‘Moon Knight’ Episodes 1-4 Non-Spoiler Review
Moon Knight is the latest Disney Plus series from Marvel Studios, debuting its first episode on Wednesday, March 30, on the streaming platform.
Disney has been very gracious to let us watch the first four episodes of the new series, and today I’d like to discuss my general thoughts on the series so far. There will be no spoilers here aside from story details shown in recent promotional material.
Moon Knight stars Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant, a gift-shop employee at the British Museum who has a sleeping disorder that causes him to stay awake at night and have blackouts during the day. He will suddenly find himself inside a bus surrounded by people when he thought he was resting in his bed, or unexpectedly appear in the middle of nowhere, with no explanation nor memories of what has gone down in the previous hours. Soon, he will realize this is happening because he actually suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and there is another personality inhabiting his body. That is mercenary Marc Spector.
Whenever Steven is in control, Marc will merely be a reflection, unable to take control unless Steven surrenders himself. And vice versa. Quickly, Steven will realize that Marc’s enemies are coming after him, and some of them may be of the supernatural type. In fact, Steven will also learn that Marc Spector is actually a human avatar for the Egyptian God of the Moon, Khonshu (voiced wonderfully by Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham). That also gives him supernatural abilities when he transforms into the Moon Knight.
Before I get into details, I would like to quickly address the following: I rewatched most of the TV spots and the trailer after watching the four episodes, and I’ve concluded the following — The vast, vast majority of the footage featured in the marketing comes from the first four episodes. There were only two or three shots I wasn’t able to identify, and that could very well be my memory’s fault. In addition to this, for those wondering if this even connects to the MCU… I was only able to spot one reference to the grander Marvel Universe in the dialogues, and it will probably go right over most people’s heads. There is no need to watch any previous Marvel content to enjoy the first four episodes of the series.
The series, above all, deals with Marc’s and Steven’s mental health issues. This is a central point of the story the creative team is trying to tell, and while the show may sometimes be more focused on advancing the plot, the writers always find a way to bring it back to Steven/Marc’s personality disorder. Both personalities embark on a personal journey, and they will have to learn how to live with each other instead of trying to defeat the other to take over the body.
It is very clear to see that Oscar Isaac had a lot of fun making this series, especially when playing Steven. This personality, who is the focus for the first couple of episodes, is rather quirky and very different from the traditional Oscar Isaac character. When Marc Spector comes in, the actor is more in his wheelhouse, but that only makes Steven feel more unique — we are used to seeing Isaac play a Marc Spector-like character in the Star Wars movies or even Drive, but Steven is something we haven’t really seen from him.
While his British accent may be jarring at times, his overall awkwardness and fish-out-of-water mannerisms quickly make up for it. Since the show deals with Egyptian mythology, it was not hard for the writers to come up with reasons to insert Steven in the middle of the action — this makes the show feel fresh, constantly reinventing itself.
In terms of acting, the big highlight of the show for me is Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow. I was surprised to see that Hawke and Isaac have a lot of screentime together (even though I was aware that it was Isaac who convinced Hawke to board the series so they could work together). This is probably the most amount of time that any Marvel show has spent on the hero-villain relationship, and it made the show endlessly more entertaining.
In the hands of any other actor, Harrow could have easily come off as an over-the-top and even generic villain, but Hawke chose to play him in a very restrained way. He is always very calm, speaks gently, even when he is doing the most despicable things to other people, and never ever loses his temper. He is analytical and methodical, and maybe he was written this way, but I feel like the same script in the hands of a lesser actor would not have worked as well. The multiple one-on-ones between Hawke and Isaac were a lot of fun to watch, and you can tell the two actors had a blast shooting this series.
Disney Plus’ decision to show us the first four episodes was really smart for a variety of reasons. For starters, each of the episodes I was able to see was very different from the last, so watching only the first episode gives us but a glimpse of what the show feels as a whole. Episode 1 deals with Steven trying to make sense of what’s happening to him, and it has nothing to do with what goes down in episode 2, which picks up right where the first one ends.
