Loki, One Year On: A Retrospective

Marvel's Disney+ show Loki came out a year ago today! Time has flown by, but I've chosen to revisit this show as I did with WandaVision and the Falcon and the Winter Soldier in order to see how it's held up, and how my perception of the series has been altered in the past 12 months. Hope you enjoy!
A link to the video I mention, 'Commodifying Bi Validation: Loki vs Russell T Davies': • Commodifying Bi Valida...
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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:40 What Went Down
5:08 First Impressions
7:08 The TVA
8:07 Wider Visual Successes
9:51 Acting and Pacing
11:47 Navigating Insignificance
17:26 Multiversal Benefits and Missed Opportunities
19:14 Minor Controversies
21:04 Sexuality and Gender
23:55 The MCU's Quality Ceiling?
24:30 Conclusion
#loki #marvel #mcu
Loki, the God of Mischief, steps out of his brother's shadow to embark on an adventure that takes place after the events of "Avengers: Endgame." Loki is an American television series created by Michael Waldron for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name. It is the third television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The series takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), in which an alternate version of Loki created a new timeline. Waldron served as head writer and Kate Herron directed the first season, with Eric Martin and the duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead serving as head writer and leading the directing team for the second season, respectively.
Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki from the film series, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Sasha Lane, Jack Veal, DeObia Oparei, Richard E. Grant, and Jonathan Majors also starring.

[@heavymusicguy8227]

In my opinion Loki is the best Disney+ exclusive marvel show due to setting up it's own stuff instead of a greater tie-in to a movie.

[@Seasonal-Shadow_4674]

@Heavy Music Guy I love how philosophical MCU got with Free Will and Determinism, introducing it through LOKI

[@DiarrheaIsUnbreakable]

Kang and Quantumania would like to have a word with you.

[@austincarlson9270]

​@@DiarrheaIsUnbreakable lol

[@ardisgreenwater857]

That's such a low bar...

[@austincarlson9270]

@@ardisgreenwater857 your a low bar

[@nosfonader8792]

Loki is not only the best Disney Plus show, but it is also a life lesson in self worth. Just because you feel like a drop in the bucket doesn't mean you can't make a big splash in it. Life is meant to be lived and not wasted. Loki and Selvie, and even Mobius realized this and nothing would stop them from achieving "glorious purpose". That purpose is to make the big splash in the ocean of the multiverse and TVA. I really love this show and the chi is great on top of it.

[@saml302]

personally, I loved it when he popped out and said "it's Lok-in' time!" and proceeded to Loki over the entire cast and crew

[@inlandtuba57147]

@@saml302I morbed while reading this

[@maestrogeicho]

This is by far my favorite marvel discussion channel on youtube. Mostly you just see "haha woke mcu bad" and stuff like that. Glad to see civilized discussion about the shows.

[@cosmicpotato3849]

A common thread between a few of these D+ shows, and ESPECIALLY _Loki_ , is that I feel they don’t really get enough time to develop (ironic for this show, eh?). _Loki_ felt fine until about halfway through, then we just zoom by “oh both Loki’s are falling for each other” and “oh TVA is actually fake and some learn about it”, get some funky end-of-time Loki variant shenanigans, then it’s HWR time. Beyond the main two I don’t really care about much, and even then I would’ve appreciated more about Sylvie herself. Loki just gets saved because we’ve been with him for 10+ years now (wow) and Möbius is just too charming not to like. Basically, these shows could be 5x as good if they had time to develop and not feel so production-line if that makes sense. Fingers crossed for s2!

[@embermoto]

I think a big reason there was so much talk about the lack of sexuality and gender representation in Loki is that from my memory Disney made a big deal about how they were going to explore that in the series and then all we got was a line on piece of paper in one scene. It was a blink and you miss it thing. They also made a big deal about how we were going to see Lady Loki leading people to believe we were going to see Loki shape-shift into a woman and explore that side of their identity as well. Had Disney not said anything I don't think there would have been close to any talk about it or no more then usual any way.

[@OverlyPositiveFanboy]

I feel the three uses of time travel in the MCU line up nicely enough. 1) The rules are first laid down in Endgame and elaborated in Loki. Time travel works as branching timelines. 2) The Avengers' time heist was allowed to happen by the TVA because the Avengers were already planning to go back and cover their tracks. Plus, any problems could be solved by the TVA, as we see with Loki himself. 3) Ms. Marvel's brief time travelling is a stable time loop. Nothing is changed from the sacred timeline. Nothing needs pruning.

