With Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters’ second episode, we find the show facing something of an important litmus test concerning its legitimacy: can a series set within Legandary’s MonsterVerse manage to survive an episode with no real appearance of Godzilla or any of the main Titans and instead manage to thrive on the human plot alone? It’s a test that many a Kaiju related product – both TV and movie – have failed with any human drama usually ending up as a frustrating interruption to the smashy antics of the story’s true stars. However, with Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters, the human drama is the main thrust as this – as the title helpfully points out – is a show about Monarch and any guest spot from huge, irradiated lizards is merely gravy.
So, without its gargantuan big name to back it up, how does the show fare when flying solo?
Pretty damn good, as it happens.
Those desperate to find out what happened at the end of last episode, where Kaiko seemingly met her end at the mandibles of countless chittering bugs – I guess it sucks to be you as this episode chooses to bounce back another couple of years to show how the trio of Lee Shaw, Bill Randa and Professor Kaiko first met back in 1952. Kaiko is in the Philippines to investigate peculiar radiation readings that shouldn’t be their and Lee is assigned to be her liaison on what should be a standard “snipe hunt”. However, in the middle of the jungle, they stumble upon disheveled cryptozoologist Bill Randa who aides them on their mission, much to the distrust of Lee, who quits his mission in exasperation and drives off in a huff.
Meanwhile, back in 2015, Cate plans to leave Japan, utterly done with all this business of her late father’s secret family and even more secret files that her and her new half brother managed to unearth. However, she’s soon scooped up by a couple of Monarch operatives – the twitchy Tim and the far more steely Duvall – who need her to give them back her father’s highly sensitive files.
After escaping by accidently causing a car crash, Cate reconnects with Kentaro and his techie ex, May, who go search out the only lead they have left – an elderly Lee Shaw, who currently resides in an assisted living apartment which, technically, doubles up as Monarch enforced house arrest.
Meanwhile, back in ’52, Keiko discovers what Bill has really come all the way out in the Philippine wilderness to find when they come across the ruined hulk of the USS Lawton, the ship that Bill once served on and which vanished back in 1943 after colliding with a mysterious “object” near Pearl Harbour. Quite how such a large, navel vessel found itself so far inland in another country is up for speculation, but what isn’t is the winged Titan that lurks within the rusted metal walls…
Out of the two time periods that Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters plays with, I have to admit that the 50s set stuff is holding my attention more, partly because there’s more chance of a random monster popping up in the middle of some God forsaken jungle than it has in Japan in 2015. However, the real reason that the doomed adventures of Lee, Keiko and Bill are more gripping is that its filling in and clarifying a sizable amount of blanks that the Monsterverse has, thus far, skimmed over – for example: the fate of the USS Lawton. While the fateful ship popped up (in far worse shape) in a photo in the 2014 Godzilla and John Goodman relayed his harrowing tale of being onboard when “something” (cough *Godzilla* cough) attacked it to an angry Samuel L. Jackson in Kong: Skull Island, it’s been a pinnacle moment in the MonsterVerse timeline that hasn’t really been given the exclamation point it truly deserves and its discovery really does put Bill’s cryptid obsession into focus. While the leap from seeing the end of the trio’s adventures thanks to a bug attack to seeing Lee, Keiko and Bill meet for the first time may be a little jarring, it also makes things all the more tragic considering that disaster will strike in seven short years during which Hiroshi Randa will be born.
Another thing that makes the period stuff so interesting is the globe hopping that’s occured so far that’s actually been achieved with location shooting and not by sticking some poor bastard in the Volume or in front of a green screen and it really shows the dedication by the production to do things right and not just try and fake everything. As a result, when a Titan does show up – much like our horned, winged, dragon thing who attacks our heroes at the end of the epidode – it makes it all the more stunning.
Meanwhile, the conspiracy plot that’s unraveling in Japan in 2015 is moving at a much slower pace with the momentum building at a more deliberate rate – but it is building. The introduction of heavy handed Monarch agents Tim and Duvall show the more sinister side of the secret organisation we haven’t seen since Brian Cranston was locked in a office and questioned by suits back in the first movie. It’s a timely reminder that secret government branches tend to play rough in shows like this and that even though Monarch grew to be a humongous, S.H.I.E.L.D-like, peacekeeping force in subsequent MonsterVerse entries, its nice that here they’re still being portrayed as being shady as fuck as they bundle people in cars, put hoods over their heads and storm into people’s houses without asking.
As it stands, the trifecta of Cate, Kentaro and May don’t have much to do but react, but it does finally lead to the show’s most impressive spot of casting by far – Mr. Kurt Russell.
While he and his son, Wyatt, have played relations before, they’ve never played the same person and it proves to be so inspired that it envokes the impressive, multi-age casting of Netflix’s excellent time twister, Dark, which also negated the need for expensive de-aging by simply hiring actors who looked like each other. With the introduction of an older Lee in 2015 who is essentially under house arrest on the grounds of global security, no doubt the dirty, Monarch secrets will start tumbling out with reckless abandon, thereby giving the 2015 segments the chance to catch up, but most of all, I want to get the juicy gossip on what happened between him, Bill and Keiko – and that’s where this show proves it’s true worth.
Godzilla and a whole host of monsters are out there somewhere and I can’t wait to see more of them; but in the meantime, I’m actually interested to know what’s going on with those puny humans caught in the middle.
Has the MonsterVerse finally grown? Well, it was already grown to begin with – but has it matured? Most definitely.
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