Moon Knight: Episode 4

4. The Tomb

With Khonshu in absentia, Layla and Steven/Marc have to go on their own to find Ammit’s tomb. They are separated by the attack of a mummy who has been giving Harrow’s men a tough time at the venue. Harrow stumbles upon Layla and drops some hints about Marc’s involvement in her father’s death. Steven finds the tomb which turns out to be that of Alexander the Great, who is revealed to have been Ammit’s last avatar. He finds the goddess’ ushabti in his skeleton as Layla rendezvous with him, their confrontation being cut short by the arrival of Harrow and his men. With neither Khonshu nor the suit at his disposal, Marc is shot twice in the chest, his body plunging down a pool as a hidden Layla watches in terror. He then wakes up in an asylum managed by Harrow’s men with Harrow himself being his psychiatrist. Marc finds Steven trapped in a sarcophagus and frees him. As they try to escape, they are greeted by the Egyptian hippo goddess Taweret (Antonia Salib) at the door.

In the absence of Khonshu, the superhero facet takes a break, the episode turning to its Egyptology and psychology aspects to deliver what is arguably the show’s best episode yet. The tomb raider angle plays out akin to most Hollywood adventure films, also borrowing some tropes from the zombie genre to provide jump scares. The whole Egyptology side of things will keep any aficionado of the subject matter entertained, while the final act is made to appear like a cop-out to summarily dismiss the last three episodes as all happening inside Spector’s head. But is this really the case, though? The most plausible explanation for now given the cliffhanger ending is that Spector might be trapped in a mental prison of Harrow’s doing. Of course, the biggest surprise here is the unexpected appearance of Taweret, the Egyptian goddess of fertility and childbirth. Whatever role she will be playing is up in the air, given how she never appeared as one of the members of the Egyptian pantheon in the history of Marvel comics.

“Egyptian gods walked among us.” –Arthur Harrow

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