[@rapaly]

This is all fine, but still it's inconsistant. I don't remember the show enough to give you proper examples but I still don't really get the idea of "variants" I don't mean the ones that defy the sacred timeline but the idea that there is a single timeline that consists of multiple universes that vary from eachother vastly. Also i don't really understand where TVA is located at. It's said that TVA is located outside the timeline, which makes sense up until introduction of Khan who resides past the end of time, which is shown to be outside of sacred timeline in a void overseeing the sacred timeline, meaning that the only place the TVA could reside OUTSIDE of time is in this void. Also time travel is weird, they can show up after the fact of a so called "Nexus point" due to instability that it caused or something like that? And also it was said that the two Loki's making out created a Nexus point even though there would be no changes due to both of them dying a few minutes later? And i'm sure it was explained but my memory fails me, but why is there no other Khan who achieved multiversal travel? With all of that said i still love this show the most out of marvel tv shows. Those are just some of my questions i asked myself while watching it.

[@Seasonal-Shadow_4674]

I still love LOKI for introducing Free Will and Determinism. MCU got really philosophical there

[@greygorygaming]

"Introducing Free Will" This show did the opposite by introducing the notion that, "Kang did it". It took away free will as a concept, gave it back to you and now you're signing its praises. This is is why MCU fans are extremely questionable.

[@alonsoarana5307]

Eh, Supernatural has done that for the better part of 15 years, especially the last season going up against God

[@xcyoteex]

@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 it didn't even introduce them discuss them. No mention, conflict around the ideas.

[@PillarofGarbage]

hey gang after 15 hours of straight work, I’d managed to get this video done in time to drop at 11:30PM GMT - just in time to still technically count as on time! However, my hard work was scuppered by a copyright issue. So, I guess what I’m saying is - to all my non-American viewers, let’s pretend it’s still the ninth, yeah?

[@hrishiv27]

I had issues with Loki. Some is fantastic, but it simply has too many missed opportunities. Time travel show, that stops time travel after ep 3. Awesome shots of the enormity of the cool looking TVA, to only show us 5 rooms. Bringing back Villain Loki, just to speedrun to his post Ragnarok character development in 2.5 episodes. Built up to a monumental climax, just to hint at it being explored in a couple years. Hell, Revonna is sooo interesting, and she just decides to walk away into season 2. I will say though, it has the best finale of the D+ shows, Majors is unparalleled in the presence he holds, Holt brings the MCU music A-game, and Miss Minutes is perfect from concept to execution (and every step in between).

[@Seasonal-Shadow_4674]

Glad someone else agrees it had the best finale

[@PillarofGarbage]

Fair points, thanks for adding to the discussion!

[@AJ-xc4qe]

Tara Strong, Miss Minutes's voice actor, voice acting goddess and lifelong crush, also voiced Young Sif in Thor Tales of Asgard

[@nicholasnunez6136]

The quality on your videos is immaculate, had to check for myself when you said the channel is one year old. Just incredible!

[@raspberrylemonade]

Loki is a very good Disney+ show, but I have to say Moon Knight is my favorite. And it may be controversial, but I like it so much because it isn’t tied into any other marvel stuff and it’s fleshed out. It’s in its own world where we get to focus on Marc, Steven, Layla, and Egyptian Mythology rather than trying to tie it into the overarching universe. There’s no homework you have to do, you just get to watch and enjoy. It may be my favorite MCU thing they’ve made, simply because I feel like I actually understand all the characters and their stories and connections. It’s fantastic when they use a show to flesh out a character and their story rather than rushing it in a movie. I don’t think Marc/Steven/Jake’s character would work half as well if it was introduced that way. This is one of the main things they should use their shows for, in my opinion. Character introduction. Their stories and connections. Eternals would be so much better if it was a show where we could come to care about the characters rather than a rushed movie where I didn’t form a connection with any of them. I’m interested to see how Ms. Marvel goes, though I’m extremely worried about child-actor-syndrome. Anyways, let me know your thoughts!

[@eerieskeleton]

whole heartedly agree, not only did they do a great job with their characters (save for the final fight which might be elaborated on in future seasons), but they FINALLY made the winged superhero look like a complete badass in live action which the only other contender was falcon which is ehhhh it makes sense because his tech is sposed to be grounded

[@LordEpos]

There are cool elements in Loki, I can't hate a show with Alligator Loki, but I feel like they decided the main character should be Loki after the script was finished. Loki is shown to not be physically stronger than regular humans, which Asgardians and Frost Giants normally are, the two versions of Loki are the only ones who are cold and need a blanket at the end of time, even though they're frost giants, Loki remembers he can shapeshift like twice in the whole show, Loki is upset that they're leaving behind innocent people on Lamentis, but literally less than a week ago killed 80 people for fun, the D.B. Cooper scene is almost an exact copy paste of something Ward does in Agents of Shield, Loki's removed from the timeline in 2012, but then rushes through all the character development to catch up with the other movies in one episode, etc. It feels like almost any other character in the entire MCU could have served this show better as a protagonist than Loki did.

[@FlowerGirlMy]

Exactly. Inconsistencies in the character and his abilities is what worsen this show. Probably the reasons why most people who didn't like the show, didn't like it.

[@PhenomResurrections08]

The great thing about all these mcu shows so far, is that there's something to love about each one that actually ranking em is fun bc of how close a race it is. Personally, my fave so far have been from best to least best: Moon Knight, Wandavision, Loki, Hawkeye, F&WS and What If.

