Moon Knight left us on quite the cliffhanger with episode 4, “The Tomb,” and just when we think things can’t get more dire for Marc Spector and Steven Grant, the latest episode throws us yet again into the deep end. After waking up in an asylum with Arthur Harrow as his doctor, Marc goes running through the halls to free Steven and comes face to face with the god Taweret.
But that’s just the beginning of the journey both Marc and Steven must go on in episode 5, “Asylum,” that led to me just screaming for each of them time and time again. So, let’s unpack what happened in the most recent episode of Moon Knight.
**Spoilers for Moon Knight episode 5 “Asylum” lie ahead.**
After Marc and Steven were reunited in “The Tomb,” they ran into Taweret, and what we learned in the beginning of this episode is that she was there to help guide them into the afterlife. So, whatever was happening with Harrow in Marc’s mind was simply caused by their death from the gunshot wound. And Taweret explains to them both that they cannot go into A’Aru (or the Field of Reeds) unless their scales are balanced.
The result of an unbalanced scale is the Duat claiming them to the sands. So, both Steven and Marc must go on a journey of embracing their past, and Marc has to open up to Steven about what happened to him as a child that resulted in his dissociative identity disorder.
Save everyone
Not only was it traumatic for Steven to see everything Marc had gone through, but it clearly wasn’t easy for Marc, either. He had to relive his brother’s death, see the way his mother treated him after it (blaming him for it), and watch as a younger version of himself found comfort in Steven Grant and used him to cope with the abuse his mother was inflicting on him.
Marc had to stand by and watch as Steven experienced this pain for the first time, and it resulted in Steven having to comfort Marc. Throughout the series, we’ve watched as the two of them learned how to exists with each other and not fight for dominance within their body, but this level of understanding is new to both of them, and it’s sad that the end of the episode results in Steven and Marc being (seemingly) separated for the rest of time.
Returning to Khonshu
The episode serves as a explainer, in a way, for both the audience and Steven Grant. We, like Steven, don’t know about Marc’s history apart from the bits he’s willing to share or what Layla has revealed to Steven. So, going through his life and learning how Steven came to be, about his life as a child and a mercenary, and into how he met Khonshu, is both beneficial for “balancing the scales” with Steven and also for us.
We’re learning about how he got here and how it plays into the Marc we see onscreen, and yet, he’s still tied to Khonshu, even though he is dead and on his way to the afterlife. What happens that changes that path, though, is Taweret seeing too many souls needing balance before their time, and Marc and Steven tell her that it’s Harrow’s doing.
She can’t send them back to their body, given that they were shot, but Marc agrees that he needs to go back to Khonshu in order to stop what Harrow is trying to do, and until they can get a message to Layla to free him, the two are stuck on their journey to A’Aru (or being taken by the Duat).
What next?
Where we are now is Marc alone in A’Aru waiting for Layla to bring Khonshu back and take over Marc’s body again, but we’re also stuck wondering if Steven Grant is really gone. Falling into the sand as he’s fighting the Duat, Steven turns to sand himself, and we’re left wondering if he’s gone forever or if he’d still return to the body with Marc.
Until we know anything for sure, we have Marc in A’Aru, Layla with a mission, and everyone on Moon Knight trying to stop Arthur Harrow. We have one episode left, and it is truly up in the air how the show is going to wrap up this storyline or if it even will. (Maybe we will get a second season, after all?) Until then, can someone just let me know Steven is okay?
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
