Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for Moon Knight. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please feel free to leave and come back once you are all caught up on the series. This post will still be here, if you so wish to return (and it'd be ace if you did).
I was not intending to do three posts in a row about Moon Knight, but... c'est la vie, I suppose. I had been planning to do the mid-season post as well as this Review (of sorts) for it the whole time, just episode five ended up throwing me for a loop, and there was so much to unpack in there that it ended up getting its own blog post.
My current day job has me working first shift, and as it is about an hour away from where I'm living (because I live in the US, and bullshit commutes are expected, apparently), I have my first alarm set to wake me up at ten past six in the morning, which isn't something any night owl should ever have to do in their life, but it is what it is... Wednesday morning, however, my happy arse naturally woke up a little after 05:00, and while I toyed with trying to go back to sleep, I opted to get out of bed and watch the series (season?) finale instead. It was a worthy cause to risk death by sleepiness.
The end of episode five left us all absolutely heartbroken (well, the entirety of it did, really). Steven, in an effort to save Marc from being dragged down into the Duat, ended up falling overboard and being trapped there himself, his body becoming frozen in the sands. Marc was greatly distressed by this, calling out to both Steven and to Taweret (demanding she stop the boat and go back), in turn, but suddenly, finally, the scales balanced and the episode ended with Marc standing in the Field of Reeds.
I have a theory on why the scales balanced at that moment. I've seen speculation online that the issue was that the two hearts together is what was causing the imbalance, that Marc's heart couldn't balance because of Steven. I'm thinking, though, that it was actually Steven's heart that wasn't balanced in the end.
I noted in my post about episode five that, pretty much from the moment he learned that he was sharing his brain space, Steven was antagonistic, sometimes even malicious, towards Marc. He viewed him as an intruder, as someone violent and untrustworthy, as something that needed to go away ('... And hopefully the NHS will fill me with enough pills that you get out of my head!'). During their investigation of Marc's trauma, however, he definitely softened, and despite being very distraught at learning that he was the alternate personality, he came to terms with it rather quickly. But it wasn't until he was willing to sacrifice himself to save Marc that he proved that he accepted everything, that he accepted Marc, and it was reaching that point that was required for his heart to fill completely and the scales to balance.
Just a thought.
Episode six starts us back in Alexander's tomb with Harrow having his men pull Marc's body from the water enough to search it for Ammit's ushabti. They locate it in one of his pockets, so they end up filing out to go do whatever nefarious things they're intent on doing, leaving Layla, who'd been hiding the whole time, alone with her husband. She goes to him, calls his name quietly, but she knows he's gone. She gives him a very short goodbye, but unfortunately, cruelly, she doesn't actually have time to mourn him properly.
She follows Harrow's crew out and infiltrates their numbers, sneaking onto one of their convoy trucks by covering her face. They all leave the dig, travelling through the desert, then finally finding a road. Pulling onto the road, however, they are greeted by a roadblock set up by the Egyptian military. Harrow disembarks his vehicle and uses Ammit's staff, which got a bit of an upgrade simply from the proximity of her ushabti to it, and judges them all at once, with only one soldier left standing. (These are the souls that were raining down straight into the Duat right after Marc and Steven see the memory of Marc becoming Moon Knight, I do believe.)
Layla gets down off the truck she's riding in, as well, and starts sneaking along towards Harrow behind, intent to attempt to kill him (I'm assuming) with a knife. Lucky for her, and for just about everyone on the planet, really, Taweret is able to get a message to her like Steven had asked... by very morbidly speaking to Layla through a couple of the bodies of men that Harrow just murdered. She informs Layla that Marc and Steven want her to free Khonshu from his ushabti and also offers to make Layla her avatar. An offer which Layla declines.
She does load back up with the rest of the posse, however, and off they go, headed towards the Great Pyramid of Giza. Once there, Harrow uses the staff to make an opening in the side of the pyramid, granting his group entry into the hall of the Ennead. The five avatars who were present for his 'trial' have also arrived, as they all felt a great disturbance in the Force (wait, wrong franchise). They attempt to stop Harrow, but he uses Ammit's power to defeat all of them. (There goes my theory that Osiris was in on it... he really was just being thick and allowing himself to be manipulated.)
Harrow then breaks Ammit's ushabti. While he's simping for her (apparently completely convinced that she would murder him, too, but she opts to make him her avatar instead because she's a bitter bitch), Layla sneaks off to find Khonshu. She finds his ushabti, sets it on the floor, and proceeds to stomp the hell out of it, which I imagine was pretty satisfying for her to do considering.
Upon being freed, Khonshu immediately notices that Marc is gone, so he tries to convince Layla to be his avatar instead. To be fair, in order for him to use his strength properly he needs one, but she is having none of it. Realising it is a futile effort, he goes off to try and deal with Ammit without being attached to an avatar, but that doesn't go very well for him.
