As the first episode of Moon Knight begins, we see someone crushing glass and pouring the broken pieces into their hoses. Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) puts the shoes on and begins walking outside. When Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) gets up, he has to unshackle his leg from the bedpost. He removes the piece of tape from his door. He feeds his goldfish, Gus, who has one fin. Steven calls his mother and leaves a message saying he still feels like he got hit by a bus when he wakes up. He makes it to the museum where he works and tells a little girl someone mistook the Great Pyramid of Giza for a rubbish dump. He admits there might not be anything in there so he begins telling her about the money nearby. He explains they kept their heart in because they needed it to be judged in the underworld.

Only the worthiest would be allowed to pass through the Field of Reeds. The little girl asks him if it sucked for him to get rejected from the Field of Reeds, but he isn’t dead. Donna (Lucy Thackeray) interrupts because she needs help carrying some boxes. She tells him he is bloody useless unless he is doing what he is paid to do which is sell stuff to children. Once Donna leaves, Dylan (Saffron Hocking) approaches to see how the sugar trade is going. She checks to make sure they’re still on for seven tomorrow. He asks whether she is asking him out, but she just laughs and says she’ll see him there. Donna comes back over to ask what a vegan is going to eat in a steakhouse.

Once Steven says salad or bread, Donna makes it clear she doesn’t think he is a good catch. While they work, Donna complains about him being late again. He is going to be assigned to inventory as a result. He tells her about the banners and posters of the Ennead or the super group of Egyptian Gods. He insists they’ve made a marketing blunder because they only have seven gods on the poster when the Ennead has nine. She doesn’t care though. On his way out, Steven says good night to the guard JB (Alexander Cobb) who calls him Scotty. Steven corrects him and continues on his way. Later, Steven talks to a statue while telling it his body wants to get up and walk around. A couple interrupts to get a picture taken with the gold man as Steven tells him about his date.

He admits he needs to do something about the restraint in case she comes over. When he gets home, he places more sand around his bed and another piece of tape on the door. When he lays down, he does his best to stay awake. He tries puzzles and books. This continues until he finds himself facedown on the grass with someone telling him to go back to sleep. He is told he isn’t supposed to be there and he should surrender his body to Marc. He finds a gold scarab in his pocket before a big figure shows up behind him. He turns around and sees a man in a house. He waves until another man joins him and they begin shooting at him. He runs into the village as the two men continue chasing him. Steven runs until he finds himself in a village with a bunch of other people.

Arthur approaches and tells everyone it is almost like heaven. It is like a darkness that hides in their hearts. Arthur claims they’re here to make the Earth as much like heaven as possible. A man walks up to Arthur before he is told he is brave for offering his soul for judgment. As Arthur does some type of ritual, he judges the man in Ammit’s name with but a fraction of her power. Arthur’s scales of justice tattoo moves around before he declares the guy has the face of a good man. Once the guys with guns arrive, a woman allows the scales to judge her. The scales turn red, but the woman insists she has been good her entire life. Although Harrow believes her, the scales do not lie and may see something in the future.

Ammit has decided so she will not get to see the world they make together. The woman’s body is carried away. One of the gunmen tells Arthur that there was a problem with the exchange. They got ambushed and two of their men were killed. Arthur asks whether he is still here. He calls to the crowd as everyone begins getting on the ground, but Steven is too late. Arthur tells him he knows him and calls him a mercenary, but Steven denies it. Arthur walks toward him and asks whether he will return the scarab. Steven tries to return the scarab.

A voice tells him he won’t give Arthur anything as his fingers close and refuse to hand over the item. He pries his fingers open and switches the scarab to his other hand. However, his hand is pulled back when Arthur tries to take the scarab. Several men grab Steven in hopes of getting the scarab before a man comes out of the building nearby and takes it. Steven has a blackout. When he returns, he finds bodies lying all around him and the scarab is back in his hand. The locals begin chasing him to get the scarab so he jumps into a van and speeds away from the village. They follow him in other vehicles. One man jumps into the back of the van and tries to attack Steven while a gunman pulls up next to him. He experiences another blackout and the man is dead in the back by the time he returns.

The voice tries to wake up Marc while warning he’ll kill them both if he loses the scarab. After a close call, he finds himself sandwiched between two cars carrying hostile men. He comes back and realizes he is driving backward. He throws the gun so the voice tells him to leave it to them. The van dies. A vehicle stops in front of him before two men get out and point their guns at Steven. They’re killed when logs drop down and roll over them. Finally, Steven wakes up and finds himself still chained to the bed. He removes the tape from his door before talking to his goldfish Gus. Once he finds out that the fish has two fins now, he takes it back to the store to find out what is going on. She insists they all have two fins just as she told him yesterday although he doesn’t remember being there yesterday.

