Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10 finally gives us a proper MUTO fight, brings a multi-generational family reunion, and ends with a breath-holding cliffhanger.
At the end of last week’s episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, we learned some pretty important deets: the Titan underworld (Axis Mundi) does indeed exist, Col. Shaw (Kurt Russell), Cate (Anna Sawai), and May (Kiersey Clemons) are alive down there, the gamma ray signals Monarch is monitoring contain a patterned message, and—most importantly—Keiko (Mari Yamamoto) is very much alive (and unaged). Monarch’s Episode 10 picks up right where we left off in Axis Mundi, and while it finally gives us that long-awaited MUTO fight and a big family reunion, it also ends with a breath-holding cliffhanger and a handful of questions to ponder as we wait for the word on whether Apple TV will renew the show for a second season. If you missed the season finale, here’s a full recap of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10.
Episode 10, “Beyond Logic”, opens in present day in Axis Mundi with Cate setting eyes on her grandmother, stunned in disbelief she’s even alive, but Keiko is completely unaware who Cate is, mistaking her as part of a rescue party. Keiko also believes it’s still 1959 and quickly asks Cate, “Where’s Billy?” (Anders Holm). Cate is then saved by the bell on answering that question when there’s a crack in the woods and May appears, leading to a rather sweet moment of reunion between the two. Cate and May have become tight friends since they met in Episode 1, but it’s easy to see these two share a special bond that drives much deeper.
Then, in a moment we’ve all been waiting for, Keiko hears Shaw’s voice, but he is hesitant to let her see him. Keiko believes she’s only been down in the underworld for 57 days, so Shaw has to break the news to her that it’s actually been more like 50 years. Can you imagine having to wrap your head around that one? Me either. It’s beyond logic.
It’s a gutting scene, though, as Keiko tries making sense of the time loss. Monarch’s Episode 10 doesn’t venture into explaining time dilation, but Keiko uses her scientific mind to deduce that the gravitational distortion in Axis Mundi must have led to some kind of warping of spacetime—again, as the title suggests, this time travel is just beyond logic. It is fair to conclude, however, that time passes much slower in the Titan world than on Earth because of gravitational distortion.
Finally, Shaw steps out from behind a tree and he and Keiko lay eyes on one another in a most anticipated, sincere moment of relief and connection that, in my opinion, could’ve been more emotional, but considering the—no pun intended—gravity of their situation, there’s no real time for tears and hugs and reminiscing. Keiko asks about Bill and learns he is dead, then she learns who Cate is: her granddaughter. Keiko is both in shock but relieved to find out her son Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira) is still alive and has a family of his own … two of ‘em, in fact.
As Keiko tells Shaw, Cate, and May about the beacon she made to send signals back to Earth in gamma ray bursts, Shaw tells her if she can rewire the beacon back to its original configuration, he can get them all home via the vessel he used to travel to Axis Mundi in 1962, which is still very much intact and functioning. So, the group pulls together to drag the beacon to the launch vessel near a rift.
Meanwhile in Tokyo, Kentaro (Ren Watabe) and Hiroshi talk about their belief of the existence of a gateway that leads to the Titan world. Hiroshi believes if the Department of Defense and Monarch had never dismissed his parents, G-Day might’ve never happened. Hiroshi tells Kentaro he felt he had to vindicate them and prove there was a gateway to these MUTOs. He then tells his son he only wanted to protect his kids from all this, never hurt them. He convinces Kentaro to help him solve the secret of humans’ co-existence with Titans and help to save others, but Kentaro first wants to know why all the secrecy, and why his father hid a second family.
Underground at Monarch headquarters in Tokyo, Monarch’s Director Verdugo (Mirelly Taylor) and her team continue to monitor the signal found in the gamma ray bursts, but they’re in no way as interested in decoding the message as Tim (Joe Tippett) is, because Monarch is focused on preventing another MUTO attack. The harder Tim pleads, the more resistance he’s met with before he’s finally told he can either shut up and sit down or take medical leave indefinitely.
