'Moon Knight' Episode 1 - The Goldfish Problem | Analysis & Review
“Moon Knight” streaming on Disney+ starring Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hunt, and CinemaBlend’s resident expert Law Sharma is here to break down everything we saw in episode 1, “The Goldfish Problem.” Watch as he dives into who this show is really about, departures and references to the Marvel comics you might have missed, and so much more!
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00:00 Men will literally become the avatar for the Egyptian god of vengeance instead of going
00:04 to therapy.
00:05 That's the definition of a red flag, isn't it?
00:08 We're breaking down episode one of Moon Knight.
00:10 Hey guys, I'm Laz Sharma, senior content producer at CinemaBlend and Moon Knight expert.
00:23 Disney+ just premiered episode one of Moon Knight and today we're breaking it down.
00:28 In there, something wicked.
00:30 Check it out.
00:33 What's a TV show without a good protagonist?
00:37 Well buckle up because this show actually has a couple of options for us to follow.
00:41 Now we're first introduced to Stephen Grant.
00:43 He's a timid museum worker, he's English, he also has a crazy sleeping disorder, but
00:49 more importantly, Stephen's expertise in Egyptology will definitely come into play
00:53 later so it's going to be important that he knows his stuff.
00:56 They believed you needed your heart to be judged in the underworld and only the worthiest
01:00 would be allowed to pass through the field of reeds.
01:03 So basically he's a lonely nerd who's found solace in his hobbies.
01:07 Can't relate.
01:08 Nah, you're right.
01:09 I mean I guess there are stranger things that people do.
01:12 What's important about Stephen is he's our eyes of the series because he's learning about
01:17 the mystery that surrounds him along with us in the audience.
01:20 But with all these jarring edits and cuts and the people around him telling him that
01:24 he's crazy, we can't trust that Stephen is necessarily the most reliable narrator
01:29 because it all feels real to him.
01:31 When we start seeing him in different scenarios in different locations, you start to confuse
01:36 yourself a bit and think yeah maybe this is just a dream sequence or a flashback.
01:41 What am I doing?
01:42 What am I doing?
01:43 I don't even have my license.
01:45 That is until we get introduced to Mark Spector.
01:47 Stephen, you need to stop.
01:51 Who said that?
01:53 Now if you're a fan of the Moon Knight comics, you might recognize the main protagonist of
01:57 the series to be Mark Spector, which we get a little glimpse of by the end of the episode
02:02 here.
02:03 Now he seems to be haunting Stephen in a way.
02:05 You hear his voice, you see him through really interesting reflection shots, but we don't
02:10 necessarily get a full intro to who this is.
02:14 Inside of this episode, we know that Mark is not English.
02:18 He seems to be a much more serious, no-nonsense kind of guy and he really, really wants to
02:23 control the body that both he and Stephen share.
02:26 You're not gonna die.
02:30 Let me save us.
02:32 But it needs to be said that this is not an origin story for Mark becoming Moon Knight.
02:37 This is an origin story for Stephen Grant in the world of Moon Knight.
02:41 Me?
02:42 Hiya.
02:43 He's discovering these different sides to him and these powers for the first time alongside
02:47 us.
02:48 If he was the protagonist of the show, it would look very different and I for one am
02:52 glad that we're following Stephen's eyes throughout this process.
02:57 Something that we have to talk about though is how good Oscar Isaac is in this role.
03:01 His transformation between Stephen and Mark is so distinct.
03:05 He's a little taller and more stern and really, really intimidating looking as Mark, but as
03:10 Stephen he's kind of sweet and aloof and you're rooting for him and he's genuinely funny.
03:16 I love that film.
03:23 Oscar Isaac is phenomenal in this role, but I think what's gonna keep people coming back
03:27 week to week is gonna be seeing how these different characters eventually come together
03:32 to form the hero Moon Knight.
03:35 Now of course this is an adaptation of a comic series, so we're gonna have to pick apart
03:39 what's different from the source material.
03:42 In the comics we know Moon Knight consists of multiple personalities, specifically Mark
03:46 Spector, mercenary in charge.
