From the psychological mind games, to a fractured identity and a worldly threat, Moon Knight delivers on all the classic Marvel characteristics in this phase-4 show. 

The story

The series first follows Steven Grant (Oscar Issac), an innocent British man who works at a museum gift shop. But things quickly take a surprising twist when it is revealed he is also Marc Spector, a mercenary with a violent past as the avatar of Khonsu, an Egyptian god. If that seems confusing, it’s because it is. 

The plot follows both Marc and Steven through a frustrating and adventurous journey where they try to fill in the missing pieces of their lives while also trying to stop cult leader, Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), from discovering the tomb of Egyptian goddess, Ammit, and causing her to prematurely decide people’s fate.

Pros

Oscar Issac delivers a riveting performance as he masterly portrays two unique personalities going head to head against each other. He somehow is able to boast the cold killer mentality with Marc and immediately shift to the timid and shocked personality of Steven. Through Marc and Steven’s face to face interactions, Oscar Issac beautifully conveys the separate–but still somehow still connected–personality of both men.

Marvel movies and shows have always been praised for their great camerawork and cinematography, and Moon Knight has elevated it to an even higher standard. With Marc leaping from the darkness into the suit and the fractured mirrors surrounding Marc and Steven as they try to discover the truth, the cinematography does a fantastic job illustrating the themes of the show.  

Cons

The plot doesn’t follow a generic superhero origin story where there is a backstory revealed in the beginning, and the protagonist later comes upon their superpower. Instead, Marvel took a risk that didn’t pay off. The missing parts just made the first few episodes extremely confusing, and when the pieces all started to fall into place, the finale was complete. It was difficult to sit there confused waiting for everything to make sense, which has been the theme for some of the other marvel series as well. 

Either through some references in the series or end credits, there seems to be some connection to another MCU character, yet there was no relation to any of the other storylines, especially with the Egyptian gods, which makes me question the future aspirations of the show. Was this just an experiment for a unique setup for a MCU series, or will it eventually connect to the bigger picture with other main characters? 

Verdict

Marvel definitely tried out a new format in the series, Moon Knight; I can’t say for sure that it paid off. Overall, the show had some great base elements to a great superhero, but it was also missing key elements in the plot which made me question Marvel’s overarching plan for Moon Knight, especially since there is no season 2 scheduled.