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A Complete Unknown is far from the worst thing you'll see this Christmas season, and many people will probably like it simply because of the various performances.
Posted in: Disney+, Kaitlyn Booth, Marvel, Review, TV | Tagged: disney, disney plus, loki, marvel, Marvel Studios, Review, tom hiddleston, tv
Loki Episode 5 Review: Now We're Getting to the Weirdly Good Stuff
It only took five episodes, but Loki has finally decided that it's time to get weird, and it is absolutely for the better. Loki has always had the potential to get weird once they really announced the idea of a Variant, and at the end of the last episode, we got a chance to see some other variants. These variants take center stage in the penultimate episode of this series. We see a Loki who is now faced with multiple versions of himself and learning how his life could have been different. He has to come to terms with little things like "what would have happened if I managed to kill Thor?" and "what would have happened if I didn't die?" and "what if I was an alligator?"
The alligator Loki is likely going to be the star of the show for a lot of people, but this episode, in general, was actually pretty good. We get to see the various different Loki's and how they interact with each other. We see our Loki is pretty much done with himself by the end, which is pretty entertaining. We move the story along in a pretty decent way, and we find out a couple more things about who is in charge of all of this nonsense. They are holding back the final reveal until the last episode, which means there is going to be a lot of ground to cover in that final hour which seems to be the case for a lot of these Marvel shows. The first two haven't entirely stuck the landing, but maybe this one will.
That's the problem with endings; they aren't easy to write and even more so when you can't make them definitive. While there is a chance that Loki could die at the end of this series, and that is the end of him, that doesn't mean Kid Loki won't come back or Sylvie. These Marvel projects are forever ongoing, so there aren't really definitive endings for many characters outside of dying, and even that doesn't keep some of these characters down. So the writers of Loki need to end the show in a way that will feel fulfilling while also keeping the mandated doors open. It's not easy, and we have seen that with how lackluster these endings for the shows have been so far.
If there is one thing that episode really shines with, it's Easter Eggs. This might be one of the most Easter Egg heavy thing that Marvel has put out in a long time, if ever. The only thing that seems even a little close is looking for extra faces in the background of the final fight in Avengers: Endgame, and even then, that isn't this. The entire episode is filled with the type of Easter Eggs that aren't obnoxious about them either. They are there, but the camera doesn't linger on them in a "hey look at this thing" sort of way. The biggest Easter Eggs come from the Loki variants themselves as they talk about their Nexus event and what made the TVA come to get them. There are hidden gems in here for comic fans who can pick out particular plot lines that each variant is from, which is a neat little twist.
Overall, this was a pretty good episode that finally does something with the idea of multiple Loki's running around. We get some neat hints of what might be on the horizon [this is the fourth Young Avenger member to turn up in these shows alone] and a great Richard E. Grant performance as he runs around in the most ridiculous outfit known to man. However, there is a lot to cover in the final hour of this show, which seems to be an ongoing theme for the Marvel show so far. Maybe this one will stick the landing, but they will have to move at a breakneck pace to get there. If nothing else, Loki episode 5 finally showcases some weird Loki variants and an alligator wearing horns that may or may not be a Loki. That makes it a win in my book.
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Loki Episode 5
8.5/10
If nothing else, Disney Plus and Marvel Studios' Loki Episode 5 showcases some weird variants (like an alligator wearing horns who could be a Loki). That's a win in my book.
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