Tear Jerker / Moon Knight (2022)

Moments subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!

A show delving into the complex and fractured life of a system of alters with DID was never going to be pleasant.

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Episode 1: The Goldfish Problem

• Throughout the episode, we see just how debilitating Steven's mental illness is to his daily life. He can't seem to sleep properly at night, has "dreams" where he's being harassed by a disembodied voice and is getting hunted down by a cult leader and his members (who manage to track him down to his work), and is apparently the only one who sees a gigantic white figure following him, all culminating in him feeling as if he can't get a grasp on reality as a whole.
• Not to mention the song that's playing at the beginning of the episode, "A Man Without Love," is a lot Harsher in Hindsight.
• Steven's only companion in his apartment is a one-finned goldfish named Gus. Imagine his shock when he learns that not only is there a different fish in the tank when he wakes up from one of his "dreams", but that Gus died while Steven had his dream of being in the Alps. To make it all worse, this implies that Marc is doing all he can to keep Steven unaware of this double life.
• Steven is setting up a date with a woman he works with for that Friday, much to his confused, but excited joy. We then find out that Steven accidentally skipped out on the date during one of his blackouts, and only finds out from the woman two days later, who bitterly tells him to lose her number. Steven's so shocked and saddened by this that he can't even order a meal properly, and he looks like he's about to break down crying at any second.
  • He ends up lying to his mum that how his date went perfectly before he goes to his apartment to numbly eat one of the chocolates he bought for his date and gives fake Gus some sprinkles. Even worse, given what we know about Steven now, that's probably not his mom he's leaving voicemails to.
• Layla's reactions to hearing Steven after numerous missed calls, pleading, "What's wrong with you, Marc?!". She hasn't seen her husband in months, and instead she now hears someone else with his voice with a British accent and meek personality. And she has no idea how or why this happened.

Episode 2: Summon the Suit

• Steven losing his job for something that isn't even his fault (probably) is immensely stressful, and he's visibly on the edge of tears the entire time.
• Layla comes upon Steven in the street after he flees from the storage facility. What follows is a scene at his apartment where she pulls out divorce papers, the reason she came to find him. Throughout the scene, we see Marc downright pleading with Steven to keep her out of their exploits.
  • There's a subtle but noticeable undercurrent in this scene: Steven, having been just introduced to Layla, clearly finds her someone lovable and trustworthy (much like Marc does). It's very telling (and thus more heartbreaking) that even if Layla does not fully know what's happening, Marc and Steven (two separate people sharing a body) do value her, as much as it is confusing and heartbreaking for them.
  • When Layla gives Steven the divorce papers, Steven says that Marc is a 'right twit'. Marc (in the mirror) can only hang his head, as if agreeing.
• Steven is practically traumatized at how much blood he's shed, and is mumbling that he wants nothing to do with Marc and Khonshu, hoping to put himself into an asylum so he doesn't hurt anyone again.
• When Harrow muses on Khonshu's influence on Steven's mental health, there's something saddening about how Steven seems taken aback when Harrow calls him broken.
  Steven: No, I'm not broken. Just need some help, maybe.
  • Steven's tone will be very familiar to a lot of people with mental illness who've been told they were broken or felt like they were.
• The reason Marc is committed to remaining as the avatar of Khonshu? Because the next candidate is Layla, his wife. The reason for their divorce is so Marc can keep her out of Khonshu's crosshairs. This also counts as Nightmare Fuel.
• Steven has a mental breakdown when Layla insists that Marc summon the suit, and he screams that he's not Marc and to leave him alone because he can't do any of this. This is when Layla realizes that Steven legitimately has no idea what's going on and how much pressure she's been putting on him.
• Marc appears to have retained his self-loathing from the comics, as there's something quite literal about seeing Steven screaming at Marc for ruining his life, destroying everything he touches, and driving his loved ones away as Marc tearing himself down. Marc even promises to leave Steven alone forever, heavily implying that once he finishes his work as Khonshu's Avatar, he'll invoke Death of Personality on himself so Steven can live in peace.
• Steven ends up as the one in the mirror by the end of the episode, and he sounds so genuinely scared and horrified being trapped in his own body.
  Steven: How long have you been doing this...?
  Marc: I don't know. Long time.
  Steven: I don't like it.

