While you couldn’t exactly describe the majority of MCU concepts as normal, teenagers with spider powers and sentient raccoons seem positively banal compared to the weapons grade weirdness that Marvel is bringing with Moon Knight. In the first two episodes alone, we’ve been introduced to Steven Grant who one day discovers that not only does he have a whole other personality by the name of Marc Spector, but Marc has been successfully keeping his existence a secret as he’d been going about his business. But what is his business? I hear you cry – well, that’s slightly less simple as Marc is the avatar of an Egyptian moon god named Khonshu and acts as his fist of vengence thanks to the nifty superpowers bestowed upon him by a kickass suit that looks like Batman’s been mummified.
The opening episodes took great pains to bring the strange, but with episode three, more conventional superhero shenanigans are starting to creep into the story – can the show still keep that devastatingly original edge and continue to shoot for the moon?
Marc Spector is back in control of his body and back on the trail of Arthur Harrow, who is well on his way toward obtaining world peace at a hellish cost. Now in possesion of the scarab that will lead him to Ammit’s tomb, the cult leader plans to release the Egyptian crocodile God and become her avatar as she scours the world of anyone even destined to commit a bad deed. Marc – himself an avatar of socially blunt vengence god, Khonshu – gave travelled to Egypt with his estranged wife Layla in tow in order to try and locate the location of the tomb themselves and head Harrow off at the pass.
Things aren’t quite that simple however and Marc’s dissociative identity disorder seems to be dredging up more worrying aspects than the pained face of Steven Grant, his other identity, pleading with him from various reflections to end the violence he’s inflicting on various thugs withholding info. For a start, when Marc blacks out and snaps back, the bloody chaos left in his wake doesn’t seem to be the doing of him or Steven, but Khonshu’s ever more erratic behaviour is pissing off the rest of the gods and they give him a warning: pump the vengence brakes or be imprisioned.
A lead finally presents itself thanks to Layla’s less that savory contact in the form of art thief, Anton Mogart who owns a certain sarcophagus that might prove to be a sizable clue, however when Harrow turns up, he hints that Marc might have had something to do with the death of Layla’s father.
When the dust dies down from the skirmish, Layla and Marc realise that they’ll need Steven’s knowledge of Egyptian history to aid in their quest, but as Khonshu finally starts to see Grant’s worth as they move the very stars in the sky to discover the location of Ammit’s tomb, they do so knowing that this act will force the rest of the gods to remove the bird-headed deity off the board completely.
While a lot happens in this episode, there are times where it feels that Moon Knight has accidently wandered it’s way into some sort of pseudo bottle episode that simultaneously feels largely superfluous, yet it still has large ramifications on the greater plot. First we give Marc the space to do his thing utterly unencumbered by the endearing prat falling of Steven, however, while it gives the show a temporary change of tone and energy (not to mention having Cairo now be the more fitting backdrop to the action), watching Spector chase thugs around the streets and roof only succeeds at overwhelmingly feeling like ever other spy film that’s come out over the past ten years. However, while the episode drops some enticing breadcrumbs (does Marc/Steven have a third, more dangerous identity? Is Marc responsible for the death of Layla’s father?), it can’t follow any of them up simply because we shift from spy stuff to god stuff as Spector is dragged into a confab with the avatars of the other Gods in order for Khonshu to receive warnings from his peers. It’s an interesting premise as we not only get a hint at the ongoing relationships the gods have with each other, but we seen that the avatars have their own things going on too. During the trial, we essentially see Harrow gaslight his way through his interrogation while exposing Khonshu for the demanding abuser he actually is.
But wait, we’ve no time to tarry, because we then lurch from the fantasy realm to a more familiar, superhero scenario that sees the introduction of Anton Morgat, who in the comics eventually becomes Midnight Man. However, while it’s cool to see Steven be of use, to witness the suit come out again (both of them, as Steven can now take control while both he and Marc are Moon Knight) and we get a killer shot of Moon Knight’s cape making that awesome crescent shape as he flies through the air, the whole introduction of Gaspard Ulliel’s character is rendered tragically inert after the Hannibal Rising actor was since killed in a skiing accident. But even then we have no time pause as we then head into the final stretch when Steven takes up the Moon Knight mantle to aid Khonshu with something that Marc cannot and it’s here that the episode finally makes its point.
After having Marc punch, kick, stab and Scream his way through most of the adventure, The Friendlier Type ultimately hints that all that mercenary shit will only get him so far and it’s Steven’s knowledge and temperance that actually gets the job done. OK, it takes him a few tries (calling for calm in Anton’s compound predicably causes more harm than good), but while hurling razor sharp, random bullshit at his enemies is more Spector’s game, it’s made fairly apparent that Steven is vital to the mission. Layla (fast becoming Moon Knight’s best stealth character) spots it almost instantly and even Khonshu, a creature of endless god-worthy putdowns such as “worm” or “parasite”, seems to warm to Steven during the genuinely impressive climax, where they both use their powers to essentially rewind the night sky to find the exact position the stars were in thousands of years ago in order to find the location they need.
It comes at a cost, or course and it means that after Khonshu gets imprisoned for his sky flipping bullshit, Marc and Steven have to now go the rest of the journey without the benefit of transforming into white, supernatural Batman. While the episode is something of a blizzard with all the stuff that’s crammed within, director Mohamed Diad proves that he’s not quite as adept at the bizarre tonal shifts as the team of Benson and Moorehead was before him. But even though he can’t quite juggle between them with the style and grace the previous episodes enjoyed, once the intent to show Steven can be of use is finally fully deployed, The Friendly Type starts to make a lot more sense even if the majority of its contents don’t really go anywhere.
The moon continues to shine, but it better sharpen it’s beam if it wants to avoid an eclipse…
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