Moon Knight episode 1 is now available to stream on Disney+ and it brings horror to the MCU. Here’s our Moon Knight episode 1 recap and review.
After 3 months with no Marvel Cinematic Universe content, the MCU’s newest show, Moon Knight is finally out on Disney+ and it is easily the best series premiere of all the Marvel shows. Here we will be breaking down the entire episode so warning, MASSIVE SPOILERS for Moon Knight episode 1.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR MOON KNIGHT EPISODE 1
We start off the show with seeing the main protagonist, Arthur Harrow (played by Ethan Hawke). He is seen in the most unsettling way possible. He crushes a glass and puts it in his shoes, walking around what is revealed to be the inside of a pyramid. This not only gives us our first look at the villain but also set a very menacing tone for him, especially thanks to the music playing over the scene.
The show then cuts to the Marvel logo before we get a glimpse at Steven Grant (played by Oscar Issac) who is the main character of Moon Knight, and our hero. His introduction was done really well as everything was chaotic, representing what was really going on in his mind. We see more of Steven’s daily life and it should be appreciated that this show doesn’t feel connected to the MCU.
It does its own thing, and doesn’t need cameos from characters that are already established. It lets Moon Knight be about Steven, and what he is dealing with. As we go through his daily life we aren’t constantly bombarded with Easter eggs and huge references to comic characters, but instead we actually get to learn about his character, seeing the character the show wants us to connect with.
Steven is seen trying to stay awake, which we learn is because when he falls asleep he has ‘nightmares’. He also states that his body likes to get up and walk around while he is slumbering, so he has a leg cuff to keep himself in place. However, as we quickly learn, this doesn’t work. Steven wakes up jarringly, and we see he has been transported into a hilly area where 2 guys with machine guns start to chase him. He runs into a crowd of people and this is where we get to see Arthur again. He seems to have a role as a ‘judger’ who decides people’s fates depending on how they have acted in their life.
This leads us to the first big action sequence where Khonshu, the voice in Steven’s head that interconnects all of the personalities, doesn’t let Steven give up the scarab. The scarab looks to be some sort of gem that Arthur needs to get his hands on. This all leads to us seeing, probably the most blood in all of the MCU combined, when through a blink of the eye, Steven took down 4 goons. Since it happened so fast and through the entire episode we have been in Steven’s POV, it was probably Marc taking over his body. This happens 2 more times within the chase sequence and in one of them we see that he shot someone in the head.
Related: Moon Knight Officially Brings Horror To The MCU
Then, Steven wakes up. This to me shows that these ‘nightmares’ he was having were just his time as Marc in his ‘sleep’. After he wakes up he goes about his day but starts to realize small stuff has changed, and in this he realized 2 whole days passed since he last woke up. After this, we see the elevator scene that was teased heavily in the trailers. Khonshu starts to haunt Steven, this scene feels straight out of a horror movie. If this is how they are doing Moon Knight episode 1, we are so excited for the future of Khonshu and how they will utilize him as the series goes on.
After Steven finally gets to work, Arthur finds him and tries to find his destiny as he was doing in the beginning of the episode. But instead he doesn’t give a yes or no answer, but says ‘There is chaos in you’. This is probably hinting towards the insanity going on within Steven with all of his personalities colliding. We get a bunch of exposition about Egyptian mythology and such but the episode doesn’t stop there.
Arthur sends some creature after Steven to get the scarab from him and after the creature chases him through the museum, Steven gets trapped in the bathroom with only seconds of time before the creature bursts in. This is where we get the first ever dialogue of Marc and Steven talking to one another. In the reflection we see Marc trying to convince Steven to let go of his body and let Marc take control so he can defeat this creature. Then we cut to an outside shot, seeing sinks thrown out of the room, and Moon Knight beating up and killing the creature.
The last 10 minutes of Moon Knight episode 1 hit all cylinders of emotion, action, and fear, making for a hype ending, giving us our first look at the Moon Knight costume, and this all got us way more hype for next week’s episode.
Rating: 4 out of 5
NEXT: 50+ Of The Best & Most Bonkers Marvel’s Moon Knight Quotes
About Moon Knight
The series follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.
“Moon Knight” stars Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy. Mohamed Diab and the team of Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead directed the episodes. Jeremy Slater is the head writer, and Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Mohamed Diab, Jeremy Slater and Oscar Isaac are the executive producers. Grant Curtis, Trevor Waterson and Rebecca Kirsch serve as co-executive producers.
Moon Knight streams exclusively on Disney+ starting March 30th.
