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This week's episode of Moon Knight delivered a very emotional dive into Marc's past and how he became the fist of vengeance for Khonshu.
Mohamed Diab directed the episode alongside Rebecca Kirsch and Matthew Orton as writers. It revolved around Marc's traumatic childhood and how Steven came to be, only for this alter ego to bid farewell towards the end and help Marc step into paradise.
Moon Knight Episode 5 recap: Two are always better than one
Episode 5 of Moon Knight opened with an unknown woman screaming into the camera, "It's all your fault." Viewers saw a flash of water in the cave before the scene shifted to the office where Arthur Harrow was 'treating' Marc. This time, Marc's nose is broken, and they are in Chicago.
Harrow then talked about enjoying Marc's story about the hippo, and soon Marc started to question the situation he realized he was in. The two then dived into Marc's childhood, and as soon as he decided to talk about it, he was injected with something.
Taweret's return is seen on Moon Knight, who asks if Marc is always so intense. She then shares that the two, Marc and Steven, are dead as they have entered the real Egyptian underworld, and Taweret is guiding them on their journey to the afterlife. Taweret then cued in and told them about the realms, referencing the 'ancestral plane.'
The shot then cuts to Marc and Steven heading out to the big doors, only to find themselves in a giant sail, rolling through a sea of sand. Taweret then stood before the two to take out their hearts, which appeared to be opaque white stones. She then told them about how they must be weighed on the scales of justice and how the two cannot leave the plane until the scales are balanced. The only way to balance them is to confront the past while time is ticking.
Events of the past
Cut to a flashback in Moon Knight; Steven is seen going after the little boy, only to realize he's in one of Marc's memories. Viewers then learned that Marc once had a little brother who drew fish as Steven had, and he spoke in a British accent sometime after the film they both loved. As Steven followed the boys, he came across a bird skeleton that resembled Khonshu.
After following the boys into the cave, Steven saw the cave filling up with water and cried out to warn them, but they could not hear him. On the other hand, Marc opened the door to the wake of his brother. He looked over to find a wet Steven and then got interrupted by his mom yelling at the boy as she blamed his brother's death on him.
The two then walked into another room with a young Marc celebrating his birthday. Dressed in all white, they wait for his mother to join them, and when she does join them, she is drunk and again blames him for his brother's death. Teen Marc then leaves his home while his dad pleads for him to stay.
This scene of Moon Knight then cuts to the temple where Layla's dad was killed, the Bushman's mission. He revealed that Bushman had ordered to kill everybody on the task, but Marc had refused to do so, which led to him getting shot. As a badly wounded Marc crawled into the temple, he decided to kill himself. Khonsu is then heard asking Marc to become his fist of vengeance, resurrecting Marc into the Moon Knight.
The wild ride to the afterlife
Returning to the sail barge of Moon Knight, Taweret started worrying about their unjudged souls as new souls were brought deposited. Thanks to Harrow, his pre-judging has shaken up the afterlife world. For Marc and Steven to be reunited with Khonshu, their scale must be balanced.
Back at the psych ward, the two passed doors, the first brawl in the museum bathroom, and the other was the moment when they 'rewound the sky' with Khonshu. The two then entered a cafeteria full of zombies, past victims of Marc and Khonshu. Steven then noticed a little kid in the back of the room who was not one of Marc's victims.
Steven continued to explore Marc's memories as the two entered Marc's childhood bedroom. His mom seemed to be banging on the door while Marc tried to console himself, eventually giving himself over to Steven and switching his accent to a British one. This was the birth of Steven and the moment for adult Steven to realize the same in Moon Knight.
An upset Steven then heads back into the psych ward hallway as he deals with the pain of his dead mother and that he doesn't exist. Back at Harrow's office, Steven took over the body and learned that Marc started seeing the doctor after his mother's death.
An unusual balance
Back outside Marc's childhood home in Moon Knight, viewers saw Marc's mother's wake, where he could not bring himself to go in. He chose to run away and break down in tears, letting Steven take over and making adult Steven realize when the two started becoming one.
The scene then cuts to the sail barge deck where their souls are still not balanced. Sand mummies, a.k.a. Marc's victims, then emerged and started climbing onto the deck. Marc initially managed to fight them off, but when he got cornered, Steven took over. However, he falls off the sail during the fight and gets lost in the sands of time, eventually turning himself into the sand.
This episode of Moon Knight ended with the scales balancing themselves and Marc waking up to find himself in a field of a golden wheat.
Analyzing the end of Moon Knight Episode 5: Where is Marc?
In the final moments of Episode 5 of Moon Knight, Marc is seen in the fields of Reeds alone. Steven may be dead, and Marc has been judged eligible to live his afterlife in paradise forever. Here, Steven's death signifies that Marc may have finally accepted his past and does not wish to let his traumatic childhood define him.
Another possibility in this scenario of Moon Knight could be that it is just an illusion Marc has created in his head, as Harrow tells him. Harrow wishes to get inside Marc's head to get more information and use it against Khonshu so that he might have just created this scenario for Marc. Harrow is aware that Marc's strength comes from Steven, so he has been trying to separate the two.
But the concept of the afterlife could also be genuine, which would mean that Marc would be forced to find a way to get out of there and reunite with Khonshu to restore his power.
Stream the latest episode of Marvel's Moon Knight on Disney+ and prepare for the highly-anticipated finale next week.
