
I miss the days of watching the Netflix Marvel TV series, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage. Iron Fist wasn’t my favorite, but it still set up The Defenders. I liked that this series tackled adult themes and how it felt like a departure from the Marvel franchise. With Moon Knight releasing on Disney+, I was looking forward to seeing a darker show. Moon Knight is entertaining, and I hope that there will be a second season.
Moon Knight is as close as Marvel has come to re-creating Batman. Marc Specter is a mercenary who teams up with Raoul Bushman to work together on various jobs. Bushman gets greedy and kills a famed archeologist. Specter tries to stop him, but Bushman leaves him to die. As Specter dies, he’s left on the Khonshu statue, where Khonshu gives him a second chance. This leaves Marc with incredible powers, a god manipulating his every move, and balancing his multiple personalities with his DID diagnosis (dissociative identity disorder).
The show picks up with Steven Grant (played by Oscar Isaac), who is fascinated by Egyptian culture and works in a museum in London. Steven is one of Marc’s alters and is perceived as being the naive alter. Steven wakes up in another country holding a scarab with no memory of how he got there. As Steven flees, he runs into a ceremony being performed by Arthur Harrow (played by Ethan Hawke). Arthur worships the god, Ammit. Arthur’s goal is to summon Ammit and punish people before crimes are committed, while Khonshu is all about delivering justice after the fact. Khonshu warns Marc that if Ammit is summoned, this could lead to the deaths of a lot of people who may or may not deserve it. Marc teams up with his wife, Layla El-Faouly (played by May Calamawy), to stop Arthur before it’s too late.
Oscar does an excellent job of portraying Marc and Steven. Oscar mentions how he developed a separate accent for Steven, so it would feel different. I’m not sure if Oscar’s performance plays on the harmful stereotypes of DID. That’s not my lived experience, so I can’t speak to that. From my experience watching Moon Knight, I feel that Oscar truly becomes Marc and Moon Knight.
Besides Marc, I love Layla. In the comics, Marc marries Marlene, and Marlene’s father is the archeologist murdered by Bushman. I read that Layla was created to be a live-action version of Marlene from the comics. The show changed Marlene to Layla to add diversity to the show. If that’s true, I’m all for it. May Calamawy is a great choice, and I feel she truly embodies this woman who will protect Marc because she loves him, but also has the trauma of losing her father violently. May and Oscar have this slow-burning romance together, and I’m here for it.
I was a little worried about how Moon Knight would wrap up. It seemed the final episode had a lot of ground to cover. The final episode was well worth the wait, and it doesn’t feel rushed. Unfortunately, Marvel posted on Facebook the day the episode aired and spoiled part of this episode before I could watch it. Shame on me for not avoiding social media. I would highly recommend watching this show in one sitting to prevent being spoiled.
Moon Knight is probably one of my favorite Marvel TV series released to date, besides WandaVision. Moon Knight can be streamed on Disney+ with new episodes airing on Wednesdays.
I’ve been waiting for the episodes to release before tackling it and look forward to checking it out now that’s done! Your praise got me hyped! π
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