What’s up, my know-it-alls? It’s that time again. Wednesday morning means the brand new episode of Moon Knight has dropped, so I’ve watched it and I’m here to recap and review it just for you. This is Episode 4, “The Tomb.”
Arthur Harrow and his disciples have breached the tomb of the imprisoned Egyptian deity Ammit, and Steven, Marc and Layla have to find another way in. Meanwhile, after the events of the previous episode, “The Friendly Type,” the Ennead are frustrated with Khonshu’s latest violation of the sky, his thousand Egyptian nights display, and they’ve confined the god of the moon in his ushabti, that little teeny tiny statue. So can Steven and Marc keep Ammit from being released onto the world without Khonshu, and without the protection of Mr. Knight and Moon Knight?
This episode felt very much like an Indiana Jones movie or a Tomb Raider movie. We’re staying with that relic hunter, grave digger type of scenario, with a lot of archaeology and a lot of history going on. Ultimately, I really liked everything. The sets are gorgeous, the locations are just unbelievable, and of course the filming itself is amazing.
A Wall of Imprisoned Gods
The episode starts with Selim, the avatar of Osiris. That’s the character’s name, to be clear, and I don’t mean the actor. You see him walking through a hallway, and it’s very reminiscent of those old ’90s movies, which is going to get a callback in a little bit. He’s carrying Khonshu’s ushabti, and eventually he puts it somewhere and backs up, and what you see is this wall.
The wall reminds me a little of Game of Thrones, that scene with the Many-Faced God where you see these pillars and they’ve got people’s faces on them. It’s not that extreme, but you see all these little statues and you’re like, man, I tell you what, the Egyptian gods have been putting people away for a while. And I’m like, bro, seriously?
Kids, Look for the Flares
Then we cut to Layla out in the desert, trying to wake Marc up, when all of a sudden these attackers show up in a Jeep. She runs, she hides, she manages to drag Marc’s body over this hill, and she gets into the back of the Jeep and waits. You see them come around, and then she does this really awesome thing. Layla’s a bad woman. Layla’s amazing.
If you’re ever stuck in a Jeep, kids, you want to look for the flares. Just saying. It worked in Jurassic Park, and apparently it works here. She kicks the flare, she distracts the guys, they come around, and then she manages to throw the flare into the back of their truck.
Earlier we’d seen, for just a split second, the back of that vehicle full of ammo, which I guess was supposed to inform this moment. It’s a little silly. It’s much like the old wives’ tale that throwing a cigarette onto gasoline will make it explode. The truth is there’s usually too much volume of gasoline, so it ends up being more wet than anything else, which defeats the purpose. Here she throws the flare into the box of ammo, and I’m like, first off, if bullets could get this hot this quickly and go off, we’d all be in danger from a lot worse than an AR-15 or somebody holding a gun, because they’d just be going off everywhere, especially anywhere that’s hot.
But suffice to say, the flare goes in and a split second later you’ve got bullets shooting off everywhere, all set off by the heat of this flare. And apparently that’s enough to scare off the people attacking them.
Marc, Steven, and the Rearview Mirror
Harrow has forced his people in and said, listen, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to go. So they’re on their way, and Layla and Marc continue on. This is where we get a very interesting conversation between Marc and Steven.
Layla is very much of the mindset that we’re going to need Marc, we’ve got to defend ourselves. The whole scenario they’re in is obviously dangerous, and danger is Marc’s wheelhouse. Egyptian historical stuff is Steven’s wheelhouse. So while they’re in the car, Steven’s looking at Marc in the rearview mirror and he’s like, “I thought you said when we were done with Khonshu you were going to get out.” And Marc’s like, I can’t do that right now, look, I’m still here, so what are we going to do? There’s a little bit of back and forth that is really, really funny.
When they arrive at Harrow’s camp, the entire camp is abandoned. Steven’s going through some stuff, searching for a sign of where they may have ended up going, and he and Marc have a quick conversation in the reflection of one of the tables. Marc is very much like, oh really, you’ve got the hots for my wife, you’re going to talk to her, what’s going on? And Steven’s like, well yeah, I’m the one out here, it’s my body. So Marc says, look, if you touch her I’m going to throw us off a cliff, or something like that. It’s really stupid.
