last episode or two, Loki never drops the ball but it didn't reach the same kind of heights. I'll be interested in seeing Season 2 but I won't be waiting on bated breath for it. Here's hoping they build off of this and deliver something spectacular with the next go around.