The penultimate episode of Moon Knight, available on Disney+, moved fans to tears with a succession of flashbacks and the possible death of a major character. Warning, spoilers.
Warning, spoilers. It is advisable to have seen episode 5 of Moon Knight before continuing to read this article.
Moon Knight’s final denouement has never been closer, and episode 5 of the Marvel Studios series deeply marks the inner journey of Marc Spector / Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac). This penultimate chapter takes the duo from memory to memory as the vagueness surrounding their dissociative identity disorder gradually dissipates.
The corridor of the psychiatric hospital is a projection of the kingdom of Douat and the hippopotamus is indeed the Tuaret goddess who guides them towards the afterlife, and more precisely towards Aaru, the Field of reeds. Their heart must be weighed to go to Heaven. And for that, Marc and Steven will have to delve into their respective memories in order to balance their hearts.
Marc stays, Steven leaves…
We then learn thanks to the memories that Steven is an identity created from scratch by Marc in order to protect himself from the abuse of his mother, who holds him responsible for the death of his little brother when they were children. Her mother Wendy Spector (Fernanda Andrade) never got over her grief and sank into depression. Having become violent, she beat Marc for many years before he decided, as a young adult, to leave the family home.
Although he still had a relationship with his father Elias Spector (Rey Lucas), Marc never spoke to his mother again and did not have the strength to go to her funeral, his shiva, when she is deceased. Steven then regained possession of Marc’s body to help him through this ordeal. This is why Steven keeps calling Wendy on the phone, thinking her mother is alive and they are getting along.
Screenshot/Marvel
By going back over the memories and finally understanding who he is, especially with the flashback to his transformation into Moon Knight, Marc regains faith in himself. But lost souls attack them and Steven sacrifices himself to save Marc. In this penultimate episode, the last image we have of Steven is that of a man frozen and stuck in the sand of the kingdom of Douat.
Thanks to Steven’s sacrifice, Marc’s heart finds its balance and he can go to the peaceful Field of Reeds, which is akin to Heaven. So it would seem that Steven is indeed dead after helping Marc come to terms with the traumas of his childhood. Marc must then find a way to leave this haven of peace in order to thwart Arthur Harrow’s (Ethan Hawke) plans to resurrect Ammit and find Khonshu, who gives him his extraordinary abilities.
This penultimate episode of Moon Knight, as touching as it is introspective, won over fans of the series from Marvel Studios, who did not fail to express their emotions on social networks.
Moon Knight is available on Disney+.