Loki (1.1) Episode Recap: Time Out of Mind

The first episode of the Loki miniseries is largely about taking familiar images and distorting them. The episode opens with a scene from the first Avengers film. Specifically, when Loki grabs the tesseract and disappears. If you have seen Avengers, the scene is familiar. The beginning sequence feels like a weird extended cut of that movie. It quickly becomes much more than that as the multiverse starts to unfurl in front of Loki when he is arrested and tried by the Time Variant Authorities (TVA).

Admittedly, the first episode is largely exposition driven by Mobius (Owen Wilson), Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaka), and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) explaining to Loki exactly who the TVA are, what they do, and his punishment for his time crimes. The episode’s 52-minute runtime avoids being a slog by finding different ways to explore that exposition. The visual gags with Loki trying to escape just to be transported in time a few seconds earlier were a good way to establish how time works at the TVA. Using the animated instructional video to explain the history and purpose of the TVA was yet another small touch that breaks up characters explaining things to one another. Finally, Loki breaking free and going on a chase scene just to get literally backed into a corner till he has to offer his help to Mobius was not just a visual representation of their back-and-forth but allowed us to explore the halls of the TVA even more.

Even the performances take some of those familiar images and start distorting them. Owen Wilson has a rich and expansive set of performances under his belt throughout his career, but I cannot come up with an adequate comparison for him in this role. I anticipate the chemistry between him and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) will continue to shine throughout the series, and we will continue to get a bit of dry wit from him. There’s something more about his performance in this first episode that stands out though. He firmly understands where his character (Mobius) is in relation to Loki’s character. He pushes Loki but only just far enough to get him to confront himself. While I am curious to see how his character of Mobius is fleshed out, I have little doubt as to whether Wilson himself can bring him to life. Especially after this first episode.

Time is the central tenet of this show which allows the storytellers (from Kate Herron’s direction to Michael Waldron’s writing) not to be limited by that concept quite like many other shows. It’d be easy (and likely quite attractive!) to get wild with colors and aesthetic choices immediately to demonstrate just how out of time this show truly is. Instead, the show initially opts for a subdued aesthetic that excels in the way it forms around Loki. Specifically, the architecture of the TVA building is often displayed in wide shots uncluttered by much in the foreground besides characters. It results in some absolutely mesmerizing lighting, especially on the ceilings of each successive room Loki walks through. The aesthetics are not always so subdued though. The animated instructional video mentioned earlier felt as though it took inspiration from some of the best video games to come out within the last 20 years between Fallout 3 and BioShock. In fact, the look and feel of the first episode, especially as Loki moves through the TVA, was reminiscent of the way you move through BioShock. That feeling that you are exploring a place out of time; a combination of relic and living entity. If the waning moments of the episode are any indication either, the show is certainly not going to back itself into any corners with the palette it works with. That is incredibly refreshing for a Marvel property, especially after what felt like a bit of a step back in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier after WandaVision.

As an addendum that I never quite figured out how to get into the rest of the recap, the TVA was initially giving me Inspector Spacetime vibes for those fans of Community out there. Just as WandaVision built its show to a Vision against Vision though, it seems we may get a Loki against Loki showdown at some point in this show. I have seen some people compare the mind-bending aspects of this show to what Noah Hawley played with in his excellent FX X-Men adaptation, Legion. Setting up the central conflict as trying to catch a serial killer iteration of yourself is a wild concept. It has fun and weird baked into it. Where Legion succeeded was that it invested in its characters throughout that journey. Where Legion differs quite dramatically though is that none of its characters existed in a cinematic universe tethered to the stories of other films and shows. Loki does, and it can be a blessing and curse. Fans expect characters they have come to know over many movies to stay within the confines of that already developed character. However, if this first episode is any indication of how rich the blessings can be, it is that while Loki’s personality has been well established for a few movies, we are just beginning to scratch the surface of his identity.