Moon Mind

Last night's new Moon Knight was my favourite episode so far. The Indiana Jones vibe swerved into a Hellboy vibe for an episode that's finally delivering on the promise for the MCU to lean more into horror.

I loved that reanimated mummy Layla fought. He was right out of a Hellboy comic or movie. The whole sequence in the tomb really captured the adventure serial tone it was going for. All it lacks is a character to anchor it as strongly as Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, or Hellboy. Neither Marc/Steven nor Layla has a good enough costume in this episode to rival the iconic looks of those characters. Layla's character has been too hazily designed, kind of a classic example of a female lead being written entirely based on her reactions to the male characters--her career is motivated by her father, her revenge is motivated by her father, her affections are torn between Marc and Steven. So far we haven't gotten a good impression of Layla's own core personality.

Marc/Steven is much better and it's becoming more and more entertaining to see their exasperation with each other. And even more rewarding when they actually start to show each other respect and even affection, as when they run into each other in the mental institution.

I don't know if people have competing theories on what's going on but I'm pretty firmly in the belief that this is all occurring in Marc/Steven's head, or in some special psychic space built from his mind that other entities can enter. Which makes it a pretty well-worn plot type. I found myself thinking of the sixth season Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Normal Again". Which is fine but the tomb stuff was so much better. Hopefully they'll move on quickly, maybe this'll just turn into a gateway into the realm of the Egyptian gods so Marc and Steven can rescue Konshu.

Moon Knight is available on Disney+.

Twitter Sonnet #1574

Distracted muppets ride the acting suits.
A face and face compete for feet and fists.
The clunky box was stood on ugly boots.
A six again's revealed in yellow mist.
Transported blinks were notches short of eyes.
If letter one or two would care to snap.
The rented sheets became a special prize.
And here we think it's surely time to nap.
With desert ghosts the tourist took the sea.
Sufficient grains could build a healthy beach.
You'll find the captain makes the fo'c'sle tea.
A solid park returned the empty peach.
The ruddy doctor fought a walking tan.
Beneath the crescent sleeps a desert man.