[@raccoonja5905]

I'd rank them the same. Moon Knight, Wandvision and Loki have all great and unique visual identities, interesting stories, characters and new concepts for the MCU, better then most Marvel movies.

[@PhenomResurrections08]

@@raccoonja5905 moon knight and loki in particular had some of the most incredible music

[@AJ-xc4qe]

Loki makes me wonder what other alternate reality spinoffs we could get from different franchises!

[@jon66097]

There was such a missed opportunity for shapeshifting shenanigans throughout the series. At the very least, we could have hinted at the gender fluidity by having him shapeshift into Sylvie at times and have it give way to humorous shenanigans. Its strange that Loki, who can shapeshift into anything, has only shapeshifted into men. That would have been the way to accommodate conservatives and queer audiences. At least to a much better extent than what we got. You have a problem when classic Fairly Odd Parents can explore queer themes better than a showing in 2022.

[@gmavolde]

im gonna be honest, i loved the show initially but i rewatched afew months ago and honestly now i have so many problems with it. so much of it bothers me nowadays when i have a clear mind not so driven by "wow new marvel stuff" edit: it saddens me how much i dont like the show anymore

[@austincarlson9270]

interesting, I rewatched as you have and I enjoyed it even more. some things didn't make quite sense but those were irrelevant and with 6 episodes to expose the tva, build a character arc with two people and introduce the multiverse I thought it couldn't have done much better

[@sereksusvictar7888]

It seems to destroy everything that came before. The Infinity Stones are paperweights? Loki struggles to fend off a few non powered humans? The writers expect us to believe the Infinity Saga was meaningless and our heroes didn't actually perform heroic deeds on their own because we only just now have "free will". If Cap didn't save the world from Hydra, he would have been imprisoned by the multiverse police. So his actions are no longer heroic, but self preservation. The emasculation of Marvel's greatest villain/antihero. The dick kick repeate scene. The idea that Kang didn't do anything until Loki, but it's all part of some grand scheme which was okay with the Snap and the Avengers time shenanigans fixing it. Kang only had a problem with Loki for... what exactly? And the fact that they baited and switched protagonists from Loki (which is why everyone came to see the show) to "female" Loki, whom recieved all the agency... Yeah. You aren't alone in your feelings of disappointment in the show. I can't for the life of me understand how folk think it's the best one? Not even WandaVision destroyed the MCU as much, it only destroyed a single established character and not the whole setting.

[@AllyGirl-hg2sb]

I've rewatched loki too many times to count its so good.

[@lokilover1315]

As a Loki fan, I disliked the show. I did not tune in to watch him constantly made the joke, instead of him playing jokes on others. In the entirety of Loki's story in the MCU, Loki actually played one single "prank" on one single person. (if not counting one single deleted scene, in Thor 1 where he plays a prank on a servant.) Everything Loki says he was, is brought into question, (Independence, Authority, Style) and to be honest, Loki had already gone through an identity crisis in Thor 1, so that wasn't something I wanted to see again. Also, it's never confirmed that he was tortured by Thanos, and influenced by the mind stone. AND THAT, would have made his char, not only more like Norse Myth, but it would have made the Char feel deeper, and more complex. They really missed out on that. Not to mention all the fan articles they put out, all seemed to have different Idea's of what they thought Loki should be. None of the cast were ever on the same page, and I think that really showed in the series, too. I'm not even touching the issues with Sylvie, the director's thoughts of Sylvie, the LBGTQ being upset about them trying to erase Loki's gender-fluid status, or anything petty. I'm just giving my honest thoughts here. I didn't want to see Loki made out to be something weak, or pushed aside. I wanted my dog, to get his day. ALSO, Loki had many powerful, strong women around him in the comics, but they chose to use NONE of them in their story. I think that's pretty bad, too.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Interesting, thanks for sharing!

[@austincarlson9270]

​@@PillarofGarbage I liked it so there's my take lol

[@pugman9672]

From what I remember the bit about Loki being influenced by thanos and the stone to do the things he did. Came from out side of any movie probably an interview

[@JPVersus_]

So, yeah, one of the things I've realized rewatching Loki is that him using the space stone isn't a violation at all. It's just framed like that because Kang just wants him there. He used the TVA in a hypocritical way to get the pieces where he wanted them.

[@Whiteythereaper]

The Avengers were allowed to use time travel via the Quantum Realm because undoing Thanos' snap would lead to events unfolding that would cause Scott Lang to free Kang from the Quantum Realm when Cassie creates her Quantum Beacon while the Avengers are destroyed by the fallout of Endgame. No Iron Man to outthink him, No Steve Rogers to physically oppose him until his last breath, no Allfather Thor with a vast amount of Cosmic power available to him, no Savage and monstrous Hulk to cause untold destruction, no T'Challa to lead Wakanda, no Vision to shut down his technology. The only opposition Kang will face is Doctor Strange, who no longer has the Time Stone and is struggling with the damage done by Wanda (who is also dead after her corruption from the Darkhold & suicide) and the threat of Multiversal Incursion from the Dark Dimension. The board has been set, and the main players are gone. Kang is ready to dominate the remaining heroes.

