LOKI Ep. 3 recap (And also Ep. 1 and 2)

SPOILERS FOR LOKI AND I GUESS SOME OTHER MCU STUFF

When LOKI was among the Marvel Disney+ series announced back in the summer of 2019, I grouped it with WandaVision for one specific reason. I couldn’t really tell what either was going to be about.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye were clearly going to be a more traditional action series, but the other two were anyone’s guess. WandaVision was described as “half classic sitcom, half MCU spectacular.” It’s not like anyone knew what that meant at the time.

And I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the mere idea of a show centered around a character who had his neck snapped in Infinity War. Loki was dead. What left was there to be told? It was criticism the MCU has faced many times. To keep finding ways to bring dead characters back into the fold is to remove the stakes you’re trying to make feel significant.

Of course, Endgame opened the door to more, but I took a wait-and-see approach to see if Marvel could execute this project in a way that didn’t cheapen the story they had already told.

Well, almost two years later, nine episodes of WandaVision made me believe in the wackiness of the MCU. Three episodes in, LOKI has done nothing to change that sentiment. And because I only started this blog several days ago, I want to talk about all of them in what I will admit is a fairly messy and possibly incoherent manner.

One of the most important things to remember heading into the LOKI series was which Loki we’re dealing with.

This wasn’t the Loki who had helped save the Asgardian people in Ragnarok and took a swing at Thanos in an attempt to save his brother in IW. Instead, this is 2012 post-Avengers Loki, the one fresh off sending an army to New York to pursue global domination. IE, he’s more villain than hero.

The show needs not five minutes to remind us of that difference, with Loki immediately scrambling for the sliver of high ground in his site to establish authority over those who found him after he crash-landed in the sand.

I loved how Loki knew about the time-traveling Avengers. It adds nothing to the story. It was just a hilarious moment that speaks to how powerful Loki is.