Loki: The Nexus Event

"What an incredible seismic narcissist..."

This isan incredible episode, full of twist, turns and big, big reveals along all the timey-wimey stuff, starting with the sad reveal that Sylvie was kidnapped by the TVA when she was just a little girl to... yeah, that ending.

It's still all about character, though. Neither we nor Mobius stop pondering what makes the so-called God of Mischief tick, of whether he trult has fallern in love with his alternate self. Mobius too, who seems to be permanently "pruned" by Ravonna, his best friend, also gets quite the journey here as he tenaciously notes the things that don't add up and realises that Loki, for once, was telling the truth: everyone who works for the TVA is a mind-wiped variant. His death is dignified, yes, but deeply sad.

And then there's the revelation at the end: the "Time Keepers" are just a front. What's really going on? Who really runs the TVA? Whatever, it#s clear that Ravonnais right at the centre. This is getting pretty bloody gripping.

Loki: The Variant

 "Luckily, he believes in himself enough for both of us..."

This second episode has me fascinated. The whole concept of this limited series is suoerb. We take a variant Loki from an already-established divergent timeline and plonk him into the TVA, a concept of Walt Simonson's where everyone (just Owen Wilson here) looks just like the late Mark Gruenwald, which is so well-established here, as a 1960s office environment rather less glamorous than Mad Men.

Thus we have philosophical, timey-wimey issues of coolness. We get fascinating, abstracxt conversations between Loki and Mobius about predestination and free will. We, like Loki, are left wondering what is the bacstory behind the Time Keepersa. Even more, we non-Amewricans are left wondering about, like, what the hell is this Rennaissance Fayre insanity?

But it's all about the variant, a veraion of Loki who seems badass. And Loki's own mor=tives. What are they? Everybody's playing thirty-seven dimensional chess, and I love it.

Also, Loki is pretty damn good at paperwork!

Loki: Glorious Purpose

 "What's a fish?"

"How do you not know what a fish is?"

This  is an extremely promising start: indeed the finest opening episode to any Marvel TV series yet. It's far from an obvious idea to pair Loki with the semi-obscure Time Variance Authority, a nice little semi-satirical creation of Walt Simonson, but it really, really works.

The interrogation scene by Mobius, while its point is as yet unclear, is an excellent opportinuty to stop, explore and indeed psychoanalyse the character of Loki, adding depth to him as a person. The moment when he gives up on escaping because he realises he's temprally homeless is deeply affecting.

Yet it's the concept of the TVA that fascinates. It raises all sorts of philosophical questions of predestination and free will. It also introduces us to the concept of the multiverse, and that an authority exists- its origins rather murky- to ensure there is only one "sacred" timeline. The '60s-'70s office style is delightful, as is the fun little exposition video. The concepts, the humour and the characterisation are all superb. And I'm full of questions about the background to the Multiverse and the TVA.

More please.