Chris Connor reviews the season finale of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters…
Monarch’s first season has been a patchy affair, although far more human driven than any of the MonsterVerse films, it has felt like a slight lack in Kaiju action with more brief interludes or bookends than full on action. Perhaps a limitation of the 10 episode format but it is the monsters audiences will be hoping to see and the finale which ties up many of the loose ends offers more in the way of action, linking together several of the franchises’ films.
The bulk of the finale is set in the hollow earth as Cate, Lee, May and Keiko look to find a way to escape. We cut between the quarter trying to reprogramme technology from the original expedition(s) and Keiko finding out she is a grandmother and has been presumed dead for nearly 60 years. This adds some weight to the dual timelines of the series and some emotional heft as Keiko comes to terms with how the world might have changed in what for her feels like 59 days stuck below.
Simultaneously we find Kentaro, Hiroshi and Tim spotting Keiko’s signal and trying to find a way to see if anyone might have survived. It gives us our first real glimpses of Kentaro and Hiroshi interacting, showing Kentaro’s growth across the season.
In terms of Kaiju action it is left until late on but Godzilla makes an impressive appearance fighting off multiple titans as our heroes look to escape. We also get a brief glimpse of Kong as it turns out the rescue party are now based on Skull Island, presumably shortly before the events of Godzilla vs Kong. It will be intriguing to see if this show gets the green light for a second season or if MonsterVerse builds future films around the characters.
While an overall uneven season as a whole, ‘Beyond Logic’ mostly sticks the landing impressively, building on the character development across the season with a blend of heartfelt reunions and frenetic action. It has surely whet fans appetite for further instalments in the franchise with the next film just a few months away and we can only hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Cate, Kentaro, Keiko et al, especially given the cliffhanger ending.
Chris Connor
