Set in the aftermath of 2014’s Godzilla and five years before the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the AppleTV+ series, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters bridges the gap by exploring the complicated history of the secretive Monarch organization, dedicated to monitoring, and observing the Titans, and the immensely more complicated family dynamics within the Randa family. The show spans 10 episodes (which is at least two too many, evident by its slow pacing). For a show about monsters, they are discernibly absent for much of its runtime, but if you’re willing to stick with it through its lulls, it saves its strongest episode for the end and builds anticipation for what’s to come.
The series, with legacy in its title, features a great one: pairing Kurt and Wyatt Russell together playing the younger and older versions of the character of Lee Shaw. Both are tremendous actors and help to tie together the stories being told in 1959, and just after the attack on San Francisco known as G-Day. It’s always a little jarring to intercut between different time-periods, especially when the story set in the past isn’t even linear, but this one is easy enough to follow. The show’s creators (Chris Black and Matt Fraction) do a good job setting things up so that the weight and payoffs of future events that you know are coming are emotionally impactful. There are beautiful tie-ins from the past and present, often cut together creatively – even something as simple as seeing a character in the past punch a wall in frustration, and then see that hole casually referenced in the present story, is satisfying.
The main issue working against the series is that it’s laying a lot of groundwork and backstory for something that audiences are familiar with. The existence of these Titans, and the visually stunning havoc they can cause, has been exciting audiences for nearly a century in various forms, but here we follow the origins of Monarch, the 3 individuals primarily responsible for the program’s existence, and how we find it much later. As such, these monsters are not the centerpiece of the story, rather its Capt. Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell, 22 Jump Street), Dr. Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto, Pachinko), and Bill Randa (Anders Holm, Workaholics) in 1959, and then Cate Randa (Anna Sawai, F9: The Fast Saga), May (Kiersey Clemons, Dope), Kentaro Randa (Ren Watabe, 461 Days of Bento), and the older Shaw (Kurt Russell, Escape from New York) in 2014. If you’re looking for breathtaking action, amazing visuals, and real peril, it does deliver, but it comes sparingly.
Human drama can certainly be entertaining and carry a plot by itself, but it’s got to be some really riveting stuff to compete with your desire to see Godzilla tear monsters limb from limb. The 2 timelines split the screen time evenly, but it’s the 1959 cast that are most intriguing to watch. Wyatt Russell always portrays a cool confidence with his characters, so Shaw’s pairing with the more reserved Cate, and the nervous energy of Bill, works well. Watching the evolution of Monarch from its humble beginnings to the point where General Puckett (Christopher Heyerdahl, Under the Banner of Heaven) believes an expedition to the Axis Mundi is more feasible than landing on the moon. Surprisingly, the scientific exploration and bureaucratic tidbits with these characters are more interesting than the melodrama we get in 2014, despite them having the advantage of more frequent action set pieces. There’s also a less explicit love triangle on display, mostly a product of bad timing and circumstance, so it never becomes the overwhelming narrative, although it does help influence some big decisions.
A love triangle really spearheads the involvement of Cate and Kentaro as they learn in the fallout of G-Day, that their shared father Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira, Giri/Haji), now missing, was living a double life, and more surprisingly that their family name is synonymous with the legacy of Monarch. Along with Kentaro’s hacker friend May, they bust a much older – but looking good for his age – Shaw out of his Monarch retirement home, on their way to discovering more of the mystery surrounding their father. Much of what feels like it drags on too long is tied to this group and constant back and forth on whether they should be wrapped up in these stakes that are so far beyond their initial intentions. Long walk-and-talks, often at the expense of building real tension, and sometimes monopolizing entire episodes, are used for more exposition than needed for ancillary characters and plot points. That said, the character of Tim (Joe Tippett, Mare of Easttown), does deserve his own prequel series because he’s hilarious. He worked with Hiroshi at Monarch before G-Day and intersects with the younger cast as both aid and opposition, stealing every scene he’s a part of.
What’s unique and exciting about the series is that the antagonist is a moving target. Everyone has their motivations and methods of achieving their objectives, so sometimes that puts people at odds only for a short time. The Titans are generally just set on mayhem and destruction, so they remain bad news when they appear, but outside of them, Hiroshi is the least likable character, so the fact that they spend most of the series trying to find the guy is a bit problematic.
At its best, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters pairs compelling action and characters with wonderfully crafted monsters and cinematography. At its worst, it relies on the charm of Kurt and Wyatt Russell to keep it advancing. It’s not that the characters and storylines are uninteresting, but better editing and a truncated cast could trim things down to find a better balance with the main attraction. The payoff of sticking with the series in its entirety is received in full in its finale, “Beyond Logic,” which delivers on so many levels. With Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire coming soon, it’s a good idea to watch this series with all episodes now available, to see where things began.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now streaming on AppleTV+
