Viewer Log: Moon Knight ep 6

Gods collide. 

Last time on Moon Knight, the boys died. They woke up on a ship sailing across the desert that is the Egyptian afterlife, the Duat. They meet Taweret, the hippo headed goddess of women and children, who tells them they have until the reach the end of their voyage to get their hearts to balance or they’ll be dragged into the Duat. Steven learns about Marc’s history, that his brother drowned when he was young, and that Steven was created to protect Marc’s mind from his abusive mother. He also learns how Marc met Khonshu, the god manipulating Marc to agree to serve. While this information helped their hearts, they were still unbalanced. Steven ultimately sacrificed himself to save Marc, getting dragged into the Duat. Their hearts balance and Steven is allowed into the Field of Reeds as the credits roll. Enough recap let’s get to it.

 

Episode 6: Gods and Monsters

 

Evil Upgrade.

We open on marc’s corpse floating in the little fountain after he was shot. Harrow’s men pull him out of the water and reclaim Ammit’s statue. Harrow leaves the Scarab on his chest, saying that he’s sorry to all the men in Marc’s head. Layla, still watching, takes out one of the guards and continues to observe for the moment. Harrow transforms his staff into an axe with the new infusion of power and he and his people walk off. Layla goes to check on Marc, finds he’s still dead. She grabs the scarab and uses it to lock onto Harrow. The chase begins.  

 

Harrow and his men return to civilization, slipping through an Egyptian military checkpoint by using Ammit’s power to judge all the people at a distance. All but one of the guards drop and I guess he’s recruited into the cause? Kay. They clear out the checkpoint as a disguised Layla pulls a knife and prepares to kill Harrow. The corpses starts talking to her, revealed to be Taweret speaking through it. They give her the general idea of the situation, that Harrow is too powerful to stop, that she’ll need Marc, and to get him, Marc and Steven need her to break Khonshu’s statue so they can get their powers back. She also offers to make Layla her avatar, but Layla isn’t interested. The cult moves out, Layla hiding amongst them again as they drive. I guess no one did a head count and realized they have an extra person. Huh.

 

How have they not noticed her yet?

We skip to Harrow and his cult using Ammit’s power to open the secret entrance to the Ennead’s secret lair. These *Avatars of gods* are so out of it that one actually asks “why” someone would try to free Ammit. Dumb Avatars. They try to hold them off, but in the end, they’re judges against a warrior. With the Avatars dead, Harrow breaks the statue, freeing Ammit. Meanwhile, Layla finds Khonshu’s statue. Ammit upon her freedom points out to Harrow that his own scales lack balance, and he explains that’s okay, that he had hoped freeing her would give him balance, but he’s fine with judgement if that’s not the case. Ammit likes his attitude and gives him a reprieve so he can work for her. I guess that, while Alexander the Great’s scale’s balanced perfectly, that balance led him to imprisoning her for millennia. I feel like that should tell Ammit something about the morality of her plans moving forward, but what ya going to do? As he’s officially made her avatar, Layla frees Khonshu. He immediately tries to recruit her, but she’s not into it. She sees his gaslighting for what it is, and tells him they’ll work together but she won’t enslave herself to him. He tells her that they need to bind Ammit again, and only an Avatar can do it. She tells him no again and he teleports away. Ammit leads her cult to try to begin cleansing Cairo. Khonshu swoops in to block their path. Ammit says time hasn’t been kind to him, to which he agrees but says he can’t let her pass. Harrow orders his people to find who released Khonshu.

 

In the Field of Reeds, Marc stands and basks as Taweret tells him his journey is over. It’s the piece he wanted but never had. He asks about Steven, Taweret telling him that the Duat has him and he should just enjoy his peace. He must go back for Steven, but Taweret tells him you don’t get to just go back. Marc can’t accept leaving his other side to the sad forever, so he leaves the Field and finds Steven’s body among the sand.

 

Ammit and Khonshu argue, the bird head obviously buying time.

 

Marc finds Steven, who is now basically a sandcastle. He thanks Steven for saving him, for protecting him when he needed it. He starts to turn to sand as well. He thanks Steven for not abandoning him and he’s not going to abandon Steven for paradise either. He says Steven was his only real superpower. He hands Steven his heart as he begins to solidify. The doors to Osiris’ gate open and the two are restored, absorbing their hearts. They hug.

 

And he's back, baby.

Ammit and Khonshu begin to battle, Ammit clearly being stronger but Khonshu being faster. Marc and Steven run for the gate as a sandstorm starts rolling in. They almost get hit, but Taweret blocks it with her boat, telling them to get through the gate. She also implies the thing only opened because Osiris is a big softie. How sweet. They sprint through and come back to life, sensing their return, Khonshu teleports to them. Marc remembers all he has done as Moon Knight and his last revival before throwing up the bullets and donning his armor. He returns to the surface to find Khonshu waiting. Khonshu tries to get them to agree to be his Avatar again, with the two personalities swapping as they play hardball with the God of the Moon. Khonshu agrees to release them when this is over. When Steven asks how they’re going to get there, Khonshu answers that they forget that he is the God of the knight sky. The sun sets and Steven swaps back to Marc and they fly up.

 

Osiris Avatar is still alive, Layla grabs him and pulls him into a back tunnel. He asks hot to stop Ammit. He tells her they need to imprison Ammit in a mortal form. He tells her they need more Avatars than they have left to do it, and promptly dies. Layla calls out to Taweret, willing to make a deal. Taweret, who is just so jazzed at the thought of having an Avatar again shouts Layla’s name in glee, saying they’ll have so much fun together, and unfortunately revealing her location. Harrow uses the cane to blast the wall and try to crush her in the collapsing cave. Layla agrees to be Taweret’s temporary Avatar, Taweret telling her that her father will be so proud. She’d met him when she took him to the Field of Reeds. She says she has a fabulous costume for Layla.

 

We must giant Kaiju Kung Fu fight.

Harrow climbs to the top of the Pyramid and calls out in ancient Egyptian, causing the area to pulse with purple light. This impowers Ammit’s followers with Harrow’s judgment power and they start judging everyone they can grab, killing those foud wanting. The souls are devoured by Ammit who grows to colossal size.

 

Nice to meet you Scarlet Scarab!

