Originally published on Patreon
So I've come to the end of Moon Knight, the series is done, the character might be gone forever, and that would be all we get of this unusual entry into the MCU. So, what did I think of it? I think it might be one of my favourite shows they've done yet.
But before I get into the series as a whole lets talk about those last two episodes.
Episode five might be my favourite of the season. I loved that we pretty much took an hour out of the main story to learn more about Mar and Steven. Getting dropped into this tale where we did was great, as we didn't have to do a lot of set-up and could just hit the ground running; but it meant that we were missing a lot of important details. This episode gave us those details.
Mark's history, and the creation of Steven, was absolutely heartbreaking. When I was watching Mark's childhood I could see how he'd end up as an adult with mental health issues, because that was some awful abuse he lived through. I'm shocked at how Marvel didn't really pull any punches, how they made it clear that this grieving child was beaten and abused by hi mother. It's possibly some of the darkest, most upsetting stuff in the MCU, but also some of the most honest and real. It wasn't some big, wild story, it was a very real, very human tragedy.
This episode also gave us some of the best acting from Oscar Isaac. Not just in this show, but some of the best I've ever seen from him. The pain he portrayed, the heartbreak as he lived through those moments, and had to watch them back again, were so phenomenally done. It's amazing the work he's done on this show, on the acting ability he's displayed, that gets overshadowed by people wanting to talk about the action.
I loved that as these two episodes went on you could really see the difference between Mark and Steven in ways that you couldn't before. As soon as the camera cuts to his face you know whether he's Mark or Steven just from the way he holds himself, the types of expression on his face. He didn't even need to open his mouth for you to hear the accents to know who you were looking at in those moments; and it was amazing.
The final episode was much more of what people would expect from this kind of show. We have super powered people fighting across famous landmarks, and there are giant gods battling in the sky. It was a great way for the series to conclude, by embracing the weird and wonderful and just saying'yes, we're going to have a giant alligator woman fight a big bird skeleton man next to the pyramids, so what?'
The effects were top-notch, and didn't feel like they were holding back money or effort just because this was a TV show rather than a movie. the gods all looked great, had their own distinct personalities, and felt like interesting additions to the MCU.
I also liked Layla's costume once she becomes an avatar, and her getting to fly around, beat up henchmen, save civilians, and become the first Egyptian super hero in this universe was a great moment. As much as I'm hoping to see more from Moon Knight, I hope we get more of Layla too.
The end of the season felt like a great end to the character, a really good signing off point where we could end up never seeing Moon Knight again. However, the after credits scene felt like such a good set-up for more stuff to come, that I really do hope that this isn't the end for these characters.
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