The last two episodes of “Moon Knight” made it crystal clear that Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham) saved Steven Grant/Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac) from mortal danger. That’s why Marc owes Khonshu a debt, after which he’ll be free to go. And the debt involves stopping Harrow (Ethan Hawke) from getting to Ammit’s tomb and resurrecting her so that she can bring her version of Heaven to Earth. There’s a catch to it, though. Once Khonshu leaves Marc, he plans to make Marc’s wife Layla (May Calamawy) his avatar, something that Marc is obviously against. Marc had the upper hand until he had the scarab. But with that in Harrow’s possession, Marc has to hurry and catch up with Harrow.
Episode 3 of “Moon Knight” is directed by Mohamed Diab again. It was written by Beau DeMayo, Peter Cameron, and Sabir Pirzada. And it opens with Layla narrating the story to a woman named Lagaro (probably a reference to Dynaman, whose actual name is Lagaro, and he’s from the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Pharaonic Egypt) about Marc living as Steven in an apartment a few blocks away from their old place. Since Marc has left for Egypt without Layla, for obvious reasons, she is seen getting a fake passport made with the help of Lagaro so that she can get there to help Marc. What’s Marc up to? Well, read on to find out.
Major spoilers for “Moon Knight” Episode 3.
See More: ‘Moon Knight’ Episode 2: Recap And Ending, Explained – What Is Marc Spector’s Deal With Khonshu?
Has Arthur Harrow Already Succeeded?
Harrow’s primary plan is to find Ammit’s tomb and then to resurrect her. As evident in the opening minutes, he has succeeded in doing at least 50% of that. And even though he is warned that Marc Spector is nearby, he is kind of unfazed because he’s happy that he is near to Ammit. Meanwhile, Marc is seen going after leads who know about Harrow’s whereabouts but are getting killed by mercenaries hired by Harrow. Marc gets into a scuffle with said mercenaries and looks like he’s mostly in control. But after coming across an unnaturally reflective knife, he gets superseded by Steven, who is hellbent on not killing anyone. Marc blacks out and finds himself in a taxi going to the airport.
After briefly losing control again, Marc wakes up to him absolutely gutting one of the mercenaries, one mercenary that’s already dead, and a third one that’s trying to get away. Confused, Marc assumes that Steven is responsible for this carnage. But Steven says that he hasn’t done anything. Khonshu tells Marc to take the third mercenary (who is a kid, BTW) to the ledge to make him talk. The mercenary refuses and falls to his death. Marc is visibly shocked, Khonshu is unfazed, and Steven is Steven about it. Marc wonders why the other (Egyptian) gods are standing by and watching Harrow resurrect Ammit. Khonshu warns him that asking for their interference opens the door to their wrath as well. And given their hatred towards Khonshu, the worst-case scenario is that they’re going to turn him into stone, leaving Marc without his protective suit.
Even though the odds are against them, Khonshu “sends a signal to the gods they can’t ignore” by blocking out the Sun with the Moon. Yes, apparently, he can do that. Harrow’s diggers are evidently scared by this occurrence, but Harrow shrugs it off as he knows all about Khonshu’s tricks. And he orders his workers to keep digging no matter what, even when he is gone to attend the Ennead i.e., the meeting of the gods. A portal opens before Marc which is supposed to take him to the inside of the Pyramids of Giza, which is the meeting place of the gods, of course. Khonshu warns Spector that the last time he appeared before the gods, they banished him. This time, their case against Harrow needs to be indisputable.
Mythological Courtroom Drama
Upon entering the courtroom of sorts, Marc has a brief chat with Yatzil (Díana Bermudez), the avatar of Hathor, the goddess of love and music. According to Yatzil, Hathor and Khonshu used to be friends. Before we get to know anything more about them, Marc is summoned to present his case. Yatzil announces that the gods that are in attendance are Horus, Isis, Tefnut, Osiris, and Hathor. Before Khonshu gets to present his case, Osiris spills the reason behind Khonshu’s banishment: he apparently came very close to exposing the existence of the gods. Khonshu disregards Osiris’s threat of imprisoning him in stone if he manipulates the sky again by saying that he was banished for not abandoning humanity, unlike the rest of them.