Then we see what looks like a digging tool of some sort. I think it’s more of a spelunking hand axe, pickaxe type thing, and it’s got blood on it, and the blood leads a trail.
Then Layla almost kisses Steven, and Steven eventually, awkwardly, takes charge of that moment and kisses her. It’s very awkward. I’m watching like, is it okay? And as Layla goes down into the Ammit burial site, you hear the sound that happens before Marc changes. But he doesn’t change. He punches himself in the face, and you’re like, okay, I get it. A short time later he comes flying down the stairs to where she is.
The Panther Statues and the Eye of Horus
Then we get our next Easter egg. At least I consider it an Easter egg. If you watched my last episode, you know I’m a big believer that at some point we’re getting a connection to Wakanda, this Bast connection. And here there are two enormous panther statues. I say panther statues because if you compare them to the screenshot of the Black Panther statue in Wakanda, it’s a very similar construction and thought process. It could have been a lion. I don’t believe it’s a lion. I believe it’s probably more of a panther. It could also be a leopard. It’s funny, because I’m like, I don’t want to spoil anything for you, even though you’re literally watching a spoiler review.
Then Steven notices this little symbol, and it’s the symbol Layla put there for her father. They have a moment about that, and he’s like, he’d be so proud of you if he knew you were standing here in the proof of everything.
They finally get into the tomb, and there are six different passageways that don’t make any sense. So he stops and he’s looking and he’s thinking, and he realizes something and proceeds to draw it. He draws the Eye of Horus. Now, the Eye of Horus is different than the Eye of Ra, big different thing, even though Horus is technically also another name for them, whatever. He points out that this entire place must have been built to look like this, and he explains how each of the areas on the eye means a certain thing. This area here is the voice, which is the tongue, and there’s another area with the ear.
So he figures out, hey, if we’re following the voice of Ammit, because an avatar is the voice of the god they serve, then it’s got to be down the tongue path. And down the tongue path they go. That’s one of the reasons you have Steven instead of Marc right now. Steven very much knows this stuff. Marc would just be walking around aimlessly.
The Thing in the Embalming Room
They come to an area where the magi of the time would have prepared everyone’s body to go into the grave. The tomb. The eponymous tomb of the episode. And you see fresh blood all over the place. There are clearly human remains and what looks like gristle. The idea is just gross. There’s a sacrifice area, and there are these little vases where you put the interior stuff.
They find that the blood is going in one direction, so they want an alternate direction. Steven happens to look up and notices a prep area, where the magi would have prepared all the stuff for the various ceremonies, and he’s like, there would have been a door up there. He climbs up, and you see instructions and all this stuff on the walls. It’s a very, very good representation of everything.
As they’re searching, they begin to hear this clicking, and everybody hides. He ducks down. Layla is still on the ground level, so she hides behind one of the sarcophagus deals. Then you see what looks like this Gollum-esque Egyptian troll thing, a little guy, kind of slinking and dragging something. And dude, he’s dragging the guy with the beard, the police officer who works for Harrow. He throws him up onto the table and picks up this really wicked looking, I don’t know, Egyptian scalpel, designed so you can hook things. And he proceeds to start removing organs from this guy and putting them in the little vases. So this is one of those cursed type creatures.
Layla accidentally bumps a vase, because of course, why wouldn’t you. The chase is on, and Steven sees the whole thing and has to figure out what to do. Ultimately he wants to help, so he makes a sound and the creature starts climbing. She makes a sound and goes the other direction. They split and go two different ways. He heads down the exit up above that they were looking for, and she heads forward on the main way.
Layla, the Ledge, and Arthur Harrow
Of course, we have flare-prepared Layla, always ready with a flare, because that seems to be the way to go. She gets to this area where you can see another door across the way, and she has to go along the edge, because again, obstacles. The floor gives out in some areas and she’s staying on it.
