‘Moon Knight’ Episode 4 Recap: Hippopotamus Now!

What happens to a superhero whose superpowers are suddenly taken away? What good is a Moon Knight who’s no longer a knight powered by the moon? How long can such a person last? About 50 minutes, give or take. Titled “The Tomb,” Moon Knight Episode 4 follows Steven Grant and Layla, the estranged wife of Grant’s Marc Spector personality, as they attempt to infiltrate the tomb of Ammit and stop her dangerous follower Arthur Harrow from resurrecting her—all without Marc’s avatar powers to protect them now that Khonshu has been sealed away by the other gods. It…doesn’t go well.

I mean, it goes alright for a while, before Marc confesses to being present at the mercenary raid during which Layla’s archaeologist father was killed (Marc himself was shot by his own partner), then gets shot by Harrow, then tumbles into a pool of water and floats off into nothingness. For example, Layla saves them from Harrow’s forces by tossing a lit flare into a box of ammo on their truck, blowing them full of holes. Clever work, that.

Also, Layla and Steven (not Marc) share a kiss, which is nice, though of course it’s not so nice if you’re Marc, who punches Steven/himself in the face for the transgression.

Within the tomb, Steven and Layla navigate the place’s labyrinthine layout (it’s a maze in the shape of the Eye of Horus symbol), dodge reanimated undead priests, walk along a treacherous Indiana Jones/Goonies-style crumbling ledge, and stay one step ahead of Arthur and his followers. 

They even discover the actual tomb of Ammit! More specifically, it’s the tomb of Alexander the Great; turns out the Macedonian conqueror was once Ammit’s avatar, and he’s been buried in pharaonic fashion with Ammit’s ushabti—the statue that seals her away—embedded in his throat. Overcoming his revulsion, Steven grabs it before anyone else can.

But then Harrow and his goons show up. Marc, who takes back control of his and Steven’s shared body after Layla confronts him about that mercenary attack (Harrow tipped her off, btw), kills some goons, but gets shot in turn by Harrow, and tumbles up and out into space.

The episode ends with a segment set in a mental hospital, seemingly cribbed directly from Moon Knight’s semi-canonical step-sister show, Noah Hawley’s Legion. Here, Marc is heavily sedated and obsessed with an old Indiana Jones ripoff called Tomb Buster, the lead character of which is a dashing archaeologist by the name of, you guessed it, Steven Grant. And everywhere you look, there are reminders of—or is that inspirations for?—Marc/Steven’s Egyptian quest. Tomb Buster features a lunar god; one patient has a scarab plushie; another is drawing a bird with a skull for a head—you get the drift. 

And most importantly, there’s Marc’s doctor: Arthur Harrow, complete with a trademark cane and a painting of an Alpine village on the wall. 

It takes a minute or two to happen, but eventually Marc freaks out over Arthur’s attempt to treat him and makes a run for it. Somewhere in the asylum he stumbles across a sarcophagus containing Steven, and they have a happy reunion. 

Awww. 

Anyway, after passing yet another sarcophagus, the contents of which are unknown, Marc and Steven run straight into a chipper-sounding anthropomorphized hippopotamus, who greets them with a cheery “Hi!” Both men scream like frightened children. Cut to black. The end.

(For what it’s worth, the hippo is most likely Tawaret, a fertility goddess with a protective reputation. It’s about time our boy(s) had a god on his side who isn’t a grumpy-sounding bird-skull guy, don’t you think?)

We’re now two thirds of the way into Moon Knight, and the show’s strengths are self-evident. No, there’s no cool superheroic death-defying Moon Knight action in this ep, and Khonshu is out of the picture as well. But you’ve still got Oscar Isaac’s charming performance as both nebbishy Steven and deadly serious Marc. There’s still inventively staged action—Layla really makes the most of her collection of flares throughout, at one point stabbing a lit flare into a zombie’s eye. And the show is aware enough of its pulpy B-movie/syndicated-TV roots to make a joke about it in the form of that Tomb Buster video. There’s even a little mystery about the identity of Marc’s old traitorous partner, though the odds are certainly stacked in favor of Harrow himself.

Is Moon Knight going to reinvent the genre? No. Is it going to rise to the emotional heights of the better ex-Netflix Marvel shows? I doubt it. Does it need to do either of these things to be an enjoyable action-adventure series? Not as far as I’m concerned!

In short, it’s a show of simple pleasures, and simple pleasures are worth celebrating. And so are hippo goddesses. Say hi, everyone!
Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) writes about TV for Rolling Stone, Vulture, The New York Times, and anyplace that will have him, really. He and his family live on Long Island.