Steven Grant is slowly, but steadily, starting to get some answers about the voices in his head, and the life they’ve been living with his body. As the mystery unravels, Grant may come to wish he’d never found out about anything in the first place—but first he has to deal with the woman calling herself his wife and wondering why he’s putting on such a terrible accent.
Armaan Babu: It’s a waxing crescent moon tonight. Slowly, bit by bit, light is dawning on the situation, as Steven Grant learns more about the situation he’s found himself in. He’s finding out, slowly but surely, that his life is not his – at least, not entirely – but it’s not a truth he’s fully grasped yet. Welcome back, Adam, and how’d you enjoy this episode of Moon Knight?
Adam Reck: Hello, Armaan! If I seem a little distant, it’s because I am speaking to you trapped within a shattered mirror with no way out. As for episode 2, I felt a definite slowing of momentum that comes with any of these shows, but I am still really enjoying the story and where it’s going. Why don’t we jump right off a building into what happened, starting with the aftermath of the episode 1’s museum attack.
X Marcs the Spot
Armaan: Right—when we last saw Moon Knight, he was beating up a summoned jackal pretty thoroughly in the bathrooms of a museum. I guess there wasn’t much more to the fight than that, because this episode immediately starts with Steven Grant back in bed, once again left to wonder if it’s all just been a dream.
It’s a worry that’s exacerbated when he gets to the museum, and the tapes show him running for his life…but nothing else. Magic jackals apparently don’t show up on camera, and Marc-as-Moon-Knight keeps pretty camera shy too. Steven is blamed for the destruction of the bathroom, leaving him just one option: track down anything he can find about Marc Spector to try and clear his name and get his job as a gift shop attendant back.
We’re getting clearer pictures of Marc this episode, and I gotta applaud Oscar Isaac for leading real credence to the scene where Steven looks at Marc on camera, walking around in his body with a completely altered bearing, and says, “That’s not me.”
Adam: For anyone who expected this episode to start with Moon Knight trouncing the jackal, they might be disappointed to learn we’re sticking with Steven’s perspective, to the point where the beasts he fights are invisible to the layperson.
For me and for viewers who have no idea who Moon Knight is, I think it’s great that we are still discovering what’s going on. The mirrored storage locker serves up mirrors and a duffle bag to give us even more of an introduction to Marc Spector. It becomes increasingly clear that Steven really is an impediment and not the protagonist of his own story. We get another great look at Khonshu as he chases Steven out of the storage facility, and Steven’s confusion grows even deeper as he’s introduced to. . . his wife?
Armaan: I really liked meeting Layla here, she does a great job complementing Isaac’s performance as a completely different person. Even though the two of them barely get to interact, between her talking about her and Marc’s past, the regret Marc feels in keeping away from her, and her matter-of-factness when it comes talking about the Moon Knight powers…the history feels real. It feels like we’re coming into Season 2 of a show where the Season 1 cliffhanger was Marc giving up control of his life to Steve—though who has what control is still a big question.
Adam: Isaac does a great job dialing up how defeated Steven feels. He’s unable to sleep, hold down a job, even go on a date, and now he’s learning the reason why and it’s more confusing than he could have predicted. Layla is equally confused, as she’s never met Steven before. She escapes with the sought-after scarab only for two cops to come escort Steven to . . . I dunno, the West End for a Broadway show?
Minority Report
Armaan: So I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve seen my fair share of on-screen cults, and this was definitely one of the nicer ones. In fact, it’s a lot like Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow himself: extremely welcoming and charismatic on the surface, but one wrong move away from being very, very dangerous.
Harrow seems to understand that poor Steven Grant has very little idea of what’s happening, and is still struggling with the voices in his head. In fact, Harrow has a lot more understanding of Steven’s situation than anyone guessed—Harrow was once an Avatar of Khonshu, too.
