Loki on Disney Plus is a show that I can’t say I encountered with great anticipation, but since season 1 finished last year, I’ve re-watched it several times, and it’s grown on me so much that I even convinced my kids to indulge me by dressing up as He Who Remains and Ravonna Renslayer last Halloween. Some dad, I know. I’m a bit of a nerd, though; a Blerd, if you will.
If you haven't seen the show, it’s basically about how Loki, the god of mischief (Tom Hiddleston) escapes from being captured in the 2012 movie, The Avengers, and before he can resume his usual antics, he’s arrested by a bureaucratic agency known as the Time Variance Authority, headed by some Wizard of Oz-like figures known as the Time Keepers. Encountering other versions of himself referred to as Variants, Loki seeks to escape the TVA, expose the organization, and find out who’s behind the control of the timeline. The TVA was my favorite part of the show, but I also loved Loki’s character development, the conversations about time, free will, determinism, and whether or not people can change. It’s worth a watch.
As much as I’ve appreciated the series, it’s not something I thought I’d relate to in real life. I don’t mean that I’m a variant of another Rayshawn in another timeline (at least I don’t think I am) and I haven’t witnessed any cartoon clocks or Jonathan Majors pulling the strings of my life behind a curtain. But recently, I can’t help but feel like I’m off my “timeline” and sitting in a TVA waiting room.
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