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Moon Knight S1 Ep 6: Gods and Monsters
from ready steady cut: https://readysteadycut.com/2022/05/04/moon-knight-season-1-episode-6-recap-the-ending-explained/
May 4, 2022
Jonathon Wilson
The first season finale of Moon Knight — which Disney+ have curiously refused to title — opens with Harrow’s men pulling the corpse of Marc/Steven out of the putrid tomb water. He’s still very much dead. Harrow takes Ammit’s ushabti from the body and leaves the golden scarab behind in a gesture conveniently useful to the plot. Ammit’s ushabti upgrades Harrow’s cane, giving it a +1 to “ominous purple glow” and a snapping crocodile head for style points. Layla watches from nearby until everyone leaves, swipes the scarab, and escapes, disguised among Harrow’s entourage.
Moon Knight season 1, episode 6 recap
That entourage is stopped by an Egyptian border patrol, mostly so we can get a sense of Harrow’s upgrades. Tapping the base of the cane on the ground now lifts the souls from the unworthy in a flash of purple light. Almost all the guards are killed on the spot, and the lone survivor is folded into Harrow’s cult. Layla attempts to sneak behind Harrow and kill him, but Taweret, talking to her through the corpses, warns her that Harrow is now too powerful. Their only option is to free Khonshu by breaking his ushabti in the Chamber of the Gods and reviving Marc/Steven. Taweret also floats the possibility of Layla becoming her Avatar, but having seen what that responsibility has done to her husband, she isn’t keen on the idea.
Luckily, Harrow and his followers are heading for the Chamber of the Gods anyway. With another tap of his cane, Harrow is able to wipe out all the pantheon’s human avatars. When he breaks Ammit’s ushabti, she emerges, a giant CGI crocodile lady who wants Harrow as her Avatar, despite his lack of balance. (Harrow explains to her that he hoped his penance would balance his scales — when he sees it hasn’t, he’s perfectly willing to die for the pain he has already caused and hand over his purer followers for Ammit’s use, suggesting he really is fanatical about Ammit and isn’t necessarily seeking personal power.)
At around the same time, Layla also releases Khonshu, and since she refuses to be his Avatar he confronts Ammit and Harrow in his God form.
Elsewhere, Marc, despite being presented with a personal paradise, isn’t willing to sacrifice Steven, so in a nice moment, he returns to the desert sands to save him. As Marc himself begins to freeze over, he reaches out to Steven’s hand, telling him that he was the only real superpower Marc ever had. With that, the Gates of Osiris open, and their light unfreezes both Marc and Steven. Taweret buys them time to escape from an incoming tidal wave of sand, and they make it back to the land of the living. Marc snaps awake, and Khonshu, who is fighting Ammit in the Chamber of the Gods, senses it and returns to his Avatar.
The difference now, though, is that the Marc and Steven personalities are on level footing. The finale does a lot with this. Steven as Mr. Knight tries to renegotiate the terms of the deal with Khonshu; during a fight with Harrow and his goons, Moon Knight and Mr. Knight switch places on the fly. The action choreography, which if we’re being frank hasn’t been one of this show’s stronger elements, shines here. There are some neat edits and transitions to enhance the effect, and the sudden synergy after weeks of bickering to and fro feels like a nice payoff to Marc’s internal strife having been resolved.
We also get to see Layla as the Scarlet Scarab after she agrees to become Taweret’s Avatar since sealing Ammit away in human form requires more than one Godly vessel. Think the Falcon but with swords and you’ve got a pretty good idea.
The first season finale of Moon Knight — which Disney+ have curiously refused to title — opens with Harrow’s men pulling the corpse of Marc/Steven out of the putrid tomb water. He’s still very much dead. Harrow takes Ammit’s ushabti from the body and leaves the golden scarab behind in a gesture conveniently useful to the plot. Ammit’s ushabti upgrades Harrow’s cane, giving it a +1 to “ominous purple glow” and a snapping crocodile head for style points. Layla watches from nearby until everyone leaves, swipes the scarab, and escapes, disguised among Harrow’s entourage.
Moon Knight season 1, episode 6 recap
That entourage is stopped by an Egyptian border patrol, mostly so we can get a sense of Harrow’s upgrades. Tapping the base of the cane on the ground now lifts the souls from the unworthy in a flash of purple light. Almost all the guards are killed on the spot, and the lone survivor is folded into Harrow’s cult. Layla attempts to sneak behind Harrow and kill him, but Taweret, talking to her through the corpses, warns her that Harrow is now too powerful. Their only option is to free Khonshu by breaking his ushabti in the Chamber of the Gods and reviving Marc/Steven. Taweret also floats the possibility of Layla becoming her Avatar, but having seen what that responsibility has done to her husband, she isn’t keen on the idea.