Episode 3: The Friendly Type

• While Marc is trying to convince the Ennead of Harrow's quest to unleash Ammit, Harrow turns the confrontation back on him, bringing up his DID and suggesting it makes him an unreliable witness, being manipulated by Khonshu. The rest of the gods ask Marc if he is indeed unwell. Marc, overwhelmed and clearly close to tears, agrees, and says he needs help.
• Layla and Marc's bittersweet talk on the boat ride, reminiscing about their wedding and how happy they used to be. It's clear that they still have feelings for each other, but Marc still pushes her away to save her from being Khonshu's next target despite how much he still loves her.
• To a small extent, Harrow's private conversation/confession with Khonshu (who was finally imprisoned after breaking the will of the Ennead one last time) at the end of the episode. He looks pained and wounded when talking to his former patron god. He goes as far as accusing the god of breaking him and abusing him — the same accusation he laid on Khonshu before with Marc — even as he is seemingly gloating about accomplishing his goals, holding up Khonshu's abuse as the reason Harrow was/is able to do what he's doing now.
  • The entire conversation itself gains a significant amount of religious Reality Subtext when you remember that its date of release, April 13, was Wednesday of Holy Week, the Catholic Christian commemoration of Jesus's death and resurrection. Although Marc and possibly Steven are Jewish, the significant intertwining of Cold-Blooded Torture, psychological torment, and shaken faith is something that's well-established on this holiday, and is further reflected in the episode (not to mention Khonshu himself, a god, is practically "entombed" for his own sins, if not Marc/Steven's and his avatars).
• Khonshu tells Marc that the last time he spoke to the other Egyptian gods was when they banished him. It's clear that despite his troubled ways, Khonshu cares deeply for humanity and is the only one of the gods actively willing to protect them. During the meeting with the Ennead Council he calls them out for abandoning humanity and desperately tries to warn them about the looming threat of Ammit being released, but because of his bad reputation they refuse to listen.
  • Khonshu choosing to use his powers to rearrange the stars, despite knowing that the gods will imprison him in stone for doing so. Something about the way he speaks conveys the burden of his divine role as the guardian of the night sky.
    Khonshu: I remember that night... I remember every night.

Episode 4: The Tomb

• Marc finally explains what happened with him and Layla's father to Layla... and it's just about as tragic as you'd expect. Layla's father was a part of an expedition team that Marc and his partner cornered, except his partner got greedy and executed the entire team, as well as Marc.
  • As Layla hears this, she breaks into tears and bitterly notes that Marc stood there and just watched, which he doesn't deny. She then realizes that her entire marriage was just Marc trying to ease his guilty conscience.
• While it's mitigated by the fact that neither Marc nor Steven clearly die, it's still shocking to watch Harrow gun him down.
  • Imagine how it must feel for Layla, because even as messed up as her feelings for Marc are right now, she clearly still loves him, so she's probably feeling a mixture of anger, hurt, and Parting-Words Regret.
• Seeing Marc in the mental hospital, broken and traumatized, is a tragic departure from his usual demeanor. His reaction to seeing Layla as a fellow patient isn't much better.
• Poor Steven screaming and sobbing for help when he realizes he's trapped in a sarcophagus. If Marc hadn't come at the right moment...

