Steven has had a very, very bad day.

The first episode of MoonKnight has come and gone and I have to coin it as one of the best opening episodes of all the series so far. While I will obviously get deeper into the episode in a moment, I need to praise how well done the episode truly was. As watchers, we have gotten thrown into the middle of a tumultuous ride, just like Steven, who essentially embodies us right now. We have no clue what is going on, things are all over the place, and some evil cult leader is mad at us for some reason that we don’t know. It is a genius way to go about the first episode, especially of an origin story for a character that we may have less knowledge about. But of course, we say this and so much more in the full podcast episode, so make sure to listen to the entire episode either by following the link below or clicking the button to find your listening platform of choice

To fix something I say about forty times in the podcast, the name of the evil cult leader is actually Arthur Harrow. I can now call him by his name since I don’t think I knew it and said it once in the entire podcast episode. While we usually try to come in with all of our information straight, we are learning these characters the same day all of you are, so we are trying, I promise. I was more worried about keeping all of Steven’s alters straight, but I swear now that I know his name is Arthur he will be referred to as such.

Anyway, moving forward to one of the bigger moments, we have seen how Steven, Marc, and the MoonKnight blessing are portrayed and I really like that they use the reflection in the mirror as one of the main ways to differentiate. But from the way MoonKnight is portrayed as his own voice, we have to consider his being as a complete alter ego that up until this moment was only tapped into by Marc. He talks almost like Venom does to Eddie, but Eddie does only have one person essentially inside of him, while Steven has at least two. I will say, it’s intriguing to see that Steven appears to be the main alter, as he is the one that holds a day-to-day job and seems to function in the current time the most. However, there are clear moments where Marc seems to hold up Steven’s life just for the sake of keeping him safe, so the argument could also be that Marc is the main alter. Essentially, we have been confirmed of nothing in this sector and have to wait to receive further confirmation.

I think what I liked the most is the interaction between Steven and Arthur. Arthur at the beginning is very clearly confused with Steven, as you can tell he knows his alter. However, Arthur could kill Steven at any moment but chooses not to, all because Steven himself is innocent. You see this when he goes to judge him, as the scales cannot decide which way to turn, as Marc is guilty but Steven is innocent. My thoughts, which I share in full length in the podcast episode, are that when Arthur tells Steven to embrace the Chaos, he essentially wants him to accept the ‘bad’ side of him in order to bestow proper judgment on him as a person. If he does so, the only part of him deemed innocent will no longer exist and will be a willing accomplice to his darker side’s actions.

Something Taylor and I discussed going forward into episode two is the possibility of showing episode one but from Marc’s point of view. All those moments where Steven essentially “blacks out” would be really interesting to see and understand from the other side, basically giving Marc the same introduction we got for Steven. It would be especially cool because Marc clearly has more knowledge of his DID and MoonKnight aspects, so while being thrown in with a confused Steven worked really well for episode one, having someone who can explain a little more to us would be great to fill the audience in.

As I mentioned that Marc has an understanding of MoonKnight, I also want to quickly discuss how Arthur and his team of baddies already are on MoonKnight’s radar. He clearly was already working to intercept them and mess up their plans of what sounds like bringing a goddess back fully to life. I think this is a big reason I would like to see the next episode from Marc’s point of view, as there’s further background on who Arthur is and how they initially crossed paths. Who is MoonKnight working for, if anyone? Who put him on Arthur’s path? These are things I want more of before we explore further into the current storyline.

The strength of this episode is similar to very few of the opening episodes in the other live-action shows that we have gotten so far. However, I do want to point out one small thing that bothered me slightly. As much as I love Marvel, I think we fans have learned to hold them to a pretty high standard. And even if they have a little less for their shows than their big blockbuster films, it doesn’t change that we do expect some of the simple things to be there. My only issue with MoonKnight was honestly the CGI, specifically in the car chase. I’m not entirely sure what happened, as when we see MoonKnight suiting up for the first time (obviously CGI), it looks fine, and honestly even the weird monster thing in the museum doesn’t look half bad. We’ve also seen car chases in Marvel before, so I truly have no clue how we ended up having one that just didn’t look right at almost any moment. I hope that it was a small fluke and the rest of the serious won’t be plagued by other iffy moments.

Either way, MoonKnight definitely already has been a treat for all of us hungry Marvel fans, so I’m hoping you’re all enjoying it and ready for more. Of course, we have five weeks of MoonKnight plus the hype for Multiverse of Madness, as tickets went on sale TODAY. If you haven’t gotten your tickets for opening weekend, put that on the to-do list for today, along with watching the next episode of MoonKnight that also came out this morning. Lot’s of content from Marvel, finally, so eat it all up now, cause Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “MoonKnight Episode 1”, Rachel Paige, Marvel