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Episode 4 of Moon Knight picks up pretty much where we left off with in Episode 3 as Steven and Layla have locked in the location of Ammit’s tomb based on the 2,000 year old sky Khonshu spun into place and are now under attack once again by Harrow’s men. Layla manages to toss a lit flare into the back of a truck, setting off the ammunition and taking out the attackers, and she tells Steven that they will need Marc again once they get to the tomb. Steven says no because they made a deal that Marc would go awat once Khonshu was gone, and now that Khonshu has been imprisoned it’s just Steven and Layla. Of course Steven can still hear Marc, who tells him this is a suicide mission.
Using the star chart, they find Harrow’s camp but with no one present it is assumed they have already made their way inside the tomb. Steven decides that now is the best time to reveal to Layla that Marc had pushed her away because he believed Khonshu was going to make her his next avatar and Marc was not about to allow that to happen. The two kiss and after Layla descends into the tomb, Marc takes control and punches Steven in the face, knocking him down into the tomb. Inside, Layla recounts the time her father was on an archaeological mission, one that he died for, and then they realize they are actually in a maze — it’s the same structure that Steven drew in the sand, the Eye of Horus. As they make their way deeper in, they enter a chamber with a crypt and what appears to be fresh blood and meaty bits on top, with a trail of blood and bones leading down into another tunnel. Probably not their next best move, but Steven finds a way out above them. In the distance, they hear screaming and gunshots, while something has dragged one of Harrow’s men into the chamber and is dissecting him, placing the organs in Canopic jars. Steven helplessly watches from above while Layla tries to make her way to safety as quietly as possible. But the board above the chamber creaks drawing the creature’s attention to Steven. Layla throws something at the wall to distract it and Steven manages to push a heavy object from his perch above, squashing the creature. But Layla has to fight off another one, jamming a flare into its eye socket, causing them to tumble down into a very deep pit. But … Layla managed to hold on to the ledge and pull herself back up … and then she sees Harrow. Steven stumbles into an undiscovered and untouched tomb and notices the writings are Macedonian, not Egyptian, leading him to believe he’s found the tomb of Alexander the Great.
Harrow tells Layla her father would be so proud of her for being one of the first to confirm Egyptian gods walk among us. He also tells her that his instruments reveal pain and torment, pain that her husband Marc is enduring because he hasn’t yet told her the truth about her father. Layla says Harrow is obviously dying to tell her so he should get on with it. Harrow tells her the scales on his arm do not lie, and that her father was murdered by mercenaries. Was Marc one of them? Marc remembers everyone who died that day, but a man with a fuchsia scarf stands out. Harrow tells her he hopes she finds closure and as he walks away he shouts, “Wake up.’ At the same time, Steven has opened the sarcophagus and Marc asks where the ushabti is (a small figure placed with the mummy). Steven assumes it is hidden where a looter may not have thought to look, and as Alexander was the voice of Ammit it may be inside the body.He unwraps the mummy’s head, breaks off the jaw and reaches deep inside the body, locating the ushabti and removing it. Harrow’s men have founds another way in, and Layla also manages to find Steven. He shows her the ushabti but she’s in a foul mood. She wants to know if Marc can hear her and she asks him what happened to her father. Marc has no choice but to take over and tells her he will explain everything but they have to go. She insists on knowing if he killed her father, and he assures her he did not, but he was there. His partner got greedy and executed everyone at the dig site. Marc tried to save her father but was unable to. Layla says he brought the killer to her father, and Marc says he did but he got shot as well. Marc was supposed to die that night, and he’s been trying to tell her all of this ever since they met. She says they met only because he had a guilty conscience. Before they can get deeper into their feelings they hear people coming and need to find a way out of the tomb. Marc stays behind to hold off Harrow’s men, and when Harrow enters the room he tells Marc he’s a free man now that Khonshu is gone, but with freedom comes a choice. Marc’s choice is to fight, but Harrow shoots him twice, saying he can’t save anyone who won’t save themselves. Marc sinks slowly into a pool of darkness, and then there is a light.
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The light gets brighter and the aspect ratio of the image changes to a square, like an old TV show … and it is, starring the character of Dr. Steven Grant (with some very obvious references to Raiders of the Lost Ark). But we see now that there is someone watching this TV show (or movie on TV) in a large white room, with other people playing bingo in the background. The bingo caller is the same man we’ve seen Steven talk to on his meal breaks, the man who paints himself gold and sits like a statue for the tourists in the plaza. An orderly tells someone he’s parked in his favorite spot and we can see a reflection of Marc. Another voice says they’ve changed the movie, and it is Layla and now it appears they are all in some sort of hospital setting. Marc’s bingo card is a winner, but Layla says she won and tells him she promises to share the prize with him this time. She is also eating the same marshmallows we saw her eating when she was getting her fake passport a few episodes back. Marc sees his reflection and calls out for Steven, but he falls from his wheelchair, the same foot shackled to it as we’ve seen him shackled to his bed. Marc then sees a toy he has dropped on the floor … the Moon Knight.
Marc is now with a doctor — Arthur Harrow, who tells him he knows it’s hard to differentiate what’s real and what’s in his head. Arthur tells Marc he borrowed the movie he brought in with him, ‘Tomb Busters’, the plot of which concerns a lunar god. Marc said he worked for one, so what does the doctor make of that similarity? Marc is obviously sedated, but he notices a walking stick similar to the one Harrow uses. He also notices this Arthur Harrow has short hair and a mustache but … he’s wearing sandals. There are also Canopic jars on a table behind Marc, and he mumbles that everything reminds him … of what, Arthur asks. His past? Steven? This confuses Marc. How could this doctor know about Steven? While Marc is taking everything in, the doctor says he can’t help him if he won’t help himself. Marc says Arthur shot him. Arthur tries to calm Marc as he tries to escape from the office, but is he having a psychotic breakdown? He breaks the glass in the door and two orderlies try to subdue him. One of them is the man who fought with Layla at Mogart’s camp, and the other is the man whose organs were removed by the creature in the tomb.
Marc makes his way to the hallway where the lights are swinging back and forth. He hides in a room that also contains a sarcophagus. Someone is inside yelling to be let out. Marc opens it and finds … Steven inside. Both are now very confused when confronted with each other. How is this possible? The last thing Steven remembers is Harrow shooting them. Marc says they need to get out of there now and they see another sarcophagus. Someone is coming toward the door of their room as they see a silhouette in the frosted glass panel. The door opens and it’s … a hippopotamus with lions arms and paws and a crocodile tail and legs in Egyptian garb (Taweret, the goddess of fertility and childbirth). The hippo says ‘hi’ in a very high-pitched voice, freaking out the two men.
So what does this all mean? Is Marc suffering from dissociative identity disorder, as has been hinted? Is Steven one of his personalities that he’s conjured up in a moment of crisis? Is he really a patient in a mental hospital facility? Has he made up this whole situation from watching the ‘Tomb Busters’ movie? Is Layla just another patient? And where does this hippo fit into things (think back to Episode 1 where stuffed hippo toys were spotted in the museum gift shop which Steven identified to his boss as Taweret)? Just a little background on Taweret — while known as the god of life, she’s also associated with the afterlife, and we are being led to assume Marc/Steven are dead and this hospital is the afterlife which Taweret is there to lead them through. Taweret was also not part of the assembly of gods/avatars earlier so her appearance and purpose here leaves us with a whole lot of questions. With only two episodes left, there seems to be a lot of ground yet to cover.
New episodes of Moon Knight stream Wednesdays on Disney+.
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