In the “Moon Knight” recap, Steven tries to make sense of the voices inside his head as Arthur Harrow gets closer to what he really wants…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The battle for control over Marc Spector’s body — or is it Steven Grant’s body? — continued in the second episode of “Moon Knight” on Disney+.
Following a whirlwind debut that saw lowly British gift shop worker Steven Grant get swept away in an international heist involving a charismatic cult leader hell bent on judging the world before anybody even had a chance to do anything wrong, this week picked up virtually right where the last episode ended.
With Steven Grant battling to maintain control over his own faculties, he found himself cornered in the museum where he works by a hulking Egyptian jackal that was coming for his throat after he stole a golden scarab that the cult leader — Arthur Harrow — wanted back.
That’s when Marc Spector finally peaked his head out and told Steven to give up control so he could transform into the powerful Moon Knight — the avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian moon god — who could defeat the jackal and save both their lives.
If you didn’t figure it out already — Marc Spector/Steven Grant is afflicted with dissociative identity disorder — multiple personalities — and the show hasn’t revealed yet what exactly splintered his fractured psyche but something tells me that’s a story yet to come. For now, Steven is trying to hold onto his own sanity while fighting back Marc’s advances to take over again in order to complete the mission with which he’s been tasked. More on that later.
For now, let’s get to our full recap for episode 2 of “Moon Knight” titled “Summon the Suit”…
A Deal with the Devil
Much like he’s woken up on so many other mornings, Steven Grant falls out of bed, his ankle still chained as he attempts to figure out how much of what he remember is a dream or reality.
When he arrives at the museum that morning, Steven realizes that everything in his head wasn’t a vague interpretation of what happened — he actually lived through it. With police investigating and the museum closed off to repair the damage done, Steven wants to see the security footage to exonerate his participation while also hopefully revealing the true culprit behind this disaster — a gigantic Egyptian jackal that was chasing him around the museum.
Unfortunately, the security officer who still doesn’t know his name, shows Steven running around the museum and eventually fleeing into the bathroom but there’s nothing on the footage that shows him being chased by a gigantic, carnivorous animal. Instead, Steven looks manic and by all accounts, he destroyed the bathroom that caused flooding and shut down the museum for repairs.
A visit to human resources relieves Steven of his employment but the representative tells him that they won’t be pressing charges but rather they want him to visit a psychologist that might help him deal with the mess that’s currently infecting his mind.
After losing his job, Steven heads outside to talk to his golden friend cosplaying a statue where he commiserates everything that’s been happening over the past 24 hours. Steven is still trying to figure out who this Marc person is living in his head not to mention the cell phone and storage locker key he found hidden in his flat.
Perhaps the only way to get some answers is to find that storage locker?
Steven convinces himself that’s the best course of action so he hugs goldy goodbye and starts searching for the storage facility where that hidden key will turn a lock. After five locations, Steven finally lands at the correct spot with a clerk who actually recognizes him from past visits.
The employee leads Steven to his storage shed and when he gets inside, he sees a cot, a bunch of military style lockers and a duffle bag. Inside the bag, Steven finds a loaded gun, piles of cash, an American passport for Marc Spector and the mysterious gold scarab that led him on a car chase out of a European village where a cult leader was coming after him.
The gold scarab activates this time with the piece lifting into the air and pointing towards a direction like a compass but even Steven knows this isn’t going north. So what exactly is this scarab pointing towards? More on that later.
At that moment, Marc appears in a reflection again to warn Steven that he’s in grave danger if he continues to play with things he doesn’t understand. Marc then tells Steven the truth about himself — he’s the avatar of the moon god Khonshu and he’s been granted extraordinary powers in order to carry out a mission as part of a deal that he made with the Egyptian deity.
Of course, Steven believes this is all just a bigger bit of madness and he wants nothing to do with going back to sleep and handing over his body to Marc Spector yet again. Instead, he grabs up the duffle bag and says he’s going to the authorities to turn himself in with hopes that they will admit him to a mental ward where he can be pumped full of medication until the voices in his head finally disappear.
