One of the biggest assets Kaiju seem to have is their extraordinary amounts of resilience. How many times have Godzilla, Kong, or even Mothra come back from certain death to rally back and defeat a mortal enemy. Regular readers will know that Monarch and I didn’t exactly part on the best of terms last week mainly down to the fact that the show delivered a cheap shot by revealing the season’s first glimpse of Godzilla as nothing more than a nightmare fake out. It’s exactly the sort of cynical misuse of legendary Titans that this season really should have moved on from by now.
Still, as fans of Kaiju media go, I’m a fairly forgiving sort of guy and with every new episode comes the chance of redemption. However, with the introduction of some funky, timey wimey sort of shit courtesy of Axis Mundi, it seems that Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters is trying some new stuff as it works toward the back end of the season.
We rejoin proceedings with the Randa family still scattered across the globe in the wake of Hiroshi’s death and in Japan, we find Keiko and Cate indulging in yet more adventurous, granny/granddaughter bonding as they explore local legends that may link to the riddle of Titan X. As the multi-generational team scramble down abandoned wells based on the past theories of Bill Randa, they discover that the rogue Titan may not be the world-leveling threat we once thought it was.
Meanwhile, we find May/Cora still hopping between Monarch and Apex as Tim pleads with her to help undo the Kaiju-themed meddling the Cybernetics corporation recently attempted, and it seems that once again the hacker is about to switch sides.
While May makes her umpteenth shift in alliances, we also find the irrevocably moody Kentaro joining forces with Isabel, the adopted daughter of Apex boss Walter Simmons who seems to have major beef with her father and his opportunistic company. But when pressed on the details, Isabel’s mystery plans seem to hint at removing the Kaiju threat for good, rather than studying or manipulating them. But how on earth could you simply remove monsters that dwarf most buildings? Well, the clue may lay with the shocking discovery accidently made by Lee Shaw in his attempts to find Godzilla, and after he opened up another portal to Axis Mundi, he somehow managed to spark up radio contact with himself when he was stranded in the in-between dimension back in the 60s.
As Lee attempts to spark up a rapport with his younger self, he tries to ensure a way to use the past in able to track Titan X in the present in a way that doesn’t erase the future. But as past-Shaw tries to locate past-Titan X, present-Shaw has to talk himself into making a heart rending choice to save the future.
With String Theory, we find Monarch mostly forgiven for its indiscretions during its last episode by embracing a new avenue that, on paper, sounds like the show could be perilously close to jumping the shark – or Megalon considering that we’re dealing with Kaiju here. Suddenly opening the door to the notion of time travel shouldn’t actually be that crazy considering that we’re already dealing with a franchise that’s featured three-headed alien dragons and a giant, despot, orangutan with a bone whip – and furthermore, 1991’s Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah featured a main plot of time travellers dicking around with history to remove the Big G from existence entirely, so it isn’t that much of a reach when you take in the full scope of Kaiju history. However, once you get used to the fact that this is probably where the show is eventually going to go, the episode manages to do some truly wonderful things with it.
For a start, it finally gives Kurt Russell a chance to play off his son Wyatt which was previously considered impossible as they’re playing the same character. However, while the two aren’t technically on the screen at the same time in a Patrick Stewart/James McAvoy Days Of Future Past type of deal, the scenes they have as they bond back and forth over a time spanning radio signal manage to finally crack something the show has been striving for since it first began. For the first time in Monarch history – or maybe even the entire history of the Monsterverse, now that I think about it – a human plot thread has succeeded in overriding any and all Kaiju activity to have me utterly gripped whenever it was on screen.
The fact that father and son were acting together (sort of) while playing the sane character was historic enough, but the fact that it also managed to be greatly moving once present-Shaw has to talk past-Shaw out of rescuing a stranded Keiko is a massive achievement for a show that most has people asking “when’s the monsters showing up?”. It’s a good thing too, because aside from some gnarly Axis Mundi residents, both Godzilla, Kong and Titan X are all, once again, virtual no-shows; however, I have to applaud the writers for shoehorning the Ion Dragon back in as a nod to season one. Does it potentially raise some plot holes? Yes (so Shaw already knew bits and pieces of the future when we first met him at the old folks home and didn’t immediately act on them when he escaped?). Does it also mean that the Kentaro/Isabel plotline will continue over to a possible season 3? Most likely, so don’t expect that to go anywhere. However, the very act of Monarch finally offering up a scene that makes you fully lock in to the characters is a massive achievement, especially when some of the gang can be charitably described as a little self absorbed.
Speaking of Cate Randa (yep, that’s a low blow, but bear with me), while her quest to discover the secrets of Titan X isn’t doing much for her main character syndrome, teaming her with Keiko continues to prove to be a very savvy move as it focuses both their characters in the right direction. Also benefiting from a buddy system is May/Cora who once again really needs to shit or get off the pot in regards to her wavering loyalties and while her teaming with Tim and Kentaro’s with Isabel, it keeps everyone off the board but still potentially relevant while both the Shaws get to finally have their moment.
However, with only three episodes remaining, and at least 3 huge Titans to focus on (trailers have confirmed that Kong and Godzilla will eventually come into play), there’s a feeling that Monarch lost the mission a little bit. The sooner we regain focus and get our characters – both big and small – to converge, hopefully we can all sit back and enjoy a suitably epic finish.
Bouncing back from last week’s lapse into lazy habits, Monarch manages to win most of our faith back by finally utilising its most famous bit of casting to an impressive degree. But with limited time left, it may be about time we dived back into the more spectacular aspects of the first two episodes in order to set the monstrous stage for the big time battles the show owes us.
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