A sharp dressed man
What They Say:
With little time to react, Steven is thrust into a war of the gods as a mysterious partner arrives.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a pretty strong opening episode that didn’t lean into anything else from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, unlike all the past Marvel Disney+ TV projects, Moon Knight delivered a lot of good stuff. It’s working with a solid script that plays with perceptions well while not going into truly strange directions, like Legion did, so it’s a lot more accessible to the more mainstream audience. I love Legion so don’t get me wrong, but people could suss out the basics of this character in Steven Grant in the first episode, especially since there are only five left after that. When viewing this as a long-form movie, expanding out a standard film with more breathing room, you can do creative but you also can’t go truly strange with the time to explore it as you are limited to some degree. Fans of the original works had a lot to enjoy and those meeting the character for the first time got an interesting idea to want to see more of.
The second episode is one that runs a few minutes longer than the first and provides for a solid extended fight sequence with background material mixed into it in the end that really helps to provide a foundation for things while also giving it energy to move forward with. Prior to that, we do have a lot of fun in seeing Steven going back to work and trying to understand what happened there after the fight with the jackal. He’s surprised that the jackal doesn’t show up on video and that the whole thing is kind of being attributed to burst pipes, though he’s getting some blame for being the last one in there with it. That has him being told to take some time off and figure things out, maybe get a little help from some doctors, and they’ll revisit from there.
It’s pretty basic but the performances for it are really engaging and just seeing Steven trying o grapple with what happened versus what’s on video really does a number on him. Oscar Isaac has created a pretty unique personality in what we get from Steven Grant, which is in contrast to the more “mainline’ Marc Spector that we get through the reflections that we see here. It’s done well but it certainly fits more in line with the traditional male Marvel lead character. The personality aspect is certainly something a lot of actors enjoy and seeing Isaac play here while also hearing the voice of Khonshu around him makes it work very well in ratcheting up the tension, especially as Marc keeps trying for control more and more as the danger closes in around Steven. Steven, to be fair, does his best to try and handle the situation as it gets more and more problematic, but it also makes the transition from one to the other all the more exciting when it flips.
Steven’s journey to understanding Marc has him visiting a storage unit that Marc has set up when he takes over and this leads to the first real conversation between the two, though it’s mostly Marc telling Steven he doesn’t want to really know what’s going on. Part of this is that the deal that was made with Khonshu means that things have to be kept separate and Khonshu is getting frustrated in that justice is being delayed, at the least, because of this problem. And Khonshu really is an ass of a god, which we get to later in hearing from Harrow about how he was banished and kept separate from the rest. Of course, he’s a bit biased after revealing that he was an avatar for Khonshu previously and he’s obviously committed to Ammit at this point. The dialogue about Ammit is certainly interesting as Harrow presents it pretty logically but it lacks the view that (you hope) most would have about pre-judgment of people and their actions, especially decades in advance of such a thing. There isn’t a conversation about predestination here but it’s certainly implied as well.
Harrow’s main thrust here, especially amusing in seeing how he “politely” kidnaps Marc, is to have him give in willingly. Part of it is just to get back at Khonshu considering his relationship with him, but it’s also the best approach when dealing with someone like Steven. It’s interesting to watch him walk Steven through this part of town where he has quite a lot of influence only to find himself pushed more and more toward taking action. That, of course, leads to another jackal being called for and Steven having to make an escape with Layla. Her appearance earlier in the episode isn’t bad but it’s more that she’s tied to Marc and it’s hard to pin down things with her here other than being a fairly standard blank canvas character type here. There’s plenty of room to expand who she is, but all that history with Marc is where I think she’ll shine, which should be in the next episode as they’ll be in Egypt.
As a side note, I’m sure I’m missing a number of easter eggs along the way, but I did pick up on one that I was looking for. I’ve been curious as to whether Marc had been snapped or not, if that could be something that has screwed up Khonshu, but it looks like going by his passport that he wasn’t as it’s dated a few months after the Snap itself. This episode also delivered something I didn’t think we’d see until the end of the run in the Mr Knight suit. I love the comic visual of it, though I haven’t read those issues, and having that by Steven’s controlled version of Khonshu’s powers is interested even if it largely comes from Layla telling him to summon the suit. It’s a really fun moment in general but also because it gives Steven a sense of confidence that he hasn’t had before – even if he gets kicked around a lot.
In Summary:
While there may be a sense of retread here in the way we have to deal with the Steven/Marc dynamic, just moving past it so quickly would have done a disservice to it and the tension it’ll create as they have to work together more – and to have Steven understand what it’s like on the other side of control. I really liked that we got the other costume in here and that Layla was finally making a strong appearance, but so much of her material is based in what’s to come and understanding her and Marc. And we really don’t know Marc yet. That’s all going to change as we get out of London now and I’m excited to see what this team will bring to it being set in Egypt as expectations are high ina voiding a lot of bad tropes that have populated so many other shows over the decades.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Disney+
