What's Arthur Harrow's actual plan?
And why is Steven Grant being forced by Khonshu to share his body with mercenary Marc Spector?
Keep watching for how episode 2 of "Moon Knight" unravels the mystery.
Warning: Spoilers for episode 2 of "Moon Knight" ahead.
After Steven grabs the scarab and flees Marc's storage container, he once again gets to experience
Khonshu's unhealthy obsession with creepy hallways.
This one, at least, ends in a fortunate fashion, as Steven almost literally bumps into Layla,
the woman who'd been trying to reach Marc Spector.
As it turns out, she's Marc's wife, and she's still angry about his disappearing act.
This pretty much confirms that Layla is the MCU version of Marlene Alraune.
Though Steven faces some very understandable difficulties when he tries to convince Layla
that he and Marc are separate personalities, the pair seems to warm up to each other.
From the moment he notes that he wishes he could remember their times together, it's
clear that the former museum gift shop worker has taken a liking to his alternate personality's
wife.
Could "Moon Knight" be setting up one of the strangest love triangles imaginable?
"You're gonna get her killed, you hear me?"
Of course, it's not like Layla needs a romance angle to be an interesting character.
She's a skilled fighter and extremely capable on the field, especially compared to her comic
book counterpart, who's often stuck as the damsel in distress.
Khonshu's even planning to turn her into its next avatar, a fate Marc is trying to protect
her from.
Khonshu knows this, and uses it as a bargaining chip to get Marc to do its bidding.
Many fans were no doubt delighted to see Moon Knight's slick Mr. Knight persona pop up in
the marketing material.
The character's stylish secondary super-suit finally turns up in this episode, but instead
of being a separate personality or an alternate costume for Moon Knight proper, Mr. Knight
is a custom version of the Moon Knight armor that manifests when Steven uses it and assumes
"suit" means a business suit.
Mr. Knight seems to have the same super strength the Moon Knight costume grants, though its
signature weapons are two kali sticks instead of moon blades, and it lacks the cape.
The comic book version of Mr. Knight is a more grounded affair than this mystical version,
being little more than a white suit and a full-face mask that the character wears when
he doesn't need to go full Moon Knight.
It'll be interesting to see where "Moon Knight" plans to take this version of Mr. Knight if
it shows up again.
Besides, no one can say that the suit doesn't look good on Steven, except for Marc, that
is.
"The ceremonial armor from Khonshu's temple, not psycho Colonel Sanders."
Arthur Harrow continues to present himself as a well-meaning spiritual leader, but his
calm demeanor and lentil soup do little to mask the sinister undertones he constantly
sprinkles into the conversation, especially because said conversation starts with two
of his minions abducting poor Steven.
Harrow is more connected to Steven and Marc's predicament than anyone could have thought.
The reason he's so familiar with the voice Steven is hearing is because he, too, was
once an avatar of Khonshu.
At some point before Marc took over, Harrow left the moon god's service, but remains familiar
enough with the deity's ways to accurately guess what it's saying.
"I am real justice."
"What's he saying now?
'I am real justice?'"
Since leaving Khonshu behind, Harrow's methods have become far more extreme.
The reason he serves Ammit is that he believes the goddess can destroy evildoers wholesale
before they even commit their crimes.
Harrow believes this method will force people to be good because they won't have the option
to do evil.
Steven is not too happy about the deaths this "Minority Report" approach would cause, particularly
those of children, despite Harrow's insistence that it would create a paradise.
Disturbing as Harrow's plan is, the reveal that he used to be affiliated with Khonshu
is arguably even more momentous.
He specifically mentions the "fist of vengeance" title, which implies that Harrow has either
donned the Moon Knight mantle, or been a version of another "fist of Khonshu" type character,
like Hunter's Moon.
Perhaps he'll eventually even don the cowl once more.
Should that happen, the Khonshu-hating villain could potentially battle Moon Knight as a
version of the corrupted, homicidal Shadow Knight.
Our heroes managed to win the cool fight against the jackal monsters, but their victory does
little to end their troubles.
Steven has discovered a whole bunch of terrifying things Marc has done as Khonshu's avatar,
and is hesitant to relinquish control to him.
When Steven finally does hand over control, Marc says he intends to stay the dominant
personality until the Ammit situation is over.
For his part, Marc's genuinely sorry for his actions, and explains that his entire motivation
is to pay his debt to Khonshu.
"My servitude is the price that I pay."
This might be easier said than done, though.
Harrow opens a whole can of worms when he invites Steven to think about Khonshu's motivations
to choose a man struggling with mental health issues as his avatar, as well as whether the
moon god could be the cause of said issues.
He also outright tells Marc,
"Trust me when I tell you, Khonshu is a liar.
There's always one last thing."
Without question, Khonshu acts as unpleasantly as possible, throwing tantrums and lording
over its avatar at every turn.
For people who are familiar with the source material, this is a pretty bad sign, as is
the moon god's apparent refusal to let go of Marc.
Khonshu has spent a large portion of his comic book appearances as something of an antagonist
who isn't above subjecting its avatar to prolonged mental torture.
Sure, the lunar deity might technically fight the good fight right now, but if Marc manages
to defeat Harrow in Egypt, what happens next?
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