[@nochannelmusician769]

@@Whiteythereaper Thor is still alive though.

[@austincarlson9270]

thank you for this video, I actually didn't know it was just it's 1 year anniversary but I remember I enjoyed the season last year and was kinda bored so I wanted to watch it again. omg I enjoyed it more this time I think even after seeing it. the character development was so fun to watch along with the production value put into it. I love your takes and you earned a sub.

[@grapeshot]

Yeah I liked it also I'm looking forward to season 2. And Kang the Conqueror He Who Remains.

[@nerds-nonsense]

another hit! also we have a really shit memory so definitely appreciate the recap. We feel a look back at Black Widow is pretty warranted; it seemed to get a lot of undue hate when it came out, but also has some pretty valid criticisms about it. We super appreciate you doing what you do and are excited for your next video!

[@mickeymouse7726]

I loved Loki it was genuinely really great man

[@JohnDowson100]

Im still confused by one thing in the finale: if the TVA is located outside of the flow of time, how did killing HWR created an alternative TVA?

[@Whiteythereaper]

There are infinite universes, and infinite possibilities. When the Sacred Timeline is ended, the branches of the single reality begin existing from that point and a domino effect begins to unfold where the new universes can start existing from earlier and earlier within that world's events, time travel and other possibilities cause absolute chaos which results in other TVA creations by variants of He Who Remains that don't have the goal of domination like Kang the Conqueror, Rama-Tut or Immortus, and are ascendant from being just Nathaniel Richards. Variants that haven't been able to successfully create one single timeline or stopped believing in the dream via a more personal role in the organisation, etc. The only location that really exists outside of time is He Who Remains' Citadel, and the meteor that it is crafted out of is what powers the TVA technology and will likely be revealed to be the MCU version of Iso-8 or some other comic element like Norn stones

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodGeek99]

Very much looking foward to season two! This was my favorite disney plus show, i feel like it had alot of unique ideas it's not perfect but it was a fun watch it was nice seeing lady Sif and that cliffhanger ending was dope!

[@ClaireWritesSometimes]

As a bisexual viewer, I think how the show tackled bringing up Loki's bisexuality was fine, for the resons you mentioned. The show didn’t need to bring it up at all, but they did, and its canon now, it can’t be erased, and it means a lot to me that Kate Herron made sure it was in there. On the other hand, it really dropped the ball with Loki's gender by having a female Loki variant but framing her and every other male-presenting Loki's reaction to her make her seem like an outlier and the other end of a strict binary, when they coukd very simply have had a single line acknowledgement that presenting female isn't an unusual concept to the main Loki or taken the chance in S1 or 2 to have Sylvie and Loki use shapeshifting to appear as each other. It wouldn’t be so ergerigeous if not for the one line where the Loki vaeiants say they've never heard of a female Loki and the idea sounds terrifying to them. That line was just very poorly judged and without it I might not have even thought about the whole thing this hard. If nothing else I'm at lewst reassured by interviews he's given that Hiddleston is aware of the importance of Loki's sexuality and fluid gender in both the comics and Norse Mythology, because he will have brought that to his performance and its another mark on how much he respects the character.

[@meganintenbro]

I really appreciate the approach you take to with your videos and these retrospectives. I enjoy your focus on reviewing the content we got, not the content we could’ve gotten. The former feels like you’re trying to understand what the show and its creators are going for, which interests me more than the latter. I think Loki is so close to being in the “peak marvel” tier for me, but I need to see how season 2 plays out I’d love to see your take on Black Widow. I personally think it’s really not as bad or as disappointing as some may say; I think it did a good job for her character, and helped me finally appreciate what her arc was all about. If it released when it takes place chronologically (after civil war) I honestly think it’d be better received.

[@mattbaines5262]

Thank you for this. I would be up for a Black Widow retrospective. I think as well as being good to look back at the movie itself, it would be interesting to hear how you feel it fits with Phase 4 as a whole and that might contribute to your examining how the whole phase worked together as a sum of its parts.

[@lunarkinght123]

I still like the show, but I don't like how they gave Loki a love interest And it's a variant of himself also

[@rozohwell]

You also need to remember that while it seems like the TVA is being contradictory or wanting to prune loki and not the avengers who also messed up the timeline, it's all decided by one man who basically laid out what he wanted the 'prime' timeline to be. Bureaucracy is pretty much all just traditions and rules for the sake of them while no one really knows why it has to be that complicated.

[@hannahmetzger4880]

The TVA is what we in the Troper community call a _Celestial Bureaucracy._ :3.

[@alexanders7569]

THANK YOU for mentioning the score. It's one of Marvel's best.

