Marvel Studios

While I actually really loved the ending (there's no way they can go anywhere but down after that), I agree with @jake_eric that it really doesn't feel like Loki at his normal potential, and it bothers me. It's nothing like a bad show, but the character they're pushing out of their depth is the one single character who's whole point is that they're literally never out of tricks.

That is who he is not just as a Marvel villain, but in mythology. The entire purpose of him as a god, historically, is to keep everyone on their toes. It's a near-impossible sell and would require some very skilled storytelling to make palatable because this kind of sweet, helpless behavior destroys who he is at his core.

The only take I've seen that made me more ok with it in the sense that it was at least believable was a psychology video focusing on him. I could have sworn it was cinema therapy and can't find it anywhere in YouTube at all now, driving me crazy, nevertheless go check them out anyway, they're amazing.

Anyway, the only way out of being ridiculous is that video he's forced to watch. He spent his whole life chasing acceptance and acted out for lack of it and in response to betrayal. That video not only showed him images of himself as a flashy savior before his own heroic death, it showed him his family accepting him, which was something this Loki never got to hear.

It's fully believable it would heal something. It's the kind of thing that always made him go good for a split second before he went right back to Preemptive Strike mode.

Problem is, I don't think it would heal this quickly and drastically. Not thousands of years of bad habits over the course of a half hour, before a heartfelt sharing session with captors whose proven superiority sets off every fiber in him.

They simply don't have the kind of time it would take to cross that kind of bridge, so seeing the badass bastard Loki everyone came for turn very quickly into a flustered sensitive boy with a Hallmark love interest feels contrived and more than a little frustrating. I'm watching for trademark grandiosity, sick fight scenes, and surprise turnarounds that almost never happen, but snuggling does.

This IS technically the point — they've diverged from the static dictates of who they're supposed to be in a way that crashes the narrative. One of the crimes was literally wanting to be a lawful servant because a god of mischief can't be good. As soon as they go Hero, they leave or they die.

And it's such an interesting take that I can't even say I dislike it. But by intentional design, it's not really about Loki Loki any more than "what if James Bond retired and took up flower arranging and never did spy stuff ever again" would be a James Bond movie. Understandably, fans would be impatient.

I can't WAIT for this to come out. I'm slobbering to see more of this and I should probably re-watch it sometime. But I want my damn Loki for a few minutes.