Layla frees herself, now in a gold and white costume with collapsible red wings. This is her new Avatar/Hero persona, the Scarlet Scarab. Neat. Moon Knight flies in as Ammit gets Kaiju sized. He and Harrow fight as Khonshu manifests to fight Ammit. The giant gods battle as their Avatars do. Marc throws Harrow to the ground, causing massive damage to the street but they both survive. Ammit does the whole “we’re not so different” line, Khonshu says they are because he waits to punish until the choice has been made, and she wrestles him to the ground. On the ground, Harrow knocks Moon Knight to the ground, but Scarlet Scarab flies in to save him. She reflects a blasts from Harrow knocking him back. Marc and then Steven congratulates her on the new look as the fighting begins again. Moon Knight and Scarlet Scarab take out cultists left and right as the gods battle above. Marc and Steven occasionally swapping to use their different tools and skills. Layla keeps him from using his staff and they crack it to disrupt his powers. Harrow blasts a van and Layla dives around it to save a kid from being crushed. The girl asks if Layla is an Egyptian superhero, to which she confirms. She takes out more guards as Marc battles Harrow. Harrow throws Marc off and starts blasting him, claiming that in Ammit’s world, Randall would have lived, and his family would have been happy, as she would have removed the one weed from the garden, Marc. He blasts Marc hard, Layla gets pinned by her wing, and we see Ammit stab Khonshu with his staff. Harrow slams his staff on Harrow, causing him to be hit with energy as Layla gets attacked. Marc seizes up and suddenly Harrow is on the ground, cane to his head. The boys confirm neither of them did that, but can’t discuss it long. Ammit has Khonshu down. Layla tells him to grab Harrow. They go to the chamber and together use their Avatar power to bind Ammit into Harrow’s body. She’s disintegrated and forced into his body. Ammit claims that she’ll never be contained.

 

Khonshu tells Marc to finish Harrow. He pulls his blade to kill Harrow, but Layla tells him he’s free and can make a choice. Marc chooses to not kill Harrow and gets released. Khonshu flies off and their suit vanishes.

 

Steven wakes up in Dr. Harrow’s office. He asks if Harrow believes the Gods are real, and he says no. The boys begin shifting back and forth with each other, asking Harrow what happens if they disagree. Harrow says they’ll keep working. Marc notices Harrow leaving a trail of bloody footprints as he walks to his chair. They get up and they say they’d rather save the world than accept Harrow’s easy answer. They wake up in their flat. Marc asks if Steven if he’s there and he is. He gets up to start his day but wipes out when he forgets he’s bungeed to the bed.

 

He's like more violent Marc. Which is saying something.

In a post credit scene, we’re shown Harrow being checked out of the mental hospital he’d been ditched in. He’s brought out to a limo by a man in a flat hat. As they walk out, we see several knocked out or dead orderlies, implying this isn’t an official release. Inside, he sees Khonshu there. Harrow scoffs at seeing his old boss, thinking he’s safe as Khonshu is without an Avatar. Khonshu then drops some knowledge on Harrow. Namely, that Marc was operating on a faulty assumption when he thought Khonshu wanted Layla when their deal ended. He says, “Why would I ever need anybody else when he has no idea how troubled he truly is.” He reveals his new Avatar, Jake Lockley. He’s a Spanish speaking alt of Marc wearing a flat hat. He says that todays is the day Harrow loses and shoots him twice in the chest. Damn!

 

This finale was kind of mixed for me. Some moments were great. Layla as the Scarlet Scarab, Marc and Steven hitting a symbiosis that they can now freely and willingly shift between the two of them, Marc choosing to not kill Harrow, all of that is good. But there are some bad. Jake Lockley was a twist that probably should have come a bit earlier. Sure, he was in most episodes, but because they wanted to save him for that reveal at the end, we really didn’t get to process this third persona before the credits rolled. He was the alt in the mirror when Steven first heard Marc telling him to stop looking, he was everyone of their most violent outbursts, and there’s even some speculation he was briefly in control in Dr. Harrow’s office, being the one that tried to stab him with the paperweight. Saving him for the end seemed silly. And also robbed us of what looked like a kick ass finale since we weren’t show Jake in control of the body beating Harrow. Just odd. Once she was out, Ammit was a generic villainous with a plan for global conquest, a much less interesting villain than Harrow, and the Kaiju fight was pretty much just a shoving match. So yeah, those elements bring it down a little. I did like how we did end on Marc and Steven just faceplanting in the apartment. I can extrapolate that they found Layla and started to work things out, the face plant is just good comedy. So yeah, I liked this series a lot, I  hope we get to see more of Moon Knight in the future, be it a season 2 or as a Wong style “I’m in every movie now, bro!” thing. Have a good night everyone1

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: Moon Knight ep 5

Pasts are... complicated.

Last time on Moon Knight, Steven and Layla teamed up to try and get Ammit’s statue before Harrow’s people did. They cave dived into the tomb, met some The Mummy rip off guardians and were separated. Layla met Harrow who told her that he saw Marc’s memories when he judged him/Steven and implies that Marc killed her father. Steven, meanwhile, found the tomb and discovered the last Avatar of Ammit was Alexander the Great. He gets the statue, but Layla arrives and demands to know the truth. Marc takes over and tells her he didn’t kill her father but was there. His partner got greedy and killed the archeologist team, and tried to kill Marc, but he survived thanks to Khonshu. Harrow arrives, Layla hides, and Marc tries to fend them off. Marc is shot and killed. He wakes up in a mental hospital and has moment where he wonders if everything that happened to him was a delusion. But he quickly escapes “Dr.” Harrow and finds a pair of sarcophagi. He opens a white one and finds Steven, but they leave the red one alone. As they try to escape, a giant hippo lady comes in and says hi. They screamed together as the credits rolled. Enough recap let’s get to it.

 

Episode 5: Asylum

 

Its saying something when the hippo goddess is 
only like 5th on weird things in Disney+ Marvel shows.

We open with a memory of a cave and rushing water, a woman shouting, “this is all your fault!” and then seeing the hippo lady’s giant hippo teeth as she screams back at the boys. Marc screams alone and is in Harrow’s office. Harrow tells him that his mind is shifting between sense and nonsense. He describes Marc’ brain is a pendulum shifting between the reality that he’s in a psychiatric hospital in Chicago and a reassuring fantasy of his own making. That’s how you know it’s a lie, nothing about the last few days has been “reassuring” to Marc. Though nice nod that he’s a midwestern boy. Marc accuses Harrow of not being a real doctor, but Harrow treats that statement like a joke. Harrow presents Marc’s memory of the last few minutes as “nonsense,” and Marc seems to go along with it. Harrow starts pressing Marc about a little boy he’d been talking about before he got upset. Marc stands up and picks up a glass object, seemingly without realizing it. Harrow calls in security that arrive just as Marc lunges at him with it. Marc gets injected and returns to the hallway with Steven and the hippo.

 

Just boating with my Alternate persona.

She pulls out an intro speech, stating that she hasn’t had to usher people through the afterlife in a while, and welcomes them to the Duat. Steven recognizes this as the ancient Egyptian afterlife, and that she is Taweret, goddess of women and children and the one who will show them through the afterlife. She explains that this is *An* afterlife, not *The* Afterlife. The MCU and most comics these days run on this kind of idea, that there are multiple places to go when you die, your deeds, beliefs and actions just point your soul in the right direction. Obviously, the servants of an Egyptian god get sent through Egyptian afterlife. Taweret takes a minute to gush about how pretty the Ancestral Plane of Wakanda is before continuing. She explains that because the Duat is impossible for the human mind to process, their mind shapes it into something they can handle. Taweret does say a psych ward is a first for her. Marc has a bit of freak out and starts to believe that it’s an “organizing principle” of their insanity and opens a door… only to find them on a boat sailing through a desert. Steven explains that they’re on the way to A’aru, the field of reeds. Taweret tells them they’ll be in paradise if their hearts balance. She uses her power to pull out their hearts and puts them on the Scale of Justice against the Feather of Truth. If they’re hearts balance, they get to heaven, if not, they’re thrown over the side to hell. Marc proposes that they kill Taweret and steal the boat, but the plan is interrupted by their hearts not balancing at all. They just shift endlessly. Taweret tells them with ‘incomplete’ hearts, the Duat will eventually claim them. She tells them to go back into the boat and show each other what they’re hiding or else risk destruction.

