REVIEW: ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Episode 10 — “Beyond Logic”

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 left Cate Randa (Anna Sawai), Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell), and May (Kiersey Clemons) trapped on the other side of the Titans’ rift. Now, in Episode 10, “Beyond Logic,” the trio is united with Keiko Randa (Mari Yamamoto), only she hasn’t aged. As they attempt to escape the rift, Kentaro Randa (Ren Watabe) and Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira) deal with losing Cate. They can accept her death, or they can push to change things, even if it’s without Monarch’s authorization. As a finale, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10 brings a close to the story, both in the past and present. However, it also leaves the door open for another season despite being billed as a mini-series.

Last episode ended with Keiko alive and surviving in the rift. First, she meets Cate. Unsure about who Cate is, Keiko believes that Monarch has come to rescue her. That is until May and Shaw round the corner. We saw the way that time passes in the rift established for Lee. He was gone weeks, but 30 years had passed. For Keiko, 56 days means 56 years. 

Instead of a joyous reunion, it’s somber. Keiko is crushed by the weight of everything that she’s missed. Bill is dead. Her son is an adult. But she is the same as she was the day she fell through. It’s a heartbreaking reality that the series is careful to capture. There is love and relief as Keiko and Shaw hold each other’s faces. It’s a fleeting joy if it can be called joy at all. For the remainder of the episode, the focus is on getting home. Whether that’s the group in the rift attempting to call for help or Kentaro on the other side trying to assemble funding and people to help him bring Cate home.

That said, the undercurrent of the episode is about the Randas’ lasting legacy. Or the way the choices that Bill Randa, Keiko, and Shaw made in the 50s rippled through Monarch’s history to G-Day. There is regret as much as the purpose, and both exist in relation to legacy. In this episode, legacy keeps coming up in the dialogue. It’s spoken as a reminder of the generations the story takes place across. However, this is viewed through the changes of other people and how the Randas, across the generations, tried to keep hold of Monarch’s purpose.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10 justifies the narrative choices throughout the series. At the same time, it also solidifies itself as a necessary viewing for Legendary’s Monsterverse. The series can fill in the time between Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of Monsters by choosing G-Day as its starting point. That ground allows it to explain the importance of Monarch’s growth and, more importantly, the competition with APEX, The latter of which initially came out of nowhere in 2020’s Godzilla vs Kong. This series is now a vital connective tissue for the entire franchise. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to carry the weight of the future. It just needs to fill in the gap.

The only issue is the darkness of the kaiju fight we get at the episode’s climax. It’s clear that the effects team working on the models for Godzilla this season have brought him to life with care. However, Godzilla’s monstrous beauty is washed away in the rift’s darkness. Instead of using the luminescent rift to light his face and accentuate the fight, the dueling Titans are muddied. Creature design should be given the spotlight, and in this case, literally.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10 is a stellar finale. Every piece of build-up pays off in a grand way. I applauded the two narrative strings at the beginning of the season, but it dragged in the middle of the season. Instead of the series staying unsteady, it found its footing. The penultimate episode framed Lee as the series’ core and the choices that he, Keiko, and Bill made are consequential monuments to the present as much as the past. That setup and his reunion with Keiko make the series sing. It all had a purpose. Even if it buckled at points, the finale did what it needed to do: pull every single thread together.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10 is streaming now on Apple TV+.