Reviews of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” are divided. Some praise the drama for its effective portrayal of the fear that remains after a monster disaster. Others criticize it for being boring, particularly when focusing on the human characters that require extended observation.
I believe this family is worth spending time with. The only question I have is this: even if the monster disappears from the screen, do I want to keep watching these people’s lost time to the end?
After surviving Godzilla’s attack on San Francisco, Kate travels to Japan to find traces of her father. There, she discovers another family and her half-brother, Kentaro. Following her father’s lies leads her to Monarch, a secret organization investigating giant monsters.
The secrets that could save humanity are piled high, but there’s nothing to explain to the family. However, the moment this drama gains power is not when the scale of the secrets increases. I believe this drama resonates more deeply and painfully when it portrays the time lost by the family, rather than focusing on monsters.
I am on the side of the family that was left behind, rather than the monster
I support the decision of this drama to spend a long time showing the family rather than monsters. For Kate, who has discovered a different family, what matters more than the monster’s identity is what was a lie in her own life.
Kentarō is Kate’s half-brother, whom she met for the first time in Japan. The two share the same father, but were unaware of each other’s existence. Now, if they want to find their father, they must work together with the family that has been hidden from them.
I believe this is a good starting point. The process of searching for my father’s traces inevitably becomes a re-evaluation of the time when I trusted him. It is a pursuit that, the more I discover, the more uncomfortable I become, rather than providing reassurance.
It is also important that Kentaro is not simply portrayed as Kate’s helper. He, too, is a son who feels abandoned by his father. The event of Kate discovering a previously unknown family makes Kentaro question the family he thought he knew.
Neither of them could put aside their own pain for the sake of others. It would be hard to believe that simply pursuing the same secret would automatically make them a loving brother and sister. Just because they have a family name doesn’t mean they automatically share the same experiences and time together.
Therefore, the secrets of Monarch are not separate from the family’s story. Finding out what the father did is linked to asking why he didn’t tell the family. The secrets of a large organization do not push aside the children’s questions, but rather enter into those questions.
Of course, people are not drawn to others simply because they have many secrets. I was more interested in how the siblings treated each other after learning those hidden facts, rather than the number of secrets themselves. Even though their objective was the same – to find their father – the answers they wanted to hear from him might not have been the same.
Following this difference creates a reason to wait, even when there are no monsters. This is not just another clue; it is a reason for two people who are still unfamiliar with each other to move together. I believe this family is worth watching.
It doesn’t mean that simply saying “family” will allow them to endure ten episodes. We must understand their current behavior in light of the wounds they have already suffered. The most prominent example of this is Kate’s memory of the Golden Gate Bridge, which followed her all the way to Tokyo.
The terror of the Golden Gate Bridge extends to Tokyo
In Kate’s memory, the monster still lingers. The terror of the Golden Gate Bridge, which resurfaces even in Tokyo, leaves behind the devastation of disaster in scenes where the monster is absent.
Kate is a survivor of Godzilla’s attack on San Francisco. Even though she has come to Japan, she cannot completely shake off the fear from that time. Her body has arrived in a different city, but her memories are still fixated on the collapsing Golden Gate Bridge.
At this point, I set aside my anticipation for when the monster would appear again. I was more concerned about how Kate would survive the next day. The fact that fear doesn’t let go of a person, even after the immediate danger has passed, struck me first.
Even after the monster has left, the process of reporting and processing the damages is not complete.
This drama brings that obvious truth into Kate’s everyday life. It doesn’t simply show disaster scenes and then move on to the search for her father. Her experiences of survival influence how she trusts and interacts with people now.
It is difficult to dismiss Kate’s distrust as merely a personality issue. She has already experienced something she could not stop through her own efforts. Now, she must also accept that even the life of the father she trusted is different from what she had known.
Of course, the fact that she experienced a disaster does not justify all of Kate’s actions. However, I now understand why she has difficulty opening up. Even when her words are sharp, I can see the fear in the person speaking, just as much as I see it in the person listening.
While “Godzilla” (2014) depicted the struggle of families surviving in a disaster, this drama focuses on those who survive. Even when dealing with the same event, what I expect is different. In the movie, I hope for characters to escape danger, but here, I hope for those who have escaped to live another day.
This difference is the first reason to dedicate time to this ten-episode family story. It’s not just about showing humans briefly while waiting for the monster’s appearance. It follows the people who must continue to live there even after the monster leaves.
Thanks to this, the past event does not simply end as a brief introduction to explain Kate. Even now, as she searches for her family, that event moves alongside her. However, simply describing the pain is not enough; now, the actors must leave that time etched on people’s faces.
