Is Marc Spector just imagining all this?” has been a question that Marvel Comics has waltzed with before, and episode two of Moon Knight, “Summon the Suit”, also decides it’s fair game via his alternate identity. As such, we join Steven Grant after his encounter with the jackal while he attempts to figure out how much of the horrifying experience was caught on camera. The answer is none, bar Steven pelting it about the museum with the wind up his arse, but at the end of the footage we see Marc give the camera a surly look, and Steven is understandably upset.
The damage to the museum’s toilets is certainly very real. Steven is summarily fired for his part in their destruction while his HR manager offers him an opportunity to attend a mental health group. To his credit, Steven is starting to think it might be a good idea regardless of his current employment status, but he decides to seek further proof that Marc, Khonshu, and Harrow are all real nonetheless. After chatting to Crawley and using a storage locker key as a clue, Steven discovers the safe place where Marc stores his gun, money, and passport, and the disgusted way Steven discarded said gun absolutely slayed me; Isaac is doing some phenomenal physical comedy in this show.
Marvel Moon Knight Episode 2
The second episode of Moon Knight fully introduced May Calamawy’s Layla, sprinkled in some important intel, raised the stakes somewhat, and gave us a fresh-pressed look at this story’s take on “Mr. Knight,” the three-pieced suit variant of the “Fist of Khonshu.” Oscar Isaac continued to dazzle as a brought-to-the-brink Steven, who found himself more at war with his Marc personality than ever, while Ethan Hawke delivered more of his softly sinister Arthur Harrow (including a better idea of his plan). The show is still gifting us with pronounced scenes between the two, but it was also here in the second episode that the Steven bewilderment element started to wear thin.
Steven Grant’s confusion, living a half-life while also unknowingly serving as a vessel for an Egyptian God, helped last week’s premiere episode crackle with slapstick mystery. Now, as the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place more, his utter delirium’s feeling like an anchor holding this show back. Granted, we still aren’t being given the entire mosaic, since Marc never feels like clearly explaining everything to Steven, but questions are building up at an alarming rate and Episode 2 only let a little air out of the balloon, answer-wise. Even at only six episodes a show can dawdle when it should dash.
Moon Knight Episode 2 Review
After his strange encounter with the hound demon in the loo at the museum, Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) tries to figure out what happened. But reviewing the security tapes only makes him look worse, and Steven is predictably fired. Now left without a job, Steven decides to uncover the mystery behind the previously discovered key in his apartment. After searching four storage locker facilities, he has some luck with the fifth. In there, he encounters his ‘alter-ego’ Marc Spector, who reveals he, or rather, they, are an avatar to Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) – the Egyptian god of the moon. When Steven chooses not to co-operate with Marc, he’s chased by the intimidating god. After barely escaping the entity, he’s almost run down by Layla (May Calamawy) – the woman he spoke to on the phone in Episode 1, who now claims to be his wife.
Instead of addressing Steven’s questions, the second episode further builds on them by adding layers to the mysteries in compelling ways. It’s particularly unnerving when Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) asks Steven – ‘do you think that Khonshu chose you as his avatar because your mind would be so easy to break, or because it was broken already?’. Arthur’s mystique grows further as he shows Steven around the commune he’s built while posing the dilemma of ‘true’ justice. The cult leader serves Ammit – the Egyptian goddess. She judges people not only on their past actions but also on their future. It may sound ideal until Steven questions if it is ethical to kill a baby who may possibly commit a crime as an adult.
Just like that, the show blurs the lines between good and evil irrevocably. MCU fans who believe that ‘Thanos was right’ (of which there are many) would probably see merit in Ammit’s unforgiving stance on meting out judgement. But, of course, this brutal approach doesn’t sit well with Moon Knight’s protagonist Steven Grant/ Marc Spector. But unlike Bruce Banner, who can invoke the Hulk in a moment, Steven struggles a bit more with his superpowers and instead calls on ‘Mr Knight’ mid-fight. This persona is a crime-solving investigator in the comics, similar to Sherlock Holmes. But the show repurposes him into a somewhat bumbling, albeit sharply dressed iteration of Steven Grant. It will be interesting to see how Mr Knight is used down the line.
The second episode continues to build on its promising start by taking us deeper into the fractured psyche of Steven Grant/ Marc Spector, courtesy of Oscar Isaac, who continues to impress in the multiple roles. But most importantly, ‘Moon Knight’ gives us an antagonist worth investing in, with Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow.
