Loki – Glorious Purpose review S2 E6

Loki’s Marvel Cinematic Universe journey has been unlike any other character. He went from being the snarling, scene-chewing villain in The Avengers to a sorta hero not above thrilling to his brother being pummeled by The Hulk. His Disney+ series further clouded the perspective of Loki as a bad guy. With Glorious Purpose, Loki’s MCU story could have reached its conclusion or it’s just branching off to something even more unexpected.

Last episode ended with the significant revelation that Loki learned how to control his time slips. This was an important discovery as Loki was previously helpless to prevent his friends — and Victor Timely — from getting killed.

Control and mastery are two different things though as Loki continually butted his head against the wall trying to save the Time Loom. The endgame here is to ensure the Sacred Timeline is preserved. But what else does Loki have but time? Loki goes through the process and takes a century learning everything O.B. and Timely know about space, time and sci-fi mumbo jumbo.

This is where the restraints of the Disney+ budget hurt. While Loki wouldn’t need Doctor Strange’s time stone, it might have been helpful to have Tony Stark on hand since he’s a guy who knows a thing or 20 about massive energy outputs. Or Erik Selvig provided he’s on his medication.

This is a minor quibble, but something the writers could have at least mentioned to show that Loki was covering his bases and thinking outside the box. Repeating the process thousands of times shows super villain tenacity even if it’s not very efficient.

Eventually, Timely is able to do exactly as Loki wanted. The timelines are still a problem though as it can’t handle so many infinite realities constantly being created. Loki realizes he needs to go back to where all of time got extraordinarily messy — the first encounter with He Who Remains.

Tom Hiddleston didn’t have a bad scene in any episode. His chemistry with his co-stars were tremendous and some of the best performances in the MCU. But there’s something special about Hiddleston’s Loki facing off with Jonathan Majors’ HWR.

Repeating the loop where he tries and fails to stop Sylvie from killing HWR, an exasperated Loki finally has had enough asking why he won’t even try to save himself. Loki gets a bit of a bombshell as HWR smugly reveals that everything is playing out exactly as he planned. In a terrific bit, Loki reveals they’ve already had this conversation before. He’s not new to this at all.

The Multiverse Saga has been intriguing when the directors and writers have been able to actually explore it. And through this episode the runway seems clearer now for a path to bring in the X-Men, Fantastic 4, Deadpool, etc. into the MCU proper/Sacred Timeline.

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HWR provides a spoiler for Loki — the Loom is a contingency plan to keep the Sacred Timeline safe. If Sylvie kills him the Loom overloads with the branching timelines. Of course, Loki could just kill her and save everyone. But now Loki is too far into his redemption and he won’t bring himself to kill Sylvie — his ally, his variant, his soulmate.

At the risk of unleashing the wars HWR promises would come in the battle of the multiverse, Loki has some soul searching. And what better way to do that than having a chat with the TVA’s best jet skiing salesman? Loki slips back to his initial interrogation with Mobius. It’s fitting that their last conversation is also their first one.

Mobius explains that glorious purpose is actually more of a burden. Loki seems to get the meaning behind Mobius’ story and one last conversation seals the deal. He knows what must be done. That’s doing what Thor or Odin would have done in a similar situation. Put his friends/family (?) before himself.

Loki heads out into the radiation zone. It’s not a coincidence that as his “street clothes” get shredded away, Loki embraces his godhood once again complete with his horned helmet. Alligator Loki would be proud. Ditto for the effects team, which consistently delivered high-end CGI work that looked superior than some MCU films. Natalie Holt’s score in this big moment also had the major triumphant feel conveying the importance of what is playing out.

Loki destroys the Time Loom and starts grabbing the various dying time streams infusing them with his essence. As he pulls and gathers, Loki ascends to the throne of He Who Remains, who at this point is dead again. Now Loki is the one keeping the whole ball of wax together. The hero no one knows is the hero.

In the aftermath, the TVA crew embrace their roles and new assignments — specifically going after the Kang variants before they unleash this war. There’s a clever dig at the Quantumania Kang as if to acknowledge that no, he was by far not the most dangerous Kang running around.

I’m gonna need another viewing to get all the references and to see if I missed anything now that I’ve got the complete picture, but this was a satisfying ending for Loki. He’s now keeping the fabric of the Sacred Timeline together. If he slips up, does Deadpool show up at Avengers Tower? The possibilities are endless.

A third season of Loki narratively doesn’t seem necessary at this point. If/when we see Loki again it’ll likely be back on the big screen. And if not, this was a tremendous farewell to one of the MCU’s most complex characters and an excellent Disney+ series.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: Disney