History Series / MoonKnight2022

** And there may be a ''third'' (fourth? fifth?) identity, secret from the others.

* RedHerring: In Episode 5 [[spoiler:we saw a beaten-up version of Marc in the asylum who spoke with a Brooklyn accent and acted very violent, leading some to believe this was the third alter]]. In Episode 6, [[spoiler:we learn that the third alter, Jake Lockley, speaks Spanish when he's fronting, so that was in fact Marc defending himself in the inner world asylum]].

** [[spoiler: Likewise, Marc's hidden personality [[AxeCrazy Jake Lockley]] appears to be Spanish, or at least from a place where Spanish is a primary language.]]

** Harrow implies more than once that Marc was responsible for a massacre at a dig site in Egypt [[spoiler:where Layla's father was killed]]. When Marc tells his side of the story, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the killings were actually carried out by his partner, Bushman, who shot Marc as well when he tried to intervene. It's left unclear if Harrow is being deliberately misleading (he never directly ''says'' that Marc killed anyone, and he uses the implication to sow discord) or if he's simply mistaken or misinformed (the only witnesses to the slaughter were Marc-- who never told anyone the truth before Layla forced it out of him-- and Bushman-- who was the perpetrator)]].

** Taweret, the goddess of childbirth and fertility, also takes the role of [[DontFearTheReaper psychopomp]] and TheFerryman of the boat leading to the Field of Reeds, when it is originally the role of a few overlapping deities: the boat's captain Aken / Kherty, and the actual ferryman Aker / Mahaf. That said (possibly in a case of in-universe justification), Taweret is shown to be fumbling around with the protocol of the job, suggesting that she was saddled with the duty against her will due to the shifts amongst the Ennead throughout the millenia. [[spoiler:The fact that many other deities were also imprisoned in ushabtis much like Khonshu before him helps explain this as well.]]

* CuckooNest: [[spoiler: [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Maybe. Maybe not.]] Is Marc [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness hallucinating the entire series in a mental asylum, or is the entire thing real after all?]]]]

* FriendsRentControl: The first sign that things aren't as they seem with Steven is that a guy who works at a museum gift shop can somehow afford a large flat in London. He claims it actually belongs to his mother. [[spoiler: Though never explicitly stated, it becomes much more likely that Marc pays for the apartment as their mother is actually deceased, Steven just wasn’t allowed to know about it.]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: The title character (and the series itself) uses a very [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uJYMlMdqeI bombastic theme]]. Whenever it plays, it's a guarantee things are about to get quite crazy, [[spoiler: with the first episode prominently featuring it as Steven surrenders control of the body to Marc, who turns into Moon Knight for the first time in the series.]]
* LogoJoke:

** [[spoiler: Is Moon Knight really a superhero serving Khonshu, or were all his adventures just taking place [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness inside his head while in a mental institution?]] Probably, in the show's reality, the former, but the show plays with the possibility…]]

** The living statue that Steven converses with in London appears to resemble Bertrand Crawley, a homeless informant of Moon Knight from the comics. Jeremy Slater later [[https://twitter.com/jerslater/status/1509225611381805059?s=21&t=E13IBSxXUeGpTNw0IZOtxQ confirmed on Twitter]] that the performer is indeed Crawley.

** A glimpse of Layla's passport in Episode 3 shows her full name is Layla Abdallah El-Faouly, with Abdallah being her father's name in accordance with Arab naming conventions. This references Abdul Faoul, a little known Egyptian Anti-Villain known as the Scarlet Scarab. Another reference to the Scarlet Scarab can be spotted in Episode 4, where Layla [[spoiler: in the asylum]] has a small bandage on her finger with a red scarab drawn on it. In episode 5, we see [[spoiler: her father's corpse with a purple scarf and a scarab design on it, referencing the Scarlet Scarab's comic-book purple color scheme.]]

** Three childhood memories about [[spoiler:Randall's death: the day he died, his shiva, and Wendy still blaming him for it years later.]]

* ScalesOfJustice: A recurring motif throughout the show, based around Myth/EgyptianMythology's JudgementOfTheDead belief where hearts are weighed against a feather to determine if someone was worthy to enter the realm of the dead. Harrow's cult members bear scale tattoos; they are used to see if a person is good enough by Ammit's standards to live. This method of judgement doesn't work on Steven likely due to his fractured mind; indeed, when [[spoiler:Steven/Marc are shot dead; Taweret tries to balance their hearts on the gods' Scale of Justice and eventually concludes that they are unbalanced...at least until Steven is thrown off their boat and seemingly lost in the sands of the underworld]].

