MONARCH could easy be one of the best TV series of 2023, the scores are not crazy high across sites like TMDB, IMDB and RTT but it has been everything I hope from the start, that was introduce a good story about all the characters this means Keiko, Shaw Lee, Cate, Bill and now their grand child and on top good monsters with an S scenes and not just Godzilla, this TV series has also push me to watch the three movies related to it so I could have a better understanding of why things happen in certain way and there is still one scenes I cant get why, that’s when Bill is been chase by a giant spider filming ask someone to forgive him for all he “Bill” took from him.. still probably one of the best TV series of 2023 with great contenders like Silo and The Wheel of Time, no doubt the Hollywood Strike hit hard the industry but there are still some gems from 2023 and MONARCH is one of them.
Episode two Departure is still part of that stage of knowing why things are happening and it will be like that probably until episode four when things settle down and it covers for the most part the present time, but I think this season main focus is to explain how things started back on the 50’s with Kieko, Bill and Shaw, that is exactly what MONARCH is after now, the youngsters Cate, Kentaro and his ex-girlfriends May have discover some files from audio and video at his father office, Hiroshi is suppose to be missing or dead but it might not be the case and there is only one person alive that might help them figure out exactly what happen and that Shaw Lee.
Recently read about an interview that was done some time ago to Wyat Russell and how he didn’t want to work with his father until he makes it out by himself, they both are very similar and I guess many other productions have though about them to be included for the same purpose of going back and forward in time lines of the same character, it work out great for MONARCH.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17220216/
Platform: Apple+
It was the late 50’s in Japan, Dr. Keiko Miura was probably not taken serious by many for a couple of reasons, I guess men were very dominant on her field of work and second she was basically chasing a ghost so when Shaw Lee the III was assign to her as military escort he didn’t take her serious neither and paid a great price right from the start, not only he was cocky but he was kind of pissed been assign as an escort probably as punishment after getting into a bar fight, he even though she was trying to hook up with him when they met, he thought Dr. Miura had to be a men and he was so wrong, this got him more than once to be ashamed of his actions until he started to understand what was going on and why her work was so important despite been almost along on this journey.
Moving into the present we know Kentaro and Cate found some files at their father office in Japan but had no clue what they were about, Kentaro ex-girlfriend knew how to handle some of this old format of data storage and decided to dig into it but this alert MONARCH about it, this are probably OG Bill Randall and Keiko Miura files, how everything started, this documents are important and MONARCH want them back.
On a second trip to his father office Kentaro started to look at some files and found a video tape too, between the files came up Shaw Lee and a document that mentions how he has been admitted at a retiring community that latter on end up been a prison for MONARCH related people, they need to keep their secrets tight even though G-day already happen they don’t want the population know that there are more than just one massive monster going around, this would cause huge panic. Kentaro latter on said his mom told him about how to locate Shaw but it is not true, he got the place name from the documents at his father office.
The entire Kentaro / May relationship is kind of boring and annoying because it has not been properly explain, we know he dump her but why? besides she is hiding something and that could be the reason why he dump her but he was not brave enough to call her out? this is just me making conclusions.
Cate is traumatize by what she went through on G day at San Francisco, I mean who would not if you see face to face good old GOJI!!! she had front row seats at the San Francisco Bridge when Godzilla show up and start screaming its lungs away so now every time she starts feeling claustrophobic her first though is GOJI is coming, that’s what happen when Tim try to soft kidnap her after she denied to talk to him, Cate starts to scream and scramble inside the car and kick the Duval in the face who was driving and then crash badly, not sure how Duval and Tim got out of that crash like it was nothing.
That same night after the crash they raided May apartment and went looking for Kentaro, not only they were very close one place to the other but Duval and Tim look fresh, not like they have gotten out of a bad car crash something I find annoying after watching the episode again, making this post makes me realize things I didn’t on the first watch, that’s another reason I like this posts recaps. Again WTF is May hiding and why she look like running away from something, she catch Cate out of her apartment and brought her to a restaurant where she is hiding a bag with supplies, money and multiple passports like she is ready to disappear anytime if needed. I also like how Kentaro mom help him to escape, was very cool how she look all naive even asking Duval if she was single an available for Kentaro LOL, making time for Kentaro to run away.
Episode Two explain how the three person who started MONARCH met, Keiko, Bill and Shaw, latter on Bill and Keiko become a couple, not sure if they get married because how long did it pass after they met and episode one when Keiko die? weird, I like Randal always creative and running his mouth, but he did see things different than others and had a big imagination, and Shaw as sarcastic as usual.
This pattern right here will come up multiple times on the series, same as Skull Island was a mythical place surrounded by a storm it seems this side of the Philippines has host for very long time a monster that only natives talk about but why governments haven’t notice, it was late 50’s so I guess nobody give a shit about it, G-day only happen until 2014 so the public didn’t know about titans until then, everything else that happen was just stories and legends that no body believe, Bill describe this as a migration pattern.
It feels nice how the series presents a goal, that is looking for monsters and right there they find what they were looking for, the scenery on VR is awesome, the rusted big ship in the middle of a field, the dark scenes thanks to the vintage camera stile of Bill make it look cool since it was not your classic dark scene I can’t see shit and suddenly monsters pop up, you could see details of the ship from inside and what look like the crew who was some how turn into solid material cover by mucus?? or saliva?? This ship was the Lawton that sink close to Pearl Harbor on 1943 more than seven years ago and Bill was on that ship, he didn’t know it was going to be there but he hope for it, this time was also when Shaw started to believe on Bill and Keiko theory about this monsters when he was driving away after been dismissed by Keiko from his duty when he try to tell her what to do, Shaw saw on the sky exactly what Bill describe as “path of fire in the sky” or a path of radiation left behind, so he drives back as fast as he could and help them out of a hairy situation, present to you The Dragon, at the cover image.
This episode was great, just the second episode and we already have another monster that has been reveal, I doubt it will be the same on every episode but this ramps up the hype when finally glorious GOJIRA shows up to wreck one of them, may be not may be on season one it doesn’t fight anyone and they show Keiko study its behavior, on previous movies Godzilla has been describe as the Titan that brings balance to the system thats why Dr. Ishiro on Godzilla 2014 ask the admiral to let them fight and figure it out, something that for MONARC was a bit dumb. The Russell duo works great for MONARCH and now we are going to watch Shaw Lee in the present reveal some of this secrets Keiko and Bill kept with them so it makes easier for the story to unfold and faster, Kentaro and Cate doesn’t have to look for their father along wondering but now they have Shaw help so I think the balance between characters story and monsters showing up is working out great, from the start the main thing I kept reading was people saying it was going to suck if Godzilla didn’t show up or fight but with all this monsters been reveal I think is crafting more the tittle of the series “Legacy of Monsters” in plural and not just Godzilla.
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