Moon Knight Episode 5 Ending Explained: Is Marc Really Dead? What Happened To Layla?

Moon Knight Episode 5 Ending Explained: The sixth and final episode of the Moon Knight TV series will air on Disney+ on May 4th. The Marvel Studios show is designed as a limited series, which means that a second season is not planned a priori. This doesn’t rule out Moon Knight from future appearances, as he could team-up with other Marvel Universe heroes in both new TV series and upcoming movies. What is certain is that the story of Marc Spector and Steven Grant must end but above all be completed with the next episode. Here is a summary of what has happened so far, paying attention to the fifth episode and the questions still unanswered. So beware: from now on there are big spoilers about Moon Knight.

Moon Knight Episode 5 Ending Explained: Is Marc Really Dead?

The episode entitled Asylum opens where the previous one ended, or with the scream of Marc and Steven in response to the surprise presence of the Egyptian divinity Taueret. But Marc finds himself once again with Dr. Harrow, who is trying to make him understand that Marc’s adventures are only the fruit of his imagination. The doctor’s explanation is very convincing but then again, the next sequence, Steven and Marc find themselves in front of the anthropomorphic hippo. The Egyptian divinity reveals to Marc and Steve that they are both dead and therefore the two of them must face the final journey into the afterlife, where their soul will be judged and deemed worthy or not to dwell in the Fields of Iaru (Paradise).

The episode is therefore split in two: on one side there is Marc sitting in the doctor’s office and on the other side there are Marc and Steven traveling with Taueret. What binds these two faces from the same episode of Moon Knight are Marc’s memories. The existence of these memories is obviously plausible both in the case in which Marc is really hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital, and in the case in which he is really traveling with Taueret.

In terms of reality, the viewer’s mind makes Dr. Harrow’s story more plausible and rational. For the same reason it seems so credible, even to Marc himself, that the protagonist of the series is really in the hospital. Yet it is clear that this cannot be all: if we detach ourselves from the suspension of disbelief, we immediately realize that being a Marvel Studios series based on a superhero, the part relating to Harrow must be the real fiction and that Marc and Steven I’m really traveling with Taueret.

But then: why is Marc held back by Harrow? Why does Marc and Steven’s mind continue to be tied to Harrow in some way? In my opinion the only plausible answer is that on the real plane, ie inside the tomb of Alexander the Great, Layla or Harrow himself are doing something to keep Marc / Steven alive or revive. This process still binds Marc / Steven’s soul to Earth and he can’t quite surrender to death.

In support of my theory, there is an important passage to underline: when Marc fidgets in front of Harrow, the nurses “stab” Marc’s neck with a huge syringe, but when Marc himself asks Harrow if he has been drugged or if they injected him with something, Harrow replies:

You watch too many Marc movies in my opinion, clear? We cannot forcibly sedate patients, not nowadays, not strictly necessary.

This passage, in my opinion, is an indication of the fact that Marc/Steven are undergoing external actions, on the terrestrial level. So it is plausible to think that paradoxically the facts are just as Taueret describes them: the protagonists are found in the Duat aka in the Egyptian afterlife and therefore one step away from definitive death. But there is another doubt to be resolved that arises from the words of Taueret:

As the real nature of the Duat is impossible for the human mind to understand, you may perceive this realm as something more recognizable to you.

Once this is consolidated, Steven’s question remains absolutely more than legitimate:

Why should we imagine this kingdom as a psychiatric hospital?

My idea is that Marc Spector has really been in a psychiatric hospital in his life. After all, Steven’s first “appearance” occurs when Marc is still a child. In the time span from that point to when Marc leaves home abandoning his father and mother, he may have been evaluated by a psychiatrist. Or, alternatively, she is the mother who has attended the hospitals, after being struck by the drama of the death of her youngest son. In any case, the psychiatric hospital as a place is also part of Marc Spector’s memoirs.

At the end of Moon Knight episode 5, Marc and Steven’s fate seems written: Steven remained in the Duat trapped in the sand and Marc, the main body, managed to balance his soul and get to the Fields of Iaru.

Memories of Marc Spector

Marc’s memories are basically the traumas of his life, in fact there is not even a happy memory (like for example the marriage with Layla). Among these are the birth of Steven Grant, caused by the psychological and physical violence suffered by his mother and the meeting with Khonshu in Egypt, which obviously started Marc’s adventure as a vigilante in the role of Moon Knight.

The Questions That The Ending Must Answer

The Moon Knight TV series finale has yet to answer these questions:

• What is Marc Spector’s third identity and what is the drama that created it?
• Is Marc really dead?
• What happened to Layla?
• Did Arthur Harrow Really Free Ammit?
• Are the members of the Enneade corrupt?
• Will Steven stay in the Duat forever, stuck in the sand?