Luckily, Harrow and his followers are heading for the Chamber of the Gods anyway. With another tap of his cane, Harrow is able to wipe out all the pantheon’s human avatars. When he breaks Ammit’s ushabti, she emerges, a giant CGI crocodile lady who wants Harrow as her Avatar, despite his lack of balance. (Harrow explains to her that he hoped his penance would balance his scales — when he sees it hasn’t, he’s perfectly willing to die for the pain he has already caused and hand over his purer followers for Ammit’s use, suggesting he really is fanatical about Ammit and isn’t necessarily seeking personal power.)
At around the same time, Layla also releases Khonshu, and since she refuses to be his Avatar he confronts Ammit and Harrow in his God form.
Elsewhere, Marc, despite being presented with a personal paradise, isn’t willing to sacrifice Steven, so in a nice moment, he returns to the desert sands to save him. As Marc himself begins to freeze over, he reaches out to Steven’s hand, telling him that he was the only real superpower Marc ever had. With that, the Gates of Osiris open, and their light unfreezes both Marc and Steven. Taweret buys them time to escape from an incoming tidal wave of sand, and they make it back to the land of the living. Marc snaps awake, and Khonshu, who is fighting Ammit in the Chamber of the Gods, senses it and returns to his Avatar.
The difference now, though, is that the Marc and Steven personalities are on level footing. The finale does a lot with this. Steven as Mr. Knight tries to renegotiate the terms of the deal with Khonshu; during a fight with Harrow and his goons, Moon Knight and Mr. Knight switch places on the fly. The action choreography, which if we’re being frank hasn’t been one of this show’s stronger elements, shines here. There are some neat edits and transitions to enhance the effect, and the sudden synergy after weeks of bickering to and fro feels like a nice payoff to Marc’s internal strife having been resolved.
We also get to see Layla as the Scarlet Scarab after she agrees to become Taweret’s Avatar since sealing Ammit away in human form requires more than one Godly vessel. Think the Falcon but with swords and you’ve got a pretty good idea.
Moon Knight season 1 ending
The show’s big finale moment begins with Harrow, standing atop the Great Pyramid, imbuing all of his followers with Ammit’s power so that they can begin judging the people of Cairo. Those who fall dead release their souls into the sky, and Ammit swallows them, becoming larger and larger with each gulp. Eventually, she’s the size of the Great Pyramid and begins fighting with a similarly scaled-up Khonshu while Layla and Marc/Steven fight Harrow and his goons. There’s an especially nice moment when Layla saves a busload of civilians and one of them, a young girl, asks if she’s an Egyptian superhero. The look on the kid’s face when she replies in the affirmative is a reminder of how much representation matters, a little on-the-nose though it may be.
But things don’t go well for the heroes. Harrow and Ammit get the upper hand, but just as all hope seems to be lost, there’s a flash, and suddenly Harrow is defeated and everyone is dead. Marc and Steven are confused since neither of them seemed to be in control, and Layla is aghast at what just happened. But there’s no time to discuss it since they need to carry Harrow’s body into the Chamber of the Gods in order to perform the spell that will bind Ammit to it. They succeed, but Marc/Steven refuses to kill Harrow/Ammit, as Khonshu instructs. Instead, they insist on being released from their servitude, and Khonshu reluctantly accepts. A deal’s a deal, after all.
Briefly, Marc/Steven wake up in Putnam Medical Facility, but this time they recognize it as an illusion. Next, they wake up in Steven’s apartment, which Marc is shocked to see the state of, and fall flat on their face thanks to the ankle binding. We’re back to where we started in more ways than one.
Moon Knight post-credits scene
In the obligatory post-credits scene, we see Harrow as a patient in the Sienkiewicz Psychiatric Hospital. He’s taken away by a Spanish-speaking man and wheeled past the dead bodies of the facility’s orderlies, and bundled into the back of a white limo with the license plate SPKTR. Inside, Khonshu explains to Harrow that Marc was wrong to assume he wanted Layla as his next Avatar. After all, why would he ever need anyone else when Marc has no idea how troubled he really is.
“Meet my friend,” Khonshu says, “Jake Lockley”.
The Spanish-speaking driver is Moon Knight’s third personality. He smilingly shoots Harrow dead and drives away.
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