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Steven/Marc is a traumatized, haunted man with D.I.D and we see things mostly from his fairly disorienting (particularly early on) perspective, which the show uses to call certain events into question. For example, episode 2 initially makes it look like Steven might be hallucinating as the security cameras don't pick up the supernatural but we later learn the creatures are simply InvisibleToNormals. Later on [[spoiler: episode 4 has a reveal he may or may not be in an insane asylum [[CuckooNest hallucinating the entire series]]...or perhaps the insane asylum is [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane simply another supernatural occurrence.]]]]
* WeAreEverywhere: Harrow's cult isn't limited to his village in the alps, having people as far away as London, including security guards in Steven's museum, two London cops and several children, and plenty of acolytes in Cairo.
* WriterOnBoard: Downplayed example. Main director Mohamed Diab has been very outspoken about negative stereotypes of his native Egypt in media, and as such, the show takes great care to avert common tropes such as ArabianNightsDays, EgyptIsStillAncient, ArabOilSheikh, or WarmPlaceWarmLighting in favor of more accurate depictions that show Cairo as a modernized city with its own local customs and music.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Steven has multiple anti-sleepwalking measures in place, including an ankle restraint, sand around his bed, and a tape seal over his door. None of these work because it isn't his subconscious taking over his body, it's Marc, who is fully capable of removing the restraints and replacing the sand and tape. In fact the one thing that revealed something was wrong was Steven's pet (one-finned) fish having a second fin.

* OneSteveLimit: Steven Grant shares his name with that of '''Steven Grant''' [[Characters/MCUCaptainAmerica Rogers]]. Also shares a name with a [[Characters/MCUDoctorStrange certain master of the mystic arts]], though it's spelled differently. [[spoiler:Episode 4 reveals that Marc based it off of a character from an old B-Movie called ''Tomb Buster''.]]

* CastingGag:
** This isn't the first time Creator/OscarIsaac has played [[Film/XMenApocalypse a Marvel Comics character with a connection to ancient Egypt]].
** The Japanese dub includes a meta one, considering her voice actress and another relative of her, who is also a voice actress: [[spoiler:Taweret]] is voiced by [[spoiler:Creator/MegumiHan]], and later in the series, [[spoiler:she grants her powers and armor to Layla]]. This is relevant, as her mother, [[spoiler:Creator/KeikoHan]], is well-known for voicing [[spoiler:[[Anime/SailorMoon Luna]], another talking animal related with the moon able to grant powers to humans in order to fight evil, in that case to Usagi Tsukino in order to transform herself into the titular Sailor Moon]]. The main difference here is, while [[spoiler:Luna limits herself to grant those powers to Usagi, Taweret does the same by using Layla as her Avatar instead]].

** In the very same episode, Steven explains the Field of Reeds to a little girl who snarkily replies that he must've died to which he says he hasn't. [[spoiler:Cue Episode 4 and Harrow killing him/Marc and then the following episode revealing he doesn't even make it to the Field of Reeds.]]
** While preparing for a date, Steven dresses up in front of three side-by-side mirrors, alluding to [[spoiler:the character's three personalities]].

** [[spoiler: Is Moon Knight really a superhero serving Konshu, or were all his adventures just taking place [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness inside his head while in a mental institution?]] Probably, in the show's reality, the former, but the show plays with the possibility…]]

** In "Asylum", Steven Grant sees a poster for ''Tomb Busters'' and the tagline reads, "When danger is near, [[spoiler:Steven Grant]] shows no fear".

* IdentityBreakdown: In Episode Five, [[spoiler:the mystery of Steven and Marc's shared background culminates in a confrontation between the two, in which Marc reveals that he invented Steven as a coping mechanism for the abuse he suffered as a child. Steven, naturally enough, is shocked and betrayed.]]

* {{Tagline}}: "Embrace the chaos."

* InformedJudaism: Marc is Jewish, and you can see the Star of David around his neck in the reflections when he's speaking to Steven. He also is heard to use the common Yiddish colloquialism "Oy". The doorway of his apartment has a mezzuzah, and in an interview, Oscar Isaac talks about how Steven's accent is modeled after the northeastern part of London that is home to a thriving Jewish community. His Jewish practice, however, is mostly kept in the background, except at a pair of crucial moments; in Episode 5, Marc's family is shown sitting shiva (a seven day mourning and acceptance period in Judaism) [[spoiler:first for his brother and, later in the episode, for his mother]] and Marc is shown wearing a kippah.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] The "Marc" identity is only shown being violent in life-or-death situations and, based on what we know of other people's interactions with him, is perfectly stable otherwise. Meanwhile, Steven Grant is very much a NonActionGuy, and usually tries to run away from confrontations rather than engaging in them. [[spoiler:[[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] as of "The Friendly Type", which implies that there's a more brutal third alter that neither Steven nor Marc knows about -- and which we finally get to see, briefly, at the very end of the last episode.]] It's not that insanity equals violence, it's that Marc's insanity involves splitting off the violent side of his personality.