But we all know Tim is a rebel and he isn’t going to stand for this. So, what does he do? He tracks down Kentaro and shows him Monarch found a coherent signal in the gamma ray bursts, that there’s a message coming from inside the rifts. Tim wants Kentaro to show these to Hiroshi in hopes he might know what to do. Maybe these messages are from Cate, Tim implies, and that’s all Kentaro needs to hear.
When Tim and Kentaro arrive to Hiroshi’s office, Hiroshi is watching his dad’s old tapes—the very tapes we saw John Goodman (as the elder Bill Randa) recording in Episode 1 on Skull Island. This suggests a potential major set-up with Season 2 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, if it happens, and would tie it in with Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla vs. Kong. Let’s hope!
Tim shows Hiroshi the signal found in the gamma ray bursts and encourages him to continue his efforts because this coherent signal could very well be from Cate. Hiroshi remarks Monarch will never allow that to happen before Tim says he quit Monarch and that “they aren’t the only game in town.” Kentaro tells Hiroshi if he wants his to help finish the journey he started before he disappeared, he’ll help them find Cate. Now we’re on a mission.
Down in Axis Mundi, Keiko wants to know what happened to Bill … Billy. Shaw has to tell her he died on an expedition trying to prove “all this”, that the Titan world doesn’t just exist, but that it exists within our own world. He then tells her what has happened in the world since she has been gone, and hearing all of this is a lot for her to process. As the group reaches the capsule in which Lee traveled to Axis Mundi in 1962 and connect it with the beacon, Keiko reveals she’s staying behind, but Shaw won’t let her and convinces her that her family needs her. Monarch needs her.
As the foursome crawl into the capsule and prepare to set off the beacon to lure a Titan from the surface, the cord plugging in the lure separates, and Shaw gets out to fix it. But in setting off the MUTO lure, it attracts the attention of a kaiju that was already in Axis Mundi: the Ion Dragon, which is quite magnanimous with its massive wingspan and jagged teeth.
As the dragon swoops in to attack, lo and behold, guess who appears? Godzilla! The beast arrives just in time and, in a proper MUTO fight, throws the dragon through the gateway to create a portal for the humans to escape. Again, it’s beyond logic that a MUTO would both recognize and protect the very humans who disturbed them.
Although it’s a powerful moment, it’s also one that makes you gasp because as Shaw fights to get back into the capsule, it’s clear he won’t make it. He ultimately sacrifices himself to save his love, Keiko, and the two girls. What a heartbreaker. But is he dead? We didn’t see a body, and we honestly have no way of knowing what his status is. Nonetheless, he’s stuck in Axis Mundi.
As a result of his sacrifice, Keiko, Cate, and May return to Earth, arriving at the research station of Apex Cybernetics in Skull Island … in the year 2017. This is what Tim meant when he said Monarch isn’t the only game in town. As Cate, May, and Kentaro reunite, so too do May and her old boss from Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 7, Applied External Technologies.
We learn two full years have passed since Shaw, Cate, and May fell into Axis Mundi, and their return was possible only because of Kentaro and Hiroshi’s work during that time at Apex. And then, in a moment we’ve all been waiting for, Keiko reunites with her son, who is in utter disbelief. It’s the sweetest moment that invades you with all the fuzzy feels for your own family.
THEN, just as everyone is basking in the glow of one big, happy reunion, alarms go off, people scatter, and Episode 10 explodes with a grand appearance from the master himself: King Kong emerges from the jungle, beats his chest like a boss, and releases a mighty roar as the camera zooms in on his face. Annnd roll credits.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters gave us a mostly successful season, even if it did leave more questions than answers and few potholes along the way. Season 1 introduced to new concepts in the Monsterverse, exposed the establishment of Monarch, and featured Apex Cybernetics. This could mean the next season might possibly be set to explore Skull Island and how Kong ended up in Apex’s containment unit. Much remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 finale pumped us all up and left us with a righteous cliffhanger.
Well done, Monarch. Well done.
Episode 10 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now available to watch on Apple TV+.