Then you catch a glimpse, through the crags of the rock, of this creature climbing. You see Layla pass by, and a split second later, on the other side of the rock where there’s a cut through, you see the thing come across too. And you’re like, oh my goodness, she’s being chased.
As she’s getting ready to step onto the main platform, this zombie hand comes out and starts searching around. She jumps, and right then, out of a crack in the side, the thing grabs her. It’s total jump scare town. It’s not bad. The thing looks rough. It looks real rough. It’s essentially some sort of Egyptian zombie guardian.
But Layla has those flares. It’s one of those you just bang on something and it lights up. She shoves the flare into the zombie Egyptian guy’s head and manages to flip herself and him over the edge. And then, because Disney, her hands are on the edge and she pulls herself up, which by the way is a much more difficult thing to do than people might think.
When she gets back on the ledge, she looks back and you see Arthur Harrow. Just standing there. Just chilling. And he wants to have a conversation with her.
She doesn’t want anything to do with him and she thinks he’s full of crap. She’s like, I’m leaving. That’s when he shouts after her. Your father, his little scarab, is that right? That’s what he used to call you. He explains how his powers work: from time to time Ammit shows him good and evil events, and he got the information he’s about to divulge from when he did the weight and scales thing with Steven. So he reveals it to her. Your father was killed by mercenaries, and Marc was present. She looks ashen, like she’s not even hearing it. She walks off and doesn’t want to hear anything more he has to say.
Alexander the Great Was Ammit’s Avatar
Meanwhile, down below, Steven has made it into the tomb they were looking for. Reading the various inscriptions, he finds out it’s Macedonian, not Egyptian, and that immediately tells him whose tomb this is. Ammit’s avatar was Alexander the Great. Because why not? So yeah, Colin Farrell’s in there. I’m kidding. If you remember Alexander the movie, Colin Farrell plays the part.
He manages to push the lid aside, and he’s coming to the conclusion: if you’re the voice, where would you hide the ushabti for Ammit? Sure enough, he opens the face covering, breaks its jaw, and reaches on down its gullet. That’s right. He reaches down there and starts searching, and he successfully pulls out Ammit’s ushabti. It’s a little teeny stone statue with the head of a gator, and he’s pretty amazed by it.
Layla comes around the corner and he’s like, “We got it. We won.” He’s all excited and ecstatic, and she beelines it right for him. “Can he hear me?” And she starts in on him, what did you do. The emotional distress this has clearly caused is enough to break Steven’s control. There’s a quick little shift and Marc is there, and he’s like, let’s talk, let’s talk, hold on a second. He’s trying his best to talk his way through it.
It comes out that the one who killed her father was Marc’s partner, who was overzealous and was trying to betray him. Marc was also shot, but that’s not important in this moment.
The Origin Story, Told and Not Shown
It’s the origin story. What Marvel has consistently done is treat the origin of a thing as less important than the thing itself. If we get hung up on it, you end up with a million origin story movies, and nobody got time for that. Everyone jumps into comic books where they are, and that’s kind of what Marvel’s been trying to do here.
So in like fashion, we don’t actually get Marc and Steven’s origin story. What we get is the explanation of the origin story, and it lines up with the comics, for sure. He was on an expedition of some kind, hired as muscle. One of the other guys who was there to protect them betrays them and kills everyone. Marc is left for dead, and that’s when Khonshu shows up and makes Marc the deal. That’s the ultimate origin story from the comic books. I was going to say that’s out of Werewolf by Night, but forgive me, I think that’s the wrong book. It’s from one of the other lines of comics.
Then Arthur Harrow shows up. Layla’s hiding, and Harrow wastes no time. Of course Marc tries to fight, because he’s an idiot. I’m sorry. It’s like ten guys with guns, you no longer have Khonshu protecting you, and I don’t care how good of a mercenary you are, those odds really suck. Suffice to say, Harrow shoots him twice and he falls backward into the water. He begins to sink, farther and farther and farther, until a distant light shows up and he disappears.
And then the aspect ratio changes.