[@pascalsimioli6777]

Ah yes the show about a buddy cop drama changing completely into a big journey to escape law across the galaxy 3 episodes in is the best show on disney+. What a freaking accomplishment. But hey maybe I'll change my mind just like loki changed personality after a single episode?

[@kellyloganme]

I liked seeing this high level perspective on the show. I would also enjoy seeing a review of Black Widow, I think there a lot of pieces there to consider like the nature of family, bio and chosen, patriarchal desired control of women's bodies and minds, and the trope of women having to use their beauty as a weapon, to name a few.

[@mileslugo6430]

We're expected to watch every show when the writers of phase 4 don't watch it or keep their story/continuity straight.

[@Kirbychu1]

I could totally see the detective angle played up more in season 2

[@thunderking8925]

Yes. Mcu is an Asgardian universe.

[@jameskircher5235]

I am just discovering your content. This is the second or third video I've watched through. The points you make are well thought out, fair, and eloquent. If you haven't made a video on Black Widow, you should. Luckily for me, I had no plans today as I'm about to binge through your content, at least what pertains to Marvel, and then I'll size up what's left. :)

[@PillarofGarbage]

hope you enjoy!

[@mariorobotnik8090]

i am not religious but i pray to god every day that season 2 isn’t mid

[@vonmatrices]

My only complaint with Loki was that he was a passenger on the plot. Yes, he has character growth, but if he is killed in the first 5 minutes of the show the plot basically plays out the same - chase sylvie to the end of time. Loki is inconsequential to the story.

[@vonmatrices]

For a trickster God I expected just a little more tricking going on.

[@TheaterPup]

With your logic, Alice is inconsequential to Alice in Wonderland.

[@vonmatrices]

@@TheaterPup I agree. I think what I'm trying to say is that "our" Loki felt a little too passive and dimwitted ompared to the situation around him. You aren't wrong. But I just wanted a few more moments of awesome from "our" Loki which may be coming up season 2

[@embermoto]

There is a very good reason this is the only Disney+ marvel show I have gone back and rewatched, it's just that good!!! The costumes, sets, and actors are amazing which more then makes up for any problems with the choreography. I think Kid Loki's child actor syndrome actually works with his character cause he is a Loki that was pruned young so he never really got the chance to come into hime self as a Loki, he had to do that in the pruned world. I am glad they didn't do the backstory flashback they could have done it with Sylvie show some of her time on Asgard and her time on the run but they didn't and the show is better for it. I am really looking forward to season 2 and I hope we get to see more of Kid Loki and Alligator Loki the real MVP of the show.

[@austincarlson9270]

just rewarched, and I Lowrey want to watch it a third time because I enjoyed it so much the second but I have to give myself some slef control

[@astromo1]

loved loki man

[@austincarlson9270]

same bro

[@davidnoel9355]

Kate Herron talked about how some of their production plans (i.e. the pacing of the series) were altered because of COVID. I suspect it would have been a little bit more of a "traditional" Marvel production if the pandemic had not forced them to replace some fight scenes with discussion scenes, etc. I also agree with the commentary on the fight choreography, it wasn't up to Captain America levels but that was okay with me, it did feel like more of a theatre production but that was fine since the fighting was secondary to the story. Even the big third-act battle (the "fight" with Aliath) wasn't really a fight in the traditional sense, the true conflict that had to be resolved was the philosophical one between Loki and Sylvie (and yes, they fought to resolve it but the fight didn't really resolve it).

[@malcolmroache3854]

Great analysis of the show. I almost love Loki but there are things I wished they did more. Such as explore the multiverse just a little more to expand the story but the conversation about free will is definitely the highlight. I loved Sylvie even though I wished they expanded on her backstory more. The romantic ties between them could've waited. I like them working together. She could be the Enchantress of our universe. All in all Loki is still in the TOP 2 of shows after WV for me.

[@TSDTalks22]

Forgot that Owen Wilson’s character was called fucking Mobius. It’s the same sensation as listening to a tv show character casually say the words “among us”.

[@AlexG-jk8tc]

You might remember my comments on WandaVision, and I feel like if I wasn't who I was (a huge sucker for vintage TV/radio, and the titular characters), Loki would be my favorite MCU show (or second, because my actual second-favorite is Hawkeye. Loki is #3). It introduced so many cool concepts, great characters like Mobius, Sylvie and He Who Remains/Kang, so many unique aesthetics like Roxxcart and the retrofuturistic TVA headquarters, and was one of the rare times I truly loved a "big name" actor in an MCU project (Owen Wilson as Mobius), because usually those just end up as me seeing the actor and not their character on-screen, because they've been in so many other things (like Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford, etc.). Overall, an 8/10, a great show that I can see holding up for all time. Always. Side note: That song that plays in the episode 4 credits, "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)"? The woman who sings it is none other than Brenda Lee, who you might know as the singer of "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree"!

[@Seasonal-Shadow_4674]

I need to rewatch it but it’s definitely peak Disney Plus Marvel even still.

