‘Moon Knight’ Episode 1 Recap

Oscar Isaac brings to life a rather fascinating and violent Marvel anti-hero in the Disney+ series’ first episode.

‘Moon Knight’ is Marvel’s newest Disney+ show, and the first time the titular character has found himself on the live-action screen. Staring Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke, the show follows Isaacs in the role(s) of Steven Grant and his many personalities—as the man suffers from DID, dissociative identity disorder, and his journey as the new anti-hero Moon Knight.

The first episode dropped this week, so let’s discuss what we saw, what it could mean going forward, and how does this first episode hold up with the rest of the MCU streaming shows!

Steven Grant is, well, awkward. And, well, strange. He falls sleep with a chain around his ankle, has tape on his door and doesn’t even remember setting up a dinner date with a co-worker. Steven suffers from DID, and it appears his alter-egos are doing things without his knowledge. Throughout this first episode we see Steven slowly start to lose his grip with everything he thought he knew, all leading up to the rather long finale of the episode.

Quick flashes of an English countryside that is totally hosting a cult, Steven hearing someone’s voice in his head and being attacked by what is possibly the creepiest MCU monster we’ve ever seen. It all leads up to him (well, the Marc Spector alter), clad in the Moon Knight costume and standing over an insanely brutalized monster.

‘Moon Knight’ starts rather slowly compared to the other MCU shows, but honestly that’s not much of an issue. Compared to other characters we’ve seen get shows on Disney+, ‘Moon Knight’ is the one character that people would know the least about. Compared to, say, Scarlet Witch or Loki, this is the first time we have seen Moon Knight in, well, anything. But does the episode hold up as a good introduction?

Honestly, it does its job. We’re shown Steven Grant, and get glimpses of his DID in the form of flashes in the last half of the episode, and seen his life outside of whatever the hell craziness that his alter-ego gets into.

Khonshu is given a small role in the episode, seen more as a slasher movie villain as he spookily watches from the sidelines in the last half. His voice is different, at least from what I expected, but it does a great job of portraying an ancient god that is tired of whatever Steven Grant is doing, which is stopping Marc Spector from doing his job.

There isn’t much to discuss when it comes to Ethan Hawke and his portrayal of the villain Arthur, only that he indeed succeeds at portraying a very creepy and threatening cult leader. We’re shown in the episode his abilities; he can weigh the hearts of others just as the ancient Egyptian myths of the afterlife have explained.

For those who are not aware, in Egyptian myth, your heart is weighed against a feather when you die. If your heart is lighter, you’re allowed passage to the afterlife. If not, your heart is unceremoniously eaten by an alligator. We see this in action when Arthur weighs the hearts of two people in the town square scene, one getting told they were worthy and the other just keeling over.

There’s been talks in Hollywood how recent films have handled the culture and country of Egypt in film and TV, and I personally believe it’s too early to tell with ‘Moon Knight.’ The handling of the myths, at least to my knowledge, are on point and match up with history (obviously not counting the Marvel universes’ changes) so we have yet to see how the rest is going to work. Khonshu himself is not a real Egyptian god, but how the show has depicted him so far is more horror movie villain than mythical being.

Now, a main part of this show is indeed the inclusion of Steve’s DID. There is always a constant debate on how mental health is portrayed in film and whether it’s used as a stereotypical gimmick or something to villainize a character.

While Oscar Isaac himself is not diagnosed with DID, it’s obvious he has done his research and is doing his best to respect the diagnoses and those who have it. Though, I will admit it is kind of jarring seeing him go from shy and timid Steven Grant to serious and intense Marc Spector. I honestly can’t tell if the accent is a good thing or if it plays Grant off to be a bit of a nerd-like character.

I personally think the first episode does a good job at portraying a character like Moon Knight in way that’s both accessible and so much different from what came before it. Compared to the other Marvel shows on Disney+, it isn’t the most intense or the craziest action wise. It’s the start of a story that not everyone is familiar with, and we obviously need more time to see how marvel is going to handle introducing such a wild character.

Let’s hope we get more answers next week!