*Spoilers.*
For me, Moon Knight is all about characters and relationships. Now, plenty of that happens within the DID system of the protagonist, and I’ve already talked at length about Steven, Marc, and their relationship. But when you add Layla into the mix, the whole thing levels up even further. These three, separately and together, are why I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll get a season 2, or some other continuation of Moon Knight’s story.
Even though Layla is Marc’s wife, we’re actually introduced to her when she’s meeting Steven for the first time. She doesn’t know that Marc has DID—she’s confused by the British accent her husband is “putting on” and is first annoyed, then alarmed, when he insists that he doesn’t know her. Their early scenes together are marked by Layla’s conviction that Marc is working undercover and refusing to drop the act even in front of her. It’s not until they have a dangerous run-in with Harrow and she sees Steven flounder that she realizes she’s dealing with something much deeper than she thought.
Steven, meanwhile, is instantly taken with Layla. They share a love of Egyptian history and antiquities, and they even have the same favorite poet. Much of what’s going on in his life is massively confusing at present—he’s only barely started to grasp the fact that he has DID—and this woman who’s come along calling him Marc and saying that they’re married confuses him too, but rather than being frightened, this is a confusion that Steven will gladly put up with to be around her.
As they get more involved in their mission against Harrow and Layla gains a greater understanding of what’s going on with Marc and Steven, she adjusts really well to this very unexpected turn of events. She and Marc do the undercover/more dangerous stuff, while she urges Marc to let Steven front during the brainy Egyptology-related stuff. It doesn’t take long before she’s treating them like separate people.
An additional complicating factor is that Marc and Layla were estranged at the start of the series. Marc has disappeared on her—unbeknownst to her, he left because he thinks Khonshu wants her for his new avatar and wants to keep him away from her—and when Layla initially comes across Steven, it’s because she has divorce papers for Marc. But Marc never stopped loving her, he just has a really clumsy/kind of paternalistic way of trying to protect her, and so it angers him to see her getting friendly with Steven. At different times when Steven is fronting, Marc warns him not to close too cozy with Layla, and after Layla and Steven share a kiss, Marc manages to take control of their hand so he can sucker-punch Steven.
But for all that Steven is falling for Layla, he’s also kind of advocating for Marc? As the more emotionally-open of the two, he’s able to bridge the communication gap between Marc and Layla. He tells Layla things that Marc has kept from her, and even though Layla is angry at Marc’s “I kept secrets for your own good” attitude, it does give her more insight into his actions and where his head is at.
I get that it’s the MCU and Disney is pretty vanilla, but honestly, the best resolution for me is for Layla to date both of them. They both like her and she likes them, and they have the same body. This seems to be the least messy way to go about it, though there’s no evidence yet on what Jake thinks of Layla, or how she’ll react when she meets him. All of this is just further proof of why we need a season 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment