TL;DR – It may have left the best for last as it ratchets up the tension and the monsters.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Review –

Well, we have reached the end of our first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and what a fascinating season it was. We got governmental intrigue, timey-wimey physics, and also some giant roar monsters. In our final update for the season, we are first going to take a look at whether they stuck the landing in this final episode and then also how well the season worked as a whole.

So, to set the scene, At the end of Axis Mundi, everything went wrong. The monsters attacked the old nuclear plant in Kazakhstan, setting off the explosions, and throwing Cate (Anna Sawai), May (Kiersey Clemons), and Shaw (Kurt Russell) into the portal and badly wounding Kentaro (Ren Watabe) and Tim (Joe Tippett). Cate thought she was going to die. The last thing she expected to find was herself alive in the underworld or that the person who would come to her rescue was none other than her grandmother Keiko (Mari Yamamoto), who had not aged a day. We will be looking at the episode and season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Ever since Shaw’s age discrepancy was pointed out, I should have realised that we would be heading back on a rescue mission. It may have been the most logical endpoint for the series, but that does not mean it didn’t work. It is not entirely clear if this is part of the portal system they got into the weeds in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the Hollow-Earth of Godzilla vs. Kong, or the latest planet on Stargate. I did like its progression, and I am glad that we got away from the feeling that this was all filmed on a sound stage. They also split the group into two distinct chunks, and I would be interested to see how they resolve that going further.

Given we got a rescue mission, the question then becomes: how well did they pull it off? It did feel a bit rushed at times, but that is to be expected, given the one-episode timeframe they had to pull it off. But they hit all the different points you needed to make, including Keiko coming to terms with being stuck out of time and Shaw sacrificing himself as an exclamation point to his character arc throughout the season. It also led to the one thing that had to happen before the end of the season, and that was an enormous Kaiju on Kaiju, or Titan on Titan, battle. Given that this was for the small screen, I was surprised at just how well they got that fight scene to work, as it holds up with anything we have seen in the MonsterVerse films.      

When we took a step away from the episode to look at the season as a whole, I was impressed at how they used their shifting timelines to tell their story. While it didn’t reach the heights of shows like Station Eleven, they used it to tell a connected story that shaped the narrative of the season. One area where you see this the most is where they played on the fact that they cast Wyatt Russell & Kurt Russell as the same character at different times. Besides that, it is a fascinating choice that I think I have only seen before in The Impossible Astronaut episode of Doctor Who. I liked how they riffed on this idea throughout the season with images, projections, and very well-timed match cuts in the editing. This dual nature can also be seen in the two trios that were the core of the different time periods.      

Besides the opening and closing scenes referencing Skull Island, this is a straightforward onboarding for someone into this universe because the only primary frame of reference is the first Godzilla movie. Even then, if you missed that first movie, they do an excellent job of introducing you to the major parts that you need to know. Of course, as we go through the season, we get further into the universe with the set-up of the main villains from Godzilla vs. Kong, which lets Dominique Tipper get to play the sleazy businesswoman manipulating people, which I think will be a more significant part of the show next season.

But if I were to explore one issue that I had with the show, it comes to how they explored the title of the show. For a season of television called Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the Monarch part of the show was the least explored part of the show. I am not sure that I know anything more about Monarch at the end of the season than I did at the start. While it was positioned to be the core question of the season, it always felt like it was being pushed aside into the background. Also, the mystery of what happened to Hiroshi Randa (Takehiro Hira) did start to grate at times.  

In the end, do we recommend Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Beyond Logic & Season 1? Yes, we would. I am not sure it ever reached the heights of being genuinely remarkable. However, every episode was solid. More than anything, they made me interested in seeing what they would do with the time jump they added at the end of the season because some wild plot points are coming up.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Monarch: Legacy of Monsters yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
Directed by – Andy Goddard, Hiromi Kamata, Mairzee Almas, Julian Holmes & Matt Shakman
Written by – Matt Fraction, Al Letson, Mariko Tamaki, Karl Greenfeld, Amanda Overton, Milla Bell-Hart, Andrew Colville & Chris Black
Created by – Chris Black & Matt Fraction
Based On – Godzilla by Toho Co., Ltd.
Production/Distribution Companies – Legendary Television, Safehouse Pictures, Toho, Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, Chris Black Broadcasting System, Warner Brothers Television, Legendary & Apple TV+
Starring – Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett, Elisa Lasowski, Wyatt Russell & Kurt Russell with Dominique Tipper, Mirelly Taylor, Qyoko Kudo, Takehiro Hira, John Goodman, Christopher Heyerdahl, Leo Ashizawa, Jess Salgueiro, Matthew MacCaull, Bruce Baek, Eisa Davis, Morgan Dudley, Tamlyn Tomita, Charlie Hewston & Courtney Dietz and Kelton Sakamoto, Isaac Keoughan, Lisa Chandler, Jonathan Vellner, Mamie Kakimoto, Charlie Karumi, Frank Crudele, Hiro Fodi-Nestman, Brittany Palmer, Zia Newton, Dave Santana, Liviu Rain, Josh Collins, Scott Nicholson, Anton Markelov, Ryuta Kato, Adam Kirschner, Ryan Cowie, Jory John, Shota Tsuji, Kamilyn Kaneko, Camille Legg, Sheyi Ryane, Babak Haleky, Jasmine Lukuku, Breanne Williamson, Jacquelyn Baillie, Valencia Budijanto & Billy Christos Jr.
Episodes Covered – Aftermath, Departure, Secrets and Lies, Parallels and Interiors, The Way Out, Terrifying Miracles, Will the Real May Please Stand Up?, Birthright, Axis Mundi & Beyond Logic