LOKI Resurrected

 Article first published as LOKI TV Review on Seat42F.

The latest MCU series is LOKI, which premiered on Disney+ this past week. Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as the titular villain circa the first The Avengers film, having just killed Coulson and attacked New York. As glimpsed during the time travel portion of Avengers: End Game, Loki briefly escapes this time with the Tesseract. But as LOKI the series begins, he’s caught by the Time Variance Authority, since he’s a variant out of the accepted timeline. In their custody, he faces punishment and possible death. Until a TVA officer with sway takes an interest in him, hoping Loki can help the organization.

Loki himself doesn’t really understand (or at first believe) what’s happening to him, and that’s beneficial to the audience. He’s a fish out of water, and our way into this new world, a corner of the MCU we were previously unaware of. Loki has always straddled the line between hero and bad guy, and while this Loki comes from the darker period of the character, it’s easy enough to make us care about him, knowing he is capable of more. Which Loki is shown before the end of the first hour, an important step in getting a redeemed Loki, as he was before he died in the films.

The co-lead alongside Loki is Mobius (Owen Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums), the agent who wants Loki to help him. He seems about as opposite a personality as one might get from Loki, easygoing and confident, secure in who he is. He’s a good way to get us into the world and introduce the rules, as there is never any doubt that he knows what he’s doing in his job. Wilson is playing the role as he always does, but if anything, with even more depth, an excellent scene partner for Hiddleston.

Rounding out the cast are a slew of smaller parts that aren’t really developed yet. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Morning Show) is a great presence as Judge Ravonna Renslayer. Wunmi Mosaku, who shone last year in Lovecraft Country, is hilarious as Hunter B-15. And Eugene Cordero (The Good Place, Star Trek: Lower Decks) is great doing what he does best as the hapless Casey. I look forward to more from each of them, easily seeing their parallels to Monica, Woo, and Darcy from earlier MCU series WandaVision.

The plot is a little slow to get started, but that’s OK because of the sheer amount of new information that had to be covered in the initial installment. So much is added to expand the universe (or omniverse). Yet, at the same time, LOKI finds time to give us some extremely moving character moments and showcase its leads’ talents. It’s a great balance of exposition, action, and development, well executed and immediately enticing.

Some fans have already dissected Avengers: End Game for what they perceive as inconsistencies in the time travel portrayal, and that is sure to continue with LOKI. But here’s the thing: Time travel isn’t real. So as long as a franchise is consistent within itself and the rules it sets out, then I recommend suspending disbelief and accepting the way it is. Having a character in the first episode of LOKI declare what the Avengers did, mucking with time, was always meant to happen is an easy out. It’s also a way not to get bogged down in the details and keep the story moving, which seems necessary.

LOKI is not quite the mystery box WandaVision was. There is plenty still unknown, but that doesn’t seem to be the point of the series. It is a lot more complex than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and certainly more ambitious. I would say by finding a place between those two, LOKI has staked its own ground and already earned its keep, just as compelling (if not more so) than the first two efforts. I look forward to see how it progresses.

New episodes of LOKI drop Wednesday on Disney+.

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY a Fantastical (and Scary) Place

Article first published as TV Review: LOVECRAFT COUNTRY on Seat42F.

HBO premiered LOVECRAFT COUNTRY this week. Based on the novel of the same name by Matt Ruff, it has been adapted to television by Misha Green (Underground) and produced by the likes of Jordan Peele and J. J. Abrams. The story follows a man named Atticus Freeman, his uncle George, and Atticus’ friend Letitita as they flee and fight murderous bigots on their way to find Atticus’ missing father. It’s a fantasy-horror-sci-fi adventure that tackles race head-on, and is set in 1954, when Jim Crowe ran rampant.

This show is excellent, and I mean that on every level. To start with, the style and production of LOVECRAFT COUNTRY look fantastic. It’s a grounded period piece, that also has fantasy elements in the style of author H.P. Lovecraft (obviously). Yet, these are blended in such a way that, even what shouldn’t be able to occur, feels like it fits into this world. It’s also a well-conceived universe, aided by actual history, that has layers beneath the surface and a lot going on.

For instance, one of the leads in LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, Uncle George Freeman (Courtney B. Vance, American Crime Story), is in a loving marriage with Hippolyta (Aunjanue Ellis, Quantico), living in a small town while pursuing travel and astronomy, respectively. George’s travel guides specifically tell African Americans where it is safe to stop on their troubles. Which means it makes perfect sense when George accompanies his nephew, Atticus (Jonathan Majors, When We Rise), on Atticus’ quest to find his father, given his unusual employment and the wanderlust he shares with his wife.

In contrast to this perfect-seeming family, Atticus’ own immediate clan is pretty messy. Atticus doesn’t have an easy relationship with his father, and there’s mystery surrounding Atticus’ mother. There is also tension between Atticus and George, so even within the happy abode, there is drama. The third lead, Leti Lewis (Jurnee Smollett-Bell, True Blood, Friday Night Nights), doesn’t get along well with her siblings (we see two in the pilot), so there are lots of juicy personal interactions to pick apart.

Which means when the danger hits in LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, there are already stakes. We care about Atticus, George, and Leti very quickly, and it would be a major blow to the story if any one of them didn’t make it. Which seems like a distinct possibility, given the monsters and creatures they face.

The monsters being the white people who don’t want the trio, or anyone that looks like them, around. By the time the multi-eyed animal forest dwellers attack, horror has already taken place, from a chase down a road, to guns in the woods. There is a very real feeling of danger, much in the style of Peele’s Get Out, as our protagonists stare into the empty eyes of people who want them dead for no reason more than the color of their skin. Sure, some will complain about the one-dimensionality of these antagonists. But I think we’ll get a little more complexity as things go along, and given the situations presented, it makes sense to simplify it in the way that it is.

All three of the lead actors are performing the hell out of the piece, and several of the supporting players make impressions, too, especially Ellis and Wunmi Mosaku (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as Ruby Baptiste, Leti’s darker skinned half-sister with a killer singing voice and a strong will.

My only complaint about the first episode is I feel I don’t fully understand the scope of the story LOVERCRAFT COUNTRY seeks to tell. I really would have felt better with a second episode before I wrote my review. I can tell the show is great, I’m just not entirely sure what it is, as it seems like there’s more than presented in the first hour.