[@fernandodecarlosmalcher7977]

I love this show but in my opinion the tittle of best disney plus show was stolen by moon knight, that was almost close to a daredevil level (almost close)

[@TitleInProgress]

Great video! If I were you, I’d probably keep this series to the shows, but don’t really have any reasoning for that, it’s just what I’d do. I really liked Loki! I agree with maybe everything you said in this, especially about the half-measure LGBTQ representation, comparing this show to a version that doesn’t exist, and comparing it to other MCU shows (and how that’s pretty unfair). I don’t really have anything to add, though I would like to say that this is the one Disney+ Marvel show where 6 episodes doesn’t feel like that much of a limitation. Overall I really liked this show (not sure I’d say “loved” but I thought it was pretty good) and I hope that season two will retain season one’s quality!

[@forbiddencroisant]

It was a pretty good show, but man did they draw it out for a couple of the middle episodes. Like the 3rd and 4th episodes were just used to draw the show out.

[@mr.fancypants666]

By the time Loki came around, I was no longer that interested in Marvel.I never finished it,but did watch episode reviews. The Marvel shows were supposed to be "limited series" Wandavision was disappointing in the end,but it did flow into a movie which is a good way to do it. Loki is getting a 2nd season,which makes this season weaker. I don't think the show delivered on the Loki mythology, there were no other Asgardians,you need Odin or Thor to appear in a Loki story.

[@anniehopkins8470]

In the "micro"... the show was pretty good... but to say it was the best Disney + show is like being the valedictorian of summer school. In regards to the "macro"... all it did was turn the MCU into a giant plot hole generating device. Perhaps there is a way to reign that problem in narratively as the phases move forward.

[@Kidkinsey]

I think I'd appreciate it more If I understood the difference between an alternate timeline, dimension and universe I feel like they use that word too loosely and it makes everything confusing

[@joshuagibson6531]

Do a black widow one please

[@Destructivducky]

I watched loki twice within a 3 month window when it first came out, as a huge mcu fan it was good and i can't wait for s2, as a casual marvel comics fan, i wanted to see loki be the open and very..."active" character like the comics while they jumped around the timeline with whoever or whatever. the people i watched it with don't care too much for investing in marvel so they felt a little let down there was such a cliff hanger and were still slightly confused by the end of it.

[@technocore1591]

IMO I thought WandaVision was better. I'm older so the homage to old television was perfect. Loki was great but episode 3, the one where they're on the planet that is about to be destroyed, was horribly written. It made so little sense. And Loki's conversion to be sympathetic and caring was way too rushed.

[@austincarlson9270]

I mean they had 6 episodes to work with, don't blame the writers. episode 3 was my second or 3rd favorite episode out of them all because you get to see loki open up to someone he can somewhat understand. If episode 3 didn't take place there wouldn't be as much of an emotional toll between the two for the next 3 episodes. For introducing a new pivotal character in 5 episodes I thought they did great.

[@Lockn3s5]

Nah... Loki has some serious problems but it's still watchable. Wandavision is by far the best MCU show. Doesn't even matter if the finale was of slighlty lower quality but it did close out that story so well.

[@justinbruce4126]

I have such an opposite opinion on most peoples view of Loki. I absolutely hated it and have it as my least favorite Disney + Show and one of my least favorite MCU projects in general. A lot of things just did not work in my opinion - Using 2012 villain Loki only to make him an anti-hero within the first episode made no sense to me because at that point just use Ragnork Loki and it felt extremely rushed - The entire Sylvie and Loki Relationship is just incest and I don't know how I feel that we got an insect couple before an LGBT couple - The whole thing basically erased Loki being gender-fluid like in comics and myths by adding the whole variant thing instead of playing with things like having a proper Lady Loki - Sylvie as a character is just uninteresting just being angry the majority of her screen-time and we never learn about things like what she was doing while on the run as a kid or what was her Nexus event - The finale was boring as hell I had to watch it in two sittings since it contains mainly talking with little visuals and I don't know why they won't flip the last two episodes slightly reworking the episodes to better fit - The TVA are generic marvel villains with none of them getting any development outside of Mobius like for example why was Renslayer so blindly loyal to Kang though having no idea about his actual plan - I know it's building up the multiverse but the whole show feels so isolated that I just don't care about it It would have been fun to see a show of Loki running around messing with time, introduce the popular Enchantress and have her as a devil on his shoulder with her sister lorelei as the angel on his shoulder, maybe have an episode of Loki as Lady Loki, and have the TVA chasing after them better defining members like have Renslayer know exactly what the TVAs purpose is. Also cut the variant stuff or rework it

[@austincarlson9270]

I disagree, his relationship with sylvie was interesting because he hadn't really loved anyone outside his family but he never would show that to their faces until he did to sylvie. the whole LGBT and gender fluid stuff isn't really what is important here and the amount of info events loki is shown here after realizing that the tva is in control of everything he was after had to change is heart. I mean, he was obsessed with the tesseract before he used it to space travel, OBSESSED. The show is way more enteresting than the others on Disney + and even if it wasn't plot whole perfect and didn't do the right thing here or there, I would like to see you write and direct a better story.

