*Spoilers Ahead for Moon Knight Episode 5*
The second to last episode of this wild ride called ‘Moon Knight’ was filled with much heartbreak and a few revelations for our two main gentlemen. We finally got to know who that chipper hippo was and we saw some creepy sand zombie-esque creatures. Thankfully all of the goofiness didn’t overpower the main arc of the episode. Marc finally comes to terms with childhood traumas and Steven figures out what events shaped him as an alter. Disney and Marvel definitely figured out how to balance the humor and sorrow for this epic outing. By the way, I want to get coffee and gossip about the other gods with Tawaret.
5. Putnam Medical Facility
After the apparent death of Marc last week by Harrow’s hand our hero woke up in a mental hospital, then tried to escape with Steven after discovering him trapped in a sarcophagus. The pair soon find an anthropomorphic hippo and freak out as any sane person would, then the episode cuts to black. This week’s episode, titled “Asylum”, picked up where we left off last week: with Marc having a session with Harrow (or Dr. Harrow?) and having no idea what’s, to quote Dr. Harrow himself, “sense and nonsense”.
Of course, as with any confusing, mind-bending series we get flashes back and forth between the therapy session and Marc and Steven doing some soul searching with a bit of assistance from Tawaret. During the first of these therapy sessions, Dr. Harrow mentions the name of the mental hospital, referring to it as “Putnam Medical Facility”.
In Jeff Lemire’s 2018 run of the comics series, Marc is admitted by his father to a mental hospital named Putnam Psychiatric Hospital. Yes, it was an unnecessary name change, but still an interesting nod to the plot of the comic that loosely inspired the Disney Plus series.
4. Ancestral Plane
During my new favorite hippo’s explanation to the gents about their current situation of having died not too long ago, Steven is a bit dumbfounded about why their afterlife is a mental hospital. Tawaret agrees that this setting is a new one for her and mentions that she likes The Ancestral Plane much better, referring to it as, “…gorgeous”. She was of course talking about the afterlife/meeting place of Wakandan royal elders that was featured in a couple of scenes of 2018’s “Black Panther”.
As it is with most cultures, the different religions featured in Marvel Comics each have their own afterlife, and The Ancestral Plane is where all of the former kings of Wakanda go when they die. Obviously, as a god, Tawaret has the ability to travel between realms, and her quick mention of the Wakandan afterlife shows this. This reference also confirms that the Disney Plus series is indeed a part of the larger MCU (which I know for sure will make many Marvel fans happy).
3. Gus the Goldfish
Before the unfortunate demise of Marc’s younger brother Randall, the siblings are seen at home hanging out with their parents. During this Randall is shown drawing a goldfish, and the young Marc jokes with his brother that the fish only has one fin. Once Marc’s mind sadly fractures a bit due to abuse from his mother, his alter Steven is shown owning a small goldfish with one average-sized fin and one short one. Either Marc as “Steven” bought the goldfish as an adult to commemorate his late brother or Steven was just imagining Gus without even knowing why he was a part of his life.
Whichever of the two was really happening, at least Gus the goldfish had some cool digs with all of those Egyptian tank decorations.
2. Tomb Buster
Amongst the traumatic happenings of young Marc’s mother trying to break into his bedroom we see a poster for the in-universe movie that inspired adult Marc’s adventurous lifestyle, “Tomb Buster”. Towards the bottom of the poster, there are credits for the main cast and crew of the movie. Among these is the fictional actor who portrays the main character of Dr. Steven Grant, Doug Perlin, and the names of various other crew members who have worked on the show.
This is a nod to the two creators of the character of Moon Knight himself, Doug Moench and Don Perlin. Moon Knight first appeared as a villain of sorts in Werewolf by Night #32, but soon made his return as a hero in his own comic series 5 years later in 1980. Since then the popularity of the character has only grown and we have Moench and Perlin to thank for that.
1. Randall Spector
Whilst taking a tour through their memories in an attempt to balance The Scales of Anubis, Marc and Steven come across Marc’s younger brother, Randall. Steven discovers that one of the things that broke the mind of his doppelganger was the tragic death of young Randall. This eventually led to Marc’s mother becoming abusive toward him because of her strong grief, which then caused Marc to subconsciously create the alter of Steven. The name of Randall Spector will be familiar to Moon Knight readers but in a more sinister way. In 1979 Marvel Comics introduced a serial killer named The Hatchet Man.
Being the avatar of justice that he was Marc decided to make it his mission to stop the killer, but soon deduces that The Hatchet Man is his estranged brother, Randall. After a bit of a scuffle between the two brothers, Randall eventually became impaled on a tree leading to his demise.
Marc’s brother later emerged revealing that the man that died was an imposter and that he was the real Randall. After some dealings with The Cult of Khonshu, he was presumed dead after a fight with The Punisher but was then resurrected by a group of extradimensional beings called The Hellbent, thus going by the guise of Night Shadow.
Years later, Randall attempted suicide but was again revived, and this time by a consultant only known as “The Profile”, who was working for the criminal organization The Hand. Randall soon developed the delusion that he was the new avatar of Khonshu, then went by the moniker of Shadowknight. After a brief battle against Moon Knight and a failed terrorist attack, Randall finally died for the last time at the hand of his brother Marc in order to thwart the aforementioned attack.
Obviously, the young version of Randall that we saw in “Asylum” was definitely not a deranged serial killer and domestic terrorist, but a sweet and innocent child. With the death of the character, we may get an appearance by an adult Randall calling himself Shadowknight. I guess we’ll have to see if we get a season two.
Moon Knight is streaming now exclusively on Dinsey+
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