The previous episode of Moon Knight picked up the pace. Let’s see if they close strong.
ONE
After the recap and Marvel credits, with “At the End of a Rainbow” playing, we return to Mark’s last moment when he lies, shot, in the tomb’s pool of water. Arthur supervises as two of his men drag the body up and out. Oh, they only want the Ammit statue he was holding.
TWO
A beat on Arthur, who has achieved his goal of the entire season. Placing the golden scarab on Mark’s chest, Arthur apologizes that it had to be this way.
Layla, hiding behind a pillar and listening, watches as Arthur holds up the Ammit icon so his followers can bow before it. His cane handle morphs into a glowing purple head. He and his people leave.
THREE
Checking on Mark, Layla cries. She kisses him goodbye, takes the scarab, and floats him back into the pool.
FOUR
A caravan of cars cross the desert and drive onto the highway. Ahead, though, is a roadblock. Military (or police) draw their guns when Arthur and his crew climb out. Arthur slams the cane on the blacktop. Purple souls stream from the bodies of the police; they’ve been judged. One officer, “a good man”, survives and joins the minions. Now we see that Layla, face covered, has ridden with them. She pulls out a knife and approaches Arthur.
From the road between the cars, a downed officer calls out to her, “Wait. I am the goddess Taweret.” (The man has a mustache, is dead, and speaks with her voice.) Layla should break Khonshu’s icon . . . and become Taweret’s avatar. (It’s a lot to assimilate — for her and us — on a highway with Arthur twenty feet away.) The minions, including Layla, mount up and drive on.
And now they all climb up the outside of a pyramid. Arthur smacks the cane down, and the stones part to let him inside. It’s Giza, and the god avatars are inside. Layla enters along with the others. While Arthur faces off with the Banker-Avatar, Layla sneaks away. She goes to the god prison and finds Khonshu’s statue.
SWITCH
Ooh, back to Arthur, and he’s killed (?) all the avatars. He smashes the Ammit icon, purple smoke swirling, and the goddess is released. They all bow before the giant crocodile lady. (Wow, tough look to pull off, but it’s great.) Approaching Arthur, she says his scales lack balance. He accepts her judgment, teary-eyed at the prospect of his own death. She likes his failure, though. A servant whose scales balanced turned her into the statue. Instead of dying he will become her avatar.
FIVE
Layla stomps the Khonshu statue to dust. He’s back. He can’t sense Mark in this world; therefore he needs Layla to be his avatar. Ha, that makes Layla angry. They can work together, but no enslavement. However, only an avatar can rebind Ammit.
Ammit mobilizes her people to go out and purify Cairo, but Khonshu appears and intervenes. Arthur immediately realizes that someone else released the god and is in the pyramid.
Cut to the Field of Reeds (finally). Here are Mark and Taweret. His scales are balanced. The peace he always wanted is his. Where’s Steven? He’s gone.
No. Mark is going back for him, even if it means he can never return here. The reeds become sand and the golden sunrise becomes the hazy dusk. On a rise lies a body.
Meanwhile, Khonshu and Ammit verbally spar inside the pyramid.
In the dunes, before the Gates of Osiris, Mark finds the petrified body of Steven. Crying, talking to Steven’s mummified form, Mark says that Steven saved him by never leaving him alone. The sand reaches up around Mark’s hands, beginning to bind him, too. In Steven’s outstretched palm Mark places their marble heart, his hand petrifying on top of it.
The Gates open, and the heart is infused with golden light. Both men reanimate. The heart dissolves. They help each other stand and hug.
Khonshu and Ammit fight. She swings powerfully like a crocodile and he wisps, vanishes, and reforms elsewhere, like the moon behind a cloud.
The happy men, embracing, notice the dunes have become a large wave coming right for them. They run for the Gates, but Mark has a limp. It’s looking close until Taweret sails up ahead of the dune tsunami and breaks apart its energy.
SIX
As they run through the Gates, cut to Mark dead in the pool as he comes back to life.
SEVEN
Khonshu immediately senses his return. Over a montage of Steven and Mark’s journey throughout the season, Khonshu asks Mark if he’d like to choose life. Mark in the tomb takes on the Moon Knight suit.
Outside the dig site, Khonshu waits for Mark. He explains that Ammit is released. Suddenly the suit changes to Steven’s version, and, with his English accent, he asks how all this will work. He releases the body to Mark when it’s time to fly through the night sky, though.
Cut to Layla helping the Banker-Avatar. To bind Ammit, he says, we need more avatars. Then he dies. Take a beat as Layla decides. She whispers, “Taweret, are you there?” From the dead man’s mouth, the voice of Taweret excitedly shouts out. Arthur, in the main chamber, hears. He shoots purple fire from the cane head, and Layla runs.
Her eyes turn glassy as she’s inhabited by Taweret, who’s cheerful and bubbly when she takes over. (The William Shatner acting school begins as Layla swaps between herself and the goddess personality.)
EIGHT
Outside, the Moon Knight flies in. And Arthur is now on the exterior of the pyramid. With the cane ready, he overlooks Cairo. Many of the city residents have scale tattoos. They grab others’ hands, judging them.
Ammit stands outside, eating the purple souls that fly toward her.
