The Randa siblings sure got themselves in a pickle now. After finding themselves stranded in Alaska in last week’s episode, the group decided to split up, and strange occurrences began to occur. Kentaro found himself wandering the fury of a snowstorm, where he was treated to hallucinations of unfinished business with his father and past relationship. Elsewhere, the rest of the group searched far and wide for help for a seriously injured May and once again came face to face with the ice-breathing titan. All hope seems lost until Kentaro encounters a working radio his father left behind and calls for help… only for Monarch to show up and take the group in.
You know the deal: separate sections for past and “present,” let’s dive right in.
The Present:
The episode opens with the group locked up in an Alaskan “Black Site” very obviously run by Monarch. Cate is keeping her cool, trying not to be intimated, but we see Kentaro absolutely losing it, throwing furniture around his cell. Turns out that calling the people hunting you down isn’t a great idea! May is recovering from her injury when Monarch starts prodding her about the backup files she made of their files. Here, it’s revealed that May isn’t her name, it’s actually Lyra Mateo.
Tim then suggests to his Monarch superiors that rather than interrogating the group like criminals, Monarch should recruit the Randa siblings and May into the organization. His superiors instead agree to release the trio, with the intention of keeping a close eye on them. Tim helps them acquire passports and a way home but warns them to keep out of Monarch business hoping they’ll do the opposite.
Shaw unfortunately doesn’t get the same deal and continues to be held captive by Monarch. Deputy Director Verdugo meets with Shaw and tells him they plan to use the Randa kids to find their father, but Shaw criticizes her and the entire organization for doing nothing to stop or study the Titans despite having a near-unlimited amount of resources. It’s also hinted in this scene that Shaw is in his nineties, despite not looking it, due to a mission “gone bad.” I never really noticed it, but if he did indeed help found Monarch in the 1950s, something isn’t quite adding up with his age and appearance. Verdugo prods him for information on the files that William Randa made, but Shaw refuses to budge. He criticizes Monarch for their 2014 plan of “let them fight,” often bringing up that the organization has lost its way.
The Randa siblings and May travel to San Francisco (which is still recovering from the events of G-Day in 2014) hoping to find more leads in Hiroshi’s United States office. The group hitch a ride from Cate’s friend James, and we get a look into the recovery efforts of a post-Godzilla attack in the form of FEMA housing that she and her mother live in. Cate’s mom, Caroline meets Kentaro for the first time and realizes that Hiroshi had a life she had no idea about. Caroline reveals that she pushed Cate to travel to Tokyo to investigate her father’s secret life using a lease of his that she found. This understandably causes turmoil between them. San Francisco has walled off the most damaged areas of the city in a quarantined “red zone.” After their fight, Cate pushes her mother to use her FEMA status to smuggle the group into the zone where Hiroshi’s office is located.
The group travels through the quarantine zone and has to avoid the military, who mistake them for looters. Kentaro smartly uses distraction tactics to get them off their trail, and they progress further into the derelict zone, sharing sibling bonding moments with songs and memories of their father. Eventually, the military catches up with them, and they’re forced to go underground, which causes Cate’s G-Day PTSD to kick in, causing a rift between her and Kentaro. He scouts ahead and finds their father’s building, a massive monolith overlooking the red zone.
Making their way into his office, the group starts searching and discovers there’s no secret safe like in his Tokyo office. Cate uses the knowledge she picked up teaching middle schoolers to decode a secret map Hiroshi left behind. Kentaro uses his art background to complete the map using the light from the sunrise. They soon deduce that the map shows Hiroshi’s path once he left San Francisco.
Traveling back to civilization, Cate and her mom make amends, and Kentaro confesses to May that he feels that things are finally going as planned for the first time in his life. When he leaves May to call his mother, May breaks away from the group. She calls Monarch to inform them she wants to go home and will do anything to do so, planning to betray the group.
The Past:
The Past segment this week focuses on Cate in the days before G-day. We learn she was in a same-sex relationship with a fellow schoolteacher named Dani. Their relationship blossomed, and they recently decided to move in together. On G-day, Cate shows up to a half-empty class and fears about the giant monsters reaching the city, which leads to an eventual evacuation. The city only allows buses on the bridge leaving the city, so she and Dani decide to split up so she can chaperone one of the buses. In a shocking revelation, we learn Cate had actually been cheating on Dani and felt guilt over it, forcing them to go their separate ways. With the events of G-Day unfolding and most of Cate’s class dying, it’s safe to assume she and Dani never made up.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters took on a different tone this week. The exploration of the Red Zone is fascinating for numerous reasons. We rarely return to a city post-Godzilla destruction. What would happen? Do we rebuild or let it rot? Monarch seems to imply that it’s not being rebuilt fast enough and that the city is moving on to other plans. This episode reminded me of The Last of Us and its use of militarized quarantine zones. Having our characters explore the area is an interesting look into a possible world created by the presence of giant monsters and how the government would react.
On the other hand, Shaw’s story is a whole different beast. Why did he leave Monarch? Why does Monarch want the Randa files so badly? Why does he look so good for being in his nineties? With the season halfway done, there’s still plenty of time to have these questions answered.
Recommended Kaiju Film of the Week: Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Toho’s first Godzilla film since 2016 is an absolute triumph. Set in the immediate aftermath of WWII Japan, Godzilla Minus One is an astonishingly well-made return to form for our beloved lizard boy. While Shin Godzilla is a whip-smart satire of Japanese bureaucracy, Minus One instead tells a more personal story about a disgraced kamikaze pilot fighting for what he loves amid the re-emergence of Godzilla. The main theme about holding on to something of beauty in destructive times hit hard in more ways than one in our current world, but Minus One is also absolutely thrilling on top of all that. The film features some of the most jaw-dropping spectacles I’ve seen this year. See it BIG. See it LOUD. See Godzilla Minus One. Read our interview with Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now streaming on Apple TV with new episodes every Friday. Catch up on previous recaps right here and tune in next week for episode 6.