 

The boys return to the hospital. Marc tries to convince Steven to steal the boat, but Steven just wants to do what she said. They see the Bad, Marc killing the Jackal in the bathroom, the Good, Steven turning back the night sky, and the confusing, one of them drinking out in the street in front of a house. It’s revealed to be Marc, but he plays the obviously important situation as unimportant. A child cries for help and Steven runs to see who. Marc follows. It’s a room full of dead bodies, revealed to be the victims Marc claimed as the Fist of Khonshu. As Marc talks about how much the killings, albeit justified by Khonshu, weighed on his soul and how he sometimes wishes he’d just died, the Scales (which just appear in the room) begin to slow down. They see a small boy. Marc tells Steven not to go near hm, but they both follow. Steven enters a room and locks Marc out. Marc is frantic to get him out but he won’t listen. We’re shown a lovely afternoon with the Spector family, Marc, his parents, and his little brother Randall. Marc and Randall go off to explore a cave they like to play in. Steven follows the boys, the two Specters playing out the movie from the last episode, Marc being Dr. Grant and Randall being Rosser. It starts to rain, and Randall says they shouldn’t go into the cave when it’s raining per their mother. Marc wants to go forward. They go in, Steven stepping on a dead bird as he tries to follow. Outside, Marc tries to find a way to them, but can’t find a door. Steven tries to call the Specters back but they can’t hear him since, ya know, memory. The cave floods, Randall drowning. Outside, Marc sees his mother’s judging gaze. He forces his way through them memory and to Randall’s funeral. No, the Rabbi and Kippahs aren’t a random detail, the show doesn’t say it out loud, but Marc is Jewish. His mother, Wendy, is in shock, saying she wants her Roro back and screaming at young Marc when he comes down. A wet Steven appears. Steven follows young Marc and into a new memory. Marc and his father Elias have a small birthday party for him since Wendy is still not doing well. Steven climbs higher, another birthday and his mom is still unstable. She still blames Marc for Randall’s death, because she’s depressed. Steven goes higher and opens a door, but Marc grabs him and pulls him away and into the street.

 

The fist of Khonshu reborn.

Steven tries to go back but Marc pulls him back. Steven asks Marc why he’s remembered their mom like that, saying she wasn’t like that. As they try to walk, they see a now teenage Marc walking out with a bag, their father following. Elias tells him that they’ll fix this, but Marc isn’t having it. Modern Marc and Steven wrestle, waking up in the desert in the dead of night. When Steven accuses Marc of being a killer mercenary, Marc explains a bit of his background. Namely, he joined the army after that scene with their dad, but he went AWOL in a fugue (meaning he swapped to Steven) and was discharged from the military. Needing work, he signed up as a mercenary with his old CO Bushman. Their job was to raid a tomb, Bushman changed the plan to have no witnesses and killed them all. Marc tried to lead them away, was caught and shot too for his trouble. They watch as an injured and bloody Marc drags himself into a temple of Khonshu. Marc prepares to kill himself when the lunar God asks (demands) Marc become his avatar. Steven almost immediately gets that Khonshu was manipulating Marc to agree to be the Avatar, but Marc still thinks that he was just taking the opportunity to keep being a killer. Their scales have slow significantly but are still shifting.

 

They get pulled out to the deck of the boat again. Taweret explains that unbalanced souls are being judged and sent to the Duat before their time. Oh, okay, so Taweret just admitted that Ammit’s judgement of pre-dead souls is a biased system and is damning people that might not do the deeds they’re being judged for, got it. Steven asks her to take them back, but she points out that if they go back to their body now, they’ll just die again due to the bullet wound. They ask if she can contact Layla and get her to free Khonshu. While Marc is happy to be free, he does admit that it’s their only option. Taweret agrees to help and steers the boat toward Osiris’ gate, the only path out of the Duat. Taweret tells them to get back inside and get the scales balanced.

 

Inside, Steven demands to see the bedroom. Marc wants to talk it out, not wanting to go through it all again. Steven insists that they do, as if they don’t get the balanced scale, Layla, and everyone else is going to die. Marc has an intense freakout at being pushed, screaming that Steven can’t make him go through that again.

 

Marc wakes up in Harrow’s office again. Harrow saying that Marc had a freak out, as the involuntary sedation of a patient is illegal. Harrow tells him that he’s proud of him for revealing so many of his traumatic memories. He gives Marc a glass of water. He asks Marc if he made Steven to hide from his bad memories, or if Steven made him to punish the world for what his mother did to him. Harrow encourages him to open up to Steven and figure it out.

 

It must be hard to look at a parent and see a monster.

We enter the memory. Steven knocks aside his toys and sits on the ground crying. Wendy beats on the door, demanding he opens the door. Marc keeps chanting Wendy isn’t his mom, clearly scared, until he has his first swap, and in his fake British accent decides to clean things up before “mum” sees. Wendy busts the door open, grabs a belt and is implied to start beating him. Marc pulls hm out, saying Steven isn’t meant to see that, that’s not the point of him. Steven hits Marc, angry at finally discovering that he wasn’t the original, that he’s someone Marc “made up.” Marc counters by pointing out that Steven got to live in a world where he believed he lived a happy, simple, normal life. He drops the bombshell that their mother died. Steven doesn’t believe him, but Marc says that their father called them about his mother’s “shiva.” I googled that, it’s the weeklong mourning period in the Jewish funeral rites. Okay, so there’s one out loud reference to Marc being Jewish.

 

Steven demands to be “let out” and wakes up in Harrow’s office. He threw water in his face by accident. He’s just as freaked out as Marc was initially. He says that Harrow is very “Ned Flanders” which made me giggle. He claims that Marc lied to him about things. Harrow reveals that Steven brought them to the hospital after their mother passed, which causes Steven to scream at him. Harrow offers to call Steven’s mother, which he does despite Steven’s objections. Steven takes the phone, and says his mum is dead.

Oscars Oscar moment. Seriously, the pain in him is
palpable.

 

He remembers the day that Marc tried to go to the shiva. He stood outside, drinking. His father sees him and tries to get him to come in, but he refuses.  Like many a child at the death of an abusive parent, Marc has tumultuous feelings about his mother. He storms off, breaking his father’s heart most assuredly as he does so. He drops to the street, cries, and beats his Kippah into the ground. He says he’s sorry, and then suddenly shifts to Steven. Steven gets up, puts his probably dead phone to his head and starts talking to his mom, telling her he got lost again. The current Steven arrives. Marc gets up and tells him this is the point where they started shifting more randomly. Funny, his mom caused his DID in the first place, and then ultimately made it worse. It was two months ago, by the way. Steven tells marc that it wasn’t his fault. Marc doesn’t believe him, but Steven insists it wasn’t his fault. They feel a shift and realize that the boat stopped.

