In a time where doubt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is increasingly discussed, “Loki” shows that not all hope is lost.

Marvel’s “Loki” premiered its first season on Disney+ in July 2021 and aired its second season in October 2023. It tells the story of the titular Norse God of Mischief, Loki Laufeyson, as he finds himself arrested by the Time Variance Authority, an organization dedicated to protecting the Sacred Timeline, the amalgamation of events we have seen in the previous MCU films and TV shows.

However, a greater mystery unfolds when learning the TVA was really created after a Multiversal War that resulted in countless timelines being destroyed. Only one timeline was preserved, controlled by a multiversal variant of Kang the Conqueror – Marvel’s next big villain – named He Who Remains.

“Loki” tells the redemption of the titular character, who for the longest time was one of the MCU’s most iconic villains. With the focus on him, we learn more about his past and why he acts the way he does. In a fantastic scene near the end of season two, we learn the true reason he is desperate to protect the TVA is because he fears ending up alone. That is exactly what happens, not because his friends turned him away, but because he finally made the heroic decision and saved the multiverse.

The TVA keeps order in the Sacred Timeline by “pruning branches” in time when someone makes a decision they weren’t meant to. For example, the only reason that Lafueyson was arrested by the TVA was because of the events in Avengers: Endgame, where he managed to take the Tesseract – the McGuffin from the first Avengers movie – and teleport away from New York, creating a branched timeline. As Laufeyson is incarcerated and sentenced to be erased from existence, he is spared by Mobius, an officer in the TVA, who enlists his aid in hunting down a variant of him causing trouble. We later learn this variant, named Sylvie, was pulled from her timeline by the TVA. Now, she wants revenge for being sentenced to die for simply existing.

In the aftermath of He Who Remains’ death by Sylvie, timelines begin rapidly branching uncontrollably, thus creating a new multiverse. However, because the TVA’s Temporal Loom, a device that processes raw time into physical timelines, becomes overloaded, the team is running low on options to protect this new multiverse.

As Laufeyson races to help repair the loom and help turn the TVA into a force for good, he finds himself Time-Slipping – being transported through space and time. Through this new power, Laufeyson finds himself tossed between past, present and future where he makes various discoveries, including that the TVA is doomed to fall and that Kang erased the memories of all TVA workers.

Meanwhile, loyalists inside the TVA, including Miss Minutes, the artificial intelligence created by Kang to basically run the TVA, follow through with his contingency plan. This plan includes creating a branched timeline, where a variant of him from the 1800s, named Victor Timely, is given a TVA handbook, obtaining access to knowledge far exceeding his time. In a desperate attempt to use the DNA of a Kang variant to access the Loom, Laufeyson and Mobius race to find Timely before Miss Minutes does.

Despite their efforts, the Temporal Loom fails, and all of the timelines begin to be destroyed. With Laufeyson’s Time-Slipping growing worse, he learns that he must control it to have any chance of saving the Multiverse. Through countless attempts and even a conversation with Kang back before he was killed, Laufeyson finds he must essentially become the new Temporal Loom. In doing so, he enchants the dying timelines and creates Yggdrasil, the Norse Tree of Life, where the timelines bloom infinitely. Meanwhile, Laufeyson sits alone at the end of time upon the throne he realized he never wanted to begin with.

“Loki” is one of if not the best Disney+ Marvel series. It takes its time to tell its story, even being split between two seasons, and feels the most structured. The cinematography is elevated in the series as well, with many scenes being shot handheld with practical sets as opposed to the Stagecraft technology used in the other series. Furthermore, the CGI, an aspect of Marvel movies that has been criticized heavily as of late, is really solid, with little to no shots feeling cheap or unfinished.

The show is not without its faults. The first season built this bewildering romance between Laufeyson and Sylvie, a weird decision as they are both the exact same person. Other Marvel releases such as “Spider-Man: No Way Home” established multiversal variants as “siblings,” according to Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker in a humorous scene. This decision was almost completely abandoned in season two, however, a decision I am extremely thankful for.

Overall, “Loki” seasons one and two tell the story of the titular character finding his glorious purpose, the creation of the multiverse, and the threat of Kang the Conqueror that looms over most Marvel projects.

Final Rating: 9/10

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