So… what exactly did I watch?

You might ask yourself that very question as any given episode of Moon Knight wraps up, whether it is the first or the final one. For some perspective, take a mix of Deadpool, a mix of Venom, a heavy splash of the 1990’s The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

There’s a lot in there, a lot going on. The show takes some hits from some people as being “slow paced” and not enough action. I’d counter that by saying that it is part of the way they are telling the story, which is meant to be a bit of discovery and the audience learning things along the way.

For some valid criticisms: it’s a disjointed, confusing mess. It’s done that way on purpose, sort of, but there’s a hefty dose of “well, this will blow the audience’s mind.” It’s not a standard superhero narrative. I had to read into the Moon Knight character (thanks to the various wiki sites) to find out that Moon Knight is borderline anti-hero, for innumerable reasons.

Without giving too many details away, their whole discovery storytelling would sort of fall apart if we watched the show chronologically (not to mention that a good chunk of the storytelling takes place inside the head of a character).

As far as actors, Oscar Isaac does a fantastic job, especially given just how chaotic the plot and shoots must have been. May Calamawy, the damsel not so much in distress does a good enough job, though there were a couple points where I could tell that they wished they could cast Rachel Weiss from The Mummy (yes, the similarities were that strong). I don’t think the writers quite had the chops to pull off Evelyn from The Mummy, which is a bit of what they were going for. Ethan Hawke makes an acceptable villain, if a bit too preachy at times, which is pretty standard for a Marvel villain.

Is it the best show ever? Not hardly. The afore mentioned disjointedness can be irksome. There are a number of missed tie-ins with mythology, and there are sections that they just leave hanging (only to try and cram a lot of it into the final episode, if they address it at all). It is entertaining and amusing with enough twists and turns to keep you coming back for more. The humor is fun, the transitions are bizarre, and the whole show feels like Moon Knight and Deadpool need to team up for a buddy cop antihero movie.

All in all, if you already have a Disney Plus subscription, it’s worth a watch.