Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 7 reveals the truth about who May really is, a clearer picture of Shaw’s agenda, and opportunities for hope and redemption.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters heads straight into its climax with Episode 7, “Will the Real May Please Stand Up?” In its time-hopping between past and present, the series has shown us thus far the evolution and militarization of the Monarch organization, the development of key interpersonal relationships, and what Godzilla has been up to all this time. When we left off last week, tensions were high amongst our group, and everyone split to pursue their own paths. Episode 7 finally gives us May’s backstory, and not only do we learn who she really is and why she’s on the run, but we also get a clearer picture of present-day Col. Shaw’s (Kurt Russell) actions, and see opportunities appear for hope and redemption. In case you missed it, let’s dive into this week’s recap of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 7.
Episode 7 opens with Cate (Anna Sawai), Kentaro (Ren Watabe), and May (Kiersey Clemons) at the airport waiting to catch their flights home. However, their plans derail when May disappears. The truth, though, is that she was actually kidnapped by her previous employers, Applied External Technologies (AET). While waiting for May, Cate and Kentaro run into Monarch’s Tim (Joe Tippett), who miraculously survived the helicopter crash in the African desert caused by Godzilla’s present-day awakening. The three agree to an alliance: Tim helps the siblings find May and, in return, they help Tim find Shaw. Seems like a win-win for everyone.
Where previous Monarch episodes have given us vague references to May’s past, Episode 7 paints us a clear picture of who she was 30 months prior to present-day events. May is actually Corah Mateo, a computer programmer working for AET. She is an extremely gifted coder, but in addition to being a sympathetic soul, she also exudes naiveté and arrogance. Initially, Corah hoped to work on AET’s experimental neural interface program, but when she learns they are testing the interface’s negative effects on chimpanzees, Corah crashes their system and wipes out all of their research. When the company’s CEO confronts and threatens her, Corah flees to Japan as May Hewitt, leaving behind her parents and sister.
As we jump back to present day, Cate, Kentaro, and Tim track May/Corah to AET headquarters in Seattle, Washington, where Corah learns the real reason AET developed the neural interface: to study the nervous systems of Titans. In order to sneak into AET so he, Cate, and Kentaro can reach Corah, Tim sets off a prototype Titan alarm system as a distraction to clear the building. The group is reunited, but not before Corah leaves herself at AET’s mercy to avoid anyone else having to bear the burden of her past mistakes.
What Corah will soon discover is that Tim’s partner Natalia (Mirelly Taylor), Monarch’s assistant director, has arranged a deal with AET granting Corah’s freedom in exchange for as-yet-unknown information on kaijus. AET’s CEO, Brenda (Dominique Tipper, of The Expanse), tells Corah they will not prosecute her for her crimes if she agrees to spy and feed them information on Godzilla. Corah reluctantly agrees, understanding this is her opportunity for growth and redemption. Following her betrayal of Cate, Kentaro, and Shaw, she’s given a chance to stop running and take responsibility, which she finally does in confessing to the group and facing her actions with AET.
Corah then returns home to see her family, but Cate, Kentaro, and Tim are tracked and picked up by Monarch and A.D. Verdugo outside of AET. They’re searching for Shaw, having struggled to contain him in his efforts of stopping and exposing them. Tim tells Verdugo they can beat Shaw to the punch by bringing Monarch out of the shadows and publicly exposing themselves, which she does via livestream.
The next day, Corah meets up with Cate and Kentaro, saying she doesn’t trust anything AET and Monarch say, especially since Monarch made a deal for her freedom with the company she doesn’t trust. With the truth about her years in solitude out in the open, Corah is now free to join her friends again, on her own terms, and help them locate their father, Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira). It seems the real May—like the Real Slim Shady—has finally stood up.
Now, while all of this is going on, there is, of course, more at play where Col. Shaw and the Monarch organization are concerned. Shaw and Agent Duvall (Elisa Lasowski) arrive in Alaska at Monarch’s Outpost 88, where Dr. Barnes (Jess Salgueiro)—from Episode 4 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters—is there examining the gamma ray bursts that, as we know, were attributed to the appearance of the ice-breathing kaiju from earlier episodes. Shaw and his team take over the outpost by force, but Barnes avoids being seen and notifies Monarch of the coo. Shaw and his team then use their manpower and explosives to punch a hole through a rift in the Hollow Earth and draw out the ice-breathing kaiju. It seems now something much larger is at play in a corporate sense.
By the end of Episode 7 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Shaw and Duvall (and their team) have successfully destroyed the ice-breathing creature, Verdugo has introduced the Monarch organization to the world, Cate, Kentaro, Corah, and Tim set out to find Hiroshi (and it seems more than a friendship is developing between Cate and Corah), and we learn that AET is working on Apex Cybernetics, the technology responsible for the creation of Mechagodzilla.
With Episode 7, not only has the real May stood up but so, too, have the real Shaw, the real Tim, and the real Cate and Kentaro. While we didn’t get but a peep of Titan action this time, it’s clear this episode is setting us up for the major face-off lurking behind the scenes, sure to emerge in the final three episodes.
Episode 7 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now available to watch on Apple TV+.