Meanwhile, Marc is having a conversation with Taweret in the Aaru. She points out that, by achieving paradise, he can now exist in a plane where he has peace and quiet, well away from anything that will abuse or harm him ever again. He, however, asks about Steven, and when she tells him that he's lost to the Duat, Marc makes the decision to go find him, despite Taweret's objections. If Marc leaves the Field of Reeds, he can't return.
This does not dissuade him, and back to the Duat he goes. He finds Steven in front of Osiris' gate. Kneeling in front of him, he confesses that Steven saved him from the very beginning, that he was able to deal with their mother's abuse of him because he knew that he wasn't alone, that Steven was the only real superpower that he had. As he's speaking, he too begins to turn to sand as the Duat begins to claim him. He says that Steven never abandoned him, so he wasn't going to abandon Steven, either. (It is very heartfelt and enough to make a person verklempt... which is quite possibly one of the best Yiddish words ever.)
(I tried to find a better quality screenshot of this scene, but Google failed me and I can't get a screenshot off Disney+ on my work PC...)
Right before he completely turns into sand, Marc places his hand, holding his heart (which Taweret had returned to him) in Steven's hand. I'm not entirely sure what the machinations were, though it probably has something to do with the power of love or some such (oooor maybe it was Osiris and the light from the gate, but still...), but after a moment both of them begin to return to normal. They have a very short celebration before running through the gates before the Duat can reclaim them.
As soon as Khonshu senses that Marc's soul has returned to the world above, he bounces from the pyramid and back to Alexander's tomb, leaving Layla hiding in the corridors of the Ennead's chamber. Being reconnected to Khonshu, and thus his healing armor, Marc's body expels the two bullets Harrow so kindly gave him and he once again becomes Moon Knight. (I have noticed that the suit doesn't form the same way every time and I think that's actually pretty neat... In the memory where Marc first becomes Moon Knight, the crescent moon and chest plate form first. In this scene, it is his forearm wrappings. The hood always seems to come last, though.)
Outside the tomb, they discuss how to get back to Cairo, as that's where Ammit, Harrow, and his crew have gone. Before they get too far, though, Steven takes control of the body and proceeds to negotiate his and Marc's freedom, after this battle is won, from Khonshu. Khonshu reluctantly agrees, and, switching back from Mr Knight to Moon Knight, off they fly (yes, fly, which was fun, but I was kinda hoping for Marc's silly little moon glider thingie, too...).
Back at the pyramid, Layla finds Selim (Osiris' avatar) still alive, barely, and he is able to tell her that they can more effectively trap Ammit in a living vessel, which will make her vulnerable. She asks him how, and he manages to get out that they'd need more avatars than they have, but then he dies. Layla calls out to Taweret, then, because if they need more avatars, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Thus she becomes Taweret's (temporary?) avatar.
Taweret makes a comment about how her idea for a costume is fabulous, and she does not disappoint on that front:
Outside, Harrow is climbing to the top of the pyramid while his zealots are down in the city using Ammit's power to judge anyone they come across. Moon Knight arrives shortly after, and he and Harrow begin their battle. (While they do battle, Ammit and Khonshu, now each about the size of Godzilla, are doing their own fighting.)
Harrow gets the one up on Moon Knight for a sec, but Layla swoops in and knocks him away from her husband. (For the record, y'all, Layla is, like, the epitome of how you write a 'strong female character', okay? A prime example.) They have a brief but happy reunion before Steven takes over, and they have another brief but happy reunion... and then Steven brags in his little awkward, nerdy way that they want to show off their 'new skillsets' (which is the title of one of the episode six soundtrack tracks, and I'm kinda mad about it, but I don't know why...).
I'm going to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the fight between Moon Knight/Mr Knight, Layla, and Arthur Harrow. Marc and Steven, having got their shit together, are able to work as a cohesive unit, switching between personalities absolutely fluidly. We also get to actually see Mr Knight fight here, making use of his truncheons very effectively (apparently he figured out what those 'little poles' were for).
In the end, however, Harrow begins to overpower Marc, and then the only thing I am mad about in this episode happens. Marc blacks out, and when he wakes up, he's got Harrow subdued. This time, at least, he realises it wasn't Steven who took over. They don't really have time to ponder over it, though, as they have a 'weird crocodile lady' to seal.
They get Harrow back to the Ennead's chamber in the pyramid and begin the spell to trap Ammit in his body, which was a good job to do, seeing as Khonshu was outside getting his arse kicked by her. Once the sealing is completed, Khonshu demands that Marc kill Harrow, ending both him and Ammit in one go, but Layla steps in and points out that Marc can always make the choice not to do that. So he makes the choice not to do that, telling Khonshu that if he wants Harrow dead, that he needs to do it himself, and then demands that Khonshu honour their deal.
Which he does.
And so our boys live happily, normally(-ish) ever after, right? Right??
