I completely get that the premiere episode of Loki had a big job to do. They had to take a much-beloved anti-hero who, by necessity, had 9 years of character development stripped away from him, and them reintroduce him as the antihero we love fresh off of an attempt to not only take over the world, but fresh off a genuine killing spree.
Come on… In the first Avengers movie, he rips a guy’s eye out. Have we forgotten that? Pepperidge Farm remembers!
As far as the premiere episode went, it was fine… but I felt it was mostly recap, review, and setup, pinkie promising that something better is coming later. Call it a downpayment or an IOU. I feel like we got the raw end of the scepter.
That’s not to say that Loki is not entertaining because it most certainly is. Anytime Tom Hiddleston dons his Loki costume, fun is going to be had and, my goodness, it feels like it’s been ages since I’ve seen Owen Wilson in anything I didn’t realize how much I missed him. But I still feel unsatisfied by what feels like an hour of teases.
Granted, the teases are a lot of fun. The idea of Loki having to track down an evil (more evil) duplicate of himself, the drawer full of Infinity Stones that basically throws out the McGuffins of Phases 1-3, and the enigmatic nature of Loki himself, making us as an audience unsure as to where his loyalties lie or his allegiances will fall… I have no doubt that a great series is coming.
Coming.
The problem is, it’s not here yet. This was just the prologue.
Jason Gaston 