Moon Knight

By Anton Massopust III

“If this the real world, I want to go back and save the world.” – Mark.   

Marvel and Disney+ brings another hero to TV in the new streaming series, “Moon Knight,” based on the Marvel Comics superhero. First of all, who is Moon Knight? Originally, the character was more like Batman, fighting werewolves, monsters, and street level crime. In recent decades, new writers have dived into the psychological element of Moon Knight and how he is connected to the Egyptian gods, especially the god of the moon. 

We will go through each of the 6 episodes, and then I will tell you: Is Moon Knight worth watching?

Episode 1: The Goldfish Problem – Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) works at the British Museum in London. He longs to become a tour guide but is just a guy who works at a gift shop, and he is having problems sleeping. Everything is thrown into chaos when Steven wakes up in the Austrian Alps and meets a cult leader, Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke). Harrow is associated with Ammit (the Egyptian crocodile goddess who devours your soul if you are not worthy). Steven has two personalities: one is Steven, the other Mark. Both are the avatar for Khonshu (the Egyptian god of the moon). He believes in protecting the innocent, but he is brutal. Artur wants Steven to give him his scarab that will lead him to the tomb of the crocodile goddess so he can unleash her. Steven lets Mark take over the body and summons protective white armor and transforms into Moon Knight and unleashes a jackal while he is in the museum. 

Episode 2: Summon the Suit – Steven is learning how to control this ability and trying to stop this cult leader, and to dealing with a god who wants both Mark and Steven to cooperate and do his job. Steven has a wife, Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) whom he is on the brink of divorce. Arthur was the avatar for Khonshu, and Arthur wants the scarab to find Ammit’s tomb. His wife tells him not to do it because the cult leader’s plan is to wipe out humanity. Two different suits come into play. When he is Steven, he is in a suit and tie and mask that covers his entire face, and Mark is a full cloak and armor. They kill the jackal but lose the scarab.

Episode 3:  The Friendly Type – While looking at Ammit’s tomb, they follow the clues. Mark wants to go before the Egyptian gods so that they can stop the cult leader from destroying the world. This leaves our heroes without any powers for a while. 

Episode 4: The Tomb – Steven, Mark, and Layla eventually find clues to the tomb. Both Mark and Steven’s knowledge help them find the tomb of crocodile goddess. Her vessel is contained to be protected by the Eye of Horus and they find in the inside of a sarcophagus inside the body of Alexander the Great. Mark and out get it out but are shot by the cult leader’s followers. Mark wakes up in an asylum.

Episode 5: Asylum – Eventually both personalities: Mark and Steven find out they are not in an asylum but are on a mystical boat on their way to the afterlife, with the hippopotamus woman goddess Taweret and she is taking them to the afterlife. Mark and Steven discover a lot about their past on this journey and what are the causes of his psychological problems and why he can’t sleep at night, what happened to his brother, and his relationship with his mom. Mark wakes up and finds out that he has reached the afterlife, but he has to go back and defeat the cult leader before all humanity is destroyed. 

Episode 6: Gods and Monsters – The final confrontation begins when Arthur unleashes the crocodile goddess and spreads power among his followers in order to destroy all of humanity. Khonshu tries to stop the goddess himself but is unable to. Mark and Steven fully regenerated through their powers defeat the cult leader and bury the crocodile goddess inside Arthur. Khonshu wants them to end the cult leader’s life, but Mark refuses. Our hero ends back in his small flat in London trying to come to terms with his life. Khonshu finds a new avatar.

Is this show worth watching? Absolutely. It is more than just a TV show that is about a superhero who uses Egyptian powers to defeat bad guys. It is more of a statement about the mentally ill, and the deep problems that they have, how people deal with stress, loss, abandonment, pain, and is excellently well acted by Oscar Isaac who is playing three characters at the same time: Steven, Mark, and Moon Knight. These are three complicated characters who are trying to work together to stop this great evil, but also are trying to work out their own problems. 

Marvel and Disney have given all their shows big budgets, and these shows are like giant mini movies. Don’t worry, there is plenty of action and adventure, but you have to watch them all in order to follow. It is really worth your time to watch.

Anton Knows
Check out Anton’s podcast “Anton Knows” on Buzzsprout and IHeart Radio.