Marc tries to stop him but Steven can’t be convinced so he takes the duffle bag, runs out of the storage locker but then he’s soon being haunted by the spirit of Khonshu chasing him through the halls. Every turn just leads him back to the Egyptian god but he finally finds a way outside — and he immediately trips and falls into the street.
That’s where he’s greeted by a motorbike and a woman who recognizes him.
This is Layla — the woman on the other end of the cell phone who was calling him Marc — and she came to find him after realizing that something must have been wrong when they spoke. Layla tracked him on the phone that was previously hidden in the wall but then she makes the biggest revelation of all.
Layla is Marc Spector’s wife.
Needless to say, Steven is stunned but Layla is equally shocked because she can’t understand why her husband is going by a different name and speaking with a British accent.
When they finally arrive back at his flat, Steven attempts to convince Layla that he doesn’t know Marc Spector and he has no memories whatsoever about their relationship much less their marriage. Layla is equally as confused, especially seeing all the books and other things around the apartment that point towards her husband — including a book of poetry that Steven claims is his favorite author but in reality it was actually hers.
Layla then wonders why Marc never signed the divorce papers, which stuns Steven even more because he couldn’t imagine abandoning this lovely woman. In his head, Steven continues to get warnings from Marc to get Layla out of there because every second she’s finding out more information, it puts her in more danger.
That’s when Layla gets curious about the duffle bag that Steven has been carrying, especially after he nearly shows her what’s inside until Marc yells at him to stop or she might die.
Of course, Steven is pretty much powerless to withstand Layla tossing him to one side as she digs into the bag and finds the golden scarab inside. Layla immediately recognizes the bauble as the scarab that points towards Ammit’s tomb — the Egyptian god of judgment that Arthur Harrow worships.
With Steven still just as confused, Layla begins to realize that he really doesn’t remember the adventures they went on together nor the marriage they shared. Steven even tells Layla to take the scarab because he no longer wants it.
Before they can speak any further, a knock on the door interrupts them as the police have arrived to speak with Steven about the disaster at the museum. He’s curious because the directors at the museum said they wouldn’t be pressing charges but the police still barge into his flat while Layla has crawled out the window to hide on the roof.
The police start to question Steven but then find the duffle bag filled with money, a gun and what they believe is a fake passport for somebody named “Marc Spector.”
They place Steven under arrest and drag him out before revealing to him that Marc Spector is an international fugitive wanted for murder after he allegedly killed a group of archeologists in Egypt. Judging by this story, “Moon Knight” is keeping Marc’s origin intact where he was once a mercenary left for dead and that’s when Khonshu resurrected him under the agreement that he would be granted new life and extraordinary powers but only if he would do the Egyptian god’s bidding.
Steven denies any involvement with the murders but he also soon figures out that these police officers aren’t taking him back to the station for booking. Instead, he arrives at a neighborhood where he’s met by Arthur Harrow.
Arthur has come to realize that Steven Grant is actually Marc Spector, who is also the avatar of the moon god Khonshu. It explains why his cane couldn’t pass judgment because there were too many personalities living in one body not to mention the god-like powers that Steven possesses even if he has no idea how to use them.
When Khonshu appears to Steven in a vision, Arthur realizes that he’s seeing the Egyptian god — a luxury he doesn’t have as Ammit’s avatar — but he tells his new “friend” that he doesn’t have anything to fear. Khonshu holds no real power in this world, which means he can yell, scream and maybe even toss a garbage can but he can’t actually harm Steven.
Arthur even realizes when Khonshu is commanding Steven to kill him — an order the ultra-confused former gift shop worker doesn’t carry out.
From there, Arthur decides to give Steven a tour around this neighborhood that he says used to have the highest crime rates in all of London. Now it’s safe for anyone and everyone to visit because Arthur has used Ammit’s powers to pass judgment on the entire neighborhood so he could root out all evil and leave only the good people behind.
