Fascination and Frustration with the Loki Finale

Season One of Loki has come to a close and I have lots of feelings.  My relationship with Loki has been complicated from “go.”  The first episode left me with more concerns than intrigue, wondering about the direction they were taking the MCU’s overarching narrative.  The second episode setup so much!  It got me excited!  Maybe I was wrong!  Episode three was disconcerting as it was just filler.  Then comes four-five-six and I’ve been all over the board with how this show has made me feel.  Now, with the dust only beginning to settle, I wanted to explore my at-times-surprisingly visceral reaction to the end of Loki Season One.  MASSIVE SPOILERS for the Loki finale will follow.  A mass of FEELINGS will follow as well.  So tread carefully, based your comfort level with exposure to SPOILERS and my raging feels ;D.

Stream-of-Consciousness Loki Theorizing About the TVA and Variants

Am I doing this?  Am I writing a second post about Loki after the second episode?  Is this going to be a thing I do?  I don’t know what the future holds but for now…yeah, it totally is.  But it’s summer vacation!  I SURVIVED a year of pandemic teaching!  Now I can catch my breath, work on the book, and enjoy life…which includes watching, thinking, and (it would appear) writing about Loki.  Also, speculating and theorizing is part of the fun with new episodes dropping weekly!  The ideas in this post began with a comment Gemma (of Book Beach Bunny) left on my first post about Loki.  Then Krysta (of Pages Unbound) left a comment on that piece, too, which added more fuel to my contemplative fire.  Then Jeff and I spent like an hour on the phone after we both watched the second episode this morning considering everything we saw and discussing it in light of Gemma and Krysta’s comments.  Soooo…voila!  Here’s a new post.  But do you see what happened?!?  All these ideas began with comment thread discussions so maybe this post will lead to new ideas to obsess over until the next episode comes out!  Also this will have MAJOR SPOILERS for episode two of Loki so read on only if a) you’ve seen it or b) are ok with MAJOR SPOILERS.

Loki and Questions of the MCU’s Multiverse

I just watched the first episode of Loki and decided to sit down and write about it.  This NEVER happens for me!  Normally I’ve too many thoughts to order as I write or life is too busy to go from reading/viewing to writing to posting or both.  Either way, here we are :).  I didn’t go into Loki planning to write about it.  But as I watched several serious questions began swirling around in my head.  And I figured, “What the Hel?  Just write.”  So here we are.  If you’ve not seen it, I won’t discuss any major surprises but I’ll be exploring the basic plot setup and the questions it’s presentation of the multiverse gives us.  Coolio?  Coolio.  Let’s jump into all the first episode of Loki gives us to consider about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s concept of the multiverse, shall we?

Lovin’ Loki: When A Villain Evolves

As early news for 2012’s The Avengers began to spread, we learned (much like in the comics) the villain who would unite these heroes for the first time was a familiar face.  Loki Laufeyson had survived his self-imposed fall from the Bifrost at the end of 2011’s Thor and would be leading a Chitauri invasion force to take Earth as his own.  This had two major implications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  First, most obviously, it gave the Avengers a reason to form.  Second, it showed the MCU was finally ready to depart from the default/cliché ending to almost every superhero movie ever.  A villain had lived!  This would be a game changer.  In allowing Loki’s character to evolve (over the course of five films by the time Avengers: Infinity War hits), fans have been able to embrace him as Tom Hiddleston has built an engaging, complicated, and evolving character.

When America Elects a SUPER VILLAIN…

On 15 June 2016, Marvel released the first issue of Christopher Hastings and Langdon Foss’ bitingly brilliant political satire comic Vote Loki.  I wrote a post as soon as I finished the first issue raving about it.  This week the fourth and final issue of the miniseries was released and with each month its cultural commentary has only grown more accurate.  Vote Loki reflects the current American political process and our growing body of vocal, apathetic, and (proudly) uninformed voters with more truthfulness than any of us should be comfortable with.  Hastings and Foss have created a comic book that we, as the American people, need…even if it makes us uncomfortable.  This book’s a cultural MUST READ.

Loki wants your VOTE…and he’s got mine!

This week the first issue of Christopher Hasting and Langdon Foss’ new monthly title Vote Loki was released.  I bought it because I was very intrigued at what the series could/would be…and after reading the first five pages I knew it would take the last free spot in my monthly file!  I recently dropped the bi-monthly Deadpool main title for Spider-Man/Deadpool and had a free spot (to keep myself at ten a month).  But it’s free no more!  In the hands of Christopher Hasting’s insightful writing, the Trickster god’s campaign can’t be missed.