Well … that happened. But before we get on to breaking down the latest episode of Moon Knight, make sure you’re caught up on the series (duh) and our reviews of episodes one, two, and three. Now that you’re caught up, let’s unravel the madness that is “The Tomb.”

“I squished it. I squished it.”

Steven is a little wiped out from his time rewinding the night sky a few thousand years, so it’s up to Layla to save them both from Harrow’s hitmen and get them to the dig site where Harrow is nearing his goal of freeing Ammit. However, with unknown dangers lurking in the tomb, Layla and Steven sneak into the camp with relative ease to do their own excavating. They are split up when a zombie Heka priest barrels after them, seeking to add their organs to its suddenly expanding collection (gross), and Steven stumbles into the burial site where Ammit’s ushabti must be hidden.

As Steven seeks the Mouth of Ammit (quite literally) for Ammit’s statue of imprisonment, Harrow leads Layla to the ultimate truth about her father’s demise. When Layla catches up with Steven, she demands answers from Marc. They are interrupted, however, when Harrow and his men demand that Marc turn over the ushabti. How will Marc get out of this situation without the protection of Khonshu and his suit? Well …

Observations (Spoilers ahead!)

So, we were told that Episode 4 of Moon Knight had a big surprise, and boy howdy, did it! But first, maybe we should break down some other aspects of the episode first.

Character-building wise, this episode sneakily felt like Layla’s time to shine. She kicks off the episode with general badassery, then we see as she tries to make sense of the odd love triangle consisting of her, her husband Marc, and her husband’s DID alter ego Steven. There are some heart-wrenching moments when Steven and Layla discuss Marc’s disappearance now that his business with Khonshu is “done,” and Steven brings up the fact that Marc has already disappeared from her life once. Marc even tells Steven he wishes he could disappear, but he can’t. Then, just when Layla is getting comfortable with Steven, Harrow reveals that reading Marc’s scales showed him the truth about Marc’s involvement with the death of her father. Layla is big mad. And her insistence on answers from Marc as he is trying to hightail it out before Harrow can trap them has huge consequences.

All of this, of course, is humorously punctuated by Steven getting a taste of the Fist of Khonshu after he steals a kiss from Layla. I love that we have that moment and then later see them hugging it out. Just like bros. A little spat resolved by a little physical violence. I mean, it does help that Marc gave Steven credit for telling Layla that he pushes her away to protect her from becoming Khonshu’s next avatar. Of course, Marc also tells Layla the truth about her father’s death. Phew! Lots of dirty laundry is finally out of the way for Marc. Maybe he can begin to heal?

Of course, it’s tough to heal when you’re dead. Or in a psychiatric hospital? Yeah, that’s right, the Moon Knight team totally dipped into the Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood (and co.) run where Marc is trying to escape the psych ward. It was a delicious twist for fans of the comic just as much as it was a huge “WTF” moment for just about everybody. And I’m glad they managed to keep it fresh; I was not expecting that surprise guest at the end.

So what the hell is going on? We haven’t seen the traditional superhero origin story for Marc Spector, although we’ve heard bits and pieces of it from conversations. In this episode, he notes that his partner who murdered Layla’s dad also shot him. He should’ve died, but he didn’t. Moon Knight’s comic origin shows us that, at death’s door, he falls at the statue of Khonshu, who resurrects Marc to make him his avatar. Part of me hopes that the next episode opens with a flashback revealing the first meeting of Marc and Khonshu. But without Khonshu there to protect him when he gets shot point blank, Marc somehow ends up in a straight jacket and everyone around him telling him he’s crazy. Given the appearance of Taweret at the end, I wonder if Marc/Steven/(the other guy) ended up in the Overvoid. The obvious question is: How do they get out and stop Ammit before it’s too late?

Finally, we’ll end at the beginning, which showed us Khonshu’s ushabti being placed in a vault. With a ton of other ushabtis. Those Egyptian gods really don’t get along with each other, I guess! But what does that scene have to do with anything else we saw? Maybe those other gods were in league with Ammit and there’s gonna be a whole lot of Egyptian deity fighting in the coming episodes. I also know that the plethora of Egyptian gods introduced in Moon Knight has led to theories that Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher (the villain in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder) will make a end-credit cameo.

A few last-minute thoughts. This episode was dark. The zombie Heka priest disemboweling one of Harrow’s men was hecka (heh) gross and the type of horror content I craved from this series. As crazy as this episode is, it’s amazing how well it works without two of the show’s main ingredients: Moon Knight and Khonshu. Also, that third sarcophagus in the mental hospital … will you guys seriously just let Jake out already? You only have two episodes left!

“The Tomb” left me wanting so much more. It had all the horror and twists I’ve been hoping from this series, and I’m anxious to see what happens next. Like, seriously, let Jake out!

The Tomb

9.9

Zombie Heka Priests

10.0/10

Lots of moments of truth for Layla

10.0/10

"Sorry, Mr. Great."

10.0/10

Big ol' twisty twist to carry the last 10 minutes

10.0/10

Weirdest love triangle ever?

9.5/10

Credits

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, Antonia Salib, May Calamawy
Directors: Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead
Writer: Jeremy Slater
Characters: Doug Moench, Don Perlin
Producers: Kevin Feige, Grant Curtis, Victoria Alonso, Mohamed Diab, Oscar Isaac