Welcome back to the blog readers. Loki's second season has been nothing short of brilliant thus far. But I suppose all good things have to come to an end at some point, and we have finally (and unfortunately) arrived at the second season finale. It is sad to see this season go, but here's to hoping we can see more of these guys in the future. But let us talk about the present. Was the finale, titled "Glorious Purpose," directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, and written by Eric Martin, worthy of being in the conversation of the best finales in Marvel history? Stick around to find out.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
I have loved this series to death since the very first episode, which was conveniently also called "Glorious Purpose." Now we have to sulk that it is over, but like someone once said, Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Now you probably want to know what I thought of the episode right? Remember how I said the fourth episode, "Heart of the TVA," was the second best episode of television all year? Well, that lasted all of about two weeks. Because this episode was utterly fucking brilliant. A pair of award-worthy performances and an ending that will shake you to your core make for some of the most satisfying television I have seen in a long time. Well, at least until Rhaenyra Targaryen gets her hands on Alicent Hightower. Hopefully that's next year.
I have said it all season, and I have said it to death. So I'll come right out of the gate and say this: give Tom Hiddleston the fucking Emmy right now. Cancel the ceremony next year and just mail the damn trophy to his house. Not a single person could possibly come close to the performance he gives in this episode. From being the source of the comedy in the first 10 minutes of this episode to literally becoming the glue holding the MCU together, Loki's journey in this episode alone is worthy of analysis and review for years upon years to come. First we have to talk about his ability to control his time slipping. This power can literally change the landscape of the MCU, because Loki can now go to any point in his life and change the outcome. Well, after the end of this episode, that may not be the case. But it still is a great power to have. He uses this power to replay the events of the fourth episode time after time, hoping to get it right (most of the time to comedic effect, and it was glorious; no pun intended). But the one time they do get it right, the Loom still explodes, with Victor Timely revealing that the infinite branches can never sustain the Loom and it will always fail.
Loki decides to slip back to his moment in the Citadel at the End of Time in last season's finale and tries to get Sylvie to stop her attempt to kill He Who Remains. He continually fails and eventually finds himself in a heated conversation with He Who Remains, who reveals he knows about Loki's time-slipping and his attempts to stop Sylvie, because he has also orchestrated that. He also confirms that the Loom cannot be saved and the destruction of the multiverse and the TVA is inevitable. I love this conversation, as this conversation is basically a power struggle between the two chess players. This will probably be the endgame fight, Loki against the OG Kang, and I cannot wait to see this showdown. Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) will be something else, I tell you. I also loved Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains in the first season finale, and I loved him more as the character here. He is just the dick who is having the most fun knowing all of this is his plan. Majors's performance is gleefully sinister and I love it.
He then slips back to his first encounter with Mobius in the first season premiere, remember is was also called "Glorious Purpose?" Other than the end of it, this conversation with Mobius is my sole favorite moment of the episode, of the season, and possibly of the year. Realizing he has to make a difficult choice again, Loki goes back to a Mobius he has not built a connection with yet, and asks him how he chooses who lives and dies. Mobius proceeds to tell Loki a story about a Hunter who could not prune a child variant and their partner had to do it. After realizing the Hunter who could not prune the kid was Mobius, he asks Mobius how he lives with the burden. Mobius proceeds to drop one of the greatest quotes I have ever heard, and it truly made me feel some type of way. He proceeds to say, "Most purpose is more burden than glory. And trust me, you never wanna be the guy who avoids it because you can't live with the burden." Eric Martin deserves the Emmy for writing for this quote alone, because this quote is what gives Loki the directive he needs to do what needs to be done. He then tearfully thanks Mobius as he takes his hand and this timeline spaghettifies.
He then goes to the closing moments of last week's episode when everyone begins to spaghettify and tells Sylvie what he plans to do. She says she won't give him permission to do what he has to but he will do it anyway. He then slips back to before the explosion and goes out himself, before telling Mobius and Sylvie that he knows what God he needs to be for them. He uses his magic to destroy the Loom himself and enchant every dead branch on his way to the throne of He Who Remains, sitting on it to become Loki Who Remains, the God of Stories. And what he creates in the Loom's place is a tree that represents the Norse Tree of Life, Yggdrasil. It really does look like Loki was burdened with glorious purpose after all, although he will have to spend the rest of his life alone on the throne to watch over time and allow everyone in the multiverse to have free will. This is the most poetically beautiful thing I have seen in the MCU since Wanda Maximoff and Vision were talking about grief.
The epilogue is also just as poetically beautiful. Now the TVA's mission is solely to hunt variants of He Who Remains, with mention of one being stopped in 616's alternate realm. For anyone who is unaware, that is the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), with the alternate realm being the Quantum Realm, where that Kang was imprisoned and led a revolution to take it over and lead it. B-15 is the leader of the TVA, Renslayer was pruned in 1863 so Victor Timely never gets the TVA guidebook and she finds herself in the Void, OB writes a second version of the guidebook and credits Timely as a co-author, and Mobius retires from the TVA and finally decides to see what his life was like before the TVA along with Sylvie. All this while Loki watches over his friends alone at the center of this "tree" at the End of Time. It is almost enough to make a grown man cry.
One final glowing positive I have with this episode is the score. I really have not said a whole lot all season about the score, but Natalie Holt completely floored me this week. Every motif, every theme was more intense than the last, and by the end, I was left cheering over what I heard (and saw). Thank goodness that we got this second season, so Holt could get another shot at this. You know as soon as the second volume comes out, I will be blasting that shit in the car.
What an experience this season has been guys. This series, if it is over, will truly be missed, and I hope that we can see these characters again someday. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you all for my review of the whole season.
Comments