The Short Take:
An unexpected yet perfectly executed finale for LOKI. My head is still reeling from the cerebral, high concept plot and its implications for the MCU.
[sPoILEr WaRNiNG: Congratulations on dodging spoilers these past couple of days. Don’t let me be the one to ruin it. There are some spoilers for other Marvel/Disney+ shows as well.]
The Long Take:
They went there. They did it. The Internet comic book theorists were RIGHT for once. Loki and Sylvie enter that creepy mansion, marbled with magnificent streaks of space-time energy, to find that Kang the Conquerer — or, more accurately, a seemingly kinder, gentler Kang variant who doesn’t consider himself a conquerer — is behind the TVA. He tells Sylvie and Loki the tragic story of variant teamwork gone wrong; all the Kangs across all timelines worked together to advance their time travel technology, but then start a war to establish their respective timeline’s primacy. This Kang claims that he only acts as the universe’s silent gardener to keep all the other Kangs at bay.
For those who aren’t familiar with Kang from the comics or haven’t read clickbait about him, Kang is a longtime Marvel villain who appears in comics as early as the 1960s. My understanding from listening to those more conversant in his history is that he’s a time traveler who likes to take over the worlds he visits. He may be a descendent of Dr. Doom and/or the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards’ father. Several signs in Loki pointed to Kang as the “man behind the curtain”: Ravonna is his love interest in the comics, one of the many Easter eggs in episode 5 was “Qeng Enterprises,” owned by a version of Kang in the comics, and Marvel had already announced that Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country, Da 5 Bloods) would play Kang in the next Antman film slated for 2023. But I didn’t think they would actually bring someone as big as Kang/Majors into a Disney+ series. So when the doors opened to reveal Jonathan Majors sitting in that elevator, I was genuinely — and pleasantly — surprised.
Those who have been following my Marvel reviews should know that I love a big, if clumsy, metaphor. This episode makes me think that Kevin Feige, or whoever has coordinated the plots of all three Marvel/Disney+ shows to date, is the ultimate trickster. So many viewers felt punked by Marvel when Evan Peters’ character was not an alternate Quicksilver but just a guy named Ralph Bohner. Others mistakenly thought Mephisto lurked behind Agatha. And many were disappointed by the heavily telegraphed Sharon Carter as Power Broker reveal because it missed an opportunity to bring in a bigger, badder, more notorious Marvel character. I’m a generous viewer, so I’d like to think that this was the plan “all along.” They fake us out for a while so that when the biggest debut of all actually happens, it’s a thrilling shock. Well played, Marvel. Well played.
This episode consistently reinforced a much more sinister manipulation as its core theme. How much can anyone trust what Kang says? Sylvie accuses him of trying to manipulate them into doing what he wants, and Loki has what might be the most contrived and yet the most poignant line: “You can’t trust and I can’t be trusted.” Their joint crusade against the TVA crumbles in an instant when Loki challenges Sylvie because she assumes he’s trying to win the TVA “throne.” (Though, as a counterpoint, He Who Remains incept the idea by asking if she can trust Loki.) When writing for a character whose core trait is tricking people, whether or not we can trust what a character says should be a feature rather than an obstacle. This episode proves that the writers have understood that from the start. Ringerverse guest Musa Okwanga made a sharp observation about the future: when Loki (hopefully) tries to share the knowledge he now possesses about Kang and the oncoming multiversal war, he’ll be stuck in a boy who cried wolf situation. We’re the only ones privy to this Loki’s personal growth, so who is going to listen? The dramatic irony of him approaching other Marvel characters who will assume he’s just regular ole lying Loki will be agonizing. Knowing that we’re getting a second season of Loki means that this is the Loki we’re going to stand by. This is the Loki that we trust. The fate of the multiverse is now his responsibility. (Tom Hiddleston fans rejoice!)
