Harrow's Office In Moon Knight Episode 5 Is More Important Than You Think
Contains spoilers for "Moon Knight" Season 1, Episode 5
With each consecutive episode, "Moon Knight" has only delved deeper and deeper into the inherent trippiness behind its titular Marvel superhero. Episode 5 of the Disney+ series took things to a whole new level, creating new mysteries and making audiences question what in the series has been real so far and what's just been inside the head of Marc Spector and his alter, Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac).
The episode picked up where the end of Episode 4 left off, with Marc waking up in a white-colored asylum with a bunch of familiar faces as fellow patients or staff. One of the strangest things about this new segment of the show has been Ethan Hawke's massive shift in his portrayal of series antagonist Arthur Harrow. Rather than a charismatic, soft-spoken figurehead on the hunt to release the Egyptian god Ammit, Harrow appears in the asylum as Marc's mild-mannered therapist. Exactly what's happening with the villain right now is a little unclear, but eagle-eyed fans picked up on a small detail related to his office that may prove to be extremely significant.
Viewers have seen the office before, in Episode 2
Harrow's asylum office might just be one of the most visually striking locations that fans of "Moon Knight" have seen thus far. Almost everything in the room is painted a stark white aside from a landscape painting, some small multicolored knickknacks, and Harrow himself. Thus, it might be rather shocking for some to learn that the office actually showed up for the first time several episodes prior.
After the release of Episode 4, Twitter user @Gabb_plus pointed out that viewers first saw Harrow's office back in Episode 2, when Steven and Layla (May Calamawy) were being chased through his compound by a monstrous jackal. In those scenes, the room was dimly lit, had not been painted white, and was filled to the brim with Egyptian artifacts, so it's no surprise that few picked up on its reappearance later down the line. But what exactly is the significance of its return?
The meaning behind the mindscape
In Episode 5, the hippo goddess Taweret (Antonia Salib) informs Marc and Steven that the asylum is a manifestation of their subconscious on their path to the afterlife. The appearance of Harrow's office gives some very important context regarding how that mindscape actually functions. Upon closer inspection, there are other elements of the asylum that also line up with the location of Harrow's compound. For instance, Episode 2 shows that the compound has a home theater, where several of the villain's followers silently sit watching a movie. A similar sequence played out at the end of Episode 4, in which several asylum patients are huddled around a CRT TV playing an old movie.
It seems likely that Marc and Steven subconsciously chose to model their mindscape on Harrow's compound. For now, the exact reasoning for this decision is unclear, though perhaps they made it that way to remind them of Harrow's continued plot to free Ammit and encourage themselves to find a way back to life in order to stop him. Or ... maybe that delicious lentil soup and terrifying jackal chase just really made an impression on them. It's anyone's guess.
For now, fans will have to wait to see what sort of role the mindscape and Taweret play in the future of the series, if any. The final episode of "Moon Knight," which is set to be released on May 4, could very well shed further light on the depths of the hero's subconscious.