He checks the clock in the store and rushes out because he is going to be late for his date. Steven rushes home to change before going to the restaurant to meet Dylan. When she doesn’t show up, he calls her and learns that she ate steak alone two days ago. She tells him to lose her number after revealing it is Sunday. The waiter confirms it is Sunday. He orders a steak anyway. When Steven leaves, he calls his mother and lies to her about the date. Once he gets home, he eats chocolate and feeds his fish that he still doesn’t believe is Gus. He drops the chocolates leading him to find strange scratch marks on the floor. He pulls the table back over and climbs on top of it to check a loose piece of wood above him.

He pulls a key and cellphone from the home behind the wood. When he checks the phone, he finds a bunch of missed calls from Layla and one from someone named Duchamp. Layla (May Calamawy) calls and is immediately surprised that he is alive. Steven asks who she thinks he is. Layla asks Marc what is wrong with him. He tries to find out why she called him Marc, but the call ends and she won’t answer. Someone calls his name before telling him he needs to stop because he is going to get himself into trouble. Steven checks the bathroom and finds nothing. Then, the lights begin flickering. He hears someone telling him to stop looking. He begins freaking out as he runs out of the room.

He gets on the elevator, but it stops before he can reach the ground floor. He sees a big monster coming toward him as he cowers in the elevator. He is surprised when the monster disappears and an older woman gets onto the elevator with him. He claims he lost his contact lens before the elevator stops on the fifth floor. Steven wonders what the heck is going on. He turns around and sees the monster again. Then, he finds himself on a bus. When he sees the creature on the street, he gets off the bus. He stops Arthur on the bus meaning he is real after all. Steven rushes into the museum and asks JB to prevent anyone from coming in since they’re following him. JB doesn’t want to help and Donna pressures Steven to help her carry items downstairs.

Once Steven sees a man who was on the bus, he tells Donna to give him a minute and begins following the man in question. Arthur surprises him as he admits he thought Steven Grant was an alias. Steven tries to get another security guard, Ronnie, to help him. Ronnie approaches, shows Steven his tattoo, and says praise Ammit. Steven promises he doesn’t have the beetle. Arthur admits the scarab belongs to Ammit and not him. Steven knows Ammit is an Egyptian deity and the world’s first boogeyman, but Arthur argues she was only a boogeyman for evildoers. She got tired of waiting for sinners to commit their crimes before punishing them. The justice of Ammit surveys their whole lives including the past, present, and future.

Steven tries to escape only to find himself surrounded by more of Arthur’s friends. Arthur suggests Ammit could’ve stopped Hitler, Nero, the Armenian genocide, and more, but she was betrayed by indolent follow gods and her own avatar. Steven asks whether he is going to kill him as the lights begin flickering. Arthur says the voice in his head is maddening, relentless, and never satisfied. Arthur insists he is trying to help him as he prepares to let the scales judge him. Steven is told there is chaos in him. When the door opens, Steven runs through and Arthur tells his people to let him go. Steven works through the night until the lights go off. As he prepares to leave, he hears a strange noise that sounds like a dog behind him.

He begins looking for the animal until he sees its silhouette. Over the intercom, someone tells him to give them the scarab to avoid being torn apart. He throws his backyard to distract the dog before trying to sneak away, but it ends up chasing him. He manages to make it to the bathroom where the voice tells him he can save them. Steven can’t fight him this time though. The Steven in the mirror asks him to relinquish control so he can take care of the monster. Steven relents as he begins changing before the monster breaks down the door and jumps on him. He transforms into Moon Knight and takes care of the threat.

 

Moon Knight Review

I’ll admit that I know little to nothing about Moon Knight so I can’t say whether the series is faithful to the source material. The first episode was difficult to follow, but that might have something to do with my lack of knowledge of the source material. I really didn’t understand everything that was going on. Steven was somewhat annoying from time to time.

The good news is that the episode improved a lot after Steven met Arthur for the first time and returned to his room. I suspect it’ll become more enjoyable when Steven finds out what is going on and becomes more confident and competent.

It is likely going to take another episode or two for this to really start going. Only time will tell whether Moon Knight transforms into a hit or a flop. The first episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Moon Knight can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support Reel Mockery by clicking this link.