Moon Knight – The Tomb Review

This week’s Moon Knight was far and away the most successful of the season – and that’s even with the strange detour into fractured mind of Marc/Steven as he lingered on the brink of death, which brought to mind the very good first season of FX’s Legion*. Why did it work so well? It focused on highlighting character – Steven and Layla – over dealing with mythology, chasing the MacGuffin of the series (that would be Amitt’s tomb, which, it turns out, isn’t really what the show cares about after all), while also giving the great Ethan Hawke a chance to stretch his acting muscles by playing a version of Harrow that isn’t spouting off Shakespearean quotes while trying to cleanse the world. This doesn’t mean that we won’t be getting back to the Amitt of it all next week, but it was nice to see just how weird Moon Knight could get as it leaned into the absurd and took a mini-break from its Indiana Jones sensibilities (which were also fun – just a bit less original).

*If you haven’t watched Legion, it was a super strange but very original take on the David Haller (Professor X’s very powerful son) story from the mind of Noah Hawley. The first season, which was far and away the best of the three, was largely set in a strange mental institution with odd characters (at least one of whom existed solely in David’s mind) trying to keep David locked up and unable to use his powers for good or evil. It was delightfully twisted and the first season is absolutely worth a watch if you’re into the more out there Marvel stories (this was produced by Fox when it had the rights to the X-Men, so it’s not part of the MCU, but it does have a lot of mutants).

So, it turns out that I do like the Steven personality after all. Oscar Isaac has really proven his mettle with how he’s taken Steven from incredibly annoying wet blanket to a man who understands his worth (where would he or Layla be without his deep knowledge of Egyptology?) and who can, for better or for worse, hold his own when faced with a conundrum. Episode One Steven wouldn’t have taken the initiative to break into the tomb, much less have the guts to steal the icon needed by Amitt. I suspect the real goal of the series is for Marc and Steven – and the third personality that was again hinted at in the mental institution sequence – to find a balance with one another that allows them to function not only as Moon Knight but in their everyday life. This bifurcated existence isn’t sustainable, and once they have figure out how to navigate their ownership of their shared body, Moon Knight will truly become a formidable hero and protector within the MCU.

Now, for the Khonshu of it all. It was pretty telling that he was placed on a shelf . . . surrounded by a host of other Egyptian gods and goddesses who had also been retired. This leads to two options:

1. A majority of the Egyptian gods and goddesses acted out through their avatars and were a threat to humanity, so they had to be locked away with good reason (which is the boring answer)
2. The remaining gods and goddesses are working to eliminate all those who they don’t agree with – manipulating things to ensure that they maintain control over humanity. Perhaps they even agree with Amitt’s goals? (This is the fun answer and would set up a lot more conflict, so I’m thinking this is the route the show is planning on taking.)

So, Marc and Steven are stuck in an afterlife waiting room – which took the form of a mental institution with Harrow as the head doctor and Layla as a fellow patient, and where a third personality remains locked away in a sarcophagus likely not to appear in full until the final episode of the series – and have met the goddess Taweret who is there to prepare their path to the afterlife*. Things are looking pretty grim for our heroes, but who wants to bet that Taweret has some history with Khonshu and wants to help his avatar escape his fate and stop Amitt from returning?

*While mainly known as the goddess of childbirth and fertility, Taweret was also responsible for preparing the recently deceased for their journey to the afterlife. She was also referred to as the goddess of rejuvenation for providing new life in childbirth and providing the dead with purification for their new life in the afterlife. I’m betting Marc and Steven receive a new form of rejuvenation by being resurrected into the living world through her powers to complete their mission.

With how well the series navigated the Tomb Raider aspects of this episode (seriously, the creep factor was off the charts and it was super suspenseful, even if the series continues to skimp on allowing us major fighting set pieces with Layla), I’m hopeful that we’ll get a final battle with Harrow in the lost tomb of Alexander the Great next week. But either way, this was the episode that showed us how fun and interesting a completely integrated Moon Knight could be in the MCU. We had to slog through a lot to get here, but I’m happy we’ve finally reached the point where things are starting to coalesce together. Not a moment too soon, as we only have two episodes left.