The Friendly Type

... you may now have very good reason to hope the show has regained its balance.

I think Moon Knight really shines when it allows the actors to really feel the depths of the drama, and when it doesn't shy away from being informative. An action drama can be educational and guttural alike, with both intellectual and emotional range, and it makes the show all the more compelling. Speak to my mind and to my heart.

Two things that were significant detractors for me, in this episode, I will say without spoilers: (1) The fight scenes in the suit feel way too much like CGI Neo fighting in the Matrix sequels--yes, truly that bad--(2) and there's also a scene toward the end that's meant to be visually dazzling, but I couldn't enjoy it without a clear sense of exactly what was physically happening, and what catastrophic effects must have therefore occurred throughout the inhabited cosmos.

Even so, a very good episode. I especially liked the subtlety of acting, and the meaning it conveyed, in the non-CGI fight scenes (like slapping the adolescent Egyptian instead of punching him hard) and how Marc responded (quite believably!) to the feeling of being inhabited by Khonshu.

Now reaching the mid point of the season, this episode takes you straight in, it's more action packed, character packed and it moves everything forward.

TLDR at the bottom.

The pacing ramps up right from the start, and introduces more backstory to characters, and within the first 6 minutes we have our first action moment. The action here is welcome but it seems this show is walking close to the Daredevil/Punisher brutality line in terms of action but has no intention to actually cross it. The choreography is there, the cinematography is there but right when it's about to cross that line, we move on to the next bit. I must say, I do hope future eps bring more brutality to the action.

Speaking on just moving on, whilst the increased pace of the show is welcome I did find myself having to rewind a couple of times just to understand who these new characters are and what they're doing and just understanding why our main characters are doing what they're doing. It kind of just goes beat to beat and it can be difficult to keep up as from an audience perspective there's still a lot of mystery hanging over the narrative. But it is largely enjoyable due to the fact we know what the overarching goal is so far for our characters.

As for the characters, we get more on who Layla is, and her past as well as more Marc led scenes and a whole bunch of new characters just come and go throughout but the acting is great from Oscar Isaac. Seeing him transition between personas, from shifting his accent to even his body language to embody Steven Grant was great. That scene in particular was a highlight and I'm glad they're utiizling Steven more and he's not just there as a naive character to add some light heartedness.

It's becoming clear that from this episode that the show is more character focused than superhero focused as the suit has been scarcely used so far in the show and that's a strong point here as it carries on fuelling the mystery of the larger story and adds Moon Knight in only when necessary and not used excessively.

As for the VFX, there was one scene in particular that was great and overall for the episode there was nothing lacklustre about the CGI. Everything looked great and even the details like the textures on Khonshu's outfit.

Overall, this episode proves Moon Knight is becoming one of the best shows part of the MCU by being consistent. Sure it may feel a little quick here and there in this episode but it's definitely enjoyable and leaves you hyped for the final 3 episodes where I'm sure everything else will be ramped up too.

P. S. For the 3rd review in a row, I'm still a fan of the shots with reflections but I hope it doesn't lose its novelty.

Tldr: Minor gripes that doesn't take anything away from a strong episode in this show.

First of all, I think it goes without saying that Oscar Isaac shines in every scene he's in and his ability to change characters in the blink of an eye is really impressive and a joy to watch.

Another thing that I've mentioned before but I have to mention again, is that I love that they're still giving Arthur Harrow, the antagonist, more or less the same screen time as our protagonist and he's not one of those villains who just show up for 2 minutes at the end of an episode to do nefarious things so we know they're bad.

I really like the third confrontation of our "hero" and "villain", which was really a fresh and new way to do, although I have to say that Khonshu is really a dumbarse for doing that when he had no proof and evidence other than "he's bad, get him guys".

Speaking of dumbarses, Steven as a character was really cool to watch for the first two episodes, but he got a little bit annoying in this episode with stopping Marc whenever he got the chance. Although, he got a little better at the end.

Their dynamic is great tho, just a little annoying when Steven gets in the way of Marc.

The action in this episode was really great and choreographed nicely, even though it lacked lots of blood. But it was still a great action scene with Moon Knight.

They're also doing a great job showing us bits of histories about Egypt and its mythology AND real history. The production design was really great and the tomb looked amazing.

I thought the way they tried to find Ammit at the end was a little overkill lmao, they could've followed Harrow or something, but that's just me.

Overall, it's a great episode that not only the plot thickens, but we also get a glimpse into Egypt's history and lore, we get scene with Marc saying he needs help which I thought was nice and we're definitely gonna see them explore that aspect more in the future episodes, and we get great action scenes.

Also the ending scenes and what happens there makes you wonder what's gonna happen to them and how they're gonna do stuff from now on since the you-know-what happened.

Another very enjoyable episode.

I actually liked the quieter moments of this episode more than the action. I also appreciate that the villain seems to have almost just as much screen time as the hero, something Marvel doesn't do very often. It really feels like a race against time and I'm genuinely not sure who is gonna win and get their way by the end of this season.

Oscar Isaac is excellent in this role. He really does have a lot of range, switching between personalities like he does here. I also love F. Murray Abraham as Khonshu. His voice is perfect.

I do hope from here on out we get to see more Moon Knight though. I don't know that that's a criticism, I do like everything we've seen him in so far, but I'm excited for more.

This episode had more of a plot but also more action. I feel like this episode is maybe better then the first two. Marc and Steven have more dialogue together and they start giving each other more respect.