In Review: Loki – (S1 – Ep1) Glorious Purpose

Synopsis: ‘Glorious Purpose’ Picks up immediately after Loki steals the Tesseract (again), he finds himself called before the Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organisation that exists outside of time and space, forced to answer for his crimes against the timeline and given a choice: face deletion from reality or assist in catching an even greater threat.

Story

Loki’s pilot episode begins with a recap. We see the God of Mischief steal the Tesseract once more. The action then cuts to the Gobi desert. Where our antihero has teleported to. After an attempt to reassert his godhood falls flat. The Time Variance Authority appear and whisk Laufeyson to their headquarters. Notably, we find out that this secretive organisation is charged with maintaining the sacred timeline. Which Thor’s adopted brother has deviated from.

Loki treats the TVA with scorn and derision until Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) attempts to talk him round. Mobius is summoned away to an emergency. Our antihero then. Escapes. Only to realise that Infinity Stones. Are powerless in this world. Loki quickly realises that the ability to time travel would make him infinitely more powerful. Back in Mobius’s office. The God of Mischief explains that he does not actually enjoy hurting others. Significantly Mobius reveals Loki’s mission. Which is to capture himself.

Glorious Purpose ends with a hooded figure. Who kills several TVA officers.

Acting

Tom Hiddleston absolutely owned Glorious Purpose. His reaction to Loki’s “real” timeline was brilliant. As was Loki’s reaction to his death at Thanos’s hands. Hiddleston showed the God of Mischief’s charm, charisma, darkness and pathos without missing a beat. Owen Wilson played a great foil character to Loki in Mobius. Indeed, if any other actors had attempted this it would have fallen flat in my view. Wilson and Hiddleston held my attention for 51 glorious minutes despite there being very little action. I really loved how this Loki is very much still a villain, which Hiddleston conveyed perfectly. Eugene Cordero played a great role as the comic relief. This reviewer cheered inwardly when Cordero identified Loki as the “blue box” variant. Going back to Wilson, I enjoyed his character’s belief in Loki’s inner goodness also. I think this could provide some great tension in future episodes. Gugu Mbatha-Raw played the officious character who was unfazed by Loki very well. Additionally, I liked Wunmi Mosaku‘s brief fight scene and interaction with Loki. Last but not least, Tara Strong was brilliantly perky as Miss Minutes. Which gave Hiddleston a great opportunity to show Loki’s reaction to her.

Incidental Music

Glorious Purpose’s incidental music was great. I loved the orchestral theme that accompanied the main MCU logo. Notably the cyberpunk theme when the TVA officers first appear was good and helped set the scene. Mobius’s office had a really nice creepy theme that helped sell the strangeness of this new place. I’d say that the dangerous theme used when Loki escapes from custody was awesome. As was the portentous theme that played when Mobius revealed that Loki is going to hunt himself. The ending theme really captured the grandeur and weirdness of Loki as a character.

CGI

I enjoyed the effects of the time gadgets the TVA officers had. It was funny to see Loki get hit in slow motion. Also great was the effect of the massive city outside the TVA. Really however the CGI was used sparingly in this pilot. I liked the effect of the walking stick man that Mobius showed the 15th century boy though.

Overall

I’m not going to lie. I thought the setup of the TVA in this episode took a lot longer than it really should have done. Hiddleston and Wilson’s performances made up for the incredibly slow pace of this episode. As did the other actors. Don’t get me wrong. This was still a great episode. Perhaps given Loki’s history he wouldn’t just accept what was in front of him and go along with it. Which was perhaps why this first outing took its time. Still a strong start that has left me excited for next week’s episode.

Check out our Falcon and the Winter Soldier reviews here