I started watching Monarch: Legacy of Monsters recently on Apple TV+. It is set in the post-Godzilla world. I found it average at best.

The Characters

The lead character Cate is super-irritating. Always crying and acting traumatised. Boo hoo I once saw Gojira kill some people. Ghau ghau, my father doesn’t listen to me. Boo hoo, I am imprisoned by a tyrannical organisation. Always doing RR. Her mother Caroline wears a permanently shocked expression on her face.

The actress playing May feels like a cheaper version of Tessa Thompson. Not because she’s a bad actor but because she is trying so hard to be like her. A few times, she gave me hope that she is dying, but refused to.

The otherwise demure artist Kentaro suddenly turns beast one fine episode, trying to break down walls of his cell with his fists. Then goes back to being like before.

Lee Shaw (Kurt Russel) is shown to be 90 years old. This is explained with “good genes I guess”. Getting kicked and punched, flying through the air from explosions. At least his acting is not irritating and he’s the only reason I saw this Season through.

The Plot

The flashbacks are cheesy. When they discover that the radiation pattern from Keiko’s findings is same as the light patterns in Bill’s paper, there was no real need to tear the page from the diary and overlay them to prove the point. And what are the chances the 2 images would be exactly the same scale and overlay perfectly?

Why did Kyoko have an acceptance letter for Lee Shaw in the old age home?

Why did Lee Shaw stay at the old age home cum prison for decades when he already knew how to escape?

A South Korean policeman (Du-Ho) knocks out his colleague and betrays his country all the while laughing. Just because he’s old friends with Lee Shaw. How is that even possible when Lee Shaw has been interned for decades? Anyways, Du-Ho then flies a plane (alone, from Korea to Alaska), without being noticed by the USAF. Later, when a MUTO destroys his plane’s engines, he still tries to take off (without engines) grunting and screaming, as though the plane will fly from his sheer willpower.

The scenes with Gojira were great, though.

Overall, I would never have seen this show if not for Kurt Russel and Gojira.