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Viewed: Season 1

Moon Knight is yet another hit-and-miss Disney+ Marvel TV show, and it is brought down by the same flaws that have handicapped the other MCU shows made for the streamer. First and foremost, it concentrates on the least interesting aspects of the character and the story, with tonnes of narrative filler which leads nowhere and murders the pace. Take, for instance, the inclusion of the main character’s wife who is present for no reason other than to detract story focus and...become yet another strong female Marvel hero who’s a better hero than the namesake of the show. It is also really telling that the six-episode series contains less action than a typical Marvel movie despite being double the length. The whole concept in the first instance is that the split personality means we only see one perspective for the first few episodes, but that only denies us the chance to see some really cool, brutal fights - we don’t see the ceremonial armour very much at all throughout the series. It’s not that we need infinite action, but if the narrative itself is not overly interesting and the pacing is all over the place (the asylum episode is pure filler), there isn’t enough to compensate. I would be interested in seeing some kind of fan edit which compresses the series into a two-hour movie. On a more positive note, I liked the way that the show sometimes feels like the 1999 The Mummy, and the violence is a bit more brutal than what we usually see in Marvel movies (even though it’s nowhere near the brutality of the Netflix shows). Oscar Isaac is also a terrific pick for the lead role, and he manages to play Steven and Mark distinctively; the facial expressions tell you which he is at any given time, to say nothing of the accents. Overall, the show has its moments, but not enough of them.