Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the MK season one finale instead – and it is a jumble.
Ok, no, let’s try again: for a show that aimed at
talking about the mysteries of the mind on one hand, and that was flipping
between the various settings – a mental institution, U.K., Egypt, and so on –
MK was remarkably straightforward and controlled: it was yet another hero’s
journey, one that MCU kept under tight control…until the twist at the end…
which could be seen a mile away.
…When AoS’ S1 had Ward turned traitor, it worked
because it was so unexpected… and nothing gave it away. In MK S1, the
appearance of a third personality – Jake Lockley (or whoever) – was
choreographed several episodes before the S1 finale. Therefore, when the man –
or the personality, whatever – did appear in MK and finished ‘the Harrow job’,
no one was surprised. Except maybe for Harrow.
Let us elaborate. In the S1 finale, the Spector and
Grant personalities of the titular character have reunited with each other and
with Khonshu, and defeated Harrow and Ammit. We have discussed Ammit/Ammut
before, and the same goes for Tawaret, who bonded with Layla as well. Again,
Tawaret is not a warrior goddess; Ammit/Ammut is not much of a deity period,
and I, for one, just could not help but to visualize Mr. Riordan’s ‘Kane
Chronicles’, especially the second book, where the Kane siblings, Carter and
Sadie, have their confrontation with Khonshu.
Again, I proclaim: MK has not ripped-off ‘Kane Chronicles’ directly; the two media are quite different, not to mention that
Layla’s character is quite original… in that that she’s a strong, independent
woman who lives in MCU, (the viewers of the 2021 ‘Black Widow’ film) will be so impressed… and who is an avatar of an
ancient Egyptian goddess, just as Marc/Steven/Jake is an avatar of an Egyptian
god. Pause.
…Khonshu appeared to be quite ready and willing to
work with the Jake personality of MK, implying that he himself is just as
morally shady and ambiguous as Jake himself is? Not surprising, given Khonshu’s
re-appearance in the Marvel comics, when he appeared as an enemy of the
Avengers, and while he was not as evil as Mephisto was, (the comic version, as
we have not seen a live-action one yet), he certainly was a bad piece of work –
and MCU’s Khonshu lives-up to that rep, no problem.
…The problem here is that Layla is still legally
married to MK, regardless of which personality is in the driver’s seat, and
Jake is quite nasty, by all standards; plus, there is Khonshu playing extra
interference, and the god’s moral ambiguity and other personality flaws can
easily make an already tense situation worse. What is left?
‘Dr. Strange 2’ is coming out in a couple of days, and
people are already divided about it – fair enough. In RL – and did I fail to
tell you that it sucks, ‘cause it does – the RF has pissed-off the West by
trying to use the Holocaust as its’ justification regarding its’ conflict with
Ukraine, and it didn’t work, while overseas, the U.S. will try to use the RF to
ty to discredit the Donald again.
Can’t say that I blame the latter; if the Donald runs in the elections-2024 and
wins – and given the current POTUS’ less than stellar performance here, it
could happen – if the Donald wins, then the rest of the Western world can
freely tell America to shove-off and sort itself, because this sort of
political unpredictability gets very tiring very fast – but we digressed.
…The final face-off between Ammit/Ammut and Khonshu is
reminiscent of the showdown between Set, (possessed secretly by Apop), and
Horus, in the first book of the ‘Kane
Chronicles’, and here I have to talk about Ammit again – not only her/their deification by MCU is absolute fiction,
their depiction of the ‘new’ deity is highly reminiscent of Sobek instead.
More precisely, Ammit/Ammut was a Chimera: hippo in
the back, lion in the front, and a crocodile head to cap it all. Sobek, on the
other hand, was depicted as a crocodile-headed human, (or a crocodile), nothing
more, and yes, he was a proper god, a
warrior and a protector, (among other things). To conflate him and Ammit
(Ammut) was, and is, just wrong, it is cultural appropriation at its’ stupidest
worst.
…Whereas Layla’s current evolution into Tawaret’s
representative smacks of copyright infringement instead: her new duds are just
excessively similar to what WW wore in the WW84 film. Tawaret is a hippo goddess of fertility, (among other
things), so why the slimming get-up? …Oh, wait; it is Disney/MCU, never mind. When
money is not involved, Disney is certain to play it safe; and when it is… well;
we will just have to see what, and how, the fight between Disney and the
Republicans in the state of Florida will go. Did I not mention that the real
life sucks?
…Getting back to the Egyptian myths and mythos… there
were several falcon-associated deities in there, but they tended to be male,
because they were associated with the pharaoh, (who were overwhelmingly male
themselves, cough); the most famous are Ra, Horus, and their fusion, Horus-Ra –
the Egyptian myths could be quite confusing on their own right, (which may be
why WW84’s creative team tried to go with the Mesoamerican imagery instead),
but we digress.
…No, we are not, not really. The final official
judgement on the MK S1 is out, but mine is that it is one part reworked Mr.
Riordan’s ‘Kane Chronicles’, one part MCU attempt to tackle serious issues,
(mental issues in this case), one part MCU sticking to what they know best –
i.e. entertaining people, and all of this is wrapped-up into an ‘independent’
MCU series, which takes place separate from the rest of the MCU. The end result
is something that you can see for yourself, and I will take my leave of you
now.
See you all soon!
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