Moonknight Eps. 4-5

So I was a few weeks behind on Moonknight so I thought I’d combine my recap and review for episodes 4 and 5. We see a whole hall of contained Gods which makes me wonder who decides which Gods can and can’t walk free and how that's determined. I feel like in a show that’s centered around gods using people as avatar’s we should have been given more background and insight into how the whole god thing works.

Steven and Layla are getting shot at and once again we see Layla save their asses again. I must take a break in this review to mention that I absolutely love how Layla is written. Never once has either of these boys saved her, she is always saving Steven and herself and she is so badass and brilliant, I love it. Building off that, the scene where they are driving and Steven tells her that after their situation is settled that Marc said he’d go away for good, the way Layla tells him that that’s not a decision they get to make without her knowing about it or being a part of the conversation was amazing.

Marc and Steven debating is one of my favorite things, Oscar Issac’s acting is amazing and they way that he played both personalities very distinctly with different mannerisms and everything is great, I know that may not sound super impressive but I’ve seen lots of actors try and play different characters and very few can do what Issac’s did here. Steven having a crush on Layla at the very least shows that he is a whole person that has consistent feelings of love for this one woman.

Steven being a little nerd boy is adorable.

I also appreciate that Layla is always saving herself and saving Steven, she is probably the most consistent part of this show and definitely my favorite element. I really hope there's a season 2 just so I can have more of her.

Harrow is of course here and trying to get inside Layla's head;

He tells her that her father was murdered my mercenaries, heavily implying once again that Marc is the one that killed her father.

We find out that Marc was there when Layla’s father was killed, Marc’s partner got greedy and killed or tried to kill everyone at the dig site they were at, Layla of course feels betrayed and like their relationship was built on a lie. The way the actress that plays Layla played this was beautiful, she has such an amazing range and I really look forward to seeing what they do with her character.

Harrow tries to persuade Marc to hand over Ammit, it of course doesn't work and when he shoots Marc we see that Layla still obviously cares for this man. The way she has to grieve and deal with the shock of seeing the man that she loves shot in front of her AND stay silent so she doesn’t get caught, that’s some badass compartmentalization right there.

Ending up in a mental facility seems appropriate, and it's a very interesting way to confront the multiple personalities but it’s also a weird tonal shift so we’ll see where this goes.

Episode 5

Okay…so I really hate any tv show that does a “it was all in your head” episode and even if it was just a piece of this episode it just doesn’t sit right especially in a show that deals with mental illness. Now the thing that it actually did accurately was tell us that Steven is a result of Marc’s childhood trauma which, according to my admittedly not deep research, a real cause of DID.

Okay so Steven and Marc are dead and fighting for their spot in the afterlife, look this episode feels very disjointed there doesn’t seem to be any consistency tonally in this show and for a self contained 6 episode show…that's a problem. It really feels like the first 3 episodes were 1 show and the next two were a different show and the finale was again something different. I understand the need for these flashbacks but they should have been delivered sooner, this close toward the end of the story is too late for it to really inform the character or the audience's attachment to the character.

Overall I think that maybe these episodes wouldn’t have felt so floundering if this was the tone for the entire show. However starting with a horror movie/thriller style and then zoning off into a more fantastical vibe really doesn’t work. However overall the show is still good and the finale should hopefully put some of my concerns to rest.