'Moon Knight' Episode 6: "Gods and Monsters" Recap and Review
The culmination of this series could only result in a Clash of the Gods and oh how glorious it was
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
Big moments are earned, not created. Manifesting a feeling of triumph or glory takes time. The road to glory can meander from time to time but if the story stays on course, the result will be the same. Moon Knight is an example of how to build to a payoff, there are no new villains to introduce, no realities to dismiss, no new allies to redeem, just a big dose of Marvel action to enjoy. Although a lot of the interesting aspects were pushed aside in the end, the struggle of mental illness for example and the mind bending nature of the afterlife, any expectation of a superhero show to not end in a superhero fight is relatively unreasonable. To put it simply, the finale of Marvel’s Moon Knight is a perfect ending to the season.
Our finale begins in the tomb of Alexander the Great as Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) and his men retrieve Ammit’s statue from the body of Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac). He and his followers leave the tomb and head to the great pyramids. Distraught over Marc’s death Layla (May Calamawy) sneaks onto Harrow’s convoy with plans of revenge. After Harrow murders a group of Egyptian police, Layla moves in but a dead body calls to her with the voice of Tawaret (Antonia Salib) to convince her to free Khonshu and be her avatar. At the pyramid Harrow and his followers are confronted by the Avatars of the other Gods. They are no match for Harrow and he attacks. Layla is able to sneak away in the chaos and finds Khonshu’s statue. On the main room Harrow releases Ammit (Saba Mubarak). She judges Harrow and though he is not pure of heart, she accepts him as her avatar. At that time, Layla frees Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham). Khonshu asks for Layla to take Marc’s place but she refuses. Khonshu decides to confront Ammit himself. In the Field of Reeds, Marc rejects paradise for if Steven cannot enjoy paradise than neither can he. Marc returns to the sands of the Duat where he finds Steven. Marc apologizes to Steven and reconciles his feelings towards him just as he himself turns to sand. But as he does, Osiris opens the gates to the living world and both Steven and Marc are freed. As Marc and Steven pass through the gate, Khonshu stops his attack on Ammit and returns to Marc and once again he becomes the Moon Knight. Before agreeing to help once again, Marc and Steven negotiate their release upon Ammits defeat. Layla manages to find one survivor and learns how to defeat Ammit before they die but just after Tawaret once again speaks to Layla, this time she agrees to be her Avatar temporarily, Harrow climbs to the top of the pyramid where he and his followers begin to judge souls, increasing Ammit’s power. With a brand new costume and powers, Layla ememrges as the avatar of Tawaret just as Moon Knight attacks Harrow. Their battle leads to the streets of Cairo as Ammit and Khonshu clash in the pyramid. Quickly, Layla joins the fight against Harrow and his followers. As the avatars and Gods clash Harrow manages to get the upper hand on Marc, but just as Harrow prepares for the final blow, Marc blacks out and when he awakes all the followers are defeated and Harrow has been beaten to near death. Even still, Ammit roams around destroying everything. Marc and Layla take Harrow to the pyramid and cast a spell to trap Ammit inside Harrow once and for all. Khonshu pushes for Marc to kill Harrow, but he chooses not to and demands his release. Upon his release, Marc is taken back to the psych ward in his mind but the construct breaks down almost instantly and Marc wakes in Steven’s London flat. In the final scene, Harrow is being treated in a real Psych ward. He is checked out by a mysterious figure speaking Spanish. The figure takes Harrow outside and places him in the back of a limo. Harrow finds Khonshu waiting for him. Khonshu introduces Harrow to his current avatar, Jake Lockley, Marc’s third personality, who puts several bullets in Harrow then drives away.
And in the end, there were three. Jake Lockley has emerged and not only does he seem unabashedly willing to be the vengeance of Khonshu he seems to take joy in the murders. Jake’s willingness to serve keeps Khonshu in Marc and Steven’s lives but whether they can still call upon the powers of Moon Knight remains to be seen. One person who should keep her powers is Layla. She becomes the avatar of the Hippo goddess and gains a beautiful suit complete with… eagle wings? Never mind that, her heroism was a joy to watch and even greatly inspirational. Her moment with a local Egyptian girl highlighted how worthy she always was to be a hero, even being more effective against Harrow than Marc at times. Oscar Isaac absolutely nailed this role(s). After keeping Steven and Marc separate for so long, Isaac was able to seamlessly switch back and forth in-between the characters mid-conversation during some truly impressive moments. Aside from his accents, every aspect of the characters changed from his posture to his mannerisms; it is easy to see what attracted the acting powerhouse to the role. But the true MVP of the series remains Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow. He channels the likes of Gandhi and David Koresh in equal parts making him terrifyingly quiet and menacing. One thing that sets him apart from other Disney+ villains is how much time we have to get to know him. He is present from episode one and remains the main antagonist until the end. We learn his backstory and motivation over time and witness just how deranged he could be. Hopefully the trend continues for all Marvel series to come.
There isn’t much to dissect in this episode but that is not what a finale is for. Every moment of this episode was earned over the course of the season. Jake Lockley’s reveal, Harrow’s demise, Ammit’s emergence, Layla’s heroic turn; every single one could have fell flat or felt forced but they weren’t. Each moment was teased or implied to the point of salivating expectation that made their culmination ever so satisfying. The only disappointment associated with the series is the prospect that we may not get a second season. Isaac understandably didn’t want to commit to more than one season at a time, he is one of the most in demand actors in Hollywood, but to not continue the story of triple threat Marc Spector would be a travesty. As well as this series has been received it is hard to imagine that we would never see a season two, but until then consider this a ‘Laters Gators.’