I think it's safe to say that of all the D+ main characters, Loki comes I tk his series the most fully fleshed out, so we have a lot more invested in him so to speak.
Great episode, but one thing doesn't sit too well with me (though I understand why it was done). Spoilers below. Not sure if we're gonna try to keep this thread spoiler free for a couple days.
Otherwise, I'm very jacked to see how this is going to unfold. I'm just bummed that jingle.son keeps digging in to internet rumours, and can't keep his mouth shut. He's very good about not spoiling absolutely confirmed things (like Evan Peters' arrival in WV), but other quasi-verified rumours I wish he would keep to himself.
This version of Loki is what ... an hour removed from the Battle of New York? He hasn't gone through his 'redemption' arc that we all love him for Thor 2 and 3 (and to a small part, Infinity War). So, it seemed TOO rushed to in how the story took him through that arc in about 10 minutes. It was done about as well as it possibly could have been done (ie, he doesn't believe any of the tape reel until he realizes that the Tesseract is useless, and there are multiple Infinity Stones in a desk drawer), and then accepts what Mobius is telling him about Time and the TVA as legit.
I likened Loki's change to Gamora's in Endgame. Gamora had about 3-4 years to develop and become who she was by Infinity War, but her 2014 version in Endgame seemed to flip on a dime once Nebula told her about their shared past/Gamora's future. Granted, Gamora probably had those feelings already but they weren't given the chance to surface until she met the other Guardians, but I guess it also shows how much she really cared for Nebula, even in 2014, that listening to her future sister spurred her into helping her/betraying Thanos.
Loki seeing his future definitely set him along the path he did take in the prime timeline, especially actually seeing his mom die, which I don't believe he literally saw in The Dark World, so I think seeing it (rather than hearing about it from Thor) definitely hit him harder emotionally. And it can't be said enough that Tom's acting in those few minutes is just absolutely brilliant. His tears from Frigga and Odin, to smiling at Thor's expression of brotherly love, to the fear and anger at seeing Thanos snap his neck, Tom conveyed so much in his reactions, you could really feel the journey Loki went on. It's like those meme pics of Shia LaBeouf in the theater watching his movies and going through emotions, but Tom did it better.
Some of my favorite details that I can recall after rewatching the episode last night:
-Loki immediately finding higher ground once he gets up in Mongolia, so he can visually assert his dominance over the natives.
-Mobius telling Loki that he hasn't needed to hear about the TVA until now, I feel is a meta joke to the audience who inevitably ask "Where was the TVA when (insert Earth Crisis) happened?!". Of course, all those events were supposed to happen, so we didn't need to see the TVA then.
-Loki grabs a Time Stone from the drawer, which would obviously be his best chance to escape along with the Tesseract, but Infinity Stones don't work in the Null Time Zone/outside their home universe, so it didn't even matter in the end.
There's just so many Easter eggs and references too, especially in the credits, where you can see some Infinity Stones being used as paper weights! Great attention to detail!
-Marc.