Overall Series Rating
Phenomenal performance by Oscar Isaac. Moon Knight is a much watch series for any MCU fan. Moon Knight is one of the more complex and interesting characters in the MCU. The tie in to Egypt and the Egyptian gods is a fantastic addition to Marvel. I’d be shocked if this is the last we see of Moon Knight.
Spoiler warnings (brief synopses of each episode are given)
Episode 1 – “The Gold Fish Problem”
The first episode of Moon Knight starts off with Steve Grant, a museum worker in London waking up in the Alps. Steve has no idea how he got there or what he’s doing there but he keeps hearing this voice inside of his head. He’s trying to get the heck out of there when he encounters some strange cult leader demanding he hands over this ancient scarab he unknowingly has in his possession. He tries to hand it over but his body physically won’t let him. Steve blacks out momentarily, and he ends up with several guys killed around him when he regains consciousness. He has no idea how this happened.
Steve wakes up from this “dream”, only to find out it’s been two days. He continues to get constant phone calls from an individual (Layla) who refers to him as “Marc”, and he ends up getting chased by a Jackal in the museum he works at that almost kills him but is saved by a man in his reflection (himself, essentially). However, the museum bathroom is absolutely destroyed now.
Thoughts and Rating
Overall a very weird and confusing first episode, which is to be expected as an introduction to a new character. Overall not a bad start to the series, I’m hoping we find out more about this strange voice in his head, and get some of the Moon Knight action.
Episode 2 – “Summon The Suit”
Steve insists for the security to check the footage of him being chased by the Jackal to prove he didn’t damage the museum, but the jackal is no where to be found, so he’s fired.
Steve, with a bit more free time now, finds some keys to a storage locker in one of his jacket pockets.
He looks everywhere to figure out where this storage unit is. He finally finds it, where he ultimately ends up finding a strange bed, a gun, and that strange scarab which was in his “dream”. The man in the reflection reveals himself to be Marc Spector, an ex mercenary who is currently the avatar for the moon god Khonshu.
Layla, who is actually Spector’s wife, confronts Steve about what is going on and why he’s living in a weird apartment. That weird cult leader (Harrow) shows up again, who is actually the Avatar of the Egyptian Goddess Ammit. That scarab that he was trying to get from Steve leads to Ammit’s tomb, where they want to release Ammit to help “protect” the world.
Harrow eventually releases another Jackal, to which Grant, who now has slight control over his body, summons the Moon Knight suit to try to fight it off. The only problem is…he doesn’t know how to fight or use it, so Spector takes over and saves the day. The only problem now is, they lost the Scarab.
Thoughts and Rating
I enjoyed this episode a bit more; less confusing and more action. I enjoy watching the Moon Knight scenes, and I like the interactions between Grant and Spector.
Episode 3 – “The Friendly Type”
Harrow, with the help of the scarab, end up finding Ammit’s tomb and begin to dig. Spector and Grant are on his tail but not entirely sure where the tomb is. During a fight scene both Spector and Grant blackout, both to find dead bodies surrounding them, but both claim not to know what happened…(this could an interesting revelation to the series); but the show goes on.
Khonshu calls for a tribal council of all of the gods to let them know what Harrow is planning on doing. But since Khonshu’s ego is so big, he didn’t have a very great argument and the god’s weren’t convinced. Harrow’s argument was more convincing and the god’s sided with him. Although, one of the god’s (Hathor) Avatar decides to give Spector and Grant a clue to go find the sarcophagus of Ammit and that’ll help lead them to the tomb. Although, easier said than done as Harrow gets word of this as well and stops them in their tracks, leading them to desperation to find the tomb and are left with nothing but an old map of where the tomb is.
Grant, being the smart Egyptian (ex) tour guide, can decipher the map and realizes the stars show where the tomb is. The only problem is the stars move ever so slightly over the years, so the map isn’t exact. Khonshu being the god of the moon, can shift the stars back to their original position for the map. This however comes at a cost, as the gods do not approve of this action and imprison him in stone, leaving Grant and Spector on their own.
Thoughts and Ratings
Another really good episode that incorporates a bit more of Spector into the main character, who’s probably my favorite version (so far). Curious to see if that fight seen leads us to another personality we haven’t seen yet.
Episode 4 – “The Tomb”
The episodes begins with Grant taking over as the lead personality, with Layla by his side. They end up finding an abandoned camp site, where presumably Harrow and his followers were once at. They discover dead bodies everywhere, and are a bit hesitant to go into the tomb (Grant especially); Spector insists he take over but Grant refuses.
Grant and Layla are amazed at the ancient Egyptian architecture, and Layla exclaims her father would have loved all of this, as he was a famous archaeologist.
Unfortunately, the fun stops there as they end up being chased by some undead Egyptian tomb bodyguards of some sort. Grant and Layla end up splitting up, and Layla ends up being chased, but ultimately kills the undead chasing her. Layla also encounters Harrow, who reveals to Layla that Spector was one of the mercenaries who killed her father. Shortly after, Spector takes over Grant’s body and sort-of confirms this (he was there, but did not first-hand kill her father).
Right before this, Grant ends up finding the tomb of who else but Alexander the Great (Ammit’s previous avatar), and inside of his mouth, the ushabti.
Unfortunately, Harrow ends up finding the tomb very shortly after and confronts Grant (now Spector, after the argument with Layla). Harrow gives Spector a choice of handing over the ushabti peacefully, which Spector declines and ultimately gets shot (twice). Is Spector officially dead? After all…he has been killed before. This is where the episode gets weird.
