Hello fellow Monarch enthusiasts!
I hope you’re enjoying this new season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. It has been fascinating to explore the mythology to learn more about what Monarch is centered around, especially regarding the time dilation impact of Axis Mundi.
With the season more than halfway through, the story has become even more intense and suspenseful. I love seeing our favorite characters return, particularly after waiting three years for Season 2 to arrive. The creators are maintaining the tradition of flashback episodes, which clarify the story and help us understand why things unfold the way they do in the Monarch universe.
Matt Fraction and Chris Black, the creators, consistently work with an excellent crew both behind and in front of the camera. They excel at bringing monsters to life and making the Randa family’s (Bill, Keiko, Hiroshi, Cate, and Kentaro) interactions and the characters they meet understandable.
Given the complex relationships among the characters, it’s always a delight to watch the talented cast engage onscreen. They infuse each scene with emotion—excitement, fear, confusion—and everything in between, whether dealing with the MUTOs or other challenges, human or otherwise.
Monarch always showcases impressive monsters and introduces scientific gadgets to viewers. Naturally, technology raises questions: Is this beneficial or harmful? For instance, when Apex used May’s (Kiersey Clemons) code to tame one of the Titans, it captured the Titan so that it could live alongside humans.
Was that an innovative approach? Is it wrong to domesticate beings far beyond human understanding—more advanced and more intelligent? Does it serve our interests to remain in control of such creatures? The upcoming episodes will explore and answer these questions.
Episode Five Furusato:
Season two, episode five of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is Furusato. The term ‘Furusato’ means “hometown” and refers to the song Keiko (Mari Yamamoto) sang to Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira) as a child, which Hiroshi later sang to his own children, Cate (Anna Sawai) and Kentaro (Ren Watabe).
During episode five, we also discover that Kentaro was named after his biological grandfather, not Bill Randa (Anders Holm), who helped raise Hiroshi.
In a flashback to 2014, Apex finds some of Bill Randa’s notes, maps, and journals, which help them determine when and where the Titans will return to Santa Soledad. Knowing the team will revisit the island, Apex directs Jason Trissop (Cliff Curtis) to “do what’s necessary” to eliminate them.
I was very glad to see Cliff Curtis, he is one of my favorite actors and deserves more roles. His character’s arrogance is portrayed perfectly; Cliff excels at playing arrogant, egotistical characters. On the island, a former outpost used by Bill Randa in 1968 contains many of his personal notes and maps. Meanwhile, Titan X is heading back to Santa Soledad.
May told the team that APEX can manipulate Titans through a neurotransmitter implant. Lee (Kurt Russell) understands that controlling a Titan means having a weapon that could be sold to the highest bidder. This is a frightening possibility.
Cate hears the same sound she heard in San Francisco and moves toward the ocean in Santa Soledad and manages to communicate with the Titan. APEX deploys a drone to install the device. The Titan fights the drone, but the transmitter is eventually implanted.
Because APEX prioritized speed over perfection, May did not have time to refine the implant, so it failed. In response, the Titan destroys part of the island. Cate and Hiroshi become involved, and Hiroshi is fatally injured. The episode concludes with Keiko, Hiroshi, and Cate huddled together, singing the Furusato song.
I felt so sad for Keiko in that moment, as she had already suffered so much loss.
Episode Six Requiem:
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season two continues with episode six, Requiem, marking its second half. The episode begins with a flashback to Skull Island, showcasing Kong in his environment while Kentaro sketches him.
Hiroshi, who is still alive, explains to Kentaro that the rift Hiroshi fell into might have altered their perception of time. He mentions, “What if a year can pass in a day?”
After G-day, when Hiroshi reappeared in Africa, time had shifted—what seemed like two days to him was actually a year!
Another flashback takes us to the Monarch offices in 1958, where young Bill and Keiko Randa are moving in. A young Lee (Wyatt Russell) drops by to inform them that he won’t be joining Monarch but will instead join General Puckett’s (Christopher Heyerdahl) staff in DC. Later that night, Shaw visits his father, Colonel Leland Shaw II (Bill Sage), for a drink, who admits that Lee’s transfer is because of his feelings for Keiko, though he doesn’t name her.
Hiroshi’s funeral in Japan was both somber and beautiful. I enjoyed witnessing the rituals of a Japanese funeral. I always appreciate glimpsing how diverse cultures celebrate life and death. Dr. Suzuki (Lee Ashizawa), an old family friend, attends Hiroshi’s funeral and reunites with Lee and Keiko. Suzuki is the creator of the Titan phone, which will be significant later.
While reminiscing, Suzuki mentions Project Hourglass and notes its failure due to overlooked time dilation effects in Axis Mundi, which affected the calculations. Shaw asks Suzuki if, with corrected calculations, the Titan phone could contact Godzilla. The critical factor isn’t where you saw Godzilla, but when you saw it.
