I’m skipping over almost all of the MCU shows, only picking those of particular interest to watch. This one doesn’t even have much of a connection to the MCU beyond the name. The real draw for me though was the involvement of Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke, and of course the fact that Moon Knight is one of the more obscure, unusual heroes in their lineup. Never during my childhood would I have imagined that someone would one day make an adaptation based on this character. In the event, this is a surprisingly serviceable television show. It has all of the usual faults of its production values not being quite top notch and the ending is just cheap, but overall I rather liked the series.

Steven Grant is avid Egyptologist but is only a gift shop employee at the National Gallery in London. He suffers from blackouts and even chains himself to his bed to prevent sleepwalking. He has a vivid dream of being chased by the leader of a cult Arthur Harrow in the Austrian Alps. Harrow wants a scarab in Grant’s possession that will lead him to the tomb of the Egyptian goddess Ammit. He is shocked to learn that two days have passed during one of his blackouts and a phone hidden in his flat puts him in contact with a woman named Layla who claims to be his wife. Of course this is all true as Steven shares his body with another personality Marc Spector. Marc is a mercenary and an avatar for the god Khonshu who wants to stop Ammit from being resurrected by Harrow. Using Khonshu’s power, Marc is able to summon a costume that heals his wounds and gives him superhuman strength. He has used this power to kill many evildoers under the direction of Khonshu.

Even in the comics, Moon Knight has always been a very inconsistent character. Sometimes he is depicted as actually being Khonshu himself, other times he is little more than a deluded serial killer. This version strikes a pretty good compromise, removing the elements that make him similar to Batman and emphasizing the multiple personalities existing in the same body. Oscar Isaac does an admirable job portraying the different personalities and I’m guessing this is why an actor of his stature would even be interested in this project. The resolution of the conflict between his personas still ends up being too happy but it works well enough. Ethan Hawke’s performance as Harrow is more disappointing and he seems to be basically phoning it in. I liked how Khonshu too is framed as a secondary antagonist as he is very bloodthirsty about executing those he thinks are evildoers. But they missed the opportunity to develop Harrow’s past better as a previous avatar of Khonshu and why he now serves Ammit instead. The character of Layla doesn’t add that much but it is pretty cool how she is recognized as a female superheroine of Arabic ethnicity.

The action scenes and cinematography are a mixed bag. The Moon Knight costume itself isn’t bad and the superpowered fight scenes are okay. Actually since Steven and Marc each get their own version of the costume, it’s surprisingly similar to the old Jim Carrey The Mask film and that’s kind of fun. It’s great that they let the giant versions of Ammit and Khonshu fight in the background as well like a metaphor to the fight going on between the mortals. It’s something that feels right out of the comics even if it’s a little silly. The mundane fights are totally dumb however with useless goons and ineffective firearms. I was also disappointed that they made so little use of the Egypt locale. Deserts and the inside of the pyramids are just stages. What I really wanted were street scenes of Cairo and while there is some of that, it’s far too little.

By now there have been several superhero shows dealing with the issues of mental illness and multiple personalities. This probably isn’t a very realistic take of dissociative identity disorder but it’s plausible enough and I appreciate that the cause has nothing to do with superpowers or the supernatural. Instead it is Khonshu who has identified this vulnerability in them and exploited it for his own purposes. It’s a real pity that he isn’t better held to account. All things considered, I found this to be a decent MCU show and I actually like that it’s completely standalone.