The disclaimer attached to my review of the first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters bears repeating: This isn’t a Godzilla series, and approaching it as such will only leave you wondering whether the big guy has started demanding an exorbitant per-episode fee. Beyond Kong’s similarly limited screen time, much of the sci-fi drama’s sophomore season involves the original creation Titan X, whose dismal name belies an otherwise respectable monster design somewhere between a lionfish and the title foe of 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante.
But expectations that a more immediate monster threat might bring focus to the show’s ponderous human drama should be kept in check, because season two is even more mired in soapy family squabbles and love triangles than the first. Cate Randa (Anna Sawai) and Kentaro Randa (Watabe Ren) have been reunited with their father Hiroshi (Hira Takehiro), and they’ve also dug up their grandmother, Keiko (Yamamoto Mari), from the Hollow Earth, where time dilation means that she’s now younger than her own son.
The first episode displays the clunky, circular plotting that will plague the entire season: No sooner have the Randas evacuated the base on Skull Island than they go right back to grab ex-Monarch wildcard Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell), unleashing Titan X in the process. It’s hard to blame them from returning so quickly, because the idea of this series continuing without Russell is far more terrifying than any new monster could ever be. His grizzled, charismatic presence is one of the few things holding together the show’s modern-day timeline, which constantly kills its momentum so characters can squabble about whatever they’re obviously going to do.
The clear highlights of the prior season were the mid-20th-century flashbacks that showed Keiko, Bill Randa (Anders Holm), and a younger Shaw (Wyatt Russell) traveling the globe while working for a then-nascent Monarch. With most of that history out of the way, these segments are less prevalent this season, with one subplot following the trio as they investigate a remote village that worships the creature later known as Titan X. The village storyline offers a welcome reminder of what this series can be when it has its priorities straight.
For all the time Monarch: Legacy of Monsters spends trying to develop its characters and occasionally explain its science, the story is no more fulfilling, let alone believable. Characters still slide in and out of the action as the plot demands, slipping between convenient new allegiances on a whim as they seemingly bump into the right person at the right moment.
The storytelling here is no less rickety than that of the goofiest old monster movie, the difference being that the series insists on showing its work. The MonsterVerse films may lack a memorable human through line, but Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a dire overcorrection. You’ll spend even longer waiting to care about these characters than you will for Godzilla to finally show up.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
