‘Moon Knight’ Episode 3 Recap: Oscar Isaac Takes An Egyptian Adventure – CNET

Moon Knight shifted the action to Egypt on Wednesday, when episode 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series landed on Disney Plus. As the costumed avatar of the moon good Khonshu, Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) hunts cult leader Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) and his goons as they try to free trapped goddess Ammit and bring her deadly judgment to the world.

Marc teamed up with his estranged wife, Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy), and has been negotiating with his other personality, meek Egyptian mythology nerd Steven Grant. Steven isn’t quite the action hero Marc is, but still managed to manifest a dapper costumed persona — the suited Mr. Knight.

It’s time to don our SPOILER suits as Marc, Steven and Layla chase down former Khonshu avatar Harrow. This show takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

Khonshu imprisoned

In a visually stunning moment, the episode ends with Khonshu using Steven to temporarily revert the night sky to its state from 2,000 years in the past. It allows Layla to triangulate the position of Ammit’s tomb, but this act of hubris causes the gods to trap Khonshu in an ushabti (an ancient Egyptian figurine) within the Great Pyramid of Giza — leaving Marc powerless.

Harrow arrives to gloat over his former master’s imprisoned form, confessing that his greatest sin was enjoying “dealing out pain” during his tenure as the moon god’s avatar. This might be why he walks around with broken glass in his sandals — as a rather icky form of penance — and is the reason behind his quest to free Ammit.

“I’m going to do what you could not,” says Harrow. “Then when it’s finished, I want you to remember one thing: Your torment forced me. I owe my victory to you.”

Meeting the gods

Prior to his night sky-time travel trick, Khonshu causes a lunar eclipse to trigger a meeting with the other gods within the pyramid. Horus, Isis, Osiris, Defnut and Hator are represented by their avatars, and they’re joined by Harrow when Khonshu calls out his attempt to unleash Ammit.

We learn that Khonshu was banished for nearly exposing the gods to humanity — presumably through some dramatic, high-profile act. Khonshu accuses his fellow gods of abandoning humanity to live in the “opulence of the overvoid,” but the gods argue that they decided to work only through their avatars because humanity abandoned them. This likely refers to the move away from ancient Egyptian religion as Christianity and other belief systems took hold.

“We decided long ago we did not wish to meddle in the affairs of man,” Osiris says through his avatar. 

The meeting ends up being a total disaster, after Harrow convinces the gods that Khonshu is taking advantage of Marc’s mental illness (dissociative identity disorder) and cannot be trusted.

Midnight Man

Layla and Marc’s quest takes them to the rather fancy art collector (and probable thief) Anton Mogart (played by the late Gaspard Ulliel, who sadly died in a ski accident in January).

In the comics, Mogart is an art thief who goes by the name Midnight Man due to all his thefts taking place at midnight. Which seems a bit OCD and a good way for authorities to catch him, but I’m always on board with a solid villain theme and that’s an excellent one. He also has a super cool name.

It doesn’t seem like his MCU counterpart was living exactly that kind of life, but may have in the past. We may never know, since it looks like he’s killed by one of Moon Knight’s deadly crescent darts and Marvel is unlikely to recast following Ulliel’s passing. At least the character looked sharp and got involved in a visually stunning action sequence.

Another personality?

Marc has an epic knife fight with three guys, showing off his skills without the suit. He’s interrupted by a merciful Steven, who lets them go and forces Marc to run them down later. (Steven also interrupts in the battle with Mogart’s goons.)

Marc is knocked unconscious after Steven distracts him during the second confrontation, and wakes up to find all but one of the guys fatally stabbed. Marc wasn’t the one doing the stabbing, and it certainly wasn’t Steven.

“Then who was it?” Marc asks.

It’s possible a third, unseen personality did the deed. In the comics, one of Marc’s most prominent personalities is cab driver Jake Lockley, whose specialty is gathering information on the streets. 

Observations, Easter eggs and WTF questions

• Oscar Isaac has been a joy to watch in this show, but is particularly fun in the moments when Khonshu speaks directly through him in the audience with the other gods.
• This episode firmly establishes Steven as the brains of the operation and Marc as the brawn.
• The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the pyramids located near the Egyptian capital Cairo. It’s also the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one still intact.
• The gods’ decision to keep out of humanity’s affairs mirrors the decision of the Eternals. I guess it’s a common occurrence in the MCU. I wonder what they thought of Thanos?
• What will happen to the gods if Ammit is freed?
• It might just be the presence of Oscar Isaac, but the treasure hunt feels a little like the one seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and kinda slows the show down.
• Layla and Mogart’s last encounter was in Madripoor, a lawless island in the Indonesian archipelago. It’s been a fixture in the comics for years, and made its MCU debut in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier last year.
• It’s looking increasingly likely that Layla is the MCU version of Marlene Alraune, Marc’s wife and sometime partner in Moon Knight’s vigilante activities. Like Marlene, Layla’s father was murdered and Harrow implies that Marc was involved.

Join us for more Easter eggs and observations April 20, when episode 4 of Moon Knight hits Disney Plus.

CNET’s Richard Knightwell contributed to this report.