[@justinbruce4126]

@@austincarlson9270 The LGBT stuff is important to a lot of people so just cuz you ain’t about it doesn’t mean it isn’t important. The Sylvie and Loki stuff was incest was boring and creepy. The show is flaming garbage and bottom tier Marvel projects

[@austincarlson9270]

@@justinbruce4126 lol, so all I've gathered from what you don't like is that there isn't LGBT inclusion even though it is obvious loki says he is bi, and that there is an incestual relationship between loki and sylvie. Loki and sylvie from what I recall are not siblings, they are the deviants of the same person, but are 1, different genders, and 2, brought up and raised in completely different environments and believe different things. In the finale, literally the most important decision in both of their lives they couldn't agree on and that is what brought upon the multiverse.

[@justinbruce4126]

@@austincarlson9270 if that’s where you stopped reading my original comment then that’s on you not me cuz that was one of many critiques of the show. Loki and Sylvie are the same person with shared DNA and same family just from different universes that would be like if Andrew’s Spider-Man and Tobey’s Spider-Man had a romantic relationship in No Way Home. Just because they are from two different backgrounds doesn’t mean anything that’s like as if you hooked up with your biological sister who was given away to adoption it’s weird. Also alluding to a character being Bi is way different from outwardly stating that a character is LGBT which again to you might not be significant but to a lot of people is

[@austincarlson9270]

@@justinbruce4126 umm, last time I checked two people of the opposite sex can't have the same dna, and being bisexual is a part of the LGBT community, you do realize that if they were just promoting LGBT things all over in their big budget projects, they would lose SOOOO MUCHHHH revenue because of not appealing to a wider audience. It's just a little obvious that disney is pro LGBT if you take any lick of the news but implementing that into smaller projects is smarter than projects they have a large audience already watching. Its about the money for them, just business. That's my last take on your comment and BTW I did read your comment all the way through im not sure what your alluding to there but peace. ✌️

[@FortressOfFriendship]

My biggest issue with Loki re: sexuality and gender is specifically when our Loki talks to the other Lokis and says something like “Have you ever met one of us that was a woman?” and they all act like that’s insane. It would’ve been so easy to have the other Lokis say “well yeah most of us are a woman sometimes” to at least integrate that aspect of Loki somewhere, if not necessarily with OUR Loki. The passing mention of bisexuality is frustrating too, obviously, but at least we get that as opposed to no mention at all of any Loki possibly being genderfluid.

[@austincarlson9270]

meh, I felt fine with it, sylvies a great partner too so I'm not conplaining

[@fujifilm5127]

Love me some Lukey

[@nailati]

it's true: one day, everyone and everything we've ever known will be butt dust

[@mischake]

Of the bat: no.... loki wasn't great. So many problems omg. But... it is a diamond in the rough that could have been amazing. But as is, it was literally the second episode where my fiance called it quits on a marvel marathon we'd been going strong for a long time. She was so bored. And i agree. I mind such shows less on second viewing where i know exactly what to expect and am less bothered by the butchering that goes on all over the place but i have to accept that this just isn't loki.

[@joshuaholdsworth3897]

You don't have to do this to yourself, noone deserves to watch black widow again, save yourself!!! Joking aside, go with your gut. If you want to go for it. I found the movie rather tepid and lukewarm (like many marvel movies) but I'm sure you can do some of your analysis witchcraft if you wanted to

[@PillarofGarbage]

Yeah, if I do end up making that Black Widow video, I doubt it’ll be as positive as this one…

[@HectorT52]

Although loki is still my favorite disney+ show I gotta say that the whole TVA and multiversw stuff is kinda wack considering future and previous multiverse depictions in the mcu and this is considering that I prefer to view what if as something outside canon for how inconsistant with the rest of the mcu is.

[@unphantom173]

Loki is soo ahead on all of the disney show it aint even close to me lol

[@r0cket104]

Loki was good but newer mcu projects mess up lokis continuity making me like it even less

[@duhimdave]

In 17 years, the Loki series will be old enough to legally buy a military grade weapon capable of mowing down dozens of innocent people (in the United States)

[@TheBlarggle]

What a weird place for this kind of comment.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Pillar of Garbage says gun control

[@williamebf444]

I really liked Morbius in the series

[@austincarlson9270]

it's morbin time on the jet ski

[@HauntaskhanHYPNOSIS]

It's Mobin' time?

[@cephon6198]

did you just say... agent Morbius? It's morbin' time

[@PillarofGarbage]

that moment wasn’t scripted btw, it was a legitimate (Freudian?) slip on my part while recording

[@rednas3271]

Showing the battle of Geonosis when you said cis made me chuckle. Great video as always

[@Mantequilla2113]

Too bad it was the Sylvie show instead of the Loki show tho

[@TheaterPup]

That's a tired fake talking point.