But getting back to the important question, can we trust Kang? While I admit I kept asking myself, “Wait, who’s right here?” the whole time, I think He Who Remains — the Kang variant we see in this episode — seems like a more noble version of a classic Kang from the comics, similar to how we’ve seen our Loki trend more good and less evil compared to his pruned peers. I’m not saying he didn’t want Sylvie to kill him for some reason. But, I’m with Loki here in thinking that he’s giving us facts about his own story and the conditions of his position. The narrative Kang offers a narrative that presents him as “the good one,” and portends that, in his absence, many other “bad” Kangs will descend. I know that if you’re a villain you’re always convinced that what you’re doing is better for everyone else, but he seemed weary and tired of running the TVA at times during the conversation.
Or should I say monologue? I can’t go much further into this review without pointing out that Jonathan Majors had to talk for maybe 80% of this episode. Especially compared to last week, this finale didn’t actually have that much conventional action. It was three people in an arcane-looking room, tensely chatting. To me, it felt as exhilarating as Wanda flying through the sky, battling Agatha, if not more. This is almost entirely due to Jonathan Majors’ performance. He convinced me Kang is hyper intelligent and has “seen it all,” but also has gone a little crazy from having too much power, knowing too much, or being alone for too long (with no one but Miss Minutes to talk to, it seems?). Sylvie keeps snarling that he thinks this is all a game, and the sing-songy intonation Majors uses combined with the appropriate dose of crazy eyes conveys that he is operating on a completely different level. When you have control over all time and space, why would you care about trivial concerns like life or death? His constant movement around the room, casual munching of an apple, and unsettling confidence and humor kept me on edge the entire time. I was impressed, and I want to see more of him in every MCU context going forward.
Joanna Robinson said on Still Watching that even after watching this final episode, she still maintains that if Jonathan Majors had not been so brilliant, the episode would have fallen flat and the introduction of Kang, who most viewers do not know, would have felt really random and not emotionally satisfying. I disagree slightly. Yes, the success of this episode hinged on Jonathan Majors, but I feel like based on what we see here alone and not on any prior knowledge of Kang the Conquerer (which I did not have before Loki started, by the way…and even then I only obtained basic wikipedia-level info), He Who Remains is an exciting addition to the Loki season 1 cast. I learn enough about him and why he’s there, and as a result want to know more. A scholar who figures out on his own how all of time in the universe works and eventually learns to control it? That’s juicy science fiction stuff right there!
And how clever of Michael Waldron and his writers to introduce a disposable variant of Kang, which still leaves room for “the real” villain that will certainly appear in Ant-Man: Quantumania and may potentially, I think, appear in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. See, this is the cake and eat it too benefit you get with a multiverse narrative! It’s Loki but not that Loki. It’s Kang but not THE Kang. We can just keep telling infinite stories in infinite variation. I cannot wait to see Jonathan Majors taking on different personalities to convince us that he is indeed a different Kang than the one we just met.
As I watched this riveting introduction of a completely new character and hung on every word of his self-told backstory, I wondered if He Who Remains and his own understanding of time was more nihilism or fatalism. Laughs sometimes become defeated sighs and he does have a bit of a “nothing matters we’re all going to die” attitude (like Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty), but he also makes comments that imply he thinks there’s no changing certain events. “We’re all going to end up back here anyway….reincarnation, baby!” is the one that I remember most. Does this mean that there’s an endless loop where a multiversal war starts only for this version of Kang to rise up and establish a sacred timeline again? And if so, what part do Sylvie and Loki play in that cycle?
This episode is a big downer for fans of free will, but in pitting Loki and Sylvie against each other really musses up the morality meter here in a thought-provoking way. The idea of taking down the TVA and restoring free will to variants seemed so clear cut before. But now it feels like Sylvie made a huge mistake in killing Kang and should have listened to (and trusted!) Loki.
Either way, I can't end without acknowledging that this changes EVERYTHING in the MCU, since it affects the entire universe. Those timelines they are a branching, and knowing that a Kang in every timeline has just been unleashed means that Midgard will soon be in peril. How will our heroes handle it? And will Marvel make it really obvious which timeline is which? Or will the uncanny feeling of a doppelgänger be part of the storytelling?
I know I’ve left a lot out, so feel free to pose more questions or make more observations in the comments. Like Loki hopes to do with Sylvie, we’ve all got to take some time and process this new information together.