The ’90s Callback and the Psych Ward
Now we get back to that ’90s callback I promised you. It’s this totally campy, movie of the week style action adventure thing that could have belonged in the Action Pack, which was on UPN, one of the TV networks at the time. It was the same block as Andromeda, Xena, Hercules, another show with Bruce Campbell of some kind. I can totally see this show smack in the middle of all that. It’s Dr. Steven Grant, searching for lost treasure, and of course he’s got his little sidekick. It’s great. It’s corny and campy as can be.
Then we back out of that and you find out it’s a VCR tape being watched in a psych ward. A clean white area. The tiles are white, the walls are white, the doors are white, the furniture’s white, the trolley they take medications around on is white. Both of the police officers we know, the Black lady and the gentleman with the beard, are orderlies. So you’re like, what’s going on? And there are little teeny callbacks to a whole bunch of stuff.
There was an interview, I think it’s on marvel.com, where head writer and executive producer Jeremy Slater said there was never any hesitation about killing off Marc and Steven. That’s awesome. He says, “I knew a show like this needs big swings and it needs to take the audience by surprise.” And what’s more surprising than killing off the main character? Of course. But at least wherever Marc and Steven are, whatever they’re doing, they’ve already made a friend.
You see imagery everywhere. Everything looks like something from previous episodes. Marc is somewhat drugged, you can tell he’s been tranquilized and maybe it’s wearing off, and he’s brought in front of his therapist. The therapist looks like Arthur Harrow. It’s Ethan Hawke playing a therapist. There’s Egyptian stuff in the decorations, and he’s got a cane, a regular one this time instead of the Ammit cane, but the fact is the cane exists. Marc can see the shoes in the reflection.
For a minute I was like, oh my God, are they mind effing us that bad? Are they genuinely going to screw with us this hard? Because I found myself questioning whether the whole show is made up. Layla’s there, but she’s a patient, and she’s eating her marshmallows. There are all these little Easter eggs from the series itself, and that was pretty awesome. You start to find out that it’s actually more in his head than anything else.
Marc Meets Steven, and Then a Hippo
He manages to escape and ends up hiding in a room where there’s another sarcophagus. He opens the sarcophagus. It’s Steven. Marc and Steven meet for the first time, and they hug. It’s one of the most genuine moments in the show, and it’s straight out of Jeff Lemire’s run on Moon Knight. It’s a cool little Easter egg and I love it.
It’s funny, because if you remember back to Episode 1, when he’s in the storage place (maybe it’s Episode 2), there’s a little QR code. The QR code brings you to this run of Moon Knight. So a lot of this series is really based on that run, which is the 2016 to 2018 Moon Knight comic book run, for those of you playing at home. If you’re looking for it digitally, I think they’ve got it on Marvel Unlimited, which is their comic book reading service.
Then Marc and Steven rush out, they get through the door, and you see a giant hippo. Because why wouldn’t you see a giant hippo? This is actually the representation of Taweret, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth. She’s also the wife of Bes, the god of luck and probability, something like that. She’s pretty cool. It’s a startling moment, but it looks dope.
That’s how the episode ends.
The Verdict
Moon Knight Episode 4, “The Tomb,” is an 8 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
I enjoyed the episode. I liked it a lot. There wasn’t a whole lot of action, but it was really good. There was more character development, and they managed to make me question my reality with the fact that Marc and Steven are dead now. And again, most of this comes out of the comics. Comics are comics, and you guys are going to love it.
We have two more episodes left. Next week is the penultimate episode and the week after that is the series finale. I say series finale because it looks like we’re only going to get one season of Moon Knight. I’m okay with that. Limited series, I’m down, man. It’s how TV’s been done in the UK forever, so I’m all about it.
I’m enjoying the yarn they’re spinning. This has been a good, fun ride, and I can’t wait to see where it goes, and ultimately where Moon Knight goes as a character. Even though this is a limited series, there’s every possibility you could see him pop up somewhere else again. I’m really enjoying this era of Phase Four.
So there you go. Now you know. And if knowing is half the battle, you’re halfway to being a know-it-all yourself.
Did you enjoy the episode, and did you enjoy seeing all the various parts of this thing come together the way they have? The conversation lives in the comments on the video above. Never forget, everyone loves a know-it-all.
