REVIEW: ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Episode 9 — “Axis Mundi”

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters continues to expand its lore in Episode 9, “Axis Mundi.” A slower penultimate episode, this one looks at consequences. Lee Shaw’s (Kurt Russell) play to close the Titans’ entrances to Earth backfired in an extraordinary fashion in the last episode. It left Kentaro Randa (Ren Watabe) injured and in a hospital bed. Shaw and May (Kiersey Clemons) are trapped in the Titan’s domain. And Cate Randa (Anna Sawai) is seemingly dead.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 is the first episode where consequences feel grand for the characters in the post-G-Day time period. It also leads to Kentaro confronting his father, Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira), with anger-filled grief. Across the board, we can see the ripples that Keiko’s (Mari Yamamoto) death left on Shaw. While it’s most tangible in the present, like every other episode, it has immeasurably more strength in the past.

In the past, it’s clear that Keiko’s death has shaped Bill Randa and Shaw’s (Wyatt Russell) relationship. They help raise Hiroshi together, and ultimately, they are the only people each other has as the Monarch’s militarization sails forward. But despite having a child in his life who is much like a son and a friend to hold on to, neither of them is Keiko.

Instead, Shaw looks to the Titans and volunteers to lead an expedition to what we know is pretty much the Center of the Earth. Modeled after the space race, with references to Russia to boot, Shaw enters an orb ship and heads to Godzilla’s home. Only the trip doesn’t go as planned.

While the present timeline is filled with grief and managing what Shaw has set in motion, the episode can’t help but continue to be more interesting in the past. That said, in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9, the past and present are linked with Shaw as the lynchpin. When he’s pulled back to the world, still in his young body, he realizes that time has changed.

He is still the young Shaw, but he is decades past the point in time when he left. Bill is dead, and Hiroshi is now in control of his legacy, even if he doesn’t want it.  A relic of the past and unable to really join society, Shaw sits in a home. He waits. Then, G-Day happens, sparking the events that have unfolded throughout the season.

Shaw’s arc in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 comes to fruition as his guilt and grief bubble to the surface. The Titans, for him, are the last remaining connection to his past and his people. By having Shaw played by the father and son duo Kurt and Wyatt Russell, the series has made its storyline work in a compelling way. The two can mirror each other and tell a physically cohesive story that is just as strong visually as it is narratively.

Lee Shaw is, in many ways, the series’ backdoor protagonist. What begins a story focused on the Randas slowly closes in on him. Shaw’s choices and his vision are imprinted across the season, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 confirms that. While this makes the value of the present timeline dwindle even more, using him as the point that connects the two is an inspired choice, which bears even more weight with the reveal in the episode’s closing moments.

Outside of Shaw, however, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 isn’t necessarily a homerun of a penultimate episode. It connects the dots instead of lining everything up for a climactic finish. This isn’t bad, but it does cause me to worry that the ten-episode order is just too small. Only Episode 10 will tell.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 is streaming now on Apple TV+, with the finale airing January 12, 2023.