From a pile of rubble, Layla emerges in her avatar costume. (It’s an incredibly awesome reveal as she reaches behind her back and pulls out two metallic wing-swords.)
Moon Knight is close now as Arthur chants from the top of the pyramid. He and Ammit both see Mark’s arrival, and Arthur dashes down to meet him in battle. Fighting ensues between the men as Khonshu materializes to take on Ammit.
Our heroes are getting beaten. As Arthur charges his cane for the final blow, Layla flies in and smacks him with the wings.
Mark and Layla hug. Then Steven emerges and gushes over her costume. (Yay!)
Ammit and Khonshu battle as they argue their philosophies.
Steven, excited, tells Layla they should try out their new skills together. Gentleman Moon Knight fights for a little, then the Batman Moon Knight of Mark takes over again. Arthur won’t go down, though.
(Take a moment for Layla to rescue a girl, who then looks at her with shining eyes. It’s true, Layla’s moves with the metal wings are really badass.)
Arthur pushes hard, telling Mark that if Ammit had been in charge his brother would still be alive and his family happy (because she would’ve removed Mark as a bad weed.) Mark is knocked flat. Khonshu is beaten by Ammit. Arthur slams his cane into Mark’s chest while Layla’s wings are pelted with bullets.
Mark blinks and time shifts. Positions are reversed, and he now holds the cane pressed against Arthur’s bloody forehead. “That wasn’t you, was it, Steven?”
The suit morphs and Steven looks around at the complete devastation in the plaza. “Not a chance, mate.”
Mark returns, and Layla asked what the hell that was. Grabbing Arthur’s body, Mark follows Layla to the center of the pyramid. They and the other Egyptian god statues link with a purple beam and begin to chant. The circle of light surrounds Arthur. Ammit is sucked away into a sizzle of purple power. Down she goes into Arthur’s throat, out of the world.
Khonshu tells Mark: Finish it. Leave neither of them alive.
Mark wields his moon dagger and grabs Arthur. Layla urges him to make a choice, not just act. Tossing aside the dagger and Arthur, Mark refuses to do Khonshu’s bidding. “Now release us.” Khonshu wisps away, taking the suit with him.
NINE
Dissolve to Steven in Dr. Arthur’s office at the psychiatric facility. The doctor kneels before Steven’s chair, speaking gently of imagination. Steven shifts so easily into Mark, who challenges Dr. Arthur’s definitions. As Doc rises and steps back behind his desk, we see red prints left behind from his shoes. Mark and Steven consult with each other: “You see that?”
Doctor Arthur (bless his heart) also notices and is very confused and upset. “Why am I bleeding?” Steven and Mark, smiling, decide to reject his version of reality and go save the world. They fall backwards . . .
. . . And cut to a profile of Steven, just as at the beginning of the season. He’s waking in bed. They talk with each other as they look at the goldfish. Rising, they leave the bed. Wait for it . . . there’s the ankle strap, and Steven/Mark falls flat on the floor. Roll credits.
Credits break to show the asylum. A hand knocks over a cup of liquid. On the forearm is a scale tattoo. It’s Arthur, looking drugged. Someone in a black jacket and leather gloves comes to steer his wheelchair. Whistling, the mystery man pushes the chair down the hallway and past the dead medical staff. In a car door reflection, we see Arthur wheeled outside. The man, who’s dressed as a chauffeur, manhandles Arthur into the back of a limousine.
Arthur smiles. Across from him sits Khonshu, who knocks on the partition window. “Meet my friend, Jake Lockley.” Looking back from the rear view mirror is another Oscar Isaac. Speaking Italian, he turns and aims a gun at Arthur and shoots.
From outside we see muzzle flashes through the limo’s tinted windows, then it drives away from the asylum. Its license plate is SPKTR. In the distance is the London Gherkin building. Roll credits.
CRITICAL NOTES
Nifty Story Enneagram in this episode. Lovely Three/Six. The Seven-Eight-Nine are laden, but that’s to be expected in the season finale.
My least favorite part is the Nine. I don’t like ambiguity, and the asylum sections were always unreal. Or real. I wish the showrunners had made a decision. Also, we suspected the Moon Knight had a third personality; that was planted. And, of course, the show is teasing a second season with this. However, another tough guy? Mark wasn’t harsh enough?
Which leads me to my overriding thought: I like Steven. The first watch, I was charmed with the show because Steven is so unique as a Marvel hero. He’s endearing, and the Man Who Knew Too Much trope is always a winner. On the second watch, I understood early on that, without Steven onscreen, I’m bored. Mark is only interesting as a contrast to Steven. (In his own right he’s a predictable character — no offense to Isaac.) The Egyptian mythology is wonderful and interesting, but it’s also extreme and strange. Credit to the show for pulling off the CG goddesses; they’re well done. But it’s still a weird experience.
Steven is the glue that holds the uncomfortable bits together. We need more of him. If an episode goes five minutes without him, it’s a fail. During my original watch, when I didn’t know if I’d see him, my anticipation carried me through. On the second viewing, I knew he’d be gone for a while and I lost interest.
Much of the work in this show — especially the acting — is stellar. I hope everyone returns for another season, as long as Steven’s perspective drives the story.