Moon Knight season 1, episode 1 recap: The Goldfish Problem

The first episode of the Disney Plus and Marvel Studios series Moon Knight aired on Wednesday, March 30 and it was everything we could have hoped for and more! Moon Knight, AKA Steven Grant has a life that is anything but normal and it’s about to get stranger.

Is what he’s experiencing real or is it all just one very realistic dream? Episode 1 titled “The Goldfish Problem” answers some questions but leaves audiences wanting to know more!

Moon Knight Season 1 Episode 1 recap – Steven Grant

Steven Grant has a very unusual life. He sleeps with one leg strapped to a beam, surrounds his bed with sand, has an excessive number of locks on his apartment door and hardly lets any light in.

He does have his pet goldfish with one fin named Gus and leaves a voicemail for his mother who seems to be constantly traveling due to all the postcards he receives. He works at a museum in London, specifically in the Egyptian shop kiosk.

He’s very well versed in Ancient Egyptian history but his boss refuses to let him be a tour guide. After an attractive woman tells him she’s excited to have steak with him on Friday night and his automatic response is confusion, we already can see where this is going.

Sort of. After work he enjoys a dinner outside while talking to a statue, goes home and begins his ritual of staying awake.

He plays with a Rubik’s cube and reads copious amounts of books about Ancient Egypt. Needless to say, I already like him.

Suddenly he’s transported to the Alps in the middle of the day having no idea how he got there. He hears a commanding yet unknown voice in his head and flees from heavily armed bad guys.

After blending into a large crowd in a town, he notices they are gathering around a man named Arthur Harrow. He is the first person we catch a glimpse of at the beginning of the episode, proceeding to place pieces of broken glass into his shoes before walking with a cane.

The prominent tattoo of a scale on his arm seems to inhabit magical properties as it can tell him if someone is truly good or not. If they are good they live, if not they die.

He spots Steven and asks for a golden scarab to be returned. Steven tries to give it back however the voice in his head doesn’t allow him to.

Think you know where this is going?

Moon Knight Season 1 Episode 1 recap – Chaos Within

The next number of scenes are of Steven fading in and out of consciousness, as one moment he’s running from bad guys and the next they are all lying dead around him. One moment he’s escaping while driving a company truck full of cupcakes and the next he has a gun in his hand, blown out windows and a line of cars following behind.

All the while the unknown voice is both trying to guide him while being equally annoyed by his antics. After all of this chaos Steven awakes in his bed.

His leg is still strapped and the locks on the doors haven’t changed. But what ensues is all the more confusing.

His pet goldfish suddenly has another fin. When he brings it to the store he purchased it from, the employee is confused and told him she met with him yesterday.

But how? Steven prepares for his date but somehow, it’s not Friday but Sunday.

Adding to the confusion Steve finds a hidden phone and key inside his walls above the fish tank. He has received dozens upon dozens of missed calls from a woman named Layla.

When he calls her to try to figure out who she is, she calls him Marc. Still think you know what is happening?

After he suddenly feels a dark presence in his apartment he quickly flees to the elevator where we get the infamous scene from the trailer. Thinking he sees something chasing him he hides in the elevator when a kindly old woman gets on and off at her stop.

A quick shot of what was chasing him appears and he’s suddenly back on a bus on his way to work. But what’s this, Arthur Harrow is following him?!

Steven tries to get help from museum security, but they seem to be involved in his cult-like following sporting the same scale tattoos. Arthur simply asks for the scarab of Ammit to be returned and tries to determine if Steven is a good person or not.

The scale could not provide him with an answer.

Moon Knight Season 1 Episode 1 recap – Our first look at Moon Knight

The scene transition of Steven fleeing from Arthur to start his job is a little out of place, but it leads to a bigger payoff. As Steven silently works he notices strange things happening in the Ancient Egyptian exhibit.

A vicious, demonic-like dog creature comes out of nowhere and chases him into a mirror filled men’s bathroom. His reflection begs that he give them control before they die.

Steven allows it and in a quick yet dare I say, jaw-dropping scene, the bathroom is trashed, Steven is beating the demonic creature to a pulp, donned in the Moon Knight costume.

Moon Knight Season 1 Episode 1 review

Considering I knew absolutely nothing about Moon Knight before doing a little bit of research, I have to say, this may be my new favorite Disney Plus Marvel Studios series. Sorry Loki.

Yes, I have always had a deep love and interest in Ancient Egypt since I was young, but this is so much more than a historical tie-in. It combines psychological thrillers with action movies to near perfection.

If I didn’t know this was a Marvel character beforehand, I would have assumed it to be something completely different. The first episode did not insert any obvious Marvel tidbits or Easter Eggs which honestly was a much-needed change as the Marvel Universe continues to expand.

Yes, it’s fun to watch a Marvel film or show and hear a name drop or reference that you know already. But it’s more fun when you don’t know how Moon Knight will connect to Marvel specifically.

At least not yet. I could spend hours talking about all the tiny but appreciated details this episode alone has added.

I was grinning ear to ear over Steven’s reflection following him in the Ancient Egyptian exhibit. There are so many similarities between what is going with him and the Egyptian god of the Moon, Khonshu.

Overall, I have to say that the best part is, I have no idea what to expect in the next episode or for the rest of the season entirely! That, to me, makes it all worthwhile!

What did you think of Moon Knight season 1, episode 1? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Moon Knight Season 1 Episode 2 airs on April 6, 2022 on Disney Plus.