Moon Knight (2022)

*Premise spoilers.*

The season(?) finale of Moon Knight dropped this morning, so I’m ready to talk about the latest Marvel series. While other Disney+ Marvel shows have introduced new heroes to the MCU, namely Kate Bishop in Hawkeye, this is the first to primarily center around a hero that hasn’t appeared in any of the films. Moon Knight is paving the way for a lot of new series to come, and it more than earns its place alongside the more familiar names that came before it.

Steven Grant, a skittish, distracted gift shop employee at the National Art Gallery in London, keeps losing time. Initially, he thinks he’s just sleepwalking, but then he starts seeing and hearing the Egyptian god Khonshu commanding him to “surrender the body” to someone named Marc. Both Steven and Marc, two identities within the same body, have been pressed into Khonshu’s service, protecting “the travelers of the night” from the looming threat of a man intent on unleashing the judgment of the goddess Ammit on the world.

Before we get started, I of course need to mention that Steven and Marc have Dissociative Identity Disorder, and as far as I know, Oscar Isaac is neurotypical. I’m confident that someone with DID/OSDD could’ve played this character, but I also know that this issue can be a little stickier when it comes to mental illness/neurodiversity. Mainly because I know that a lot of neurodiverse people aren’t out, and that being open about their disorders risks even more stigma than people with physical disabilities face, so I wouldn’t want an actor to feel obligated to come out as having a dissociative disorder in order to get a role.

All that said, I think Moon Knight mostly depicts Marc and Steven’s situation well. Both are treated like people in their own right, and while they experience some ableism (including internalized ableism on Marc’s side,) it’s clearly framed as a bad thing within the show.

It also does a nice job realizing elements of Egyptian mythology and, even better, depicting present-day Cairo as a place that holds a lot of history/antiquities but is still a modern city. Between Marc/Steven and the villainous Arthur Harrow running around Cairo, we also have Marc’s ex Layla, an Egyptian Indiana Jones who steals stolen artifacts back from imperialists. The scenes in Cairo are free of the “third-world” yellow filter that exoticizes developing countries, and the soundtrack is loaded up with cool Egyptian music that’s worlds away from the usual Orientalist wordless vocalizing that Hollywood uses to denote “the Middle East.”

In terms of the plot, the show takes a little while to get going, sometimes feeling simultaneously slow and rushed. Despite some sparsely-used but very cool action sequences, especially in the final episode, the show is at its best when it focuses on the character dynamics. In particular, the growing relationship between Marc and Steven as Steven becomes aware of Marc’s presence is positively dynamite, and I love seeing the different interactions Layla has with both alters.

While I’ve always liked Oscar Isaac in other roles, I’ve never had that “wow” moment that made me realize why he has such a devoted fan following, but I get it now. He’s fantastic in this, as both Steven and Marc. It’s a different type of animal than, say, Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black or Lupita Nyong’o in Us, but both Marc and Steven are really well-defined. I can always tell which one is fronting in dozens of little ways, and like I said, I love seeing how differently they interact with other characters, especially Layla and Harrow. Speaking of which, May Calamawy (Dena from Ramy) does a bang-up job as Layla, both badass and vulnerable, and Ethan Hawke as Harrow makes for an effective, creepy villain.

I don’t know if Marvel has further plans for Moon Knight, either on the show or in the movies, but I really hope we see Marc, Steven, and Layla again. I’ll have plenty more to say about this show in the coming weeks!

Warnings

Violence (including child abuse,) disturbing imagery, language, drinking, and strong thematic elements (including ableism and trauma.)