 

Marc gets his rewards
Nooooooooo Steven!

    They come up to the surface. They learn they made it to the gate but they’re hearts still aren’t balanced. She apologizes but leaves them to their fate. Marc starts fighting the sand zombies that rise up and grab them. Marc is almost thrown over, but Steven grabs the helm and turns the boat to the other side, knocking them over. Marc tries to get up but is knocked out. Steven, realizing that if Marc has got this, and he is also Marc, then he has it too. He saves Marc and relieves a lot of anger all in one go. Another sand guy grabs Marc, but Steven sacrifices himself to save Marc. He turns to Sand, as Marc shouts his name. Steven’s death, or sacrifice, balances their scales and Marc finds himself in the field of reeds. Oh damn!

 

This is probably the best episode of the series. Which feels weird for me to say because I usually prefer more action, but this was such an interesting character study. We got to see how in this version of events, Marc’s mind fractured to protect itself. Frenanda Andrade did an amazing job portraying Wendy in her few scenes, showing us an at first loving parent, but how grief and anger broke her so completely that it was easier to punish her living son for an accident than to just live with her younger son’s death. It’s a terrible thing to do but extremely well-acted. The bit in the street during the shiva was brilliant. In one moment, Marc Spector is there, sobbing, and angry, and in pain, and in an upwards eye roll he’s Steven, befuddled and happy go lucky, trying to figure out where the bloody hell he is. Brilliant. The bit with Arthur Harrow psychoanalyzing them was fine. Again, I’m not a huge fan of the “is the hero living out a delusional fantasy?” trope, but they used it just enough to help drive home the fact that the mind of Marc Spector is a chaotic place. Even has he’s coming to grips with things, he’s not quite processing it right. Taweret is great, by the way. Hippos are not to be treated lightly, but she’s delightful as this bubbly goddess that’s playing tour guide. I liked the bit where she’s not even that upset that their afterlife isn’t visited that often and instead takes a moment to talk about how pretty the Ancestral Plane is. Top notch stuff right there. So yeah, that’s the penultimate episode. Next time, the finale. See you there. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: Moon Knight ep 4

 I'd be way more concerned about my powers being gone than these guys are, just saying.

Last time on Moon Knight, Marc got in the driver’s seat of the body and set about finding Harrow. This was complicated slightly by Steven trying to force them to give up and go home. Marc tracked a trio of Harrow’s goons, but after getting his bell rung by a pipe to the head, he blacked out and when he came back he killed two of the three and the third killed themself to escape. Marc has Khonshu summon the Egyptian Gods to try to stop Harrow, but somehow, the former Moon Knight tricked the gods into thinking Khonshu is the one in the wrong. A friendly Avatar, Yatzil, tells him to try to use the black market to find the sarcophagus of Senfu, a former acolyte of Ammit. He was one of the few people to know where the tomb was. Layla joins him and brings Marc to Mogart, the current owner of the Sarcophagus. They get there and find fragments of a star chart, but Harrow interrupts them, destroys the sarcophagus and Mogart sends his men to take care of the two. Marc suits up and takes out the guards. Layla swipes the star chart fragments. They drive out to the desert, and Marc swaps with Steven who figures out the star chart. Then, he and Khonshu combine their power to turn back the night sky to 2000 years ago. They get the coordinates as Khonshu is sealed in stone by his fellow gods. So, they know where to go, but now Marc and Steven don’t have access to their powers anymore. Whoops. Let’s get to it.

 

Episode 4: The Tomb

 

To be fair, Khonshu hasn't looked better.

We open on Osiris’ Avatar taking Khonshu’s statue and placing it in storage with other imprisoned gods. Guess that explains why you don’t hear about some of those guys anymore.

 

Meanwhile, Layla tries to wake up a comatose Steven/Marc, just as some guys show up and start shooting them. She pulls the body down a sand dune and evades the truck for a few moments. She gets to their car and hides in the back. The goons find Marc/Steven, but assume he’s dead. Layla draws their fire by lighting a flare. When they drive around to find her, she runs up and throws a second flare on their ammo stockpile, destroying it and killing them. Steven, I believe, gets up and gives her a look.

 

Falling in love with my husband's Alt face.

They drive toward the tomb. Layla tries to get Steven to swap to his more combat orientated self, but Steven is hesitant to do it. He convinces Layla that Marc would be more liability than help, and she agrees, thinking he’d go lone wolf on them. So it’s her and the aspiring Egyptologist. … They’re definitely going to die. They get out of the truck and hoof it to the tomb. They find Harrow’s people already there, digging. The camp outside is empty when they arrive. They search around for supplies, while alone, Marc tries to convince Steven that it’s a suicide mission. He warns Steven that without the power, suit, or weapons, they’re screwed. Marc realizes that Steven has a thing for Layla and threatens to throw them off a cliff next time he’s in control. Layla preps Steven for the dig, notes he smells like Marc (weird) and goes in for a kiss, but Steven stops her, telling her that Marc pushed her away to protect her from Khonshu. He drops the “you might be in line to be the Avatar” truth bomb on her, which shocks her. She still wanted to be in the loop about things. The two do kiss before Layla dives. When alone, Steven suddenly punches himself in the face. A minute after Layla drops, Steven falls after. He geeks out about the site as they go. Layla tells Steven about her dad, the archeologist on a mission who died for it. Steven tells her that he’d be proud of her. They head deeper.

 

Imhotep. Imhotep. Wait, sorry wrong franchise.

They find maze deeper inside. Layla finds bullet casings, wondering what they’d be shooting at. Steven realizes that the maze is in the shape of the Eye of Horus. He analyzes the image, and they figure the tomb would be in the long line in the Eye symbol, as that represents the tongue and an Avatar is the God’s voice. They find a chamber where the guardians of the tomb are depicted. They also find a sacrificial alter with fresh blood and flesh on it, which isn’t the best sign. Steven spies a possible opening higher up and goes to check it up. Steven tells her that Ammit will be bound in a stone statue like Khonshu is. He finds an exit, after geeking out over some of the equipment, just as they hear a bunch of gun shots. They hide. One of the guardians drags one of Harrow’s men to the alter and kills him and begins to prepare the body. The Heka priest, as it’s credited, hears Layla shifting around and almost catches her, until Steven makes a noise and draws its attention. Layla throws a jar to distract it and they run in two different directions. Steven shoves over a table, squishing the priest. Layla finds a bottomless pit, confirmed after throwing a torch in it. She hears another priest’s clicking decides to risk falling in to escape it. She rock-climbs over, almost falls, and then gets grabbed by the priest. She wrestles with it, taking it apart as it’s ancient, before stabbing it with a flare. She rolls it off the side of the edge of the pit, almost falls with it but saves herself. After stress screaming, she gets up and sees Harrow watching.

 

Artur Paendrag Tanreall in another turning of the
Wheel of Time. Yes, I want you to watch that show. 

