Potential spoilers ahead: Depending on what you classify as spoilers.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki has been a fan favourite since he first showed up in the MCU in his slick backed hair and sly grin. Let’s be fair, the infamous God of Mischief has given feelings to most fans. So, when you make a show where Loki is front and center, you know everyone is jumping at it.

After disappearing from New York after the battle of New York during the events of Avengers Endgame, Loki ends up in Mongolia. Here he meets the Time Variance Authority, and is promptly and surprisingly easily captured.  His time at the TVA headquarters includes taking a number to wait in line, walking through a metal detector-like security device, and verifying some paperwork. Something we’re all used to when going to government offices. The twist, failing to queue up properly at the TVA can result in death. And that paperwork? It’s a incredibly comprehensive stack consisting of literally everything Loki has ever said including what he utters while in the office. It’s extremely funny to watch this all-powerful being forced through confusing paperwork and annoying bureaucracy. Classified as a variant, since this version of him that escapes isn’t supposed to exist, he’s set to be eliminated until the timely intervention of Agent Mobius, played by Owen Wilson.

Director Kate Herron continues a quirky visual style that clearly sets the show apart from action packed Falcon and The Winter Soldier. And while the weird AF WandaVision drew us into the odd, this show seems to be pairing that same weird with science fiction, time travel, and some police procedural style mystery solving. 

Now one thing we need to remember, this is not the Loki who has had his incredible character development across the many movies of the MCU, this is literally early Loki fresh off his fight against the Avengers. He hasn’t made peace with his brother, nor witnessed the death of his mother, or been told by Odin that he’s proud of him. Something he witnesses in a flash as he views his entire life’s greatest hits unveiled to him. First by Agent Mobius, then himself.

Serving as a shock to Loki, who has a character development of the magnitude we wouldn’t have expected in the very first episode. Holy crap Tom Hiddleston is good. Mobius offers Loki a chance to not be erased. And our police procedural is now ready to go.

The chemistry of Wilson and Hiddleston is interesting. It’s an unlikely couple, which is what all good buddy cop shows are made of. We have the smarmy scheming diva paired with the unflappable surfer dude. 

The TVA itself feels like its an organization from MIB, Hellboy, and Doctor Who put together. This weird enforcement agency seems to exist outside of the normal scope of things. 

Yes, there is time travel involved. This wonderfully absurd, fantastical, and comical. Just the way I like em. The team behind the show has done a wonderful job of introducing everything, nailing every element in a way I did not see coming. Now, can they keep this up?

Loki is streaming on Disney+ right now. Get watching.

Words: Anant Sagar