Verilu Infante/The Rider Graphic
After several hit Disney+ series, such as “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki” and “Hawkeye,” fans got a glimpse of a darker side of the Marvel Universe with the release of “Moon Knight,” episode one.
Titled “The Goldfish Problem,” the exciting and frightening twists and turns in the episode make it clear to viewers that protagonist Steven Grant has much more than a goldfish to worry about in the season to come.
That being said, a spoiler warning is advised for those who have yet to view the episode.
The opening sequence begins with the painful sight of a man, later revealed to be Ethan Hawke’s character Arthur Harrow, crushing a glass cup he has just drank water from and placing the shattered pieces in his shoes, only to then walk away in them to the sound of mellow music and clinking glass. I found this to be a very uncomfortable sight but it helps set the tone for the show and how it may differ from previous Marvel series.
After the opening credits, the episode shifts to the perspective of Steven, played by Oscar Isaac, who frequently checks in on his mother via phone call and his pet, a one-finned goldfish, Gus.
We see his life as an Egyptian museum gift shop employee who is a loner not respected by his manager or the museum security guard, and has an immense love for Egyptian history.
Steven can’t remember most of his days and actions, including asking one of his coworkers out on a date.
At night, Steven reads about Egyptian gods, attempts to solve a Rubix cube, restrains one of his ankles to his bed, tapes and locks his apartment door, and places sand around his bed while listening to a podcast to stay awake.
There isn’t much indication of why he does each specific step, except he can’t seem to remember what he does during the night and wonders why he wakes up feeling like he “got hit by a bus.” This upset me a bit since Marvel is known for including as many details and/or easter eggs as possible, but I’m hopeful this may be directly addressed later.
Eerie music plays as the scene unfolds and cuts to Steven laying on grass, waking up with what seems to be a broken jaw and once again wondering what’s happened and what he’s done. I cringed as I watched what looked like Steven readjusting his jaw back in place and became nervous for what was going to happen next. The music composed by Hesham Nazih helped create a suspenseful atmosphere and continues to do so the rest of the episode.
The setting is full of color but the music from prior gets sharper and louder and a male voice begins to tell Steven to go back to sleep and “surrender the body to Marc.”
I know who this voice may belong to and jumped off my couch in both excitement and fear as soon as I heard it. Although it may come off as confusing to those unfamiliar with the characters’ comic arc, the scene itself is both scary and suspenseful in one of the greatest ways possible.
In the sequences to follow, Steven is being hunted down by men with guns for reasons unknown, and has his first interaction with Harrow in a nearby town after witnessing him drain a woman’s life with supernatural abilities.
After being seen as an outsider, Arthur states he knows Steven as a mercenary and asks him to return a scarab. Another scene where information is missing but I am confident will be resolved later. Steven agrees to do so, but is unable
to physically, no matter how hard he tries after the voice from earlier aggressively states, “You will give him nothing.”
As Steven is being restrained by the men who were hunting him down earlier, the scene flickers then he wakes up to the men around him dead. When he looks around and places his hands up in defense he notices blood on the scarab indicating he murdered the men attempting to take him. This was the first time I dramatically gasped out loud that wasn’t in a joking manner.
A chase scene follows and Steven wakes up several times once again to the individuals chasing him dead and the voice speaking to him while also attempting to wake up Marc.
The chase ends with Steven waking up in his room as he left it and believing it was all a really bad dream, only to notice Gus now has two fins. The fish is not Gus and the sense of mystery only makes the following events worth watching even more.
He later finds out that he is two whole days late for his date and when returning to his apartment finds a flip phone with dozens of missed calls from a stranger by the name of Layla who questions his accent and asks, “What’s wrong with you Marc!?”
When Layla hangs up, he hears a new voice telling him that he’s going to get himself in trouble and hallucinates a tall monster with a skeletal bird-like head following him in the building and to work.
Although I don’t think this is the best CGI to come out of Marvel Studios’, this monster, who I am also familiar with, thanks to the comics, is what I like to call nightmare fuel.
Arthur follows him to work only to realize Steven is actually a gift shop worker and it is revealed that the museum employees are actually working for Arthur. He once again tells Steven to return the scarab and informs him, “There’s chaos in you.”
Steven runs away safely and Arthur allows him to continue his work freely, only to later send an enormous dog-like creature to chase him down and kill him. I had never feared a dog before in my entire life until I witnessed this sequence of events.
After locking himself in the bathroom in an attempt to avoid death, he hears the same voice from his apartment calling to him, only to reveal that his own reflection is speaking to him. The reflection refers to him as Steven and says, “I can save us. But, I can’t have you stopping me this time.” This is where the fun begins.
As Steven panics and tries to reassure himself that none of this is real and is convinced he is going to die, his reflection asks him to give him control and reassures him he’s not going to die.
Steven calms down and seems to be giving control of his body as the monster bursts through the door and attacks him.
An off-screen fight scene takes place, which a small part of me wished had been on screen, and a figure in all white ultimately kills the monster. The figure turns around and is revealed to be Moon Knight, in all his glory, right before the credits roll.
I was a bit bummed out that we had seen this portion of the reveal in the trailer, but I was still excited enough to love this ending to the episode.
Overall, the general tone is probably the darkest, most spine-tingling, nightmarish thing produced by Marvel Studios’ to date. Although we only get to see one side of the story so far, it’s intense and suspenseful enough to leave viewers wondering what comes next and not wanting to wait another (K)night for the next episode.