03:49 He is our main protagonist, but inside of his head because of his DID, we also have
03:54 Jake Lockley, a cab driver.
03:56 We have Stephen Grant, a playboy millionaire.
03:59 These are both characters that we don't necessarily see in this series.
04:03 Now Stephen Grant in our series is aloof.
04:06 He doesn't seem to have a lot of money and he's definitely no Bruce Wayne.
04:10 That's actually crushing to hear.
04:11 And Jake Lockley has yet to appear in the first episode and remains to be seen if he
04:15 will show up in the show at all.
04:18 Now in the comics it's also important to note that Moon Knight is his own separate entity
04:23 inside of Mark's head.
04:25 Now we don't know how that will be portrayed in the series so far because we only get that
04:29 quick shot of Moon Knight at the end of the episode, but we're hoping that we get different
04:33 personalities coming through through Oscar Isaac's performance in the rest of the series.
04:39 We've already talked about how Stephen being the dominant personality here is much different
04:44 from the comics, but how much more is going to change?
04:47 That remains to be seen since we're only on episode 1, but I can say it looks and feels
04:52 a lot like a Moon Knight comic would.
04:55 Now despite that, there are a couple other departures worth noting.
04:59 Like who is Layla?
05:00 In the comics Mark has a long time love interest named Marlene, but Marlene remains to be seen
05:06 in this series so far, so I have to assume that Layla might be a replacement for that.
05:11 We'll have to see.
05:14 Another interesting departure for the comics is our villain, Arthur Harrow.
05:18 Now in the comics he was a Nobel Prize winning scientist for his work in pain theory, but
05:24 he doesn't look like that in this series.
05:26 He's a cult leader.
05:27 Let's get into that.
05:32 Now not much is known about Arthur Harrow in this universe other than the fact that
05:36 he likes walking around with glass in his sandals, he has a scale tattoo that's magic,
05:41 and he serves the Egyptian goddess Amit.
05:47 What's interesting about these scales is that he uses them to judge people and it seems
05:50 like he mummifies them or sucks their life source out which makes him a pretty formidable
05:56 foe.
05:57 So how is that going to play into how he interacts with Oscar Isaac's Mark Spector later down
06:01 the road?
06:02 Well, it seems like he knows him.
06:04 He recognizes his face but we don't necessarily know what their relationship is.
06:08 What we do know is that Arthur is looking for a scarab, he's trying to find Amit and
06:12 serve her, whatever that means.
06:15 And also what's up with the glass and the sandals?
06:17 I need to know.
06:18 We've never really seen a villain like him before in the MCU, so considering that he's
06:23 being played by Ethan Hawke, I think we have a lot more to expect from Arthur Harrow.
06:30 Now obviously after episode 1 we're all going to have some lingering questions, but here
06:34 are some of mine.
06:35 Can we trust Khonshu?
06:36 He's an Egyptian deity that we've never seen before in the MCU.
06:40 I'm really curious to see how he uses Mark and Steven.
06:45 We'll have to see how that relationship shakes out.
06:47 I'm also curious about Layla.
06:49 How is she going to play into the story?
06:51 How much is she going to inform Steven on her relationship with Mark since she seems
06:56 to know him pretty well?
06:58 And we keep referencing Amit, another goddess in the Egyptian Enyad.
07:02 I wonder what is exactly her objective here, using Arthur for her mission, and how much
07:08 does it differ from Khonshu's?
07:10 That's definitely a question we're going to want to keep up to date on.
07:18 Now we've heard Grant Curtis the producer speak out on this, and everyone's been speculating,
07:24 but how does this connect to the MCU?
07:27 So far, it doesn't really.
07:29 We know it's a Disney+ show, we know that it's created by Marvel Studios, but there's
07:33 no references to other characters.
07:36 This stands alone on its own.
07:38 This is Mark Spector and Steven Grant's story, and I for one am so glad that we have something
07:44 that a new fan could watch for the first time and fall in love with the MCU in a very different
07:49 way.
07:50 The MCU is getting weird, guys.
07:52 It's going to get dark.
07:53 There's going to be spirits and demons.
07:56 It's gonna get crazy, and I'm here for it.
07:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]