Moon Knight Episode Five – Asylum

Moon Knight Episode Five does too little too late in an attempt to reclaim the series.

While the Moon Knight series, exclusive to Disney+ has lost all steam, episode five seems to be a return to glory giving character backstory, explanation and context to the madness we’ve endured.

Still leaning on the uncertainty of reality from the cliffhanger of episode four, Doctor Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) treats his patient Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) in a psychiatric hospital, intercutting between their journey to the afterlife.

What transpires as a result is a strong promising episode that comes too late into the series giving context and explanation as to Marc’s split personality Steven Grant.

Where this series had thus far lacked was in its backstory and explanation, mostly choosing to exposition to audiences via clunky dialogue dumping.

Instead, Moon Knight episode five applies the adage: ‘show don’t tell’ to a clear degree, with subtle nods, beats and moments that paint a more visceral picture than any dialogue that had led to this point.

Unfortunately, with one episode to go before the finale, this comes too late for the show for me to care. While it is a standout episode when compared to the snoozefest that is the rest of the series, it fails to recoup any of my time or patience for a show I’m merely now watching out of necessity, not because I enjoy it.

By relying on clear obvious themes of the fractured identity, with one man split in twain as a result of trauma, this opens itself up to a great deal of emotional resolution, and justifies the way this episode flows, however, given this was heavily insinuated from the beginning, it fails to introduce anything new.

There are many loose Egyptian cotton threads to tie up in the snug forty-minute episode, and that’s assuming they won’t try and drag this out into a second series.

Oscar Isaac is a triumph in playing both personalities without the assistance of F. Murray Abraham‘s Khonsu, but in scenes without the Star Wars star, the show struggles to make any ground.