Halfway Through, Loki Is The MCU's Platonic Ideal

Loki is not a puzzle box mystery like its Disney+ predecessor WandaVision. Nor is it a rollicking adventure series like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It is certainly not a gritty character study like Daredevil. The show is perhaps closest to the film Doctor Strange, the other magic and time travel-focused entry in the franchise.

That is not meant to disparage Loki, though. It is a far more interesting and entertaining venture than the Benedict Cumberbatch vehicle. Doctor Strange suffers greatly from a lack original ideas, and languid performances. The difference between the movie and Iron Man—which shares many of the same characteristics and archetypes-- is almost entirely in execution. The beats of the movie are the same, the lead characters are virtually the same excepting the titular doctor is entirely humorless and uninteresting.

On the other end of the spectrum is Loki. The plot is completely different from Strange but no more inventive. Here the eponymous trickster is up against a large collection of bureaucrats charged with protecting the “Sacred” timeline. This is a premise that has been around for many years, but it is notable Loki is (at least) the third major comic book TV adaptation to use it with Legends of Tomorrow and Umbrella Academy having used it in recent years. That is what the entire show is thus far, fun ideas that have been done before. That is not necessarily a problem as both the aforementioned shows had vastly different, but no less interesting, takes on the subject. Loki has no plot hook. Things just happen to keep the characters moving with no cleverness or twists.

Likewise, there is nothing to most characters. Loki is as surface level yet interesting as always, with the usual hints that perhaps there is something deeper inside. Owen Wilson’s Mobius M. Mobius is a cypher, again with hints there is something more underneath. The revelation he is likely a Variant with suppressed memories has set the character up to be explored in depth over the season’s remainder. Sylvie is a character whose entire personality is “aggressive and clever” as both she and the writers avoid the questions of who she truly is or how she thinks until the (almost certain) reveal she is not a Loki Variant but the Enchantress (or maybe both).

Having said all that, Loki is extremely watchable. Turns out filling your TV show with some of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood gives it a high floor of entertainment. Tom Hiddleston is at the center of a majority of scenes, and he is on top of his game here. After a decade of experience, he is able to fully inhabit the character in every facet. It is endlessly entertaining. Similarly, MCU newcomers Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Sophia Di Martino seem to be having a ball as they bounce off each other and Hiddleston. This remains true even in scenes with…less than perfect dialogue, a not uncommon occurrence throughout the show thus far.

Loki is a breezy TV series consisting almost entirely of charming, adept actors seemingly have a good time as they play against each other. The plot is a boilerplate excuse to facilitate those interactions. The characters are entertaining, but not especially complex. There is still time for the series to put its stamp on everything with which it is playing. Until that theoretical moment in which the hidden depth is revealed, Loki will remain in the place it snatched from Doctor Strange: an experience with a high floor and low ceiling. In other words, Loki may be the platonic ideal of a MCU product, good enough to keep viewers watching but not so good it overshadows what is coming next.