Loki Episode 3 reveals the Marvel show's fatal flaw
Despite its many innovations, Loki can't escape the fact that it's a Marvel story. That's a serious problem.
Loki isn’t cool. Loki is dramatic. He’s mischievous. He’s clever. He’s a lovable scamp. But he’s no superhero. Superheroes are cool.
The coolest thing Loki ever did was catch Hawkeye’s arrow in The Avengers, and that backfired almost immediately.
This isn’t to say Loki’s not a great character. He’s great. Loki is arguably the best villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one of its best characters in general. But after watching Loki Episode 3, I’m a little worried that the character’s lack of superhero coolness could be holding both him and the entire series back.
Loki’s superhero moment
After Loki’s first two episodes devoted most of their time to sticking Tom Hiddleston in a room with Owen Wilson and letting these two gifted actors run wild, Episode 3 changes the formula in a major way. Wilson’s Mobius is gone, replaced by Sophia Di Martino (a female Loki variant who prefers to go by the name Sylvie). And while Loki and Sylvie still do plenty of talking, Episode 3 is also the most action-heavy installment of Loki yet.
Unfortunately, that’s where the problems start.
*Heroic music plays*
Throughout this episode, Loki fights people. A lot. He fights Sylvie multiple times. Later, the two Loki variants team up to fight their way through an apocalypse on a purple-tinged planet. The only problem? These action scenes aren’t particularly good.
Despite using plenty of his signature daggers, it’s just not that fun watching Loki fight random bad guys. There’s a lot of grappling, grunting, and the occasional awkward kick. Loki seems to be stronger than your average henchmen, but not strong enough to be impressive.
The simple truth is that Loki wasn’t built to fight (he was built to rule!) and watching him spar with enemies is like watching Thor play chess — it might sound fun, but it would get boring really fast.
I literally just rewatched that train fight scene a second time and it really doesn’t work. I could watch Tom Hiddleston’s Loki dance and sing and scheme for six episodes straight, but I really hope this is the end of action-hero Loki. Unfortunately, that’s definitely not what Marvel has planned.
A disappointing Loki finale?
Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is good at a lot of things. Fighting’s not one of them.
If Marvel is one thing, it’s consistent. Every Marvel movie ends with a big fight scene, and thanks to WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we know these Disney+ shows aren’t any different. That means there’s an extremely high chance Loki will end with a big fight scene too. And if Episode 3 is any indication, it’s going to be pretty lame.
Then again, maybe Loki will prove me wrong. Maybe Loki can become the cool, ass-kicking superhero that would make his brother proud. Or, even better, maybe Marvel can do the impossible and end a story without resorting to another fight scene.
Loki is streaming now on Disney+.
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