Seeing how the first episode was the premiere of the savage hero known as Moon Knight, it’s very easy to forgive the exposition that needed to happen, but with only so many episodes to cover who he is and what he’s all about, it feels as though the second episode could have progressed a little quicker. It’s still necessary to understand who Steven Grant is and why Marc Spector is important, but since the villain has already been introduced, and his goal somewhat described, it’s now necessary to square away the hero and understand how he came to suffer from dissociative identity disorder and why Marc felt it necessary to create such a detailed alter ego if that’s still the case in this show. From what’s been seen thus far in episode 2 (spoilers) Marc isn’t exactly a great person since his time as a mercenary appears to reveal that he’s a murderous individual. But anyone that’s been reading Moon Knight over the years knows that he’s not a well-balanced individual, and his violent tendencies do stem from his time as a merc.
But Khonshu, the vengeful god of the moon, makes it clear in this episode thatKhonshu owes him, and that their deal needs to be honored, or he’ll simply make Marc’s wife Layla his next avatar. The fact that the deity appears fully ready to move on from Marc if he doesn’t honor the deal is a bit disturbing, but learning that Khonshu had another avatar before Marc, who just happens to be the main villain in the series thus far, is a bit of a revelation that a lot of fans might not have seen coming. The fact that Arthur Harrow knows that Khonshu is near and can do nothing unless his avatar is ready and willing to fight is kind of chilling, but the idea that Arthur knows what Khonshu is saying gives the audience the feeling that he spent a good deal of time with the moon god.
It’s easy to feel sorry for Steven since not only did his escapade in the museum yield no useful video footage, but it also manage to get him fired after the damage in the restroom was discovered. On top of that, Layla, Marc’s wife, finds him and makes it clear that she doesn’t buy into his life as Steven Grant, that her husband Marc is simply playing the role a little too convincingly. When Steven finds the storage container that Marc purchased, and the items within, he begins an argument with Marc and Khonshu that scares the living hell out of him as things continue to spiral out of control. In some ways it’s very easy to keep feeling sorry for Steven since the life he knew, which wasn’t perfect but was still his, is now constantly under attack from two beings that have their own agenda and have taken up residence in his head, and an external enemy that is seeking an item that Khonshu and Marc are insisting he keeps at all costs. Arthur comes off, initially, as a soft-spoken and very calm individual, but when Steven and Layla refuse to give up the scarab, he summons another jackal-like creature that was seen at the tail end of the first episode.
As apparently happened in the first episode, no one, not even Layla, can see the creature, but Steven can see the thing clearly, and the effect of its attacks are easy to see as well, though not a single bystander can understand what’s going on. One very interesting thing to note is that the moment that Steven summons the suit, as Layla nearly begged him to do, he summons a three-piece suit that’s been seen in the comics and no doubt gave a lot of fans a bit of a thrill as Steven decided that he could take on the jackal creature on his own, without Marc. Admittedly, he did get a couple of good shots in, but unfortunately, Steven isn’t the fighter that Marc is, and once he gives way and lets Marc in, the fight begins again with Spector taking the jackal creature on a run across the rooftops until he finds what he needs to dispatch the monster. Taking full advantage of his strength and skill, Mark impales the creature on the spire of a nearby monument, whereupon it turns to sand, no doubt exiled back to the underworld where it had come from.
The episode did end with a twist since it was established that Arthur had recovered the scarab, meaning that Moon Knight would now need to travel to Egypt to head off the cult of Ammit to keep them from succeeding in whatever goal they sought. Hearing that Khonshu and Marc aren’t exactly on the same page is interesting since Marc fully intends to be over and done with the deity once their deal is up, but poor Steven might have to sit the bulk of the action out as Marc retains control of his body. Steven is bound to stick around and give Marc a piece of his mind from time to time, but otherwise, it would appear that he’s going to be riding along and will be incapable of doing anything. So far, the show isn’t phenomenal since it’s having to place a lot of emphasis on exposition, largely because this is the character’s first time in the MCU. But all the same, it’s still enjoyable enough, at this time, that one can’t help but hope that it will escalate in the episodes to come.
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