Originally published on Patreon
I knew very little about Moon Knight going into this series, other than the ridiculous memes that are shared around the internet about the character. I knew he has a connection to the Egyptian gods, and the he's not the most 'normal' of people, but that was it; so once the first episode of the Moon Knight series began to unfold I found it to be a really fascinating premise.
I loved that we're dropped into the story part of the way through, and that this is not an origin story. Yes, we get an inexperienced audience vehicle in the form of Steven as out gateway into this bizarre story, but you kind of feel like you're on the back-foot a lot during this first episode. There's a big sense of mystery here, and it's a great way to draw you in.
Luckily, by the second episode we've been given a lot of the important answers. We know what Moon Knight is, we understand his reason for being and how he relates to Khonshu, and we learn why the villain of the series is targeting him. There are still a few things left unanswered, such as why or how Mark and Steven are two personalities in the same body; but it does seem like the show isn't playing it too tight with answers, and that we'll find these out at some point too.
Oscar Isaac is very good, in both of his roles. We don't get much of Mark, but he seems to be the competent action type of role that we've seen Isaac in before. His most impressive acting comes in the form of Steven, however. This perpetually tired, confused, and kind of sad man who's just trying to get through life, who suddenly finds everything he thinks he knows thrown completely on its head. He sells it really well, and this is very much a story where casting the lead would make or break the series.
When the series first started and it became clear that we were following a personality that was not the competent hero I was a bit worried, I didn't know how well that would work across multiple episodes. But even before the first episode had ended I found myself really liking Steven. He was fun to spend time with, and had a lovely charm to him. I hope as the series progresses we don't lose him to the more competent and cold Mark.
Ethan Hawke was really good in the role of series villain Arthur Harrow, and makes for one of the more interesting antagonists yet. A former avatar for Khonshu, he's found a different approach to fighting injustice and whole-heatedly believes he's doing the right thing. The whole argument of whether or not it's right to condemn someone for something they haven't even done yet is an interesting one.
On one hand Harrow has a point, that by stopping someone after they've committed a crime doesn't do much, you can't bring back a murder victim after all; but, to condemn someone for something they could do decades in the future is also a terrible thing. If this remains to be the main 'villain' of the series, this slightly different stances on the same subject, I think that this has the potential to be one of the more interesting and grown-up stories in the MCU.
Overall, I really enjoyed the first two episodes of Moon Knight and think that the show has a lot of promise. Here's hoping it continues on like this.
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