‘Moon Knight’ Episode 2 Recap

The Disney+ series continues to tell the story of Steven Grant and Marc Spector, and gives us our first introduction to Mr. Knight.

Episode 2 of Disney+’s Marvel series ‘Moon Knight’ delivers more Marc Spector, Steven Grant, Arthur Harrow, and finally introduces us to our new show-exclusive character, Layla. In this episode, we learn how the Moon Knight power works, and get more connections to the source material.

The episode begins with Steven waking up and instantly going to the museum in hopes of catching Arthur after the frantic fight he had the night before with one of his jackals. But when he shows up at the museum, the camera show nothing but Marc Spector walking out. And Steven knows that isn’t him in control of his own body.

We finally see Layla in the flesh, and she informs Steven (whom she still believes to be Marc) that they are married, that she misses their time together and that they are supposed to get a divorce. Steven and Layla share a nice little connection between poetry and myth, only for the police, who are members of Harrow’s cult, to show up at Steven’s door and kidnap him.

The audience is given a tense scene between Steven and Arthur, all with Khonshu breathing down Steven’s neck commanding him to brutally murder Arthur. Harrow seemingly knows more about the god than Steven does, and reveals he too worked for him at one point. While this is not proven to be true as of yet, it shows that the god is not afraid to change his vessel as often as he wishes.

Arthur is still looking for that scarab, and Steven is following Marc’s wishes and telling Harrow that he doesn’t have it. Up until Layla appears, claiming she has it and freeing Steven. The two escape, with Steven having another terrifying jackal on his heels. With Marc pounding in his brain and Steven terrified, he attempts to summon the suit ... well, a suit.

We finally have the reveal of Mr. Knight, hilariously coined by Marc as “a psychotic Colonel Sanders.” Steven himself has some sort of control over the power! Though it’s clear to see that Khonshu only gave the powers to Marc, not any other of his alters.

The episode closes with Arthur getting the scarab (revealed to be a sort of tracking device to Amitt’s tomb), Khonshu threatening Marc that if he doesn’t stop Arthur, he’ll take Layla as his next vessel, and Marc himself awakening in Egypt, facing the great pyramids of Giza.

The biggest revelation of this episode is the fact we now know Steven is an alter-ego of Marc. While the show’s first episode played this off as a mystery, with Steven being revealed first, episode 2 confirms the comic connection. Though we still don’t have a confirmation on Marc’s other personality, that of Jake Lockley. Which would indeed be weird if Marvel chose not to include it.

While it’s clear the show is taking more liberties from its source material, the biggest change in this episode is Layla, most likely based off Marc’s girlfriend in the comics, Marlene Alraune (more on her in a bit.) Which is surprising for a show that has so far stuck to the source material rather well. Especially for something so out of left field for Marvel and Disney.

Ethan Hawke, May Calamawy, and Oscar Isaac

(L-R): Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow, May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly, and Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector/Steven Grant in Marvel Studios' 'Moon Knight,' exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Csaba Aknay. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Like the last episode before it, episode 2 is filled with some cleverly hidden Easter eggs. One of them being another comic book hidden in a QR code. While this could be a fantastic way for people to get into the comics, it’s fascinating the Marvel team is hiding them instead of putting them in the open. Though, if they continue to do it for future episodes, it could be a great way to get more people into the story.

The other Easter egg (if it could be called that) in the episode is Layla herself. As mentioned before, she’s more than likely based off of the character of Marlene Alraune, Marc Specter’s on and off again girlfriend in the comics. While it’s interesting for Marvel to just transfer her character over, she also wasn’t exactly the most interesting character in the comics. So, their choice to make someone completely brand new with close to the same backstory totally works.

One thing that should be mentioned is where ‘Moon Knight’ fits in the Marvel Cinematic timeline. It was revealed just recently on Disney’s official timeline; ‘Moon Knight’ takes place directly after ‘Hawkeye’ and ‘Eternals’. How this will affect the show is yet to be seen, but we shouldn’t be surprised if both the Blip is mentioned, or the giant Celestial that is still currently in the sea.

Episode 2 of ‘Moon Knight’ was another fun ride, with some cool fights and great moments. It’s refreshing to see a show so dark and unafraid to hide from the weirder side of the Marvel universe, even more so than something like the ‘Eternals’.

Hopefully the next few episodes hold up that weirdness and give us more brutal fights.