Main cast: Oscar Isaac (Marc Spector, Steven Grant, Jake Lockley), May Calamawy (Layla El-Faouly), Karim El Hakim (Khonshu), F Murray Abraham (The Voice of Khonshu), and Ethan Hawke (Arthur Harrow)
Director: Mohamed Diab
Why would the people at Marvel Studios make a show about Moon Knight, when they already have access to, say, Fantastic Four and the X-Men and other characters that are more of a household name than this fellow?
I can only imagine that this one got green-lit because (a) they can hire many cheap people of color behind and in front of the camera, people that will obediently do as they are told with the added bonus of the studio claiming bonus points for diversity, blah blah blah, (b) show creator and lead writer Jeremy Sumpter promised that this show can be made super cheap, and (c) Marvel is convinced that anything with its name on the poster will automatically make ten billion dollars.
So, here’s the first episode: The Goldfish Problem, which I’m sure many people are simply clamoring for.
I don’t know why Disney keeps misusing poor Oscar Isaac like this, but Mr Isaac plays our titular character, a guy with three different main personalities: Marc Spector is an action guy that takes the title of Moon Knight when he becomes the avatar of the god Khonsu; Steven Grand, a mild-mannered museum gift shop employee that becomes Mr Knight when Khonsu takes over him while this personality is dominant; Jake Lockley, a chauffeur that is far more sneaky than the other two personalities with a pact forged with Khonsu that the other two personalities are not aware of.
This episode sees Steven Grand coming into possession of a scarab that is sought after by cult members of the goddess Ammit, led by Arthur Harrow. He also tries to figure out weird happenings in his life, such as strange dreams of a voice calling him to “surrender” his body to one “Marc” and a woman called Layla is calling his number and asking for this “Marc”. Eventually, he will also encounter Khonsu and agree to be the avatar of the moon god in order to save himself from Harrow.
Well, Mr Isaac takes the trouble to give his character various accents, nuances, and inflections depending on which personality is dominant at the moment, but this episode is mostly people walking around while music plays in the background. For some reason there are also a few long close-ups of feet, maybe because someone editing or filming the episode has a fetish for this kind of thing.
The costume looks like something borrowed from a cancelled CW series, but that’s okay, Oscar Isaac is certainly capable to carry this show on his own. Indeed, this episode is essentially a one-man thing with a haggard-looking Ethan Hawke playing a bit role as the antagonist.
It’s a bit too early to make a definite judgment on this show, but I am intrigued enough by this episode to want to find out more. So, I guess, mission accomplished?
