Moon Knight – Summon the Suit review – S1 E2 review

April 6, 2022April 6, 2022 Jeffrey Lyles 0 Comments Ethan Hawke, F. Murray Abraham, Marvel Cinematic Universe, May Calamawy, Moon Knight, Oscar Isaac

With only six episodes featuring a new character, pacing is more important on Moon Knight than any other Disney+ MCU series.

Think about it. We already knew Wanda & Vision, Sam & Bucky, Loki and Clint. Steven Grant/Marc Spector is a blank slate still without three or four movies worth of familiarity. This is the challenge for Moon Knight as it’s serving as the first origin MCU series on Disney+ in a six-episode format.

Yes, that’s longer than a standalone movie but it also allows for a less than exciting rollout of information and progression. That’s what slows Moon Knight’s second episode down.

The first episode didn’t exactly have a rapid-fire pace either, but that’s understandable in the premiere. Still, this episode felt stuck doubling down on the shock of the reveal of Moon Knight and slowly moving the story along.

Things get even weirder for Steven. He’s not quite sure what happened with the ghost dog last night and security footage only shows him leading to his prompt firing. Something happened to Steven that keeps getting teased — likely that his mother is actually dead and he’s still acting like she’s still alive — but it’s still a mystery.

Of course, that would just be a replay of Baron Zemo’s actions during Captain America: Civil War so maybe that’s unlikely.

Ideally, Steven would be processing the news he shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector a little faster. No knock on Oscar Isaac’s masterful take on dual personalities, but Steven was a little frustrating here. Is caring for his goldfish really this interesting?

That’s probably because Steven is more like the average Moon Knight viewer leading a pedestrian, uneventful life and most of us would want to lead the high-end, exciting life of Marc.

Steven does some investigation and tracks down Marc’s storage bin/safe house complete with cash and a gun. And he meets Marc’s wife, Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy). Layla knows all about Marc’s mercenary life although Steven is a surprise. As a bonus, she knows more about the compass in Steven’s possession.

Calamawy is fine in the role, but the woman partner role has also gotten a tad stale. Black Panther mixed that dynamic up by largely surrounding T’Challa with women warriors who felt more formidable than sidekicks. Captain Marvel flipped it by having Nick Fury as the partner/sidekick. Layla’s basic purpose seems to be to get Steven up to speed while Marc pleads for control of the body to deal with Arthur and his men.

There’s some nice subtle moon imagery throughout this episode and the CGI for Khonshu looks terrific.

The episode’s biggest development was Steven triggering his own version of a super suit like Marc’s fully geared up Moon Knight look. It’s Mr. Knight or Moon Knight in a suit for folks. That’s a switch from the comics as it’s another identity entirely among Moon Knight’s various personalities.

As Steven’s superhero alias, Mr. Knight is a bit sillier and far less capable of a fighter though Steven is a quick study. Not quick enough though as Arthur manages to snag the compass and leaving the newly in control Marc highly frustrated.

Khonshu isn’t helping much either not so slyly hinting that Layla would be his choice to take over Moon Knight if Marc fails. With the initial plan in flames, it’s time for the next course of action. Marc awakens after what looked like a rough night and looks out of his window. He’s back in Egypt.

That’s certainly a location we haven’t seen on the MCU tour book. This is an exciting development and taking Steven out of control of his body and focusing more on the exciting Marc should make for a thrilling third episode. It’s just too bad this episode had to come off more like a bridge to a more engaging development.