Moon Knight episode 5 review: Live
In the penultimate episode of the offbeat Marvel series, we finally learned the truth about Marc and Steven.
Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios
- Huw Fullerton
Published: Wednesday, 27 April 2022 at 7:30 am
Live coverage of this event has now concluded
Get ready for the penultimate peril...
Yes, somehow we're already in the final stretch for Marvel's Moon Knight, with not long left before we (presumably) wave goodbye to Marc, Steven and any other secret personalities hiding inside Oscar Isaac. And you can't deny episode 5 left us with a lot to think about.
Full of important flashbacks, revelations and a talking British hippo, the latest instalment finally explained where Steven came from, what Marc's been hiding from him this whole time and who was on the other end of those phonecalls with Steven's mum. And we followed every twist, turn and bombshell in our blow-by-blow live review, which you can read below as it happened.
Spoiler alert: that third personality didn't show up...
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Moon Knight episodes 1-5 are available to stream now on Disney Plus. New episodes Wednesdays. Check out more of our Sci-Fi and Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
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Apr 27
Time for goodbyes
Anyway, that's all you're getting from my this week. I don't know about you but I'll be back watching the finale at 8.00AM sharp next Wednesday. Maybe I'll see you there.
Laters, gators!
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Apr 27
Next week...
Speaking of, it'll be interesting to see how this story concludes in its final instalment. Presumably, we'll have some classic Marvel stuff as Moon Knight defeats Harrow and stops his evil plan, but I'm more interested in the dynamic between Steven and Marc.
Will they find some kind of balanced life together (assuming Steven can be rescued, of course) or will the kicker of the series be Marc not needing Steven any more? Will Steven fade away, or could Marc decide to step back and leave Mr Grant as the sole occupier of their body?
And what about those third personality theories? For weeks, fans think they've been seeing clues about a third secret personality existing inside Marc and Steven - extra blackouts, another sarcophagus containing a mysterious figure in Puttnam, all the tripling imagery in the opening credits.
But now, that feels a little too obvious and sensationalist. After a whole episode laying out Marc and Steven's past and their dynamic, it feels like it could almost detract from this episode to just throw another guy into the finale. Also, as far as I could tell there were no hints about another personality (whether it's Jake Lockley from the comics or not) in this new episode.
So who knows? Maybe this was another Mephisto that we read too much into.
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Apr 27
Should Moon Knight have been a movie?
When I watched the first four episodes of this over a weekend on previews, it struck me that you really could have made this story as a film, and I still feel that way now. In some ways, it might have been more impactful and exciting - it's a great story with great performances, and you could easily trim fat here and there to cut it down to a usable runtime.
Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the series, but I think it could have been an even better one-off story. As it is, it feels to me like the momentum is dropping a little week to week - and without big Marvel Universe twists and cameos like we've seen in other Disney Plus stuff, I wonder whether people are quite as hooked on coming back week to week.
Anyway, maybe that's just me. I might change my mind after the finale!
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Apr 27
Overall thoughts...
I thought that was an interesting episode – definitely a slight change of pace after the horror-like action of last week, but that sort of feels like the point of this show. Every episode is slightly different, and has a different way of telling this story.
Also, the way this week's story delved into Marc's past slightly justifies the lack of explanation in the earlier episodes. At first, I wondered why we never see Marc become Moon Knight or meet Khonshu...now, it's clear why they made that choice.
Also also, I'm sure comic-book fans will be happy. Plenty of references to the source material this week, and a general origin story that lines up with a lot of what was there on the page.
But I do have one question...
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Apr 27
The Field of Reeds
With Steven gone, Marc's soul is balanced, and he arrives in heaven, aka the field of reeds. So will he stay there, and find peace? Or try to save Steven, and/or the world from Harrow's machinations?
Well, what do you think? Come on. He's going to do the second one, obviously. It'd be a pretty boring/depressing finale if he didn't.
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Apr 27
Unbalanced souls
Their scales never balanced, so now the unbalanced souls have come to claim theirs...aka attack of the sand zombies.
Steven manages to fight them off, but looks like they're dragging him off the boat now instead. He's turning to sand in the desert, and being left behind. But this does have one surprising effect...