Episode 5: Asylum

• As soon as Marc and Steven start their journey to balance their memories, they enter a room filled with all the people that Marc has killed. Steven is horrified, and even gives Marc a Death Glare when he mistakes Randall for being a child that he murdered.
  • The fact that Randall first appears in the room. Marc really felt it was his fault his brother died.
• When Marc and Steven visit the moment Moon Knight was created, they witness Marc on the verge of committing suicide.
• The death of Randall Spector. Literally everything about it and everything that follows.
  • Randall dies screaming for his mother as the adult Steven fruitlessly tries to reach him.
  • Wendy Spector takes it the hardest and is implied to fall into alcoholism, vehemently blaming Marc even on his twelfth birthday. And after he runs from his birthday cake? She follows him upstairs and beats him with a belt.
  • Elias Spector tries to keep his son's spirits up, and even tries to get Wendy to reconcile with him, but Marc still leaves home as a late teen. His final words to Marc are gutting.
    Elias: I can't lose another son.
  • Marc himself ends up developing Dissociative Identity Disorder from the trauma of all this, with Steven appearing just as Wendy grows abusive. That's right, the meek, kind, good-hearted Steven Grant was immediately whipped by his mother for something he couldn't remember. It's made even worse by how Marc curls up into the corner muttering, "It’s not my mom, it’s not my mom..." before Steven fronts for the first time.
• The following conversation between Marc and Steven:
  Steven: But it was all a lie, wasn't it?
  Marc: So what? What does it matter? What? You want to remember the truth? That you had a mother that beat you? That hated you? That made your life a living hell?!
  Steven: You're just lying... You're just trying to upset me.
  Marc: But you've gotten to live thinking that she loved you. That she was kind. That she's still alive!
  • Before that, Marc basically said to Steven's face that Steven is just Marc's created stress ball to escape Wendy's abuse. The punch to the face right after is an understatement to what an existential crisis Steven is having.
  • Near the beginning of the episode, Marc and Steven see a memory where Marc is standing on a street in front of a red car, which Marc tries to ignore. Later on, we see that this was the moment that Marc could not bring himself to attend his deceased mother's shiva. Marc is dressed for the occasion with a Beard of Sorrow, and is so drunk he can barely walk straight, seemingly trying to muster enough liquid courage to attend. But when his father beckons for him to come in, he bitterly walks away, refusing to give her the satisfaction, before breaking down into a sobbing mess in the middle of the road and having a seeming Crisis of Faith as he throws his kippah on the ground. It's up to audience interpretation if it's for Randall, Wendy, or Elias, but it's heartbreaking nonetheless. This was the moment that Marc and Steven started bleeding together, and when he 'wakes up', Steven just cheerfully and obliviously starts calling his mum and walking away, not knowing her shiva is just down the street in the opposite direction.
  • Elias looks out at him from inside with a woeful expression, silently pleading for his son to return home with a simple "come" gesture, but Marc cannot bring himself to do it.
  • Marc's religious anguish and the way his experiences of parental abuse color his ability to mourn in the tradition he was raised in are a tearjerker in themselves. Keen-eyed viewers have noted that Steven's apartment door has a mezuzah — suggesting he's also Jewish, and might well have a more sanguine relationship to Judaism without that history of trauma.
• Remember that scene in the trailer of Steven having a breakdown to some guy in black? No, it's not Steven. It's Marc, refusing to delve into the past. O.O.C. Is Serious Business doesn't even begin to describe it.
  Marc: [in regards to Steven stating Layla's death by the hands of Harrow will be fault if he doesn't confess the truth] No! No no no no NO!!! I won't do it! (shaking and repeatedly smacking himself in the face) I won't do it! You can't make me! YOU! CAN'T! MAKE ME!!!!
• Steven throws himself off Taweret's boat to stop Marc from being dragged overboard, which swiftly turns him into a statue in the desert. The most heartbreaking thing, though? The scales finally balance after his soul is claimed, allowing Marc to pass through to the Field of Reeds. No matter what, one of them would have to die for the other to pass on.
  • To make it even worse, all the times that Marc acts like an older brother to Steven is based on how he couldn't protect Randall. He's just lost his little brother again.
  • Going with the surrogate little brother take, this just makes the ending of episode 2 hit much harder. No wonder Marc freaked out when Steven screamed at him that he'll never give him a moment of peace: the closest thing he had to Randall being back to life basically just told him that he hated him.
• Marc's life is nothing but misery and tragedy at every corner. He blames himself for his brother's death, his mother also blamed him for his brother's death and abused him for it, he lost contact with his father because he never stepped up to protect Marc from his mother, he lost his position in the army because of his issues with dissociation, he was forced to take up shady mercenary work which led to him being betrayed by his partner, and was so guilt-ridden for Layla's father that he apparently married her to get rid of it. And then he lost Steven, the person who was supposed to help him through all of that, and all he can do is just head into the afterlife.
• Think about it from Elias Spector's perspective: his son has developed an alter named after the main character of his favorite film who occasionally uses the body that he sees as belonging to his son alone. In the past two months since his wife's shiva, he has no idea that Marc has been doing his best to hide and let Steven parade around. Or that Marc is technically dead and serving a god with a giant bird skull for a head...
  • Even worse is what leads up to that. First, he lost one son. Second, his wife fell into alcoholism, blaming Marc for the death of his brother to the point of beating him. And finally, he lost Marc when he left home, and it's implied Marc has never returned since then.
• Remember that line in episode 1 when a girl states that it must've sucked for Steven to be rejected from the Field of Reeds? Steven doesn't make it there, all while Marc is screaming for Taweret to turn the boat around to get him back.
• It's shattering to see Wendy Spector's complete breakdown over her little boy's death, even becoming a heavy alcoholic (which may have contributed to her death). In the end, she's a deeply grieving mother who lost her way and became a much worse person because of it, and taking things out on Marc was a desperate attempt to stay away from the truth, as the guilt she would otherwise have could break her completely, such as what would soon happen with Wanda Maximoff. No doubt anyone with kids would be able to relate to her pain, though of course it doesn't excuse her actions.
  Wendy: I want my RoRo back. I want him back.

Episode 6: Gods and Monsters

• At the beginning, after Harrow and his disciples leave, Layla breaks down crying upon seeing Marc's corpse, no doubt blaming his death on herself for demanding answers from him about her father's death at the worst time possible. Luckily, things get better (or do they?).
• Whilst messed up, Harrow does seem distraught when Ammit notes that his scales are unbalanced, which he interprets as his certain death. Even as Ammit offers up a reason for selecting him as her avatar, Harrow almost begins to beg for Ammit to just finish him to prevent what he might do in the future.
  • There's also the circumstances of his final death. Harrow is wheeled out in a state of confusion (not unlike Marc in his death throes), face-to-face with a furious, wrathful god, to be executed by the newly-revealed Jake Lockley — who, in the very few seconds we see him, appears to be someone who is not only on board with Khonshu's MO, but is positively gleeful about shedding blood. There's something unsettling with the death of this Knight Templar (as much of a Troubled Sympathetic Bigot he is) at the hands of someone who might well be a worse person than him (worse than Marc and Steven, at least).
• Marc leaving the Field of Reeds to reunite with Steven. He could rest in peace with his heart free, but he would rather be with Steven.
  • More than that, he doesn't want to leave Steven trapped in the sand forever.
• A subtle one. As Ammit is being sealed away, she makes a final grab at Khonshu, saying how they could have made the world their paradise. It seems her true goal was never to judge the living for all their sins, but to live in a "perfect" world with Khonshu. Her voice even sounds like it's breaking near the end.
  Ammit: We could've made this our paradise!
• As horrifying as The Stinger is, it's also tragic. Marc and Steven aren't free of Khonshu, and both he and Jake are free to rampage as they see fit.
  • One must also wonder how Layla reacted to her husband disappearing yet again.