Spoilers

Loki learns the true nature of ‘glorious purpose’…

Season 2 has had its ups and downs and I came into this episode ready to be disappointed. I expected Marvel to lead us back to the same old stream and expect us to like it. I expected Loki to return to the anodyne, the generic and the, frankly, tedious, affair of being just another hero doing their thing and inexplicably resolving things to no one’s satisfaction.

Instead what we get is something of a masterpiece of storytelling. All the pieces that felt they were leading back to familiar territory in episode 5 here are unravelled, twisted and put back together in a way not only unexpected but with a hugely satisfying resolution.

It’s possibly the strongest MCU storytelling to date and all contained in a single episode of television. There’s all kinds of things happening on screen but, in the end, this is truly about Loki.

If some of the rest of the season has felt like it was an ensemble where Loki was an also ran despite his name being on the title card, this addresses those questions, those themes and ties each and every one of them together to put Loki in place not only as Loki the individual but as Loki the god of Asgard.

I ended it feeling that Odin would be proud of his adopted son, proud of the choices he made and satisfied that the faith he always had in him had been shown to be well deserved.

This is meaty story telling. It’s about hope, despair and choices. It’s about fighting for what we want and refusing to accept the inevitable even if it is inevitable.

Loki is a loser. But he won’t let that stop him and I loved this message, this sense that for many of us Loki remains the most relatable hero in the MCU.

I want to talk about a lot of it, not least the appearance of a very specific tree at the end of the show, the shedding of masks and illusions to reveal who we were all along.

I want to talk implications for the MCU (but won’t because there’s a lot here).

More than all the above I recognise that for the first time in many films and series I actually want to talk about what’s happened with people, to talk specific scenes, to reflect on how the rest of the series built to these moments.

Look, you could be forgiven for giving up on Loki (and the MCU as a whole) but I’m here to say: don’t. Loki pays off, it finishes and it feels like a complete story with a proper ending and the emotional catharsis that comes with good endings.

Verdict: It was the last thing I was expecting to write and I’m, honestly, so pleased to be able to write this. Loki ended well.

10 endings out of 10  

Stewart Hotston