[@Mantequilla2113]

@@TheaterPup Tired, fake and talking? I think you actually just summed up the show

[@TheaterPup]

@@Mantequilla2113 I’m glad the show’s about talking. Maybe you can stick to Bayformers. 🙄

[@Mantequilla2113]

@@TheaterPup Man you must be fun at parties, or do you just stick to book club meetings

[@TheaterPup]

@@Mantequilla2113 I go to MCU watch parties. You whine about women on KZbin. 😂

[@scarletspider5850]

I LOVE this show, it has probably the best story in my mind, but I think aesthetically it might be my least favorite, but above all that I think it does manage to be one of my favorites still.

[@greygorygaming]

All of these Disney+ are intersectional galore.

[@flightlesslord2688]

hmm. I dont like it as much as the others for some reason. Not sure why. I'll have to watch it again. Wandavision is still my favourite

[@Drawoon]

I really don't think making loki genderqueer would have been that difficult. They just needed to portray child Silvy as a boy, then throw in some line about Silvy not caring much about gender. She just changed to a woman someday and didn't bother changing back.

[@Fourmath]

Loki, Wandavision, and Moon Knight are the three best MCU shows currently. Hopefully future titles like Secret Invasion, Daredevil season 1, and Loki season 2 can top these shows

[@GNerdful]

Wandavision's ending kinda sucked though, another "evil version of the hero with the same powers fight"

[@rhianwriting9411]

I... don't want to be butt dust.

[@duvan-solis]

It's my favorite serie, thus is great to see this video. However, I think the serie is weak, it's flow, transitions and development don't do it for me. I think it's strong suits are the characterization, aesthetics, concept and tone. Problems for me are such as the romance (felt rushed), transition (the objectives and places aren't connected wisely) development (the conflict, the stakes and resolution don't do justice to the concept).

[@brazierf]

fun fact about the soundtrack (sorry if someone else has already pointed this out) - natalie holt who composed it is also the woman who stage invaded the opera singers on britain's got talent to throw eggs at simon cowell in 2013

[@PillarofGarbage]

gigabased Natalie Holt

[@leguito662]

It never was

[@snakekingblues3017]

good show right up til the last ep and then they shit the bed

[@DonPabloVP]

This can’t be a retrospective

[@robertweaselhead4603]

It never was the best 😂

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

Loki was the spat in the face of anyone who likes the mcu. I don't see how anyone can see good qualities either then the visuals and audio.

[@Seasonal-Shadow_4674]

What’s wrong with the themes of LOKI?

[@austincarlson9270]

holy hell what happened to you lol

[@austincarlson9270]

​@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 this person just hating prolly because of the gender fluid things or sum

[@nochannelmusician769]

There’s a whole video about the good qualities above so I’d start with that

[@nameisamine]

Can you talk about the new Ms Marvel show on Disney+ and why it’s getting so much hate? I watched with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. It was a colourful vibrant and charming show with a lot creative stylistic flourishes. I’m seeing a lot of bad faith criticism reducing it “woke trash” and “diversity hire: the superhero”. This is Reva all over again. 🙄

[@lokilover1315]

I personally think a good amount of the hate, is because the actress gave a big double standard in her interviews as of late. It's "OK" for her to text Kevin Feige for any and all opinions she might have, at all times, but she tells Tom Hiddleston, that "he talks a lot.". That gives a very controlling, and genuinely narcissistic impression. Then when people actually saw Ms Marvel, they couldn't help but see that in her char as well. Regardless of how her char acted.

[@austincarlson9270]

​@@lokilover1315 yeah that, and also they pushed so many political agendas into the episodes already it was sort of cringe to watch

[@lokilover1315]

@@austincarlson9270 I have no idea how the show went. Didn't watch it.

[@austincarlson9270]

@@lokilover1315 well its still in the middle of releases, only two episodes are out

[@lokilover1315]

@@austincarlson9270 Doesn't change my arguments, though. Sadly. I only see why people are "angry" on Twitter, and my own personal, judgements, are not based on the show itself at all.

[@mobiusygosh1tp0sts37]

Loki is fucking terrible. The logic within it is completely incomprehensible and doesn’t work. Truly awful.

[@austincarlson9270]

thank you for your critique, wait I forgot the part where you explained how it was incomprehensible and it doesn't work and what would have been better

[@cambriel8264]

As a member of the queer community, I don't think they would have needed a lot of time to explore Loki's queerness. Just make Silvie male when they first meet and have Loki fall in love with Silvie that way. Then have Silvie switch it up, maybe as some part of a mission, and Loki is still attracted. And Silvie can point out how all Loki's can do this (therefore establishing main Loki's genderqueerness too), maybe tying it into how further unfair it was that Silvie got pruned if the only problem was that she was supposedly 'female'. Queerness can be embedded into the characters without it needing to be explored on a thematic level. We don't need deep thematic exploration of how being a brunette has affected Loki in a culture that idolizes blondness or whatever. It's just part of Loki's character.