Steven goes in deeper on his own, geeking out about who might be buried here. He wonders if the last Avatar of Ammit was Nefertiti or Thutmose II. Marc cuts in to grill his other self about kissing Layla. Steven forgets it when he sees Macedonian writing on the sarcaphogus. Realizing there was only one Macedonian that was also a pharaoh, he concludes this is the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. Neat!

 

Harrow tells Layla that he handled that situation beautifully, and she tries to storm off, but he mentions her dad. He draws her back by talking to her, saying that her dad would be proud that she was one of the first to prove the Gods walk among us. He explains that his power, the scales, let him see moments of sin and weakness and he saw a lot of that in Marc. He hints there’s something Marc isn’t telling her and Layla demands he just talk.

 

Steven takes a minute, but then pushes the sarcophagus open. Inside is Alexander’s mummy. Realizing Alexander would stick with the theme and want to hide the statue from looters and guess he had it put in his mouth. Steven rips open the wrapping, and breaks open his jaw, finding the statue.

 

Harrow tells Layla that her father was murdered by mercenaries and she guesses that Marc was there. He describes what her father was wearing, saying that the image of him wearing a scarf that Layla made him sticks in his mind. She storms off.

 

We know he's not dead, not with 2 episodes left
but still, this was shocking.

Layla joins Steven, who is jazzed about finding the statue, but she’s on edge after learning from Harrow. She wants to know what happened to her father. Her demands let Marc swap in. He wants them to leave but she needs to know. He says he didn’t kill her dad but confirms he was there. She asks how he died and Marc said his partner got greedy and killed everyone at the site. He tried to save her dad but failed. He reveals that he was shot and supposed to die that night, but Khonshu saved him. He said he tried to tell her from the moment they met, and she realizes that they only met due to his guilty conscience. Harrow’s men begin arriving, Marc tells Layla to find them a way out while he holds of Harrow’s people. Harrow talks about the day he realized Khonshu was gone and how freeing that was. He tells Marc he has choice now, and has an important decision to make. He says ‘okay’ and a goon goes to grab him. Marc kills three of the goons before Harrow pulls a gun and shoots him twice, a terrified Layla watching. He falls back into the fountain alter and dies.

 

How is Harrow evilier now?

Marc wakes up in a psychiatric hospital. He’s watching an old, really low budget movie about gentleman adventure Dr. Steven Grant and his sidekick Rosser investigating an Aztec ruin. We’re shown around the hospital floor, lot of mentally unstable people doing activities like bingo, drawing, and such. Marc is pushed into a corner where Layla, acting unstable, joins him and explains her conspiracy idea them changing the movie. She runs off when she realizes they got a bingo. Marc, staring at his reflection, calls out to Steven but he doesn’t answer. He tries to get up, falls because he’s bound to the chair and drops a Moon Knight toy. He has a session with Dr. Arthur Harrow. He talks about Marc’s favorite movie, Tomb Buster, and points out how the movie is like Marc’s whole backstory. Servant of a lunar god, a megalomaniac villain and so on. He gives a speech about how we live in a psychic world not a material world and how context matters. Marc is distracted by a fly for a second. Marc says everything reminds him of… something. He asks about Steven. The question causes Marc to look around the room, seeing a bunch of things like Harrow’s cane, a painting of a town in the alps, Egyptian artifacts and so on. Marc tries to run from Harrow, breaking the door and then fighting the orderlies that try to stop him. He runs down the halls, which start swaying. He ducks into a room where he finds a white sarcophagus that is thumping and the man inside is screaming. Marc opens it, releasing Steven. They hug. Steven asks how this is possible, but neither knows. They just remember being shot. They head out. They pass a red sarcophagus that is thumping but keep walking. At the end of the hall, the doors oepen and a huge hippo lady walks in. She says hi, they scream and the credits roll.

 

Hi Taweret!

… That is honestly the best reaction to any hippo encounter. Look it up, they’re the deadliest land animal in the world.

 

This was a fine episode. It was interesting to se Layla and Steven working together. They’re dynamic is obviously different than her and Marc, as she’s the badass and he’s the academic. Probably says something about them that two such different guys are attracted to the same type of woman. I totally get it, spit fires are hot. The exploration of the tomb is okay. The bits about exploring the tomb seem interesting in principle but are kind of rushed over. The Priests didn’t seem to be of much use. I know others have said it, but they feel like a watered-down version of the priests from The Mummy. Just’ saying. The bit in the hospital had me worried. It’s a pretty standard trope that “hero from a fantasy/sci-fi world wakes up in a mental hospital and wonders if they’re adventures are a hallucination.” Superman, Batman, I think Spider-Man has done it a couple time, the list goes. The bit where Marc looks around and sees a bunch of things that were in his hallucination was very similar to what happened to young Clark in Smallville. Thankfully, they don’t try to convince us of the impossibility that everything we’ve seen is a lie. Marc isn’t crazy as proven by finding Steven. Fun fact, the body double to stand opposite Oscar Isaac in the scenes where Marc and Steven are together is none other than Mike Hernandez, Oscar’s brother. So when Marc gives Steven a huge bearhug, that was Oscar bear hugging Mike, which is just sweet. Things are about to get real weird, as the Hippo goddess telegraphed, see you then. 

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Viewer Log: Moon Knight ep 3

 They're wrestling for control.

Last time on Moon Knight, Steven Grant dealt with the ramifications of fighting a monster in your place of work. The Jackal demon was invisible to the camera, so it looked like he was having psychotic episode and then wrecked the toilet. He was obviously fired. Steven started looking into the key he found hidden in his apartment and found his “alt” Marc Specter’s secret storage unit of weapons and money. Marc manifested to Steven and explained that he is (maybe they are?) the Avatar of Khonshu, and Marc just needs to take control of their body for a bit to finish this last job and then he’ll disappear forever. Steven doesn’t believe him and threatens to turn himself in and be put into a medicated coma. Khonshu doesn’t love this idea and chases Steven. Steven runs out into the street and into Layla El-Faouly, Marc’s estranged wife who had been looking for him. After catching her up to what’s going on, despite Marc’s objections, Steven is kidnapped by cops working for Harrow. Harrow explains his whole deal, that he’s trying to free Ammit and create a utopia that doesn’t have the option to be evil. By having Ammit pre-judge people for any evil they *might* do and kill them. Steven isn’t super jazzed by this, and Harrow summons another Jackal to kill him. He escapes thanks to Layla’s arrival but gets knocked out a window. He is able to summon his own Moon Knight suit, a literal 3-piece suit with a mask. Steven does okay against the Jackal, but it’s too powerful for him to beat. He tags Marc in, who leads the monster on a chase before impaling it on an art piece. He learns that Harrow got the Scarab, he lost it in the struggle, and vows to beat Harrow to the tomb. He also refuses to let Steven back out, revealing that he is now strong enough to hold it. They travel to Cairo and the closing shot is on Marc drinking heavily while Steven looks on via a mirror dejectedly. Let’s get to it.

 

Episode 3: The Friendly Type

 

We open on Layla at a forger to get herself a fake passport. She’s certain that Marc has gone onto Cairo, and she is going to follow. We get some insight on her pass with the forger, Lagaro. She grew up going along with her father to dig sites. More recently, she’s been stealing antiquities and returning them to their rightful owners. Reverse Indiana Jonesing, I guess.