With Khonshu standing over his shoulder, Arthur then reveals that he was once the moon god’s avatar but he gave up that power after he found a deity more to his liking. He explains how Khonshu only punishes evil doers after the evil has already been done — but Ammit pulls out evil by the root before any heinous acts can be carried out.
Ammit judges the guilty before they’ve actually done anything wrong, which Arthur believes is the better way to eradicate evil but even Steven disagrees with that notion.
Steven asks him hypothetically if Ammit passes judgment on a child, does that mean that little boy or girl has to die for something they’ve never done or may never do? Steven can’t reconcile with that kind of judgment.
As Arthur begins getting angry at the way Steven is belittling his precious god, his followers start drawing closer and closer. Arthur then shows Steven the staff that belongs to Ammit — as it begins glowing purple he explains that this cane possesses just a sliver of his god’s true power and he doesn’t want to unleash it but he needs that scarab back.
Steven attempts to convince Arthur that he really doesn’t have the scarab because he doesn’t — and that’s when Layla arrives with the trinket in hand. Arthur asks her to hand over the scarab but Layla has no intention of giving it to anybody much less a worshipper of Ammit.
She grabs Steven and they flee through the neighborhood as Layla yells at her husband to summon the suit that will allow him to save them. Steven is still confused and he refuses to hand over control to Marc but things take a dire turn after Arthur uses the staff to summon another Egyptian jackal that starts giving chase after his enemies.
Once again only Steven can see this beast — not even Layla has any idea what’s attacking her husband but she continues to tell him to summon the suit.
After he gets tossed out a window, Steven finally does as he’s told but his transformation doesn’t produce the Moon Knight suit that Layla knows — instead he stands up wearing a full white suit and a white mask with glowing eyes — an outfit comic book readers will recognize as “Mr. Knight,” which is actually another of Marc Spector’s alter egos.
In this instance, Steven is impressed with his attire but Marc knows he can’t handle the battle on his hands even with the powers he’s suddenly tapped into.
Steven does his best to fight off the jackal but even with Layla’s help, he’s almost defenseless against the beast. Finally with Layla in danger, Steven looks at his reflection in a bus window and he sees Marc staring back at him. Steven finally concedes control to allow Marc to take over so he can save both of them and Layla from any harm.
Once he transforms into the real Moon Knight, Marc draws his weapons and heeds advice from Layla to lead the creature out of the city square where more people could be hurt. The chase ends up going across rooftops and eventually Marc dives over a church where he finally dispatches the jackal after impaling the beast on a steeple.
After falling back to the ground, Moon Knight transforms back into Marc but then he realizes that somewhere along the way, he dropped the scarab he was supposed to keep safe.
Back on the street, Arthur collects the scarab from a man who found it — but instead of offering him reward, he passes judgment on the stranger who then falls dead. Layla watches this unfold before driving away on her motorbike to escape Arthur’s wrath.
At the church, Marc sees Steven staring back at him in a reflection and the British dimwit tells him how horrible it is to be trapped in here with no control over his own body. Marc has started to understand that the dominant personality in the body has started to maintain greater power, which is why he’s no longer willing to concede control back to his counterpart in Steven — not as long as he’s got a mission to complete for Khonshu.
It seems Khonshu has targeted Layla as his next avatar and Marc refuses to put that burden on the woman he loves so he’s keeping the powers and completing whatever tasks the moon god asks him to carry out. When Khonshu visits again, he berates Marc for losing the scarab, which is now in Arthur’s possession.
He reminds Marc about the bargain they made after saving his life and reminds him about the next person he’ll choose as his avatar if his wishes aren’t granted.
Marc promises that he’ll get to Ammit’s tomb before Arthur Harrow and he’ll stop her from being resurrected, which is ultimately what her cult followers want. The first stop on this journey will take Marc back to familiar settings after he wakes up the next morning with a bottle of whiskey beside him as he stares out a window at the pyramids in Egypt.
This was the site where Marc was first transformed into Moon Knight and he’s returned to hopefully stop Harrow from freeing his god of judgment from her eternal prison.
“Moon Knight” returns for a new episode next Wednesday on Disney+
