Welcome back to Geek’d Out’s coverage of Moon Knight! If you missed previous entries, you can check out our review of “The Goldfish Problem” and “Summon the Suit” by clicking each episode title. All caught up? Let’s hop into episode three: “The Friendly Type.”
“Your torment forced me.”
Layla is on her way back to Cairo after 10 years of absence. Her homecoming is not exactly a welcome prospect, though; she has a reputation in the black market as someone who steals back the stolen merchandise, and memories of her deceased father are hard to shake. Meanwhile, Arthur Harrow is one (glassy sharded) step from completing his goal of unearthing Ammit. Marc Spector races desperately to stop him but comes up short every time.
Finally, Khonshu and Marc decide the best course forward is to accuse Harrow of seeking to unleash Ammit to the other gods of the Ennead (through their avatars). However, that plan backfires when Harrow convinces the Ennead that he is simply visiting the desert, but Khonshu is acting crazy and has chosen an insane and unwell avatar to do his bidding. In a last-ditch effort, Marc and Layla visit a black market collector to find an ancient star guide that will show them the location of Ammit’s tomb.
Observations
Let me first admit that the first time I watched this episode, it didn’t quite strike me with the same grounded pacing and tone as the last two. I felt especially caught off guard when Marc chases after agents of Harrow to try to locate him; it felt like we had something missing in the episode. But I’m here to confess that I was slightly distracted the first time. My second watch-through told me my initial impression of a scattered episode was wrong. I hope Ammit doesn’t judge me too harshly.
Anyway, this episode is different than the last two in that it focuses more on the plot moving forward and giving us a heavy dose of (ofttimes violent) action. But there were still little bits of exposition and character building that I want to highlight. First, Layla talks about her archeologist father–a deceased archeologist father–and Marc is uncomfortable any time the topic comes up. At one point, Harrow insinuates Marc knows what really happened. In the previous episode, we hear Marc might have been responsible for the murder of an archeologist. I think we can put two and two together. But seeing how this secret torments Marc to the detriment of his marriage is heartbreaking. Additionally, in a quiet moment between Marc and Layla, he admits that he had his DID under control until “recently.” Could that event with her father have triggered overbearing trauma and mental instability? It’s a heavy load to carry by oneself.
Second, this episode really highlights the complexity of Khonshu. Khonshu is a straight up jerk. Arthur Harrow admits he enjoyed acting violently on Khonshu’s behalf but says Khonshu’s torment broke him. In the trial scene, the other gods of the Ennead pile on Khonshu as meddling with the humans, using garish tactics, and being overall unreliable. And Khonshu displays those tactics by causing a solar eclipse and rewinding the night sky. But there are little moments of sympathy I had for the “pigeon” god: When Steven and Layla are trying to figure out how to use the star chart, F. Murray Abraham lays on a pitiable tone when he says, “I remember that night. I remember every night.” There’s something tortured in that statement, and I loved it.
If it hasn’t been said already, Oscar Isaac gave his absolute all to this role. The trial scene where he seesaws between speaking as Khonshu and deflating back to Marc was visceral (and did he utter another f-bomb??). There’s also a moment where we see him change from Marc to Steven, and the facial expression shifting from hardened to soft told me exactly who had the body.
Finally, a few other tidbits. We get other hints that Jake Lockely might be lurking in the depths when neither Steven nor Marc know who violently killed Harrow’s agents. We get a Madripoor name drop. Speaking of name drops, we also hear Khonshu bring up the Overvoid, another piece from Jeff Lemire’s run on Moon Knight. The black market collector Anton Mogart (played by Gaspard Ulliel, RIP) is the alias of a classic Moon Knight foe Midnight Man. Also, in that beautiful climatic scene when Steven and Khonshu are rewinding the sky, Layla shouts out the coordinates of Ammit’s tomb, which you can see below if any of you feel like digging her up and unleashing judgment on Earth.
That’s it for this week. We’ll see what secrets will be excavated next week! Also, how about that crescent moon cape???
Credits
- Starring: Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, F. Murray Abraham, May Calamawy, Gaspard Ulliel
- Directors: Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
- Writer: Jeremy Slater
- Characters: Doug Moench, Don Perlin
- Producers: Kevin Feige, Grant Curtis, Victoria Alonso, Mohamed Diab, Oscar Isaac
Credits (cont)
- Score: Hesham Nazih
- Cinematography: Gregory Middleton
- Studio: Marvel Studios
- Streaming: Disney+
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