That … was truly bizarre. A main character with dissociative identity disorder where their powers deal with but are not caused by their disorder is fascinating (and truly weird to be watching at the same time as Altered Carbon: Season 1…), the Egyptian background and characters are great, and there’s are some pretty awesome scenes, fight and otherwise.

Castingwise, Oscar Isaac is awesome. I’m amazed at how he brings both Marc and Steven to life. Ethan Hawke is a great maybe-baddie-but-maybe-just-a-different-point-of-view. And May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly is a real stand out in just about everyway. I hope that we get to see more of them in the greater MCU, although I have no idea how that’s going to work.

Speaking of which, this was so different from other MCU properties. It’s got Egyptian gods and powers more or less walking around, which fits, but I do really wander how/if we’d see them or their avatars square off against normal MCU level heroes. Tonally, it’s rather different too. There’s still an end of the world threat, but a lot of it’s dealing with the internal struggles of Steven/Marc.

Overall, it’s probably my favorite of the MCU TV shows so far… I’ll have to rewatch it and see if it holds up. It’s really quite good.

Thoughts on individual episodes (potential spoilers):

1. The Goldfish Problem

   Wow. That’s quite an opening. First time in a while it’s someone I have no background on.

2. Summon the Suit

   Poor Steven. Such a bizarre double life. Layla is pretty cool though!

   Do you think Khonshu choose you as your avatar because you’d be so ready to break or because you were broken already?

   Harrow being a former avatar (assuming he’s telling the truth) is a fascinating twist.

3. The Friendly Type

   Suddenly a whole bunch of Avatars and gods. I wonder how in the world that interacts with the rest of the MCU… Neat either way.

   Also… are there more personalities than Marc and Steven? Oh my.

4. The Tomb

   Layla gets to be a badass!

   Steven gets to kiss the girl!

   And then suddenly… it all goes white. That… was jarring.

5. Asylum

   Tawaret. Wonderfully weird.

   And then all the trauma of learning which was the original… and which was created to make better memories.

6. Gods and Monsters

   Well that’s very Marvely. We have gods as large as pyramids mirroring the fight of their mortal avatars, souls flying through the sky, impossible physical stunts, and no real repercussions. But still, it’s a fun episode.

   I love seeing Layla powering up. And finally a hint at an answer to a third?! Great times.