Loki episode 6 review: Jonathan Majors’ Kang shines in season finale that hints at multiversal wars

For any character to get its due in a Marvel web series that is built around its charismatic anti-hero Loki, who had appeared in several of its movies and had five more great episodes of character building, isn’t easy. But Jonathan Majors steals the spotlight, in fact snatches it with a heavyweight performance from Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie, thereby introducing Kang the Conqueror (or his variant) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

For the uninitiated, Kang is scheduled to be one of the prominent characters in the upcoming movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and it’s evident from the final episode of Loki, which is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, that the time-traveller will play a pivotal role in the Phase IV of the MCU.

The final episode has Sylvie and Loki breaking into the Citadel at the End of Time to kill the one controlling the Time Variance Authority and the sacred timeline. Within ‘minutes’ they are greeted by a variant of Kang, who divulges the purpose of TVA and his reasons to keep the timelines in check. The scene is a long, academic explanation and that’s where Majors shines with a brilliant performance, engaging the viewers (and the Lokis), and never letting the pace slacken. At the end of it, Loki and Sylvie are left to pick between a recurring choice they have been presented throughout the course of their lives – power or free will. Can they trust each other to choose right?

In terms of the narrative flow, the finale matches that of the first episode. However, the concepts are broken down, much like its lead Loki, who makes a 180 degree turn from a villain to a hero with a purpose. In terms of the storytelling canvas too, this episode lives up to the billing – with it introducing the future big baddie in MCU and also hinting at the major chaos that Majors’ characters will unleash across the multiverse.

However, Owen Wilson’s Mobius and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Renslayer still don’t get the attention they deserve. The under-written but well-performed characters are stuck in a redundant cycle of doubting and believing in the purpose of TVA that only functions are forgettable subplots.

The makers also throw a line to fans who are still on the fence about Loki’s radical change of heart over the course of the previous episodes, by putting him in a dubious situation that needs others to trust him. Hiddleston once again masters the role of Loki in this episode that had him questioning himself while also showing that he is capable of caring for something more than himself.

As the season finale, the episode works brilliantly, setting up the MCU’s future, while introducing new characters, timelines and a horde of obstacles that Loki must now take on, if he has to achieve his glorious purpose.