Moon Knight review: “The Goldfish Problem” hits the ground running

Moon Knight has finally arrived on Disney+! The next chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off in excellent fashion today as we got our first real look at the long-awaited show, which sees Oscar Isaac step into the role of a vigilante with dissociative identity disorder who possesses superpowers granted by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. We’ll be reviewing each episode of Moon Knight as it airs, starting with the premiere, “The Goldfish Problem.”

There will be SPOILERS for this episode of Moon Knight beyond this point, so if you haven’t watched it yet, go do that first. This is a trippy show, and you’ll want to experience it for yourself before dissecting all the twists and turns.

Moon Knight Episode 1 review

So is Moon Knight any good? Does it live up to the hype?

The short answer is yes, Moon Knight is very good. And its premiere is living up to the promises of the trailers way better than I expected. In this reviewer’s opinion, “The Goldfish Problem” is the strongest debut for a Disney+ Marvel show since Loki.

The episode begins with Ethan Hawke’s cult leader villain Arthur Harrow putting some crushed up glass in his shoes while “Every Grain of Sand” by Bob Dylan plays in the background. It pretty immediately sets the tone for the show; this is a more serious Marvel series that is going to shock you, but it’s still going to have that trademark quirkiness and humor that has made films like Guardians of the Galaxy so successful.

The other thing this scene told me right out of the gate is that the writing on this show is going to be solid. Arthur Harrow was a relatively minor villain in the Moon Knight comics who suffered from a debilitating disease that left him in perpetual agony, which in turn caused him to perform horrifying experiments on people find a way to render him immune to pain. He only appeared in a single issue of the comics, so the show was always to be doing its own thing with him. The inclusion of the glass in his shoes is a nice nod to the core of the comic character while also letting us know that we’re going in a different direction.

My initial impressions about the writing are borne out time and again throughout the premiere. After the cold open with Arthur Harrow, we’re introduced to Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a quiet museum worker who is clearly going through some stuff. Steven sleeps with a shackle around his ankle, a ring of sand around his bed, and tape on his door, all designed so he’ll know if he sleepwalks. The episode makes it clear that Steven isn’t aware that he has multiple personalities; he’s just losing days of his life and has no idea why.

Things get interesting when the show jolts us from Steven’s regular life to him waking up in an alpine field, his jaw dislocated and blood coloring his teeth. We get more scenes that drive home just how much of a fish out of water Steven is, and it’s kind of hilarious. From early impressions I knew to expect Moon Knight to have some jokes, but the humor was still way more prevalent and way better than I thought it would be.

We see this opening episode almost entirely from Steven’s point of view, which allows him to act befuddled and confused in a way that viewers can easily relate to. Moon Knight hits the ground running; this is no slow burn origin story. Instead, it quickly becomes apparent that while Steven has no idea what’s going on, his other personality Marc Spector / Moon Knight does.

At one point, Steven discovers that he has a golden scarab in his pocket, which Arthur Harrow wants. Steven tries to give it to him, but his body outright rebels in hilarious fashion, clenching his fists and trying to literally run away…right up until the moment that the scarab actually leaves his hand. Steven’s eyes roll back in his head, and the next thing he knows he’s surrounded by the bloody bodies of a bunch of thugs with the scarab back in his possession.

“The Goldfish Problem” is filled with these kinds of turns, all of which helps you understand Steven Grant’s confusion. It’s more effective than showing him flipping personalities on and off.

This all leads to a climactic showdown at the museum where Harrow tracks Steven down and tries to get him to give him the scarab, claiming it belongs to the Egyptian goddess Ammit. After Steven runs away (again, in very funny fashion), we shift to a creepy nighttime sequence where a humanoid jackal creature hunts him through the museum. Finally, Steven willingly hands over control to his other personality Marc in order to survive. In the episode’s final moments, we get our first look at Moon Knight in all his glory, wearing the suit as he beats the jackal creature to a pulp.

Bullet points

• I love how deeply Moon Knight has embedded Egyptian mythology into the show, not just with Oscar Isaac’s character but also by baking it into Arthur Harrow’s motivations. We don’t know why he serves Ammit, or what’s up with his death-dealing scales of judgement tattoo or why he can summon jackal creatures, but after this episode it’s easy to feel confident that the show will answer those questions in a satisfying way.
• Steven’s dynamic with Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) was way funnier than I expected. The deity calling Steven “the stupid one” and generally berating him is just not the kind of dynamic you expect to see when a god is involved. But it worked so well and I’m very excited to see more of it. Khonshu creeping up on Steven in the hallway and appearing in multiple brief flashes added a lot to the psychological horror aspects of the episode.
• Did you catch that every call on that old flip phone Steven found hidden in his apartment was from Layla…except one. The scroll paused on “Duchamp,” who is another character from Marc Spector’s past in the comics. Very curious to see what the show does with those characters when we actually get to see them.
• The title of this episode is another great example of the multilayered writing. Steven has a moment where he realizes his goldfish Gus, the “one-finned wonder,” has somehow miraculously grown another fin back. Through his interaction with the pet store clerk, we realize that there was no miraculous healing, but that his other personality bought a new goldfish. It’s also a clever nod to the fact that goldfish have a notoriously brief short-term memory, which fits Steven’s predicament.
• Another example of that solid writing: in one scene, Steven Grant complains about how restless he is…to a street performer whose job it is to remain as perfectly still as a statue. Good stuff.
• Extra points for the nod to Avatar and Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show’s snappy dialogue snuck in plenty of these types of hilarious lines so fast that if you tune out for a second you’ll miss them.
• I just need to reiterate how much I enjoyed how immediately weird and funny this show is. Yes, Oscar Isaac’s English accent is a little weird, but it somehow just makes the comedic moments land even better.

The verdict

“The Goldfish Problem” starts out Moon Knight on a great note. This episode delivered everything I was hoping it would, but in some unexpected ways that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. The humor never felt forced, thanks in large part to Oscar Isaac’s extremely natural delivery. He really feels like an actor at the top of his game here, and it makes me very excited to see what the show has in store as we get to see more of his personalities. The music choices were a lot of fun, and the weaving in of Egyptian iconography was also done extremely well.

All in all, this was about as good a premiere as could have been hoped for; and considering that most all of the actual action in it happened off-screen while Steven wasn’t in control of his body, that just makes it all the more impressive.

Grade: A

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