Star Rating:

Loki 12+

Streaming On: Watch Loki on Disney+

Season: 1

Episode: 6

Actors: Tom Hiddleston, Sophia DiMartino, Jonathan Majors

Release Date: Wednesday 14th July 2021

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi

Running time: 48 minutes

Although 'Loki' has been a show that's borrowed from police procedurals initially, and also took in inspiration from the likes of 'The Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' and 'Doctor Who', the finale felt like it was setting itself up for some kind of big - major(s), even - reveal.

At long last, Sylvie and Loki were going to pull back the curtain and see the man behind the machine.

That's where Jonathan Majors comes in. If you haven't yet watched either 'Da 5 Bloods' or 'The Last Black Man In San Francisco', odds are he'll be something of an unknown presence. Yet, in his dynamic between Loki and Sylvie, he reveals more about himself and less about his role in things. We know he's been the one who has been holding the timeline together, who created the TVA to keep the timeline on the path that he has been able to foresee since he's from the 31st century, and more importantly, he no longer has it in him to keep a hold on things. After all, he's literally able to see everything - up to a point. From right after his meeting with Loki and Sylvie, he's into uncharted territory and that's the most exciting thing that character's ever experienced. It explains why he's so unhinged and almost child-like, but it also speaks to what he thinks of both Loki and Sylvie. He's talking down to them, utilising small words and illustrations to make them - and, as a result, us - understand the complex temporal wars that brought everything together to this moment.

Loki and Sylvie then are faced with a choice - the first, maybe the only choice they've had since all this began. Do they kill the conqueror and let chaos reign across the multiverses, or do they assume his role and continue to hold it back? It also boils down to the essential question between Loki and Sylvie, which is put so succinctly by Loki. He's not to be trusted, and she can't trust anyone. This is what holds both of them back, but together, can they make it work? Well, no, because as she later points out right after she pushes him away, she's not him. She's herself.

The final scene sees Loki pushed into the TVA, meeting Mobius and Hunter B-15 realising that the timelines are basically out of control. In fact, they're so out of control that when Loki arrives and tries to warn them that other timelines and variants of Jonathan Majors' character are coming, they brush him off. He's been pushed into another timeline altogether, where Majors' character is the one in charge.

As finales go, 'Loki' leaves many questions unanswered, and the ones that are answered, are done so rather unsatisfactorily. We know where Alioth came from, we know who was behind the TVA and we understand the reasons for it, brutal and unsophisticated though they are. We know that Jonathan Majors' character - known as Kang the Conqueror, though he's never named specifically as Kang, merely "a conqueror" - will be back, but it'll be different versions of the same character. We also know that Sylvie is still out there, Loki has survived, but the questions are where are they and when are they?

Which then leads us into our final of this series...

Final Thoughts

  • Loki is in an alternate timeline, right? Does that mean all timelines are now able to be transported to?
  • Did Sylvie actually kill Kang, or did she simply just let the timelines expand as they did?
  • What's up with the apple-eating? Is that significant?
  • It clearly wasn't Doomstadt, but still, would have been a lot cooler if it was
  • With multiverses springing up all over the place, what are the chances that one of them is going to contain Deadpool or the X-Men?
  • Can Marvel just go ahead and confirm Tom Hiddleston for 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' please?