 

Yeah, I'd be shocked too.

We cut to Harrow leading his expedition to Ammit’s tomb with the scarab. He’s got a huge crowd following him. The Scarab leads him to a specific point, and he announces to his followers that they found it. One of his people reports that Marc has been seen in Cairo and they assume he’s tracking them. But that can’t dampen Harrow’s spirit.

 

We jump to Marc chasing down Harrow’s men on rooftops. The guy he was following was shanked and killed by three others. They show off some fancy knife skills, but Marc is the fist of vengeance. He beats the three up with only taking a few hits for his trouble… before he looks into a knife and sees Steven pleading with him to not kill anyone. Marc seizes up and then wakes up a few minutes later in a taxi. Steven took over, let the goons go and got in a taxi for the airport in the short time he was in control. Dude is efficient. Marc sees the goons walking out of the building, gts out and chases them again. He has a harder time at street level, but does lock onto them. He grabs one of them and punches him a few times before asking where Harrow is. Steven distracts him for a moment, saying that’s enough and he gets beamed on the head. Marc has another seizure, but this time when he wakes up he’s outside of town, covered in blood, and two of the three goons are dead. He asks Steven “what did you do?” but Steven is just as confused. He confronts the one living goon. Khonshu tells him to take the kid to the ledge. Marc does so despite his reservations and holds the kid over the ledge by his scarf. Rather than answer, he says “praise Ammit” and slices himself free. Khonshu, rather nonplussed, says he thought the kid would talk. Marc and Steven fight for a bit, not sure who killed those people, before Marc asks if they couldn’t get the other God’s involved. I bet Thor would love to throw down with Ammit! Oh, wait, no, Ennead only. Khonshu tells him they could, but unless they have solid evidence, they run the risk of having him imprisoned in stone. Marc isn’t against the idea, which makes Khonshu miffed but he agrees to get things rolling. Khonshu causes an eclipse, saying that he’s giving the god’s a sign they can’t ignore. In town, Marc finds a portal to the meeting place, Khonshu warning at the last meeting he had been banished. Khonshu walks off, telling Marc he’ll be there.

 

It's a cool clubhouse.

The portal leads to the inside of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Steven geeks out pretty hard in the reflection when he realizes it. The God’s Avatars arrive. He meets Yatzil, Avatar of Hathor, who is quite friendly to him, saying that no god matches Khonshu’s theatrics. Hathor and Khonshu are old friend, apparently, but the old buzzard never mentioned her to Marc. Before they can talk more, they’re called to order. The trail begins, with Hathor obviously taking the reigns from Yatzil, and introducing Horus, Isis, Tefnut, Osiris, and herself. Osiris begins, I think, telling Khonshu that he was banished before because of his theatrics and other garish behavior, and warning that if he messes with the sky again, it’s stone time. Khonshu takes over for Marc, saying that he was banished for being the only one to not abandon humanity. The gods claim that they leave their will up to their avatars and try not to meddle so openly as Khonshu. He tells them to shut up and start meddling or risk losing the world. I’m paraphrasing, but not by much. Khonshu is apparently also the god of bluntness. Khonshu asks for judgement against Arthur Harrow for trying to free Ammit. They summon the accused.

 

Harrow's whole defense is that they need to ignore
evidence and focus on the fact Khonshu is
unstable and so is Marc and Steven.

Harrow arrives and immediately gaslighting Marc. Harrow basically says “Nuh-hu” to everything Khonshu says to him, and then throws the fact that Marc suffers from DID as evidence that Khonshu is unhinged. Guys, you’re gods, a dude with more than one person in his head is no where near the weirdest thing you’ve dealt with. Marc tries to take a swing at Harrow but is stopped by Osiris. They free him and ask him if he is “unwell.” Marc admits he is, but that they need to focus on Harrow. Osiris says that Harrow has committed no offense and lets him go. I guess the Gods didn’t notice the several people pre-judged and sent to the Egyptian afterlife huh?

 

Yatzil stays behind and informs Marc there is another way to stop Harrow and get to Ammit’s tomb. She explains that while the tomb was hidden from the gods, Ammit had followers and one of them, a medjay named Senfu had a map. He kept it as a “just in case” situation, if the gods decided to show mercy. She tells him to start searching the black market, as Senfu’s sarcophagus was stole and sold on it. 

 

Later Marc, explores an actual market, gets a drink and asks the vender where to find Senfu’s sarcophagus. The man is visibly freaked out and walks away, just as Layla walks up and informs her hubby that he had the right guy at the right place, but the fact he’s not-Egyptian made the conversation dodgy at best. She offers to help him and not having other options, he agrees. That night, they take a boat to wherever Layla’s plan leads. They air out some of their relationship stuff, we’ll work together to save the world type stuff. They’re heading to Mogarts, a collector of rare antiquities. They enjoy watching a few locals celebrating, before the personal stuff rears up again and Layla asks why he didn’t tell her about Steven and his condition. Marc says that he had it under control until recently, but *something* changed and he and Steven started swapping more randomly. He doesn’t want to talk about it. Layla says they could have handled it together, but Marc says that he doesn’t handle things that way. The moment breaks and they get in mission mode.

 

Moon Knight has awesome entrances.

Their boat lands and they get off. Marc sees someone following them. Layla asks if he’s one of Harrow’s men, but they aren’t sure. They go inside, and find some kind of jousting tournament going on. They meet with Bek, Mogart’s top guy who brings them to an area to wait for him. Mogart greets them, and Layla introduces Marc under an alias. He leads them to his collection, him pontificating on how what he does is so good. He seems suspicious of Marc but lets him have a look at Senfu’s sarcophagus. They examine the sarcophagus but don’t find any map or anything unique to lead them to a map. Marc, realizing he knows nothing about hieroglyphics, but has someone who does, tells Layla to watch the guards and asks Steven for help. Steven plays hardball for the body, but Marc’s not budging. He eventually agrees. Marc starts folding the pieces of fabric on the sarcophagus as Steven directs, making a star chart. He’s interrupted by the guard, but Marc grabs the gun and holds it on him. When he realizes Layla’s at gunpoint, he surrenders. Mogart has him get on his knees. He brings Layla over to execute them both. Marc tells him to check the sarcophagus. They’re interrupted by Harrow’s arrival, him offering the scarab and Ammit in exchange for the sarcophagus. Harrow start poking at psychological scars, Layla’s dead dad issues, Marc’s trust issues, etc. Khonshu tells Marc to summon the suit. Harrow, at Mogart’s request, chants his magic chant and destroys the sarcophagus. He walks off and then everyone notices that Marc is gone. He got on top of the display pyramid and into the Moon Knight suit.

 

Marc holds the guards off while Layla gathers the pieces of the chart. Marc kicks a lot of ass while Layla fights Bek. Steven keeps whispering in Marc’s head, telling him to have restraint. Steven finally forces a change, swapping to the suit-suit. Steven tries to get everyone to calm down but gets stabbed for it. He tags Marc back in. He keeps getting lanced, Layla, seeing it, stabs and kills Bek before running to Marc’s rescue. Mogart rides up and slaps her down. This infuriates Marc who kills the guards and then Morgat, rolling Layla out of his path as he does. Khonshu tells him Tick tock as they walk off.