Spector wakes up, but not in the Tomb…he wakes up in a strange mental hospital, where individuals from his life are there, including Layla and Harrow. This time though, Grant and Spector are two separate individuals, and perhaps a third individual is shown to be trapped in another sarcophagus. Spector seems to be all medicated up and is slowly dragging his body around the hospital (Harrow appears to be Spectors doctor). At the end of the scene, Spector encounters a female hippo figure out of no where. (The goddess Taweret).
Thoughts and Ratings
This was a bit more of a slow paced episode for me. I really enjoyed the parts where they were exploring the Tomb, but the drama between Spector and Layla didn’t really add much substance to the series. The ending scene in the hospital was really intriguing to me and left me wanting more (especially want to see if they add a third personality to Grant/Spector’s character. I left the episode a bit confused which is fine, and I’m excited to see the episode flesh out that scene a bit more.
Episode 5 – Asylum
Asylum, episode 5, a much needed explanation for what the heck went on in episode 4. Although somewhat confusing in nature itself, explains a lot of the history of Marc Spector that we desperately were looking for.
The episode starts off where the last one ends, the figure of the Hippo (who they confirm is Taweret) welcomes Marc and Steven to the afterlife, confirming that they are dead. The hospital is something Marc imagined himself, as Taweret says everyone imagines a different place when they reach the underworld they’re currently in.
Taweret’s purpose is to measure Marc’s soul on the “Scales of Justice” to see if he is worthy of entering the heavenly paradise known as the “Field of Reeds”. They determine the way for their soul to be balanced is they must tell each other the complete truth about their lives (mostly Marc explaining to Steven). Although their real main goal is to get back to earth to help save the world from Harrow and Ammit.
The episode teeters back and forth between two different realities. One is Marc and Steven going back to their childhood memories and discovering the past. The other is Marc (and others), talking with “Dr. Harrow” and his “hallucinations and delusions”. Which one is reality though?
Although we’re not explicitly told…the asylum is made up. Marc created the asylum I believe to cope with some of his life’s troubles. He escapes there momentarily to “talk” with Harrow about the issues he’s having.
Some of the issues we find out are that Marc created Steven when he was a young child to cope with the fact that his brother died and his mother blamed him for it. Steven lived the happy life while Marc had to suffer his mother’s maltreatment.
This episode also goes through some of Marc’s adult life, particularly the scene where we see Marc bleeding out and almost dying, only to be revived by Khonshu to officially become his avatar.
Towards the end, Marc and Steven figure they’ve told each other everything and the scale should be balanced, but it’s not, and unfortunately Steven gets trapped by the undead (which actually balances the scales, and leads to Marc entering the “Fields of Reeds”).
One massive thing that isn’t really discussed in this episode is the presence of Jake Lockley, Marc’s third personality; who is absolutely in this episode (whether or not Marc and Steven like it) (I also believe he has appeared earlier in this series, but that’s for another time). The scene where they cut back to Marc (Jake) talking to Harrow with the bloodied nose, this man is not Steven nor Marc; the accent is completely different and personality is as well. I believe Jake is probably the “worst” out of the 3, and Marc desperately tries to ignore this personality, as seen in the previous episode where they see (presumably Jake) in the sarcophagus and just walk by him.
Thoughts and Ratings
One of my favorite episodes yet. Lots of background knowledge which we desperately needed was unveiled. The series still has a lot to wrap up in the final episode which I’m looking forward to big tme.
Episode 6 – “Gods and Monsters”
What an ending to a fantastic series. Layla begins to take a massive role in this series as Marc and Steven are currently dead. She tries to (foolishly) stop Harrow her self, only to learn that she has no shot. The only chance she has is to bring back Marc, and the one guy that’s brought him back before? Khonshu. Layla finds Khonshu’s trapped body (at the same time Harrow frees Ammit) and frees him. Khonshu tries to convince Layla to become his new Avatar, but Layla declines.
Khonshu quickly realizes that he can’t take on Ammit without an Avatar. Meanwhile in the afterlife, Marc has gone back to Steven, leaving the field of reeds. This act appears to pay off as this allows them to return to life and assume the role of Moon Knight. One catch is, they tell Khonshu they must free them once this is all over, and he obliges.
Enter Layla. Who is now bonded with Taweret and is her Avatar. Taweret has the idea of trapping Ammit into Harrow, rather than into stone as it’ll be harder for Ammit to escape. Layla then teams up with Marc and Steven (who now actually has the ability to fight extremely well) to fight off Harrow, as Khonshu takes on Ammit. Harrow narrowly defeats Marc and Steven, until Marc blacks out, and wakes up to a scene of dead followers (including Harrow), which is eerily similar to what happened earlier in the series. Marc and Layla end up sealing Ammit inside of Harrow using some sort of spell. Khonshu urges Marc to kill Harrow so Ammit could never come back, but he refuses. Khonshu still follows through with his promise and frees Marc and Steven from his bond.
In the mid credits scene. Harrow is seen in a mental hospital, but quickly is taken out of the hospital by a mysterious man and put into the car. And who’s in the car with him? Khonshu in a suit. Harrow laughs as he knows Khonshu can’t kill him. The only problem is, the man in the front seat turns around with a gun can. Marc? Steven? Nope, it’s Jake Lockley, who proceeds to shoot Harrow. Khonshu willingly let Marc and Steven go because he knew he still had a bond with Jake, who is the real killer of the three.
Thoughts and Ratings
Extremely strong finish to a phenomenal series. I’d be shocked if this is the last time we see Moon Knight in the MCU, as the character has such an interesting story. Oscar Isaac puts on one of the best performances in the MCU to date.
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