Aside from the odd insulting false start (no, sorry, I’m just not going to let that go), Monarch’s second season has been doing a fairly decent job of making us wait. The people pulling the strings aren’t stupid after all – they are fully aware that all the intrigue, all the twists and all the shock deaths in the world (two so far) can’t compare to the sight of one of the big two striding into frame with all the confidence and control of Fonzie whenever he entered stage left of a Happy Day episode to rapturous applause. To suitably whet our appetite for destruction, the first episode went heavy on Kong, with Titan X tagging in soon after and taking the spotlight; but after some false starts and that woefully misjudged dream sequence (told you I’m still pissed) it’s time for the show to pay us back with interest. That’s right, finally making his gigantic season 2 bow properly this time, it’s time for Godzilla to enter the fray, but we’ve itching for him to make an appearance, could his arrival have occurred at the worst (read: best) time imaginable?
To take a phrase from another famous franchise filled with big monsters and little people scurrying underfoot – the fellowship has broken. The various members and hang-ons of the Randa family have gone their separate ways to figure out the Titan X problems from vastly different angles, but while some class as benevolent, other are sneaky and downright dangerous.
Ever the peacemaker, Keiko has teamed with her Titan-sensitive granddaughter Cate in order to find non-aggressive ways of disposing of the wayward monster and the younger Randa believes that if you put her in the company of the displaced behemoth, she’ll figure out why Titan X has gone off from the migratory path for the first time in centuries.
Meanwhile, Lee Shaw is going down a more direct route and in an era where everything can be used as a weapon, he’s tracked Titan X to Australia and set up a Suzuki Device to call the one monster who can clear up this problem toot sweet – Godzilla. Reaching the King Of The Monsters and summoning him like a giant, radioactive mob enforcer, Shaw is annoyed to see Keiko, Cate and Kentaro arrive at a place that’ll soon become a Titan war zone. But while Cate uses her new powers to figure out what’s going on, Kentaro seems to have played them all for chumps.
As Godzilla gets ever closer, it turns out that Kentaro’s decision to join Isabel Simmons involves some sort of betrayal and once Cate figures out that Titan X’s issues all stem from the fact that she’s just laid an egg, Simmons’ goons spring into action and steal the egg when Godzilla lunges ashore looking for a scrap. However, the US government isn’t about to let another G-Day rock the world and would rather take a nuclear option instead, so while Godzilla and Titan X try to settle their differences, time is decidedly ticking away.
The frustrating thing about Monarch has always been that no matter what’s put in front of you, no matter how well it’s written, now matter how surprising it may be, you’re always waiting for one of the heavier hitters to rock up and steal the show. It’s to the Monsterverse’s credit that its built it’s Titan superstars up so much over the past five movies that their very appearance can add an entire star onto an episode rating just for the scale of it. However, while I’ve managed to restrain myself from awarding “Separate Ways” a fifth star purely for giving us the biggest Kaiju spectacle we’ve seen on the small screen so far, I won’t deny that seeing the Big G once again commendeer and entire show to kick some ass isn’t a magnificent sight to see. OK, so maybe he’s not suplexing foes off national monuments like he’s signed up with ECW, or zooming around in a zero-gravity environment twating enemies at will, but watching him wrestle with Titan X is everything you wanted it to be and more.
Better yet, we end on a cliff hanger (a literal one, as Cliff Curtis seems to have been obliterated by Godzilla’s beam), which probably means that we’ll get more Godzilla on Titan X action next week too. But while the monster stuff undoubtedly makes the episode, I have to the human stuff manages to create enough tension that the countdown to Godzilla’s landfall means your just not solely waiting for him to show up. For a start, having each group tackle the problem according to their own world view is actually pretty neat abd it makes total sense that the calm, rational Keiko would take a scientific approach to fix the problem while military man Shaw is just trying to weaponise everything.
However, it’s the impetuousness of youth that ends up being the deal breaker as a vengeful and bitter Kentaro has seemingly pulled a May/Cora and jumped to the dark side after jumping into bed (possibly literally) with Isabel Simmons. In some ways, I’m glad that Ren Watabe’s constant simmering has finally been put to use because I was really starting to wonder why Agent Tim had more to do this season than one of the main leads, but I guess we’ll get the full story on Kentaro’s villain(ish) turn next week.
As a result, while everyone else gets to play on an Australian beach and look dumbstruck while Godzilla spectacularly absorbs the show’s budget, poor old May/Cora is stuck in an office, pumping her old APEX boss, Brenda Holland, for information. To be fair, it will probably sync up with whatever Isabel’s plan is despite the fact that the adopted Simmons daughter has no love for her father’s company, but this is all preamble in order to get those all important ducks in a row before the big finish – and big seems to be the operative word.
While trailers have already spoiled that Kong will also get his mitts of Titan X, I was expecting the twist that this season’s monster villain isn’t so bad after all to bug me a little – after all, outside of Jaws 3D, the trope that our main monster is actually a mother usually dilutes the threat into something far less dramatic and isn’t all that original (just look at Godzilla ’98 for results). However, it’s hard not to feel bad for Titan X when, in a single episode, she has to face down Godzilla and has her egg stolen right out from under her fangs. Add to that the fact that the only other monsters we know to face both Godzilla and King back to back having ended up a pile of scrapped Mecha-junk or a frozen shattered Scar King-cicle and Titan X is not about to have a good time of it. Still, with all the heavy hitters set to hit the stage over the next two weeks, her hard luck is very much our gain…
Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters has always operated on a big scale, but with a belated appearance of Godzilla (that isn’t a shitty dream sequence) the show finally goes big big with style. All the humans have something to do and different moral stand points to do it and we get to watch Godzilla once again test the boundaries of Apple+’s budget as we once again get small screen monster brawls that manage to square up to it’s big screen siblings. For lack of a better word, a king-sized offering fit for a god…
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