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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
We had a great six weeks. The Season 1 finale of Michael Waldron’s series, Loki, is titled “For All Time. Always.” Waldron and Eric Martin serve as the episode’s writers, while Kate Herron serves as its director.
In this review, I will discuss the last episode of Marvel Studios and Disney Plus’s newest comic book adaptation, for its first season that is. There will be spoilers, as the title of this article suggests. Please beware if you are not caught up with the series.
Plot Summary
The plot of this episode follows right after the events of last week’s episode. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) enter the Citadel at the end of time. There, they run into Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong), who tells them the man who created the Time Variance Authority can place them both in one timeline if they choose. They meet “He Who Remains” (Jonathan Majors), who gives them a brief backstory of why he created the TVA, then presenting them with two options. Loki and Sylvie can either kill him and destroy the Citadel, or they can both run the TVA in his place.
Meanwhile, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) escapes the TVA before Mobius M. Mobius could even defeat her. Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) tells the rest of the workers of the TVA that they are all variants from different timelines.
In the end, Sylvie pushes Loki through a portal into a TVA, albeit in a different universe. By doing so, she kills “He Who Remains” and takes his place on the throne of time.
Discussion
This finale is wild, although at a short runtime of 45 minutes, which is less than most (if not all) of the previous episodes of the series. Emma McCleave takes Calum Ross’s place as the editor of the episode, and pretty much every executive producer, producer, etc. are the same. Michael Waldron and Eric Martin have the best writing in the series since the previous episode, with Bisha K. Ali and Alissa Karasik as the executive story editors.
Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s cinematography is remarkable, with visual effects from Dan Deleeuw, Brad Parker, and Allison Paul. Also, let’s just talk about Majors’s costume as Kang the Conqueror, or is he Immortus? Nonetheless, the episode only refers to him as “a ruler, a conqueror. ‘He Who Remains.’ A jerk. But it’s not as simple as a name.” We have Christine Wada to thank for his neat costume, as well as Kasra Farahani for the Citadel’s production design.
I love how the episode’s opening scene is that the cosmos is composed of infinite universes, with the Citadel in the center of it all. Or, if it’s not the cosmos, then it is time and space themselves.
“He Who Remains”
Majors is new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so introducing him here is quite surprising, or is it? He delivers dozens of radical lines and performs chillingly remarkable as a villain (as opposed to his role in HBO’s Lovecraft Country). What I love most about him is he narrates Loki and Sylvie’s journey.
He does this by citing Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, a text that proposes that the typical hero goes through over one dozen steps in what’s considered the monomyth, or “the hero’s journey.” Although, he does not call upon the theorist by name. He points out the two characters’ venture to get to him: “You know you can’t get to the end until you’ve been changed by the journey. It needs to happen to get us all in the right mindset, to finish the quest”. He then tells them that they’ve all crossed a threshold. It is at this point that the main timeline has branches that have branches of their own.
He tells Loki and Sylvie about the multi-versal war amongst the evil variants of himself, which he ended via Alioth’s power. The man also argues that they (himself, Loki, and Sylvie) are all villains in their own respects. However, he adds that they have good reasons for why they are that way.
It’s crazy that Majors does so well, and it’s a performance from him that I have not yet seen before. I hope we get to see the ruthless version that many fans all know and love.
Other Performances and Character Developments
I love the scene with Renslayer and Mobius in the latter character’s office. (I’m curious as to what file Miss Minutes sent to her TemPad. Surely, the second season will resolve or reveal this.) Mbatha-Raw delivers quite a dramatic performance, as does Majors. The dynamic between Mobius and Loki is one everyone is fond of. However, have we taken the time to appreciate the dynamic between him and Renslayer? I love her development, where she ends up searching for free will, while, with Mobius’s development, he still isn’t able to defeat her.
Hiddleston and Di Martino’s dynamic is great. They deliver great performances as Loki and Sylvie, most especially during the sword fight scene. Although, when being in the same room as Majors, I believe they can only go so far. Sure enough, they never fail to impress me.
Strong surprised me in her voice role of Miss Minutes. Never did I think the only cartoon character in the series would work for Kang, but here we are. I’m rather intrigued that she mentioned that Loki could return to his timeline and opt to kill Thanos. This sets up a potential future storyline that I would like to happen. (Thanos is snapped away in the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame, but this is not the same timeline that this Loki is from.)
Mosaku is just great as Hunter B-15. Although, I believe she just doesn’t get enough time on the screen in this episode to work her magic.
Final Thoughts
If it isn’t obvious, there is a Disney Easter Egg seen in the Citadel. Mickey Mouse-shaped windows are present in the background behind Kang in his office. I love his line to Loki and Sylvie: “You’re a flea on the back of a dragon in for one hell of a ride, but you did manage to hang on”. It was very much of what the fantasy genre calls for. Indeed, these past two to three episodes made that fact clear.
A lot of the writing seems meta in such a way that the teleplay is narrating the direction of its own story but is also directed at the viewers. Take what Kang says, aside from the other characters. “Every step you took to get here. … I paved the road. You? You just walked down there. [This] feels like a fresh start”. Most of the episode is full of expository dialogue, stating the information instead of showing us through a story within the story.
“For All Time. Always.” gets its title from Mobius and Hunter B-15’s shared dialogue in the conclusion of the episode. Spider-Man: Far From Home, WandaVision, Captain America and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and now Loki. This season finale has an exciting introduction into Phase 4 of the MCU but drags in one part that could be improved. Suffice it to say, it is in great hands from here on out.
You can now watch all of Michael Waldron’s Loki Season 1 on Disney+!
Have you seen the episode yet? If you have already, what are your thoughts on it? Let us know! For more action, adventure, comic book, drama, fantasy, science-fiction, and superhero-related news and reviews, follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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