It was at that moment that I felt okay about being further behind on Moon Knight comics history than I originally wanted to be. I now want to enjoy this show blind, because from what little I’ve read of Harrow’s origin, the show’s deviating from the comics a fair bit, and so far, what they’re doing is a lot more compelling.
That being said, I have been reading Moon Knight pretty regularly from 2010, and it feels like constantly trying to find a new angle on the character seems par for the course.
Adam: I think anyone entering this community has to ask themselves a few basic questions. Do you want to expand your mind by speaking at least three languages? Do you enjoy organic produce? Is watching randomly edited nature footage your favorite form of entertainment? How do you feel about child murder?
The first episode made a point of making Steven a noble idiot. Someone that, for all his discombobulation, still seemed pretty good at heart. And in Steven’s impromptu farm to table dinner we see Steven arrive at the core problem with Ammit’s whole deal pretty darn fast. Which begs another question: If Ammit is all about pre-cogging for peace and willing to kill anyone who might commit “evil,” how does Ammit define evil? It’s pretty obvious Harrow’s followers are ready to kill Steven and Layla to get the Scarab, but they’re all good in the eyes of the gator-god?
Armaan: I’ve got a few thoughts here, and one about what it must be like to be a chosen member of this cult, to have been judged worthy by Ammit’s scales. For those who believe, and are judged worthy of life, can you imagine what a high that is? You’re not just judged as a good person—you’re told that, for the rest of your life, every action you take has been judged by an actual Goddess and it’s all going to be good. You can literally do no wrong. Good person forever; every action you choose to take is justified.
The thing is though, when it comes to stuff like child murder, even Harrow admits that a little bit of evil is okay for the greater good. So how is Ammit really judging people? It’s not on the basis of whether or not they’re good or bad—everyone in this cult is willing to kill at a moment’s notice. It feels like the thing that Ammit is really judging people on is less about good/bad morality, and more about how much they’re willing to serve her needs.
Which is, really, the truth at the heart of every cult, sooner or later.
Adam: Harrow also spills the beans on the purpose of the Scarab. It’s a compass that will guide its owner to the tomb of Ammit. Free Ammit? Everybody gets a free judgment, regardless of age! What a deal. Since Steven figures out Harrow’s hypocrisy in under five minutes and still won’t let Marc take over, and Layla shows up to very loudly point out that she has the Scarab (pro tip: If you’re trying to keep something away from a bad guy, don’t walk to his house and yell that you have it in a crowd of his minions), they’re both on the run from another CGI jackal, only this time we get to see how the fight plays out!
Moon Knights
Armaan: Well, sort of. This series seems to love playing with the blank spaces around a fight. They softened us up last episode, not actually showing us the high speed car chase action scene, only Steven’s horrified reactions to the moments in between. They skipped over the jackal fight that ended Episode 1. And now, even though we know perfectly well Steven can see the jackal, most of the point of view in this fight is from Layla, to whom the jackal is completely invisible.
I love this for two reasons: 1) The CGI for these jackals continues to be pretty terrible. 2) It’s a refreshingly unique looking action scene. It’s fun, and it’s clever. Watching Layla trying to figure out where the beast is, so she can hit it, seeing her and Steven being knocked about mid-air, trying, as an audience, to visualize a beast that’s not there, it’s a lot of fun.
Adam: I wholeheartedly agree that keeping the Jackal invisible continues the off-kilter approach to how Steven is being perceived instead of being standard superhero fare. When we finally switch over to Marc-mode and the Jackal is visible, it’s again in quick shows before it gets impaled. The show should definitely continue to employ this gimmick. Less CGI, and it ramps up the tension like a horror movie.
Armaan: Another fun aspect to this is that apparently the Moon Knight costume is a little symbiote-like. It comes with an angry voice yelling in your head to be more murderous, but also, you get to choose what it looks like. Everyone’s been yelling at Steven to put on the suit, put on the suit, and no one’s been telling him what it really means and so, yeah. Steven makes it a literal suit. Tie, vest, and everything. It’s great.
