Loki “For All Time Always” Review
Loki “For All Time Always” is the sixth and final episode of Loki series 1. Following the events of episode 5 where Sylvie and Loki find the doorway to the person who controls the TVA we finally find out just what’s been going on.
Torture on a Quantum Level
OK, I’m gonna start with the things I actually liked in this one. Because my God it’s a short list. Johnathan Majors is amazing as “He Who Remains” in fact, he steals the entire show. No-one in this show is as fun and charismatic as he was in this one episode alone. Owen Wilson is great in the few scenes he’s in. And Gugu Mbatha-Raw is consistent in her performance as Ravonna. The branching timeline and opening of the multiverse was neat and a big moment and the weight of the situation is handled relatively well.
Tom Hiddleston is Tom Hiddleston but regardless of how good he is, he’s overshadowed by flawed writing and Sylvie being a thing. I’ve made no secret of the fact that Sylvie’s existence annoys me. And this episode highlights why better than any other episode. She’s in the spotlight. Constantly. Even with the wooden acting and 3 various expressions she’s the one that the episode leans towards constantly. In a show called Loki. Loki is a side character. And not even a well written one.
He Who Remains
Whilst this has always been a problem I’d, perhaps naively thought that they’d chill out on the “OMG Sylvie is so perfect we love a variant QWEEEEN.” Nonsense during the final episodes to give the show time to start making sense and being consistent. But no. She’s the focus, even indirectly. You can see why, her being the one to cause a new timeline war by killing Kang (or He Who Remains.) But it’s so evident that there’s a “don’t judge Sylve she’s perfect” agenda here it’s painful.
Most of the episode is made up of He Who Remains explaining what the TVA does and why it does it. And lemme say, they’re not so bad. At least this variant of him isn’t. He’s trying to keep the timeline in order so that all out chaos doesn’t ensue. And whilst his methods are destructive and evil, they make sense. This episode is worth watching just for him. You can drown everything else out. It’s monotonous and boring.
The Loki Series As A Whole
Whilst this is just one episode it is the final episode so it gives me a chance to look at the Loki series fresh with full context. It’s not good. Whilst the first two episodes are passable, even good in their own right. It’s all downhill from there. Episode 5 was saved mostly by the other Lokis and not the Loki we know. When you look back it becomes painfully obvious that this was just another cash cow to ease people into the new concept Marvel are going for with the timelines.
The problem the Loki writers faced was that they had to create a bad guy even more threatening than Thanos to show how serious the situation is. Their solution to this problem? Do what every bad writer does and downplay the threat Thanos was so that your villain doesn’t take a huge amount of writing skill to stand on even ground with him.
In hindsight I should’ve seen this coming in episode 1 when it’s proclaimed that the Avengers won “because they were always meant to.” Again. Downplaying everything that happened in the previous storyline because it’s easier to make your bad guy terrifying that way. The problem the Loki series has is that it assumes it’s audience are as dumb as a bad of rocks and won’t see through their nonsense. Unfortunately we’re not. And we see it.
Overall I’d say the best word to describe the whole series is “waste” a wasted opportunity to tell a genuinely good story about the importance of free will and how keeping free will and the universe in check is a delicate balance. And not one solved as easily as sticking a sword into someone’s chest. A waste of good talent, with Hiddleston, Di Martino, Wilson and Mbatha-Raw being clearly talented actors. It’s a wonder how they can make them look so bad. But look bad they do. Sometimes they’re able to save themselves but mostly it’s a mess of good talent being wasted.
I realise my opinions are just that. Opinions and Loki has a ton of fans, naturally, so here’s the link if you’d like to grab yourself some Loki funk pops to adopt!
