Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Review
Apple TV has been on a heater in the last few years and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters does nothing to break that stride. You know who else has been on a stride? Anna Sawaii, our lead, who also cooked in the very awesome show Shogun. (https://www.egoclown.com/articles/shogun-is-one-of-the-decades-best-shows) Who else? Godzilla. And when you throw these three explosive elements onto one television screen, you get a show that is both compelling at the character level and scores highly on the Michael Bay Holy Shit Scale.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is not the most action packed Monsterverse entry, but it’s probably the most interesting overall. Hell, it’s easily the best written and does a great job of intertwining with the films in the franchise. It really fleshes out the backstory of Monarch and the world of the Titans and makes the films more rewarding. Learning things about how Monarch started, how APEX started, meeting new Titans, exploring new parts of the Hollow Earth…there’s a lot going on here.
So, Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters is one story, but it’s structured as two stories that will eventually converge. There’s a present and a past storyline (this confused me in the first episode.) The present storyline, set in 2015, follows Cate (Anna Sawai), a school teacher who goes to Japan to investigate her missing father’s apartment there and discovers that A. her father was involved in some strange shit and B.) he has this whole ass secret family. Cate and her newfound brother Kentaro (Ren Watabe) overcome their initial disdain for each other and decide to go search for their father, with help from Kentaro’s on-off again romantic interest May (Kiersey Clemmons). This leads them to Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell), who they break out of a nursing home and…we’re off on an adventure. But that’s 2015. What about the “legacy of monsters?”
Intro: early 1950s- a young Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell), taking orders from General Puckett (Christopher Heyerdahl) is sent to protect an American aligned Japanese scientist, Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamato). Lee Shaw, being a 1950s American man, makes things awkward by assuming Dr. Miura is…well, not a scientist. Nevertheless, Shaw and Keiko find themselves in the middle of the jungle, investigating for monsters. Along the way, they run into Bill Randa (Anders Holm), who is also looking for monsters and…we’re off on an adventure. This is the 1950s trio and they are one of my favorite sets of characters in the Monsterverse.
Anywho, these are the two narrative arcs that are present in the show and the way they are structured to inform the narrative is interesting. The “Present Day” plotline is very condensed, only a few days for most of the show, while the “1950s Crew” plotline is spread across the decade and even a little beyond, highlighting key points in Monarch’s early history. Kurt Russell is doing very Kurt Russell things in both storylines, which is always fun. Admittedly, the monsters themselves can be a little far and in between, but when they do appear, it’s definitely feels earned. There’s no wasted moments or “let’s set them up to fight” for most of this show. Everything serves the plot, as it should.
Both storylines were pretty strong. The “Present Day” storyline serves as a very effective prequel for Godzilla Vs. Kong, as well as a continuation of Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla (2014). It outlines a lot of supporting plot events that enrich those movies. We learn the origins of the company behind Mecha-Godzilla, as well as how San Francisco turned out after the first film. It fleshes out the universe as we are already familiar with it.
But the “1950s Crew” is probably the highlight to me. Some of it might be due to the fact that we’re seeing the absolute highlights of their adventures and the founding of Monarch. Despite functioning more as an anthology of narratives than a chronological A to B storyline, I thought the 1950s adventures were a little more interesting and gave the viewer something new that hadn’t been seen in the franchise before. We finally get to see Godzilla at Bikini Atoll, we see the politics behind Monarch, we learn about the roots of the science behind Titans. And it’s all done so elegantly, with many of the aesthetic choices pointing at shows like Agent Carter and the older Godzilla films.
The 1950s storyline also has some of the best performances and writing. Wyatt Russell and Anders Holm are really good in their respective starring roles. Christopher Heyerdahl is excellent as General Puckett. The storylines also have a greater variety of locations, ideas and vibes. It’s a little bit slower paced and more humanizing. But one character, in particular, absolutely carries-
Mari Yamamoto’s Keiko is the heart of this show. Her performance steals the show, making even some of the weaker episodes compelling. She’s also a significant character, arguably the seminal figure of the whole Monsterverse. It’s her theories that kickstart Monarch. It’s her status as an American ally that (eventually) gets them access to federal funding, which gives them access to nuclear weaponry needed to attract Godzilla, which leads to Monarch becoming an official government organization which leads to…..you get the idea. She’s very much the central character of this universe and it is her journey that ties it all together.
In fact, the most interesting thing to me about this series is how concerned it is with the love. The entire future and past arc is built around the love triangle between Lee Shaw, Bill Randa and Keiko and the emotional wreckage (not to mention the broken families) it leaves behind. There are themes of generational misdeeds and tortured pasts that, while not new to Godzilla, have yet to be presented in such a nuanced and fluid way. And at the center of this is Yamamoto’s masterful performance. She’s electric to watch in this role and I think she’s the best character the Monsterverse has. Her drive, determination and sincerity are what makes Monarch: Legacy of Monsters work, both in-universe and on screen.
Godzilla is a tricky franchise to nail. Similar to Transformers, no one is ever watching a Godzilla movie to see the human beings. That’s why Michael Bay is selling ass and masturbation in between explosions. But Godzilla can’t take that angle because, believe it or not, it’s a much classier franchise that deals in heavy allegories for things like nuclear war, evolution and climate change. It needs human drama to get it’s point across and when the human drama is weak, the film/series usually fails. Thankfully, the writing here is excellent for the most part and the acting performances are layered and endearing. There’s a good mix of lightheartedness and heaviness to make a well rounded, poignant story. It’s smartly constructed television, especially in it’s use of narrative structures, which I never thought I’d say about a Godzilla TV show.
If the question is, should you give Monarch: Legacy of Monsters a shot, the answer is a resounding YES! It’s enthralling even for non-Godzilla fans, and has good hooky writing that pulls you in, with very strong performances from a cast that seems passionate about the project. Once you get your bearings, it’s a very easy show to engage with. I found that it made me want to watch more Monsterverse afterwards. It really sucked me into the lore in a way that I hadn’t been before and I think a format like TV is actually excellent for Godzilla. Going forward, I’m more excited about this show than I am the movies, which is shocking. So, yes, without a doubt, I can recommend Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