As Kentaro walks through Tokyo at night, the city adopts a Blade Runner-like vibe. The noir atmosphere is striking as he processes his father’s death.
He drinks his sorrow at a local bar, where Isabel Simmons (Amber Midthunder), daughter of Apex Cybernetics CEO Walter Simmons, approaches him. She flirts, but he remains unresponsive and goes home. Later, he dreams of Godzilla destroying Tokyo and killing everyone he loves. In the nightmare, Cate comforts him by saying, “Godzilla won’t hurt us,” which wakes him.
Keiko discovers that Cate is somehow connected to Titan X and experiments with the vibrations Cate senses who is able to detect the Titans’ panic and fear.
Meanwhile, Shaw and Dr. Suzuki arrive at Mt. Sorose to investigate the Axis Mundi Rift. They use Lee as a conduit to access the rift, open it, and obtain precise readings by recalculating the quantum distortions Lee had previously mentioned.
When Suzuki cuts the power, the rift remains open on its own. Shaw believes he has seen something unnoticed by Suzuki and the audience, until a walkie-talkie distress call is received from… his younger self!
Episode Seven String Theory:
Season two, episode seven, String Theory, of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters begins with a montage showing the young Shaw arriving at Axis Mundi and isolating himself for about 15 days. When the radio connects, the older Shaw tells his younger self that he is with mission control and needs to salvage radio parts to build a tracker for Godzilla.
Keiko and Cate conclude that the Titan has deviated from its typical migratory path due to overlapping resonance patterns and is now lost. They choose to visit a Japanese village referenced in Bill Randa’s research. There, they meet several women who say they went insane after being possessed by Titan X, which they view as a demon.
Monarch security agents are searching for Corah Mateo, which is May’s government name. Tim (Joe Tippett) reprimands May for her betrayal and urges her to help analyze the only piece of Titan X they have—a fragment cut from the creature that still has a neural implant embedded in it—to find a way to stop it. Overwhelmed by guilt about past events, May agrees to assist. She and Tim discover that the neural implant causes Titan X to disrupt its migratory pattern. Meanwhile, Kentaro arrives at Isabel Simmons’s home in Thailand. Isabel recounts her life story, revealing that her parents abandoned her, leaving her with no direct ties to Apex Cybernetics, and shares her sympathy with Kentaro, who shares her hostility toward Monarch.
Keiko and Cate find an abandoned well similar to the one Keiko fell into at Axis Mundi in Kazakhstan. Cate persuades Keiko to let her go down, feeling familiar vibrations. When the rope breaks, Cate is safe and escapes through underground tunnels. She realizes that what they heard was Titan X’s song, not a demon, as they initially thought. She also concludes that Titan X isn’t necessarily dangerous or lost; it just needs their help.
Isabel and Kentaro engage in an intriguing discussion about creating a new world—one in which G-Day never occurred and neither Monarch nor Apex exists. This concept is fascinating, and I am eager to see how it unfolds if it ever comes to pass, as well as what role Isabel will have. In an alternate timeline, Young Shaw searches for Godzilla and spots Keiko in the distance, prompting Old Shaw to reveal himself as Young Shaw’s future self to prevent his younger self from changing the timeline. Fortunately, this strategy succeeds, although both Shaws are eager to save Keiko. Young Shaw manages to attach the tracker to Godzilla after barely avoiding attacks from another intimidating (yet very impressive) creature.
As the episode ends, Old Shaw guides his younger self back to where he needs to be. As they lose contact, he promises his younger self he will take care of Keiko. With the tracking signal active, Dr. Suzuki wants to accompany Shaw on the next leg of the adventure. Still, Shaw insists on going alone, knowing he may not return and not wanting to put Suzuki in that position. The episode concludes with Monarch picking up the signal, although they believe it’s Titan X rather than Godzilla.
These three episodes were exciting and gave us a clearer understanding of the storyline, particularly regarding the alternate timelines and the relationship between the two Shaws. I look forward to discovering the writers’ plans and how the story will develop now that the two Shaws are connected. I still hope Bill Randa will make a return in some capacity, not just in flashbacks. We’ll have to wait and see.
Kenn will review episodes Monarch eight and nine and I will be back to review the season two episode ten finale subsequent to my return from an adventure at the 2026 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival. We are both excited for the last three episodes of Monarch and are looking forward to a panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2026. In closing for now, we hope you will check out and enjoy this wonderful series!
Thanks to Kenn for video and image embedding for my feature article and thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency. We will be back in the future with additional analysis about the marvelous Monarch: Legacy of Monsters series we are covering before the next Team WHR adventures at San Diego Comic-Con 2026!
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Until next time,
Regards,