Moon Knight Episode 5 Review: A Painful And Turned Out To Be In Some Ways Unexpected
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy
Directors: Justin Benson, Mohamed Diab, Aaron Moorhead
Streaming Platform: Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Moon Knight Episode 5 Review: One step away from the final gong, Moon Knight churns out an episode in many ways unexpected, although not by its nature. Mind you, from the first moment we glimpsed the asylum it was understood that the next chapter in the story of Marc and Steven would be extremely focused on their psyche , otherwise it would not have made much sense to exploit in the current narrative context the brilliant intuition of the comic by Lemire: if the writers have chosen to wedge themselves in this path it is because they had planned an episode – at least in part – introspective in which to vent the drama of their version of the character.
What we did not expect, however, is that this nature would take possession of the entire episode, avoiding even giving certainties about the final series and demonstrating for the umpteenth time how disinterested Moon Knight is to follow many topoi of superhero products or the so-called formula Marvel, for better or for worse. An episode then emerges that to define atypical for the MCU would be a euphemism, which takes its time and a double level of “reality” to totally give space to Marc/Steven, to an increasingly sumptuous Oscar Isaac and raw power dramatic of a broken mind. And it’s just wonderful when taken on its own and yet worrying about the final act.
Moon Knight Episode 5 Review: The Story
We immediately find Marc (Oscar Isaac) locked up in the Putnam Medical Center – here you can find our review of Moon Knight Episode 4 and struggling with Dr. Harrow (Ethan Hawke), intent on explaining to him once again the fragility and seriousness of his psychic condition. But Marc, refusing to believe that everything he experienced was a mere invention of his mind, continues to fidget and act violently against his supposed nemesis, with the only result being sedated by the nurses. The instant the liquid enters his body, however, he wakes up again alongside Steven and in the presence of the Egyptian goddess Taweret, ready to guide them into the afterlife after revealing to the duo that they are dead and judging them on the scales of justice – who, as we all know, will have a hard time judging them.
Then begins a long journey back into Marc’s painful and shattered existence, in order to reveal his secrets, try somehow to accept a terrible past and, in so doing, balance his heart. And let’s start from a necessary assumption: starting this journey, at least in our opinion, is a bit forced. It is certainly fascinating, since it is immersed in the beating heart of a rich and extraordinary religious culture like that of Egypt, but perhaps it would have been more coherent to insist in equal measure on Steven’s desire to finally know the truth. In short, the stakes seem somewhat nebulous and cannot always be justified on the altar of an atmosphere that demands a certain aura of mystery, however, the two needs must be balanced.
Moon Knight Episode 5 Review And Analysis
Having overcome this and putting aside the now very classic comic relief that always pops up in an MCU production – in this episode not so annoying, indeed we dare to define Taweret and his sporadic presence as adorable – can begin a journey that is nothing short of amazing. Nothing is missing: a painful, dramatic imprint with that dark aura from which no hope or redemption seems to emerge, a crucial element in Moon Knight; a long series of revelations proposed in intermittent and non-linear ways, interspersed with other sequences on the reality plane of the asylum and Dr. Harrow that make the whole exquisitely lysergic; in general it is offering a naked and brutally honest tragedy, stripped of any unnecessary outline element, to really elevate this bet.
It is a continuous and relentless odyssey that falls on the viewer and not being entranced by it is very complicated. So, as mentioned in the preview, taken is an unmissable chapter, which nevertheless leaves enormous doubts for the next week. There is still a lot to resolve, from freeing Khonshu to stopping Harrow, from the intricate relationship with Layla (May Calamawy) to the question of the third identity, which the series has repeatedly hinted at very clearly. Will the ending be enough to satisfactorily close the circle or will the deleterious haste with which so many Marvel series have already greeted its audience will be repeated?
Another big factor in what we saw this week is the sensitivity of the production to show that everything will come to an end. The worst thing is that I’m not even talking about the show, but life itself in general. You know that saying that we see everything we go through in that miserable moment that separates us from death? Here they bring a story about it, with Tawaret guiding them down the path of their boat in the middle of the desert.
She explains that we each have an inside view on this, Steven and Marc’s being an insane asylum. Other people see a castle, some their own home and this varies for each human being. It is usually a place we feel we belong and will give the comfort of familiarity. Unfortunately, the two heroes are fully aware that they are mentally shaken and believe that they should be inside the asylum. Despite this, we get a very good glimpse of how their dynamics work and it gives a good overview of how they can overcome their own traumas before their lives are over.
The end of this is more impactful than the last episode of Moon Knight, but the team at Marvel Studios decided to take us out of sadness rather than surprise. Trying to simplify things for what’s to come, we have a dramatic ending that will have many of you putting your hands on your head and wondering how things will work from here on out. It will be very difficult for me to maintain the charm of the plot after what happened, but I’m willing to give the last chapter a chance to show me that I’m wrong.
Even though the plot returned to being focused strictly on Oscar Isaac and his various characters, the outside was not forgotten and ends up being quoted several times. Layla doesn’t give the air of her grace, for example, but time and time again she is remembered in dialogues and her involvement with the hero. Khonshu ends up in the same situation, appearing again in flashbacks that show the beginning of his relationship with the protagonist. Even some truths are told about these elements, which I was surprised they addressed.
Skipping the question I asked the week before, where would all this belong within the great Marvel stories, now my question becomes another. The fifth episode made me wonder where Marc Spector is going to end up and what all this could mean for his life going forward. If he can even find a way back from where he left off, of course. Anyway, before you start and play, take a deep breath. Be ready to open up. Not for anyone, even worse, for themselves. And when they’re done, who knows what kind of truths will come to us?
Moon Knight Episode 5 Review: The Last Words
Moon Knight Episode 5 turned out to be in some ways unexpected. Not due to its extremely introspective and dramatic nature, which was somewhat predictable after the introduction of the asylum in the last episode, which would have made no sense to exploit it in different ways. But we didn’t expect this nature to cover the whole episode, which in the end is nothing more than a wonderful and mammoth journey inside Marc’s shattered mind, of his painful existence amidst youth trauma, regrets, family tragedies and a sense omnipresent of helplessness and redemption impossible to achieve – especially these latter elements crucial to the construction of Moon Knight. It’s a relentless odyssey and it’s hard not to be ecstatic, but it opens legitimate doubts about the series finale:
