Moon Knight
Now while I am a big comic book fan I'm not really into the MCU. There are characters I like and characters I could do without. And I'm here with open arms for the X-Men. Just be nothing like the movies that have come before. Though Hugh Jackman is welcome back anytime. And I have a shocking confession, I have never watched nor plan to watch Avengers: Endgame. Which is problematic on many levels because that movie is so important to the building of Marvel's multiverse and the roll out of whatever phase we are now in. We're in Phase Four right? Right? So the truth of the matter is that the more entwined the universe is becoming the less likely I am to engage with it. The only movie I am actually looking forward to is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3... Kind of. I have Chris Pratt issues, as we all should. But there is one show I COULD NOT miss, and that was Moon Knight. Why? Well, Egypt and Oscar Isaac! I adore all things to do with Egyptian mythology and I adore Oscar Isaac, so this show was a no-brainer. I had to watch it. But here was the most amazing and welcome discovery when I started watching it, it stands alone. You don't need to be versed in the MCU lore, you don't need any other experience with anything Marvel. It stands completely on it's own and is marvelous. Everything you need to know about the world is given to you in a way that fully explains it without it feeling too much like exposition or like it's talking down to you. In fact, my father who sometimes has a hard time following the more fantastical shows I watch understood and loved this show. The world is wonderfully complete and is believable. Egyptian Gods have avatars who act on their behalf and Oscar Isaac and his three personalities act on behalf of Khonshu. That's it. Throw in another human who wants to be the avatar for a rather problematic God and you have the conflict for the series. But the real conflict is two of Oscar Isaac's personalities. The main personality, Marc Spector, developed another identity to protect himself from childhood abuse at the hand of his mother. The Steven Grant personality is Oscar at his most dorky, a lovely British mama's boy who is very much Oscar channeling some serious Bruce Campbell awkward Ash Williams energy. As one review said, the chemistry between Oscar Isaac and Oscar Isaac is amazing. If he doesn't win an Emmy for this he was robbed. And are we in an Ethan Hawke Renaissance? Because his role as Harrow was again perfection. I literally can't think of another actor who could have had the presence to match Oscar, but Ethan does it perfectly. In fact, this is a near perfect series, even the music. Oh, I hope we get more, but if this is all, it was done so so right.
There are some people out there who would say that as a show Lovecraft Country is too all over the place, never settling on one style or even one genre, to them I say, that's the point! It is so fun and invigorating to have so many pulp genres in one show. We have haunted houses, epic adventures, ghost stories, space odysseys, and curses, with homages to everything from The Goonies to Indiana Jones to The Evil Dead! The Evil Dead one being a fabulous deep dive because the franchise deals with the Necronomicon, a book create by the writer H.P. Lovecraft, and what with the name of the show, when Leti is running through the woods in the first episode and takes shelter in the exact cabin from the franchise, my geeky heart did sing! Lovecraft Country also does an epic job of giving you unforgettable scenes that are simple but you know will stick with you forever for how haunting they are. The malevolent spirits Topsy and Bopsy who haunt Diana will forever haunt you. How can simple choreography be that terrifying!?! Though the first episode chase scene will now forever after be for me the most gut-wrenching I've ever witnessed. It's not the speed, it's not the action, it's what's at stake. Tic, George, and Leti have to get out of a sundown county with the police on their tales. If they fail to escape, they are surely dead. But if they speed, they will be pulled over. They are fighting the setting sun while crawling along the highway in the most nail-biting scene ever. That something so simple could be so compelling just shows what this show was capable of. But what makes this show work on a higher level is that despite being a period piece set in the 1950s that even had an episode all in Korean about a kumiho, a nine-tailed fox creature, it felt so relevant. The inability to get a job not because you lack the qualifications but because of the color of your skin. The constant police brutality and intimidation. The death of poor Emmett Till. This show encapsulated the Black Lives Matter movement in the most unique way possible. We need more shows out there willing to tell the truth, willing to take the risks, and willing to break the rules.