* InformedJudaism: You can see the Star of David around Marc's neck in the reflections when he's speaking to Steven. He also is heared using the phrase, "Oy", which is a common Yiddish colloquialism. The doorway of Steven's apartment has a mezzuzah, and in an interview, Oscar Isaac talks about how Steven's accent is modeled after the northeastern part of London that is home to a thriving Jewish community.
** In Episode 5, Marc's family is shown sitting shiva (a seven day mourning and acceptance period in Judaism) [[spoiler: first for his brother and, later in the episode, for his mother]] and Marc is shown wearing a kippah.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]] The "Marc" identity is only shown being violent in life-or-death situations and, based on what we know of other people's interactions with him, is perfectly stable otherwise. Meanwhile, Steven Grant is very much a NonActionGuy, and usually tries to run away from confrontations rather than engaging in them. [[spoiler:[[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] as of "The Friendly Type", which implies that there's a more brutal third alter that neither Steven nor Marc knows about.]]

* AdaptationalNationality: In the comics, Steven Grant was an American multimillionaire. In this series, Grant is a lower-class Brit working at the British Museum.

* AndStarring: With F. Murray Abraham as the voice of Khonshu and Ethan Hawke.

** In episode 1, Steven is shown stocking Taweret plushies in the museum and briefly discussing them with his boss Donna. Later on a mural of Taweret can be seen behind one of Ammit when Harrow confronts Steven in the museum. [[spoiler: In episode 4 Taweret ''herself'' shows up, looking remarkably close to the plushie design.]]

** In episode 1, Steven is shown stocking Taweret plushies in the museum and briefly discussing them with his boss Donna. [[spoiler: In episode 4 Taweret ''herself'' shows up, looking remarkably close to the plushie design.]]

** [[spoiler: Likewise, Marc's hidden personality [[AxeCrazy Jake Lockley]] appears to be Spanish, or at least a place where Spanish is a primary language.]]

* SuperheroMovieVillainsDie: Invoked and enforced in the last minute of the last episode. [[spoiler:After Ammit is sealed physically into Arthur Harrow, already implied to be a FateWorseThanDeath, Khonshu has Jake Lockley abduct him to take him out and leave her DeaderThanDead.]]

* CastingGag: This isn't the first time Creator/OscarIsaac has played [[Film/XMenApocalypse a Marvel Comics character with a connection to ancient Egypt]].

* FriendsRentControl: The first sign that things aren't as they seem with Steven is that a guy who works at a museum gift shop can somehow afford a large flat in London. He claims it actually belongs to his mother.

* TheStinger: The post-credits scene for "Gods and Monsters" shows [[spoiler:Jake Lockley in the car that takes Arthur Harrow away, and he kills Harrow with a double tap.]]

** [[spoiler: Likewise, Marc’s hidden personality [[AxeCrazy Jake Lockley]] appears to be Spanish, or at least a place where Spanish is a primary language.]]

** [[spoiler: Is Moon Knight really a superhero serving Konshu, or were all his adventures just taking place [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness inside his head while in a mental institution?]] Probably, in the show’s reality, the former, but the show plays with the possibility…]]

** Still on the subject of tribute to creators, TheStinger shows a reference to Bill Sienkiewicz, the first artist of Moon Knight's solo comic book, in the name of [[spoiler:the Sienkiewicz Psychiatric Hospital, where Harrow was put as a patient]].

* ScalesOfJustice: A recurring motif throughout the show, based around Myth/EgyptianMythology's JudgementOfTheDead belief where hearts are weighed against a feather to determine if someone was worthy to enter the realm of the dead. Harrow's cult members bear scale tattoos; they are used to see if a person is good enough by Ammit's standards to live. This method of judgement doesn't work on Steven likely due to his fractured mind; indeed, when [[spoiler:Steven/Marc are shot dead; Taweret tries to balance their hearts on the gods' Scale of Justice and eventually concludes that they are unbalanced...at least until Steven is killed]].

** [[spoiler: Likewise, Marc’s hidden personality [[AxeCrazy Jake Lockley]] appears to be Spanish, or at least a country where Spanish is a primary language.]]

** [[spoiler: Likewise, Marc’s hidden personality [[AxeCrazy Jake Lockley]] appears to be Italian]]