Followers of the so-called MonsterVerse wake up at the title Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, everyone else shrugs their shoulders. Monar… what? Monarch is a mysterious secret organization in recent US films about Godzilla and King Kong.
So far, 5 out of 10 episodes have been released, but on Apple TV+. Apple’s streaming service continues to exist in the niche four years after its launch, but you really shouldn’t miss this insider tip. Because the series is not only suitable for fans of the subject. She provides enough material in the first episodes for everyone who likes their series bombastic and exciting.
This surprised me: the characters drew me into the story even before the monsters
From Godzilla in 2014 to Godzilla vs. Kong in 2021, the MonsterVerse includes four films so far, which I’m a big fan of. The associated series was initially a compulsory exercise for me. That changed quickly. Unlike the films, it manages to make its human characters immediately interesting. The monster spectacle initially fades into the background.
In the foreground is the young woman Cate Randa (Anna Sawai). She survived Godzilla’s attack on San Francisco, which we saw in the cinema in 2014. A year later, she is still struggling with the trauma. The series begins with her father’s death and his mysterious set of keys that leads her to Tokyo. There she discovers that her late father hid a second family from her.
Apple TV+
Cate Randa (Anna Sawai) in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
All of this raises just as many questions for her as it does for me, which catapulted me straight into the story. No house had to be destroyed and no Godzilla scream had to be uttered. On the contrary: the series relies on its characters with confidence and almost cockiness. Only after the two Randa families are unexpectedly thrown together do the Godzilla alarms sound and everyone has to go to the Kaiju shelter together.
This is grounded storytelling in a completely remote monster world, in which a huge monster could roll through the city at any time. I sorely missed that in the last few MonsterVerse films.
After the characters, the sci-fi series scores points with its mystery story
In addition to the family story, the sci-fi series provides another narrative level that immediately got me. With a big time jump back to 1959 we follow the story of US soldier Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell). He has to accompany a research expedition through Kazakhstan led by scientist Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto) and her colleague Bill Randa (Anders Holm). The three discover a collection of strange insect eggs, which immediately fires up my mystery puzzle imagination.
Apple TV+
Lee, Keiko and Bill in Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters reminds me of the best moments of Lost and is therefore perfect mystery sci-fi fodder: the trio becomes an unlikely team, discovers the first traces of Godzilla in the 1950s and lays the foundation for the Monarch organization. Here, too, the questions just keep pouring out of me and the series delivers little tidbits of information and nerve-wracking cliffhangers from episode to episode.
As befits a good sci-fi and mystery story, it spans several time levels. This leads to some cool casting trivia: Lee is played by Wyatt Russell in the ’50s and by his father Kurt Russell in the 2000s. The similarity is unmistakable.
And the monster action? The Kaijus are used sparingly but magnificently
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is still a monster series despite having a good story and characters. I didn’t expect anything different from a Kaiju series produced by Apple. Other sci-fi series such as For All Mankind and Foundation were already bombastically implemented there with a lot of budget.
Monarch implements the action less flatly than feared.
Fortunately, the first few episodes of the series are based on my favorite representative from the film universe: Godzilla from 2014. The film by Gareth Edwards (The Creator) plays with audience expectations and only hints at its monstrous protagonist for a long time. The series does the same, but delivers perfect monster moments in between.
Apple TV+
A rare Godzilla moment in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
I cheered when the camera flew in awe over the giant kaiju back at the first Godzilla sighting in Bikini Atoll and previously unknown monsters unexpectedly jumped into the scene in completely remote places in the world. The action series delivers enough visual value to satisfy the MonsterVerse and action fan in me.
What I still want is a monster-on-monster fight. Certain standards simply have to be met. My expectations for the season finale on January 12, 2024 are pretty high. From then on you can stream the entire first season on Apple TV+.
With Monarch: Legacy of Monsters I thought I was going for a shallow, low-budget Godzilla action series. Instead, I got my personal series highlight of the year.