'Monarch: Legacy of Monsters' Series Review

This is a Non-Spoiler Review

Apple TV+ and Legendary Pictures' newest series, 'Monarch: legacy of Monsters', just finished its first season, bringing to a close the latest installment in Legendary's "Monsterverse". The show had a lot of hype built up around it, promising a serialized look into some of this world's history regarding Godzilla, Skull Island, and the shadowy organization called MONARCH. But with the first season now in the books, how does it stand-up next to other installments in the franchise, such as 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' and 'Godzilla vs. Kong'?

The show follows two different storylines, both building towards the same climax. The first storyline, and the one that the majority of the season focuses on, is set one year after the events of 'Godzilla (2014)', in which the titular monster fought two other monsters, called M.U.T.O.s in San Francisco, and the existence of these giant and near godlike creatures was revealed to humanity. It follows a large cast of characters, with the most important being Cate and Kentaro Randa (Anna Sawai and Ren Watabe, respectively) two half-siblings that learn of each others existence in the pilot, May (Kiersey Clemons), Kentaro's ex-girlfriend who gets roped into the story against her will, and Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell), a military vet from Monarch's early days, as they race to find Cate and Kentaro's missing father before Monarch does.

The second storyline is set primarily in the 1950s, and follows a younger Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell), Dr. Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto), and Bill Randa (Anders Holms), three people who seemingly should have nothing to do with each other, but slowly grow close and whose discovery of the monsters they call "Titans" leads to the founding of Monarch.

The best way I can think to describe this show is that it has an incredible first 3-4 episodes, peters-out some in the middle, and comes back swinging with a very strong two-part finale. The season is 10 episodes in total, and entirely too long. A lot of the middle could have easily been cut out, trimming the episode count down to 6-7 and making the middle seem much less superfluous. If your show is meant to be a high stakes, fast-paced conspiracy thriller, then you might not want so much filler to slow down the pace.

'Legacy of Monsters' is at its best, however, in its character study. This is a show, after all, not a big budget film. They have to use the monsters sparingly, which means thankfully the time is given to truly develop these characters, giving them room to breathe and really explore them as people. The heights of this show are when its exploring the grief and the trauma that brought these characters to where they are in the show, and how these events forced them to face that, head-on, and grow from it. Cate is a school teacher who watched helplessly as a bus full of her children were killed in Godzilla's fight in San Francisco, giving her severe PTSD and survivors guilt. Lee Shaw is ridden with guilt over his inability to save a scientist (the one job he was hired to do that brought him into Monarch to begin with) back in the 1950s. And May is running from the consequences of one selfish and arrogant decision that put herself and her whole family in physical and legal danger, forcing her to adopt a fake identity and hide in Japan. The show is, at it's core, about characters being forced to confront either their guilt or traumas and face them, something the show utilizes both the monsters and the conspiracy thriller format to parallel.

That does not mean that every character is handled the best. I found Kentaro to be an overall whiny and immature character who was more often grating to watch than endearing. Same could be said for Cate, though only depending on which scene you're watching. She's either really annoying and grating or endearing and sympathetic depending on the moment. Verdugo, a high-ranking official at Monarch, is the closest thing the series has to a "villain", though she's often more antagonistic to the main characters, and not a true villain. That being said I found her to be fairly bland, and I wish she was given more to do instead of just be a roadblock for out protagonist. And I kept waiting for something to be done with Hiroshi (Cate and Kentaro's missing father) that would make me sympathetic for a man that had two secret marriages, and was always absent from his children, but sadly that dimension never came, and he's mostly just a work-obsessed, mad scientist type.

I said early that the monsters are used sparingly throughout the season, but when they do show up. They look spectacular. There is not one, not even one moment where any of the CGI creatures look fake. You can see every penny on screen, especially whenever Godzilla himself appears, and it's wonderful.

Overall, I enjoyed binging through this series over the past couple of days, even if it dragged a decent amount in the middle. With a (mostly) well rounded and likable cast of characters, the standouts for me being Lee Shaw, May, and Dr. Keiko Muira, a mystery that had a multitude of twists and turns I did not predict, but left me satisfied, and some truly stunning visual effects work, I ultimately have to rate 'Monarch: Legacy of Monsters' a 7.5/10.