Is Moon Knight Marvel Studios' most ambitious Disney+ project yet? For five weeks, Marvel fans have been questioning what is real and what is fantasy as the series tackled mental health, Egyptian mythology, and even had Oscar Isaac playing different personalities while often sharing the screen with himself. It's been a lot, and it's largely been met with glowing reviews.
In addition to Oscar Issac, this prodigious series also stars Ethan Hawke as the mysterious and cultish Arthur Harrow, along with May Calamawy as Marc's wife, Layla El-Faouly.
Following Episode 5 of the series, which explored Marc's past and the cause of his Dissociative Identity Disorder, the show's sixth upcoming episode is also it's last and has a number of things to accomplish before the credits roll.
Just days away from its May 4 release, Moon Knight's lead director shared a bit of what's to come and how he and Marvel Studios approached this unique story.
Moon Knight's Mohammad Diab Teases Suprises and Action
In talking with Entertainment Weekly, Moon Knight director Mohammad Diab teased what fans can expect from the upcoming series finale, saying, "There are some surprises. I think the audience deserves a big action sequence, but it's more than that:"
"I hope it's a satisfying wrap-up to our story. I feel it is. There are some surprises. I think the audience deserves a big action sequence, but it's more than that. It has some twists and turns, and I really feel like it's a satisfying ending to our journey."
Moon Knight's penultimate episode titled "Asylum" spent most of its time exploring Marc Spector's mental health and how the personality of Steven Grant came to be.
According to Diab, the episode's emotional story explains the why behind Dissociative Identity Disorder and that both Marc, and those in real life, "create a character that didn't go through that trauma:"
"I was not educated enough about [DID]. We know about the multiple identities, but I never knew why. Through episode 5, you understand that usually people who have DID are traumatized when they're kids, and they create a character that can overcome their fear or shield themselves from their fear. They create a character that didn't go through that trauma. I love how that's integrated into the story — it makes the whole show."
In addition to handling this serious subject matter, Diab also had the technical challenge of capturing it on camera. He explained how grounding the show actually makes Moon Knight "even more trippy" and like "a trip into their mind:"
"We saw it as a show that is very trippy and very fantastical, but it deals with a lot of mental health issues. The thing that would make it even more trippy is to deal with everything in the most grounded way, to make you feel like it's a documentary or something made with a handheld camera. The acting is so serious, yet everything is so weird. I thought that could actually make the show better, just sending [viewers] into more confusion. It works because you're seeing it from the point of view of someone who has DID. It's like a trip into their mind."
Can Moon Knight Stick the Landing?
Diab's tease of what's to come in Episode 6 is exactly what fans were hoping for. So far, Moon Knight has offered a number of surprises, and the more the merrier, but action is something that many have felt the show has been lacking, especially considering Spector's skills as Moon Knight and the awesome design of his costume.
As to whether the finale will be a "satisfying ending" remains to be seen.
Recent reports suggest that Episode 6 of Moon Knight will only be 44-45 minutes long, even though the show has a huge list of plot points that still need to be tied up. After all, Marc is still dead, Layla is likely in danger, Khonshu is still trapped, and Arthur Harrow remains a huge mystery and a significant threat.
There's also the question of when Marc's other personality, Jake Lockley, will make himself known.
No doubt the Moon Knight finale will be one wild and revealing ride; but regardless of where it leaves the audience, this series stands apart from the rest in how it emotionally and technically handled such a complex character.
The first five episodes of Moon Knight are available to stream on Disney+.
