#Loki Season 1 Episode 1 Review: Glorious Purpose

Take back everything you know about the person Loki becomes after “The Avengers” because his character development has just been reset. But that might not be a bad thing.

Loki Season 1 Episode 1 is what Marvel fans and, specifically, Loki fans have been waiting for since the Avengers traveled back to 2012 on “Avengers: Endgame,” and Loki stole the Tesseract.

We have learned over the years that it’s unbelievably difficult to keep the God of Mischief down, even when he has “died” multiple times. He has had an onslaught of second chances, so let’s hope that he makes this one count.

After watching “Glorious Purpose,” it’s clear that Loki is yet again being pushed down the path of redemption.

We have been down this road many times before that it can start to feel repetitive, but this story seems different.

Mobius: I’m taking you someplace to talk.

Loki: I don’t like to talk.

Mobius: But you do like to lie, which you just did. Because we both know you love to talk. Talkie-talkie.

The first episode of Loki Season 1 did a great job of setting up this new world that is part of an already established universe without its exposition feeling too stuffy or dry.

Plus, it accomplished what many two-and-a-half-hour films before it have tried to do in just under fifty minutes; the reveal of Loki’s true feelings and motivations.

Loki is the God of Mischief for a reason, and it’s not because he likes playing tricks on people.

In fact, he admitted to Mobius that he doesn’t like hurting people, but he feels as though he has to gain a sense of control, something he hasn’t had much of in his life.

Loki: I don’t enjoy hurting people. I…I don’t enjoy it. I do it because I have to, because I’ve had to.

Mobius: Okay, explain that to me.

Loki: Because it’s part of the illusion. It’s the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear.

Mobius: A desperate play for control. You do know yourself.

Loki: A villain.

Mobius: That’s not how I see it.

Loki never felt as though he fit in with his family, and later finding out that he was adopted furthered that notion. Loki has always been a man playing a role, so what happens when he gains the emotional strength to be himself?

Of course, Loki’s confession at the end of the episode doesn’t excuse all the bad things he has done or the people he has hurt.

But it is a step in the right direction to become a better person, the kind of man who would sacrifice his life for his brother’s and the fate of the universe.

Loki is probably the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most complicated character, and it makes sense that this show would explore his psychology and the reasons for his past actions.

It was smart, although heartbreaking, to watch Loki see how his future was supposed to play out. We all know how his journey ended, but Loki needed to have that information as well.

Casey: Can you at least tell me what it is?

Loki: It’s the Tesseract. Be very careful with it.

Casey: It sounds dumb.

At first, he understandably freaked out. Who wouldn’t be super emotional after watching a Titan snap their neck in the future?

But then he calmed down and seemingly accepted his fate. It was a rude awakening for Loki, but that scene finally gave him the push he needed to agree to work with Mobius and the Time Variance Authority.

And it definitely didn’t hurt that Loki figured out how much power the TVA held because he can’t easily turn off his hunger for power.

It can be hard for shows to make a scene that is just two characters sitting down and talking to one another interesting for its audience to watch, but Loki did just that.

As mentioned above, this episode was full of exposition that was needed to get the ball moving. But it worked partly because of the chemistry between Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson.

There’s no doubt that their partnership will be one of the highlights of this show when it’s all said and done because it’s so fun to watch them play off of one another.

Mobius got Loki to admit things that he never really told anyone before, not even his brother. Yes, time moves differently at the TVA, but it was still impressive how swiftly Mobius handled Loki.

And now that they are apparently on the same page, these characters can move forward to catch the fugitive Variant.

When you think about it, the only villain that truly makes sense for Loki ( the television show) is the God of Mischief himself. Other than Thanos, Loki Laufeyson has been the MCU’s most formidable and popular bad guy.

This reveal was quite shocking because we didn’t exactly expect to know the identity of the Variant this soon. But there are still many questions to be answered regarding the nature of this fugitive.

Ravonna: How do you plead?

Loki: Madam, a god doesn’t plead.

The only thing we know is that it is a version of Loki. Now, we can all speculate about what he — or she — looks like, but if we learned one thing from WandaVision, it’s that Marvel is always one step ahead of us.

Also, nothing is set in stone until the very last minutes of Loki Season 1 Episode 6.

If I had to put my two cents in, though, I have a theory that the fugitive Variant is a version of Loki, who Frost Giants raised.

Overall, “Glorious Purpose” was a promising start to the third Marvel Disney series.

With WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier setting the bar pretty high for future television installments into Phase Four of the MCU, it’s nice to see Marvel still has a few tricks up their sleeves.

Man: Please confirm to your knowledge that you are not a fully robotic being, were born an organic creature, and do in fact possess what many cultures would call a soul.

Loki: What? “To my knowledge?” Do a lot of people not know if they’re robots?

Man: Thank you for your confirmation. Please move through.

Loki: What if I was a robot and I didn’t know it?

Man: The machine would melt you from the inside out. Please move along, sir.

Loki: Okay, I’m not a robot, so I’ll be fine.

Like the shows that came before it, Loki is something we haven’t seen before in the MCU, thanks to the introduction of the Time Variance Authority.

This series premiere did a good job of setting up the story and piquing our interest. And there’s no doubt that there is going to be plenty of action and surprises to come.

What did you think, Loki Fanatics?

Do you sympathize with Loki? How hilarious was the reveal that Loki was D.B. Cooper? Did the multiple mentions of the multiverse make you that more anxious for the next Doctor Strange movie?

How is seeing Coulson’s death still as painful nine years later? And how shocked were you that the TVA just nonchalantly has various Infinity Stones sitting in a drawer? Thanos must be turning in his grave.

Let me know in the comments!

Loki airs Wednesdays on Disney .

Sarah Little is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.