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Apr 27
Mrs Grant
Harrow implies Steven brought him and Marc to the asylum...and notes that his mother is actually dead. Cut to, a memory of Marc drinking outside his mother's shiva, unable to go in. Another traumatic incident...leading to the return of Steven.
This was two months ago, and the moment their lives started bleeding into each other. Marc couldn't face his father again.
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Apr 27
The bedroom
Finally, they confront the worst memory. The moment that Marc created Steven, while his mother violently banged on the door.
"When danger is near, Steven Grant has no fear."
Marc says the point of Steven was to live a simple, normal life. To not remember all the horrible things that happened to him, that he had a mother that beats him and so on.
Steven doesn't believe him, can't face it...and then snaps into Harrow's office in place of Marc. He thinks this version of Harrow looks like Ned Flanders.
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Apr 27
Boat party
There's trouble on deck! Tar-Welet reveals that things are going wrong on the surface, with people being judged "before their time" by Harrow. They have to raise Khonshu, get back out there and stop him.
They need to get back in the memories for...some reason...but Marc can't face it, and then he snaps back to Harrow's office.
He asks - did you create Steven to hide from your horrible actions, or did Steven create Marc to punish the world?
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Apr 27
How I Met Your Moon God
Steven is slightly sympathetic to how Marc was taken advantage of.
"Now rise again as my fist of vengeance...as my Moon Knight."
Hey, they said the thing!
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Apr 27
More torrid backstory
Interestingly, Steven seems to remember Marc's mother differently. Anyway, we're back now in grown-up Marc's memories, including the night he died. And hey, a nod to Bushman – one of Moon Knight's main enemies in the comics, who plenty of fans have speculated was the "partner" who betrayed Marc (he was in the source material, anyway).
This is how he met Khonshu, anyway - about to kill himself, when a big statue starts talking to him.
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Apr 27
Fun at the funeral
"I want my Roro back. I want him back."
Marc's mother blames him for his brother's death in a pretty extreme way. Refuses to join in with his birthday, screams at him at the funeral. His dad's trying, but looks like a tough time for any kid.
Also looks like he turned to booze, and roams around the house being horrible to him.
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Apr 27
Tragic backstory
Turns out these are Marc's memories - looks like Marc got his little brother killed, hence him being in the room. Steven is seeing it all for the first time, and possibly getting some backstory for what fractured their minds in the first place.
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Apr 27
The Kid
"Marc, why is there a child in a room full of people that you've killed?"
Well now, that's a question isn't it?
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Apr 27
Next
Marc and Steven's hearts are unbalanced, so they need to confront some memories before they're ready to pass on or not. Handy for filling in some backstory gaps!
Another little clue to a third personality...a recent memory neither he or Steven have. And now a "creepy cafeteria filled with dead bodies!" This show is very weird.
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Apr 27
Back to the Hippo
Hey, is that Jameela Jamil playing the hippo God? Probably not given that she's going to be in She-Hulk...
Oh, apparently Marc and Steven are dead. They're passing through the realm of the Juat, the Egyptian underworld, after being shot by Harrow.
Little callout for the ancestral plane from Black Panther, basically there are overlapping planes of afterlifes (and allowing for any that feature in any other Marvel movies).
Seems like Marc and Steven may have created the psych ward as a way of perceiving Tar-Welet's afterlife. And also it's on a boat. Little clue on that last week, when the lamps in a hallway listed.
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Apr 27
Flashbacks
Briefly, the episode cuts to some sort of traumatic event for Marc. And then it cuts back to the hippo God, then back to the office in 'Puttnam Medical Facility.' Hey, Puttnam is from the comics, I think...
Looks like we're not as done with this part of the story after all. Sense, or nonsense? Come on Marc, don't believe him!
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Apr 27
Asylum
Hey, the episode has dropped early. Neat! Let's step into the asylum...
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Apr 27
Good morning!
...wherever you are in the world, I'm pretty sure Moon Knight comes out in the mornings, though I am willing to stand corrected.
Anyway, it's time for the latest episode of Marvel's latest series, and it's all to play for. Expect talking hippos, truths revealed, and (hopefully) plenty more of Steven's weird catchphrases.
Somehow, after this week we'll only have the finale left. Where has the time gone?
Authors
Huw FullertonCommissioning Editor
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
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