The gods counter Khonshu’s claim of abandoning humanity by saying that the gods didn’t abandon humanity. It’s humanity that abandoned the gods. And they make it sound like they’ve got a pact going on just like the Eternals, where they’ll not interfere with humankind in any way and only walk among them via their avatars. Khonshu doesn’t agree and asks them to “return from the opulence of the Overvoid” before the Earth realm is lost. As far as I know, the Overvoid is a DC thing (it’s considered the source of the DC universe). The Marvel equivalent of that is The House of Ideas. Is it called “overvoid” in the MCU? At this point, it’s difficult to say. But I digress. Khonshu manages to convince the gods to summon Harrow after accusing him of resurrecting Ammit.
That said, Khonshu’s attempt to stop Harrow goes off the rails very quickly, as Harrow deflects the accusations against him by putting the spotlight on Marc’s dissociative personality disorder (DID). And it works. The gods conclude the trial by saying that all this is just Khonshu’s madness and that Harrow has committed no real crime. Pitying Khonshu and Marc’s predicament, Yatzil tries to help Marc by directing him to Senfu’s sarcophagus, as he is the only one who was charged with recording Ammit’s whereabouts. But the sarcophagus was bought and sold in the black market and is owned by Mogart/Midnight Man (played by the late Gaspard Ulliel). Layla locates Marc and accompanies him to Mogart’s place, as the two used to work together in Madripoor (the black market featured in Falcon and the Winter Soldier).
‘Moon Knight’ Episode 3: Ending Explained – Is Khonshu Dead?
The deal with Mogart goes south as Harrow shows up to interfere with Marc, Steven, and Layla’s findings and destroys the sarcophagus that would’ve led to Ammit’s tomb. On a parting note, Harrow even hints that the man behind Layla’s father’s (who was an archaeologist himself, as mentioned at the beginning of the episode) murder is probably Marc. And once that truth comes out, he’ll understand the meaning of being unloved. Marc manages to summon the suit to get Layla out of there, but the damage has already been done as Layla begins to doubt that Marc is still keeping secrets from her.
Although Harrow destroyed Senfu’s sarcophagus, Layla managed to get fragments of the paper with the star-based coordinates on it. But without Steven, it’s impossible to figure it out. So, Marc reluctantly gives control over to Steven, who does manage to decipher the coordinates but realizes that it’s of no help if they don’t know how the sky looked on the day Senfu drew the constellation. Khonshu says that he can turn back the night sky to the time that has the answer. However, as warned earlier, it’ll lead to Khonshu’s imprisonment. Still, Khonshu decides to go ahead with that plan and tells Steven that once the gods imprison him, he must call upon Marc. I don’t know why, but maybe he’s the key to unlocking Khonshu from his stone-y prison. In a dazzling display of magic and power, Khonshu and Steven synchronize their movements to literally turn back time (not the actual timeline, but that of the sky only). They manage to hold that position until Layla gets the exact coordinates. But Khonshu soon begins to fade as the Gods imprison him in a miniature stone statue of his image, and Steven faints.
Harrow visits Khonshu and tells him that Khonshu’s torment forged him, and Harrow is going to do what Khonshu failed to do. What is that? Quite possibly, ultimate peace through ultimate violence. It’s obvious that Khonshu is unhinged, and his way of doing justice is cruel. However, Harrow is radicalized and dangerous to not just those who are evil, but also to those who are innocent. Khonshu is not dead. He is in a worse position as he has to now watch Harrow do unspeakable things and suffer in silence. It’s worse because if he was dead, at least he wouldn’t have to live on with the knowledge that he did nothing to stop Harrow.
