"Asylum" is the fifth episode of the Disney+ streaming television miniseries Moon Knight and was released on April 27, 2022. It was written by Rebecca Kirsch and Matthew Orton and directed by Mohamed Diab.
Synopsis[]
Marc & Steven search through their memories to find their truth or become left behind.
Plot[]
The episode is intercut with scenes between Marc/Steven being consoled by Harrow, their history and origin and their interaction with Taweret. Following the encounter with Taweret, Marc tries to recall the events that have just happened to him to Harrow who attempts to calm him down. It appears that he had Bobbi and Billy sedate him, but Harrow claims that he imagined that and that he would like to speak to Steven to get some idea as to how he feels. After calling Steven up, he attempts to reason that he lives a perfectly normal life and Harrow calls his mother, only for Steven to learn the horrible truth that his mother died.
In flashback, young Marc Specter and his younger brother Randall happily lived with their parents Elias and Wendy. The boys go out and play at a cave where it begins to rain, resulting in the drowning death of Randall. During the Shiva, Wendy begins to angrily accuse Marc for his brother's death. Elias continues to care for Marc, but Wendy grows more and more toxic; continuing to berate him every chance she gets, until she starts to become abusive. This results in Marc developing the identity of Steven Grant after his favorite movie Tomb Busters and convincing his alternate identity that his mother was kind and caring.
Eventually, Marc leaves home as a teenager, unable to cope with living under his parents' roof, and becomes a mercenary. Marc recalls how during an Egyptian expedition, his Commanding Officer Raul Bushman betrayed him and Layla's father Abdallah El-Faouly and left them both for dead. Marc crawled his way to the statue of Khonshu who, taking pity on him, has him accept the title of Moon Knight so that he can act out his justice (in hindsight Marc realizes that he was being used). At some point, Marc visited his mother's Shiva, but refused to go inside his house to speak to his father and breaks down before assuming the Steven personality and "calling" his mother.
Steven and Marc calm down in the presence of Tawaret, the Goddess of Mother and Children, who tells them that they are actually in the afterlife and that the asylum setting is a creation of their own doing. They learn that they are in fact crossing the Duat and have their scales balanced to determine their fate. If they manage to balance out, they will traverse to the Field of Reeds, but should they fail to balance, they will be tossed into the Duat and turn to stone for eternity. The scales cannot do either, so Taweret suggests that they search inside to see what is afflicting this. This results in the two of them searching the asylum and learning of their past.
Taweret reveals that something is breaking through from the spirit realm relating to Ammit. Marc and Steven ask her to send a message to Layla to free Khonshu so that they can return to their body and stop Harrow and she complies, though she admits that it will be difficult. As they approach the Gates of Osiris, the scales fail to balance and sand creatures rise to drag the two into the Duat. During the fight, Steven rescues Marc, but falls into the Duat and turns to stone. Marc's scale suddenly balances out evenly and he finds himself standing in a field of reeds.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector/Steven Grant/Moon Knight/Mr. Knight
- May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly
- Ann Akinjirin as Bobbi Kennedy
- David Ganly as Billy Fitzgerald
- Fernanda Andrade as Wendy Spector
- Antonia Salib as Taweret
- Khalid Abdalla as Selim (credit only)
- Rey Lucas as Elias Spector
- Karim El-Hakim as Khonshu (on-set actor)
- F. Murray Abraham as Khonshu (voice)
- Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow
Guest stars[]
- Claudio Fabian Contreras as Randall Spector
- Carlos Sanchez as Young Marc Spector/Steven Grant
- David Jake Rodriguez as Teenage Marc Spector
- Usama Soliman as Abdallah El-Faouly
- Michael Benjamin Hernandez as Marc Spector/Steven Grant Double
Trivia[]
- Taweret is referred to as the Goddess of Mother and Children. However this is only partially true as she is considered the Goddess of Childbirth and Fertility. While accurately depicted as a hippopotamus, most artistic renderings depict her as being heavily pregnant and possessing lion paws and a crocodile tail.
- Marc mentions a fellow mercenary by the name of Bushman, or Raul Bushman. In the comics, he is considered the arch-enemy of Moon Knight.
- At one point, the "death realm" version of Harrow is jokingly referred to as "Ned Flanders", in reference to The Simpsons character.
- Marc's childhood room features a poster of Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope.
Gallery[]
Photography[]
Screenshots[]
External Links[]
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