Based on the character created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin
Starring Oscar Isaac, F. Murray Abraham, May Calamawy, Ethan Hawke
Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) is trying to live a normal life as a museum gift shop attendant but is suffering blackouts caused by Dissociative Identity Disorder. What he doesn’t know is that his other personality, Mark, is a servant of the Egyptian god Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham), engaged in an attempt to stop a cult from unleashing vengeance upon the Earth.
For all its positives (and there’s a lot of them) Moon Knight clearly demonstrates an increasing problem with what appears to be a template for Marvel TV. They all seem to set up the penultimate episode for a large amount of character exploration and development, clearing the way for a final confrontation, which in itself has led to some of the strongest episodes of the MCU, but it leads to other issues. Firstly it slows the pacing, leaving a lot of the initial set up feeling like filler, stretched thinly over too many episodes. Secondly it leaves the final episode with a lot of plot threads to tie up, meaning that it feels rushed and overstuffed, often leading to an unsatisfactory conclusion. Moon Knight mostly avoids the latter, but it really does fall prey to the former, with most of the first four episodes appallingly paced as Steven and Mark chase after one mystical Egyptian McGuffin after another.
Not to say there’s nothing good here, far from it. Oscar Isaac really shines in the role, making the best of the clearly delineated characters he plays. Towards the end of the series we get to see him often playing off himself in scenes, and it’s very hard to believe that it’s not two separate actors due to the natural rhythm and chemistry he has. In fact, all the acting here is pretty notable – F. Murray Abraham conveys the duplicitous Khonshu perfectly, Ethan Hawke underplays the traditional MCU villain with an understandable motivation and just the right note of pathos, while May Calamawy makes the perfect feisty pulp companion brought into the present.
Moon Knight also displays a good understanding of DID, delving into the issues that can trigger the disorder. Finally, for an MCU production, it can be daring TV, with the climax for episode four producing a wondrous WTF moment that is explored in a brain-bending fifth episode. True, in comparison to Legion (the other Marvel show with a DID main character) it’s positively tame, but Moon Knight is aimed at a more mainstream audience, so its reach is less ambitious. Personally that is a negative, but your mileage may vary.
Hobbled by its first few episodes Moon Knight doesn’t reach the potential of the Warren Ellis or Jeff Lemire comic runs that act as some of the inspiration for the series. Yet with Isaac nailing the characterisation, it provides some hope going forward.
