Glorious Purpose Review
There’s a lot to take in, in the first episode of LOKI, Disney+’s latest Marvel Cinematic Universe offering. While leaning fully into the multiverse shenanigans of AVENGERS: ENDGAME, GLORIOUS PURPOSE nevertheless reaches all the way back to 2012’s AVENGERS ASSEMBLE (as visited in Endgame) to continue the story of Loki Laufeyson.
Apprehended by the Time Variance Authority, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) – fresh from his defeat at the hands of The Avengers in New York – finds himself under arrest and seemingly powerless to resist his fate. But when he catches the eye of TVA Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson), an opportunity presents itself – an opportunity for escape? Maybe. An opportunity for redemption? Surely not?
It must be quite a thrill for an actor to have, effectively, completed their character’s arc then be given a second chance to go back and do it over again, but differently this time – and Hiddleston, as excellent an actor as he is, can’t quite disguise his delight at being back in that suit of finest Asgardian leather – even if it is only briefly before Loki is literally and metaphorically stripped bare.
It’s something of a wry irony that a series about a trans-dimensional agency charged with ensuring that there are no branches off the prime timeline is, itself, explicitly a branching off from the main MCU continuinuty using AVENGERS ASSEMBLE as its jumping off point.
Thankfully, smart writing and witty performances ensure that while this may not be the Loki we’ve come to know and love and even, possibly, admire – we’re pretty sure he’ll get there by the end of the episode. Indeed, thanks to some judicious THIS IS YOUR LIFE-style flashbacks, we get to see Loki put through a crash course of the trials and tribulations that eventually led to his death at the Infinity Gauntletted hands of Thanos in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.
Speaking of Infinity Stones, one of the most breathtaking moments in GLORIOUS PURPOSE happens with such casual jocularity that you have to admire the audacity of the recalibration of stakes and scale that it delivers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large. With a few throwaway lines and a drawer full of pretty baubles, the Ininity Stones – those cosmic powerhouses which drove 22 movies’ worth of action, adventure and anguish are brushed aside as party favours and paperweights, their power declared insigifnanct next to the chaotic potential of an unrestrained multiverse. While it promises much for this series, it also massively raises the stakes for the forthcoming SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME and DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS.
Of course, Hiddleston’s Loki is always at his best when he’s paired with somebody ‘better’ to bounce off and in GLORIOUS PURPOSE, that role falls to Wilson’s Mobius. Oh, there’s a good deal of friction between Loki and the arch bureaucracy of the TVA but it’s in Mobius that Loki finds another guide to being a better or, at least, less evil man. The rest of the star name cast –Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku and Eugene Cordero get a few moments to shine but this first episode is essentially a two-hander between Hiddleston and Wilson with the rich detail of the Time Variance Authority as a quirky and deeply intriguing backdrop.
It’ll be interesting to see how the series develops, especially given the revelation which closes out the episode, and whether it does more than just tease its potential for big-name cameos given it has all of time and space to play with but once again, Marvel find themselves not burdened, but blessed with GLORIOUS PURPOSE.
Look out for new reviews of Loki episodes every Thorsday…er…Thursday at thecraggus.com