Well, not exactly. There's a post credits scene, because this is Marvel we're talking about, after all. And in this post credits scene, we learn that Arthur Harrow has taken residence at a psychiatric hospital in London. Except he ends up getting a visitor that I can guarantee he doesn't want. The man, who wheels Harrow out to a car, is not shown at first, but the person waiting in the car (the ridiculous stretch limo you see in the comics, which I'm fairly certain belongs to Steven Grant, billionaire playboy philanthropist, so not quite sure how it's making an appearance here, but whatevs) is none other than Khonshu, lookin' quite sharp in a suit.
And after a fairly short conversation with Harrow, he introduces him to his friend (now sat in the driver's seat):
Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else not tethered to a binary, I give you Jake-fucking-Lockley. Finally... Finally!
And then Jake shoots Harrow. The end.
Okay, so hear me out real quick? If, if, we get a second season of Moon Knight, or if the character shows up in a different series or a film, I so want them to have it just be Marc showing up to do his thing as the Knight and not explain, at all, how he went back to being Moon Knight after this reveal. Because they do shit like that in the comics all the fucking time.
Just like that right there, because Khonshu was back the very next chapter with no explanation or even acknowledgement that the boys broke his skull, rejecting him as their patron. It would be fitting, I think.
Okay, so... this post has mainly been about the finale, but it is meant to be a review for the overall series, so let's do that, yes?
For the most part, the storytelling in Moon Knight has been absolutely fucking superb, but I have to admit, there are a couple of places where the convenience aspect is a bit much. The worst offender of this, I think, is the one in episode four, where Steven super conveniently figures out that the entire structure he and Layla are in is built in the shape of the Eye of Horus after being in a section of it about the size of a small-ish bathroom. I mean, I get you can hear his mind moving on the six points thing while Layla is examining the bullet casings, but still. That was a leap and a half in logic(?), and it is such a convenience point that I actually find it distracting.
Thankfully, the rest of that episode is fucking fantastic and makes up for it, so I guess it's okay.
I also have issue with the finale, because it's too damn short. The show has done a very good job at packing a lot into a little space, and the result is kind of like the TARDIS, where its contents are bigger than its outer constraints. They did an amazing job at putting all that information, all that fucking heart-shattering trauma into episodes that run less than an hour without any of them seeming rushed... except for the finale. It does seem rushed, and a lot of people feel that having Marc black out mid-battle with Harrow, letting Jake deal with it but not letting the audience see, was a cop-out, and I sort of have to agree.
At the very least, if you were going to have Jake come out and deal with part of the fight without showing the audience the actual fighting, the least they could have done was make it where that wasn't the end of the fucking boss battle!
Marc wakes up.
To Steven: That wasn't you, was it.
Steven: No...
Marc: Well, we don't have time to worry about it. Harrow's down, but he's not out.
Marc and Steven finish kicking Harrow's ass.
That would have been better. Or something. Anything other than an anti-climactic final battle to an otherwise epic show.
Overall, though, I will still give Moon Knight a 10/10. None of it's flaws detract enough from the utter brilliance of the rest of it, and that includes the horrible CGI of Moon Knight parkouring through London in episode two.
As a bonus, I have a theory: Jake was hinted at from the very first episode, but it wasn't him in the mirror like a lot of people thought. (Turn your brightness up... that isn't Jake's hat, it's just Marc's hair.) However! Looking at the two times in episode three where we know that it wasn't Steven or Marc using the body (the two times Marc gets kicked out while trying to get information out of those three thugs working for Harrow), they mirror the times Steven gets overridden during his shenanigans in the Alps.
Jake is obviously a protector. The first time he takes over in episode three, he does so because Steven has distracted Marc while there are knives involved. The second time he takes over is because Steven distracting Marc ended up with Marc getting knocked out. Then there is him coming out during the finale, while Marc is pinned, on the verge of getting bested by Harrow, and Layla in danger.
One could easily assume, then, that in the Alps, Jake comes to protect Steven because Marc can't. I've been thinking that the only reason Steven woke up there in the first place was because Marc somehow got knocked out (prolly due to whatever dislocated his jaw), but poor baby doesn't have any idea of what he's doing. I think, though, that since neither Marc nor Steven know about Jake, he can't maintain a hold on the body while one of them is 'awake', which would explain why Steven kept waking back up after Jake solved whatever crisis was threatening him at the time. (Though I think it was Marc finally waking up to save their collective arse from the falling logs by becoming Moon Knight.)
There is also the theory that it was Jake in the session with 'Doctor' Harrow where Marc is wearing the bandage on his nose. If it was, I don't think it was Jake the whole time, though. The beginning of the scene, Marc definitely seems like Marc. It isn't until Harrow brings up Randall that the personality (and accent) changed. It is possible that Jake came then to protect Marc from having to deal with that trauma again.
Then again, I am not entirely convinced it was Jake in that scene at all, seeing as Marc, in his next session, remembered that he had been injected with something in his neck to sedate him. That doesn't seem to fall in line with the way the 'memories' are working in those scenes, and there is the fact that Jake was still locked in his sarcophagus... But, then again, perhaps it was different because it was Jake.
Hmm...
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