 

Iffff I could turn back tiiiiimmmme, Iff I could 
fiiiinnndd a waayyyy.

 As Marc and Layla drive, he deflects Layla’s questions about what secrets he’s keeping from her. She doesn’t buy it and is visibly upset by it. But they have a mission. Eventually, Harrow’s men find them and start tailing them as they drive into the desert. The fragments are too broken for them to work with. At Layla’s insistence, they swap, and Steven gets to work with some tape. He explains when she joins him, that the Egyptians invented modern navigation, and gets the pieces together into a star pattern. They can’t do much with it, though, as while they can see the constellations, the problem is the star chart is 2000 years out of date. If they can’t see the stars on that date, they don’t have much to work with. Khonshu informs him that he remembers that, and every other night. He offers to turn back the night sky but warns them it’ll come at a cost. He tells Steven to tell Marc to fee Khonshu after the gods imprison him for this. Steven and Khonshu raise their hands and literally turn the sky backwards, the stars and moon flashing by at blurring speed as they do. While that is happening, The Gods gather and begin a ritual to imprison Khonshu. Khonshu and Steven hold the sky in place long enough for Layla to get a picture of the sky, just as the gods seal Khonshu in stone. They get the coordinates as Khonshu is sealed. Steven’s suit melts and he passes out from the strain. The Gods let Harrow into their sanctum again, and show him the sealed Khonshu. When he’s left alone with the statue, he gloats. He promises to do what Khonshu did not, and that his torment forged Harrow. He owes his victory to Khonshu. Creepy.

 

It was interesting to see how this episode flipped the script of the first. Rather than seeing Steven do something mundane before blacking out and doing violence, we see Marc doing something violent before blacking out and doing something mundane. A nice twist. The hints about Marc and Steven having another side even more violent than Marc is interesting. They telegraph that reveal pretty hard, what with the “I didn’t do it, did you?” thing. Getting more of Marc and Layla is nice, even though they seriously need a marriage counselor at this point. You sense the tension between them, that they both want to break it but aren’t sure how. I think my one gripe is how much Harrow is able to get away with here. Dude just says “nope” to the accusations and then throws Marc’s mental health under the bus and suddenly everyone trusts him implicitly. Never mind he has Ammit’s tattoo, Ammit’s staff, a vendetta against his old master, and was in the desert where they buried Ammit. Like… yeah, there’s evidence that Khonshu is off his rocker but to act like there’s none against Harrow is insane. And him just walking up to further complicate the plan at Mograt’s was just weird. Dude walks far for a guy with glass in his shoe. Oh, and that final bit with Khonshu and Steven turning back the sky was brilliant. Beautifully done, and yet I can’t help but wonder how freaked out the Egyptian people are. Last time something like this happened, half the world died for five years. Bet it’s giving some folks some flashbacks. So, yeah, a good episode. Next time, we’ll see how Marc and Steven handle the loss of their powers. See you then. 

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Viewer Log: Moon Knight ep 2

I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways.  

Last time on Moon Knight, Steven Grant had a really bad day. Well, it started off fine, with him getting to work, realizing he had a date he didn’t remember asking for, but then he woke up in a field in the Swiss alps. There he met Arthur Harrow, a leader of a mysterious cult town with the power to “judge” people. This judging causes them to die instantly. He wants a golden Scarab that Steven doesn’t remember stealing. Steven tries to hand it off, but his body won’t allow it. He escapes the alps, wakes up in his bed and thinks it was all a dream. But its two days later, he missed his date, and his fish seems to have regrown a fin. Weird. He starts seeing a mysterious figure in white with a bird’s skull following him, right after finding a phone and key hidden in his apartment. At work the next day, he’s confronted by Harrow, who explains he’s an acolyte of Ammit, an Egyptian Goddess whom judges’ souls upon their deaths. She got sick of waiting to punish the wicked, though, tried to start punishing the living for crimes they haven’t committed yet, and was sealed away for it. Harrow wants the Scarab because it’ll lead him to Ammit’s tomb for him to free her. Steven gets away from Harrow, but that night is attacked by a Jackal monster Harrow summoned. He escaped it but was trapped in a bathroom. His reflection, who is his alternate persona (he has Dissociative Identity Disorder) Marc Spector, talks to him and convinces Steven to surrender their body to him.  They switch and Marc suits up into Moon Knight, the fist of Khonshu. He dispatches the beast as the credits roll. Enough recap let’s get to it.

 

Episode 2: Summon the Suit

 

Oh hi Marc.

We open with the noises of Moon Knight beating the Jackal creature to death and Steven waking up, him running out of his bed and tripping on his bungee cord. Yeah, he thinks it was a dream again. Don’t worry, this’ll be the last time. After his reflection doesn’t talk to him, he heads to the museum for work. Inside, he discovers that the bathroom was in fact destroyed and that the security cameras for some reason didn’t catch the Jackal. It just looks like he’s running around like a crazy person and then destroyed the bathroom. Steven has the security guy fast forward to when he left the bathroom. While to the guy, he’s Steven, Steven and I could see that Marc is in the driver’s seat. Steven is unfortunately blamed for the destruction and is fired. HR offers to also set him up with an appointment with a psychiatric hospital, just because, I guess. He must turn over his nametag, which just felt like a kick in the shins.

 

He talks to the gold statue actor, who helps him figure out that he should investigate the key that he found. He goes through several branches of a storage unit company before he finds the one that he’s looking for, the guard telling him that he’s got unit #43. He’s lead inside and finds that it’s filled with gun, money, and other military paraphernalia.  He finds a bag with Marc Specter’s passport in it, and the scarab. He switches it on, it seems, and the scarab starts hovering in his palm. It’s a compass, but it’s not pointing north. Marc starts talking to him through his reflection, telling Steven he’s in great danger. He wants to protect Steven, but he can’t have Steven interfering. He wants Steven to sleep, so he can take over and take care of this whole scarab situation. Steven refuses and asks what he is. Marc explains he’s the avatar of Khonshu, his fist of justice. Steven doesn’t believe him, and says he’s going to turn himself in, and hopefully get filled with enough meds to banish Marc. Outside the locker, the lights flash and Khonshu appears. I guess he’s pissed and worried that Steven will mess this up again. The Lunar Lord tells Steven to “give it back, you fool!” But Steven runs outside and into the street in fear. He immediately runs into a woman on a motorcycle. In the mother of all coincidences, this is none other than Layla El-Faouly, aka Mrs. Specter. Weird. She and Steven drive off, her chastising him for running off and hiding under a weird alias. She tracked his phone, so I guess her tracking him isn’t so weird. She knows about Khonshu and his suit, which is more than what Steven knows. He convinces her to take him home and that he’ll explain everything.

 

Avatar of and High Priest of Khonshu, everyone.