In the comics, Moon Knight puts on this suit when he’s in a more non-combative mode—when he’s talking to someone seeking his help, or when he’s doing a little detectiving. Here, though, the sharp-suited superhero look is apparently how we’re going to differentiate Steven Grant’s Moon Knight from Marc Spector’s, and I’m here for it.
Adam: Love that they’re employing the Shalvey design here in a novel way. I also really liked how pleased Steven was with himself after it happened. We also see that if Steven puts his mind to it, he can be powerful too, giving the jackal a big wallop that sends it flying. It will be interesting going forward to see if these two Moon Knights can fill different roles and potentially work together instead of constantly fighting over who is in control. I, personally, am still holding out hope for a third identity, but with only six episodes, I would totally understand if they limited it to Steven and Marc.
Armaan: What charms me here is that Marc isn’t antagonistic towards Steven. Like last episode, when we saw that Marc made an effort to try and replace Steven’s goldfish, Marc is really looking out for Steven. He’s impressed Steven was able to throw a punch, he’s doing his best to make sure Steve’s okay—but he’s also working for Khonshu, and the demands of a moon god mean that Marc can’t give Steven everything he wants.
We get to know a lot about Khonsu this episode. How little power he has without an Avatar, that the other gods look down on him…and how little he cares for human concerns. He wants his work done, and he does not care how much leverage he has to use to bury people under. He’s manipulative—not only does he hold Marc’s life in his hands, he’s quick to remind Marc that if Khonsu’s will isn’t done, Layla’s next in the Moon God’s sight. F Murray Abraham is a great comedic actor, and he really leans into how petty Khonsu is. It’s delightful.
So, two episodes down, what do you think of the show so far?
Adam: If Moon Knight were a movie, not a six-part TV show, this episode probably would have been compressed into less than 10 minutes of story time. The decompression is fine for the format, but I’m hoping for a faster pace with more depth as we head into the rest of the series. There are a lot of opportunities here for twists and turns. I just hope Moon Knight doesn’t lose its steam.
Armaan: I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to keep the momentum going from the last episode, but they did, in some pretty entertaining ways. We’ve even had a lot of backstory revealed without it dragging the show down, which was my fear. This isn’t the most standout MCU show we’ve gotten, but it’s uniquely playful and engaging. I may be setting myself up for disappointment, but I now believe I’m going to enjoy the rest of the season just as much as I have been.
Spector Specifics
- This is the second episode featuring a QR code that takes viewers to a free Moon Knight comic on Marvel Unlimited. This time it’s on the door to the storage unit, and the story is Werewolf by Night #33. I think this is a really cool feature, and I hope more Marvel shows employ ideas like this to guide viewers back to the source material.
- The mercenary story told by Harrow’s minions is a direct reference to the events in the first issue of Moon Knight volume 1.
- Steven’s Moon Knight look is the “Mr. Knight” design pulled directly from Moon Knight volume 7 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordan Bellaire. Though in the comic, Mr. Knight is still Marc Spector, this is a novel way to introduce the look.
- We mentioned last week that the original Moon Knight had three distinct personalities. As of the end of episode 2, we have still only seen two identities in Spector’s body (despite the security guard’s insistence on calling Steven, “Scotty”). Will there be more? Time will tell.
- Mention is made to Marc’s mother when Layla asks if they’re speaking again. Has Steven been calling Marc’s mother and leaving confusing voicemails?
- Steven has a lot of traits that are directly picked up from Layla. The love of French poetry, and Egyptian lore. We know Marc Spector is the primary identity…was Steven Grant’s personality built off the kind of things Marc admired about Layla? Or is Steven Grant the person Marc thought Layla wanted him to be?
- In honor of the show, Marvel Puzzle Quest has released an MCU-accurate Moon Knight and he’s…not as cool as the one they already had, honestly.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom.