But also, the fourth episode, which was my favorite of them all, ends on a big cliffhanger that Disney and Marvel definitely want people to talk about. There is a lot to be said about what went down there, and there will surely be hundreds of articles written about it the same day the show drops. Just a warning: be prepared for a massive social media blackout on April 20, when this episode debuts on Disney Plus.
Without diving into what actually went down, I must say that Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, who directed this episode, did an outstanding job here. They did not have an easy task, and outdid themselves. Episode 2, which they also directed, already had some impressive sequences (more on that in a moment), but in the fourth one, they helmed the tensest sequence by far in the entire series — I was kept on the edge of my seat for around 10-15 minutes.
From a technical point of view, this show is wonderful. The production design by Stefania Cella is incredible for a television series, and it is very obvious Marvel Studios spent tens of millions of dollars on this show. The sets are mostly practical, and they are all unique and alive. The cinematography by Gregory Middleton is also outstanding, not only because the show includes some beautiful shots and jaw-dropping landscapes, but mostly because Moon Knight is a masterclass in lighting as well. There are plenty of sequences that are mostly lit by torches and fires, and in episode 2, there is one particular scene inside a warehouse (see picture above), seen many times in the trailers, where the lighting was particularly impressive.
Finally, the score, by Egyptian composer Hesham Nazih, is the second-best from the Marvel Disney Plus shows, only surpassed by Loki‘s. The themes work great inside the series, as they help the episodes flow better, as well as grab our attention when the directors need it most, and hijack our emotions in the most down-to-earth scenes. I cannot wait to listen to what Nazih has in store for the last two episodes.
Now that we’ve talked about all of the positives of the show, I feel like I should point out some of the negatives… The positives far outweigh the negatives, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. While the performances of Ethan Hawke and Oscar Isaac are outstanding, the female lead Layla, played by May Calamawy, had her ups and downs. I do not want to draw a definitive judgment just yet, and I am looking forward to rewatching the episodes to see if she sells the role or not. She does have some great scenes, and she was a big part of why that sequence in the fourth episode was as intense as it was, but there were also other scenes in which I didn’t really buy into her performance. But yeah, I would like to leave the door open in case I change my mind once I rewatch the episodes.
Some of the writing also needed an extra revision. For instance, there were a couple of moments in episode 2 in which Steven’s arc felt like it was going backwards, since it repeated some bits from episode 1. Now, to be clear, this is not contradictory to my previous statement where I said that each episode felt distinctively different from the rest. They do. And episode 2 has an amazing third act that may be my favorite part of the series outside of episode 4. But the transition between episodes 1 and 2 could have been polished to help the show flow even better. There were also a few decisions in the third act of episode 3 I was not a fan of, but I admit I’m nitpicking there.
Moon Knight, in its first four episodes, does not reach the highs that WandaVision touched with its first six chapters (two thirds of the show). But to me, WandaVision failed spectacularly in the final two-three episodes. Loki also had a really strong start, but then had a mediocre-at-best final episode. Hawkeye and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier were consistent overall, but in my opinion, they also fell short in the final stretch.
Moon Knight‘s final two episodes could be the ones that finally crack the ending of a Marvel Studios Disney Plus series. The stakes raised by episode 4 could definitely be the key to unlocking that door, but they could also be the show’s demise. I think Marvel is very happy with the series, and those involved are very confident in the way they left things, but I’d like to keep my expectations in check for the two final chapters. And honestly, I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us.
Moon Knight was created by Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy), who is also credited as the head writer. The episodes are directed by the duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson (The Endless), and Mohamed Diab (Eshtebak). Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Grant Curtis, Oscar Isaac, Mohamed Diab, and Jeremy Slater are executive producers on the show, with Trevor Waterson and Rebecca Kirsch serving as co-executive producers.
The series debuts on Disney Plus on Wednesday, March 30. Look forward to more Moon Knight coverage from us.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
