Moon Knight – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Ammit’s Tomb

Episode 2 of Moon Knight begins with Steven waking up back in his room, far away from the drama in the bathroom that ended last week’s chapter. Steven eventually trundles back to join JB (the security guard who keeps calling him Scotty) at the museum. Together, they look over the security footage.

Interestingly, there’s no jackal in sight and the footage shows Steven running around the museum like a headless chicken. Thankfully though, the museum is not going to press charges against the damage caused in the bathroom.

Called into his manager’s office, Steven is referred to the doctors for his condition but also fired as a result. Brilliant. Anyway, Steven begins to dive deeper into this strangeness that’s disrupting his life and, specifically, uncovers a bag inside a storage locker. Passports and a handgun seem to point toward some serious Jason-Bourne-esque amnesia going on here.

The gold scarab Steven held in the “dream town” is here too, along with those aforementioned passports listed under the name of Marc Spector.

The “man in the mirror” arrives and promises Steven that he’s going to help save him. According to Marc, he’s an avatar of Kohnshu, the Egyptian God of the moon. Their mission is to protect the innocent and serve justice to those who need it.

Steven rushes out the building after seeing Kohnshu but in doing so, runs straight into Layla arriving on her bike. Scooping him up, we learn Layla is actually Marc’s wife. Steven, of course, is completely in the dark about all of this.

When Layla takes him back to his apartment, Marc’s voice echoes through again and tells him to get her out, as he’s “out of his depth.”

As Steven begins to dive into his alter-ego’s life, he speaks to Layla and can’t believe that Marc is intending to divorce her. While Steven rambles on and tries to convince Layla what’s happening, Marc urges him not to, warning that this could end up getting her killed.

Layla eventually finds the golden scarab, pointing out that this is something that leads to Ammit’s ushabti. Steven pleads with Layla for help, admitting he’s clueless about this alleged second life he’s been leading.

A knock at the door brings DC Kennedy and DC Fitzgerald into Steven’s apartment. Unfortunately, they find the fake passport and the gun. Naturally, the officers bring him in with handcuffs, claiming that Marc Spector is an international vigilante and killed a whole bunch of archaeologists in the back of the head after cable-tying them down.

Surprise surprise, these guys are not standard officers and appear to be aligned with Arthur. It doesn’t take long for the big bad villain to show up and begin spewing rhetorics about Khonshu, who pipes up in Steven’s ear, demanding he kill Arthur.

Steven doesn’t though, instead agreeing to be shown around this little community Arthur has built for himself. This strange idyllic shantytown sees everyone speaking three languages (including Mandarin). It turns out Arthur used to be the “fist of vengeance” and was one of Khonshu’s avatars before Marc/Steven took over.

Arthur intends to resurrect Ammit, with the end-goal of eradicating evil completely. The scarab serves as a compass, bound to lead them over to Ammit’s tomb, which explains why Arthur wants it so badly.

As Steven begins to question Arthur’s “wisdom” and “teachings” he realizes that Ammit will eradicate evil before it arrives. In other words, innocent lives will be lost – including children. Arthur shrugs it off though, likening it to cutting off a diseased limb.

Layla soon arrives, showing off the scarab for all to see. No one bothers to try and grab it though, instead allowing her to waltz into the room… and then rush away with Steven. They eventually hold up in a storage cupboard trying to escape Arthur’s followers, who hammer on the storage room they lock themselves in. However, it’s not humans outside… it’s the jackal. Again. As Steven is knocked out the window, he summons some sort of suit but he’s in charge, not Marc.

This weird Deadpool-but-not-quite-Deadpool character squares off against this invisible jackal alongside Layla. The scene is a little silly in truth, and in the car reflection, Marc urges Steven to relinquish control. Eventually he does so, transforming into the conventional Moon Knight suit.

Leaping across the rooftops, Moon Knight leads the jackal away from the masses and eventually impales it on the spire of a church. Job done. Or it would be had Marc not dropped the scarab, which happens to be on the floor left behind. Arthur eventually gets it and finds himself one step closer to uncovering Ammit’s tomb.

Meanwhile, Steven finds himself stuck in the reflections, unable to move just like Marc was. This time though Marc is in control and he promises Khonshu that Steven will not interfere again. He’s going to find the scarab and find another way to get to Ammit’s tomb before Arthur. So naturally, that brings them out to Egypt.

The Episode Review

Moon Knight returns and this time we learn a little more about Marc Spector and the double life Steven has been living. It seems Layla is Marc’s wife but how that’s possible in the wake of Steven’s life at the gift shop, along with how that’s remained hidden for so long is still unclear. That’s especially true given Layla seems to be in the dark about Steven’s identity.

However, the Egyptian influences are great to see and the show certainly has a unique edge to it by diving into the fascinating African country’s history. Having said that though, Moon Knight continues to struggle with its tone, which feels split between lighthearted Marvel quips and slapstick alongside more bloody and visceral action. We’ve seen Deadpool pull this off but the humour there was decidedly adult.

Either way though, Moon Knight certainly has intrigue about it – and a good deal of positive press too! Roll on the next episode.