At his flat, which I wonder how Steven wondered how he was paying for a big London flat on a souvenir salesmen’s paycheck, Steven sees Marc in his reflection and Marc tells him he’s in over his head. He tells Layla that this is his moms flat, okay, that’s how he explains it, which surprises her because I guess Marc and his mom haven’t been talking. He seems to impress her with French poetry, and the fact he’s learning hieroglyphics. That is until she gets mad and tells him she’s not buying his bad accent and persona. She gives him the divorce papers that Marc gave her before he left, dick move, which shocks Steven. He starts telling her about what has been happening, digging for the Scarab in the bag as proof, while Marc tells him to not do it. He stops digging for the scarab when Marc tells him this’ll get her killed if she sees it, but he telegraphed too much, she shoves him out of the way and finds it. This scarab, as it turns out, is from Ammit’s tomb and points to the tomb’s location. He tries to give her the scarab, and that seems to convince her that Steven is not Marc. They’re interrupted by the police arriving to ask him a few questions.

 

He tries to blow them off, but they force they’re way in. He tries to get them to leave, but they keep looking around his apartment. Layla, thankfully, climbed out of the window and is hiding on the roof. They’re looking for a “stolen item,” and find his bag of goodies. They arrest him and take him away. On the drive, they reveal that Marc Spector is an international fugitive, that he’s wanted for hitting a dig site and killing several archeologists alongside his mercenary team. Steven denies it, and the cops agree. Why? … because they work for Harrow. Damn. They park in an abandoned factory and get out to get their boss. Marc tries to take control, but Steven fights him off. Steven tells him he’ll never give him control again. Harrow pulls him out, explaining that he just wanted to get a better understanding of his situation which is why he left him alone in the car for a few minutes. I guess multiple personalities explain why Steven’s scale won’t balance. Marc sees Khonshu behind them, the moon god demanding Steven kill Harrow. Harrow is unperturbed by this info, revealing that Khonshu has no power in the physical world and Steven doesn’t have to do what he says. He takes Steven through the neighborhood, explaining that it used to have a huge crime rate but that dropped after his cult took over. Yeah, this is the moral dilemma here, Harrow’s cult provides protection, stability, and safety, but requires culling people that technically haven’t done anything. Harrow reveals how he knows so much about Khonshu, that he was a former Avatar. Harrow claims Khonshu works too slowly, and that Ammit is true justice. She will “eradicate the choice of evil.” Harrow explains that the scarab will lead them to Ammit’s tomb. Harrow asks for the scarab, Steven says he doesn’t have it, and Marc starts talking in a reflection demanding he not give up Layla. Harrow tries to talk to Marc, telling him that Khonshu is always dangling the “one last job” promise. Steven, though, is still hung up on the “judging an innocent person” thing. Harrow claims that the cure is a little taste of the disease in this case. Steven can’t accept the “sacrifice the disease limb to save the body,” argument. Harrow takes his cane, the gift Ammit gave to her first avatar. It has a bit of her power in it, and he threatens to use it on Steven unless he gives him the Scarab. Layla arrives, revealing she has the scarab. Khonshu and Layla tell him to summon the suit, Layla giving him the scarab. They run because Steven still doesn’t know what that means. Harrow uses his cane and summons another Jackal.

 

Psycho Colonel Sanders, indeed.

They lock themselves in a storage room. Layla tries to draw Marc out, but Steven refuses. Layla tells him that he, Steven, can do this, but he has no confidence in himself. The Jackal bursts in, Steven being the only one who can see it. The creature tackles him through a window, as he falls Khonshu demands he summon the suit, which he does. Steven gets his own Moon Knight armor, taking the “suit” comments a bit… literally, as his suit is a literal three-piece white suit with a mask. Marc in a reflection calls it “Psycho Colonel Sanders” look. Steven looks for the scarab but finds a pair of batons, right before the Jackal tackles him again. He fights the invisible beast, much to Layla’s confusion. It gets him in a strangle hold, and she throws a bottle at it to distract it. it smacks them both around, Layla stabbing it with the broken bottle, and Steven smashing a trash can into it.  Marc keeps asking for control, but Steven thinks he can do it. He leads the creature towards him and clocks it on the jaw. While he celebrates his one good hit, he gets smacked around. People watching think that he’s having a seizure or is a fancy drunk. Steven throws the Jackal at an oncoming car, hurting it and him.

 

Steven gets up and sees Marc in the reflection. Marc compliments his punch, but then tells him that he can’t handle this, and that people will get hurt soon if they don’t end it.  They swap, and their suit changes to. Marc leads the jackal up a building and across the roof. He leads it across several more buildings, the moon above hem. He finally grabs it and impales it on a modern art piece. I think? No idea what that spike is, really. Marc drops the suit and learns that he dropped the Scarab in the fight. Arthur gets it, killing a homeless man that found it. Layla sees the whole thing before driving off on her motorcycle.

 

Come and get him, Fido.

Steven, via a nearby mirror, asks Marc if this is what being on the inside. He tells Steven that it gets easier, but he just needs to breath. Steven wants the body back, but Marc refuses, as he has stuff to do. Steven tries to force the swap back but he can’t do it. Marc says that their condition has changed, and now the one in control of the body is stronger. Steven tries to guilt Marc to swap back, but Marc won’t do it. He says that once he finished his mission, he’ll leave and let Steven have the body. They start arguing, Marc revealing that he’s doing this in part to make sure Khonshu doesn’t try to take Layla as his replacement once his service is over, and things getting heated until Marc destroys the mirror that he was talking to Steven through in frustration. Khonshu arrives in a blow of wind. He pretty much gaslights Marc into working harder, threatening to take Layla if they part ways like Marc wants. Marc vows to the tomb before Harrow and asks where he must go to. Khonshu answers “Where do you think?” We cut to Marc sitting in his underwear, possibly drunk, in a Giza hotel room, a dejected Steven watching from a mirror. Damn.

 

This was a solid follow up episode. We see how adding Marc to Steven’s life complicates it almost immediately. I should point out, despite how the show frames it at first, Marc is the “original” personality. So, all this talk about Marc complicating Steven’s life is funny, since ya know, if you go with first dibs Marc had it. I liked getting some insight on how Khonshu works as a god. Khonshu is violent, attack first ask questions later, and manipulative as hell. Harrow hits at it by guessing the “one last job” bait that Khonshu used on Marc when he spoke with Steven, and when Khonshu told Marc that he’d make Layla the offer if Marc broke their deal. This isn’t the last time we’ll see him use manipulation tactics to get what he wants. Harrow is interesting, but his cult is kind of generic? It’s a pretty box standard “We’re peaceful but at what cost???” dystopia in the making. The line about eliminating the choice off Evil was pretty ominous. May Calamaway is pretty great as Layla. She’s out of the loop on some things, like Marc and Steven’s DID, but in the loop on others like Khonshu which makes for an interesting dynamic. I liked getting the conformation that Marc distanced himself from her to try to make her seem less like a good candidate to Khonshu. Trying to divorce your loving wife is a dick move but I kind of get it if it’s to keep her from becoming the Avatar of a vengeful god. Harorw getting the Scarab is bad, but we’ll get more of that later. So… yeah, good episode. See you later. 

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