The Russell father-and-son duo show the passage of time through their faces
Lee’s two faces and Kate’s fear bring the family’s past to life, not as an explanation, but as a human experience. Thanks to these actors, I was able to witness the lives of each character, even in the absence of a monster.
Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell portray the elderly and younger versions of the soldier Lee Shaw, respectively. Their similar appearances allow the audience to accept them as the same person across different time periods. However, what is even better than their resemblance is the age difference between the two faces.
Young Lee, along with the scientist Keiko and his colleague Bill, investigates the monster. When I see the elderly Lee with the younger Lee’s face in mind, he wonders who he has lost and what he has missed over the years. This is why the past scenes are not limited to simply indicating the order of events.
When I saw the elderly Lee, I kept thinking about the younger Lee. Knowing that it was the same person, the changed appearance was even more painful. Without any dialogue explicitly mentioning the passage of time, the fact that the people who started out together are now no longer there is deeply felt.
Anna Sawai plays Kate, who is someone unable to escape her past. The scene in Tokyo, where the trauma of the Golden Gate Bridge resurfaces, explains her guarded and distrustful nature. I perceived Kate’s sharp demeanor not as an attempt to push others away, but rather as a fear of being hurt again.
Therefore, the father’s lies do not simply end with the reason to be angry. The problem is that even the family members he was trying to rely on after surviving have become difficult to trust. Kate of Sawai harbors this distrust, and every time the investigation continues, her feelings are also affected.
I also like the way the two actors depict different kinds of time. With Lee, one senses years gone by, while with Kate, one senses a day that never passes. I was moved by the fact that, even though they are both pursuing the same secret, they are trying to reclaim different things.
Ren Watabe’s Kentarō gives weight to the discomfort of the two people who suddenly become siblings while searching for Kate and their father.
Mari Yamamoto’s “Keiko” deepens its attachment to the time spent exploring with Lee and Bill, making people from the past more than mere keepers of secrets.
Because of these faces, I didn’t want to quickly skip past the past scenes and return to the present. I wanted to see not only what each person discovered, but also how the time spent together remained with them. However, the actors were unable to completely resolve the moments when conversations felt superficial among the modern characters.
The statement that human stories are boring is only half true
I agree with the criticism that the relationships among the modern characters are weaker than in the past. However, I disagree with the idea that reducing the focus on human stories and adding more monsters would solve the problem.
I was more eager to see the explorations of Lee, Keiko, and Bill than the pursuit of Kate, Kentaro, and May. While both groups focus on people, the feelings associated with each were different. The issue isn’t simply that people are involved, but rather how much time is spent with those people, and how essential that time is.
In the past, the three individuals formed relationships while learning about the monster together. While it is curious to see what they will discover, one also wonders how their relationship will change as a result of their shared discoveries. Exploration and relationships are not separate entities; they influence each other.
Meanwhile, the three modern-day characters are given secrets to uncover. Mei is investigating the relationship between the father and Monarch together with the siblings. She is also Kentaro’s former lover, so this partnership is fraught with the awkwardness between siblings and former lovers.
The elements for a relationship are present. However, the process of each person re-evaluating the other is weak compared to the pace at which they are moving towards the next clue. I wanted to hear more about the feelings of the siblings who discovered those facts about their father, rather than just the facts themselves.
The fact that a family relationship certificate is lengthy does not necessarily mean that the family stories are more profound.
The fact that the father had another family led the two people to meet. However, having someone to search with and having someone to trust are different things. The drama needed to explore this difference more deeply.
Therefore, even when the modern scenes felt lengthy, I wasn’t looking for Godzilla. I was waiting for Kate and Kentaro to become more important to each other. Even if summoning the monster speeds up the pursuit, the relationship I was waiting for would remain unchanged.
In my opinion, the choice to move back and forth between the two eras was inherently correct. This is because it juxtaposes the time spent together by the parents’ generation with the time that the children’s generation later comes to understand. However, the current relationship should have received as much attention as the exploration of the past.
This difference remains a clear shortcoming throughout the ten episodes. A good start and good acting alone cannot compensate for the waiting in the middle. Nevertheless, the reason I followed this family until the end is because, in the latter half, what returns from the lost time is not an answer to a mystery, but the emotions between people.
The true power lies not in reversals, but in the time lost
The reunion in the latter half provides a reward for those who have followed this family for a long time. However, it cannot overcome the convenience of manipulating the timeline, even if the emotions are positive.
I will not disclose who met whom. What is important is not the fact that they met, but the fact that the two people did not share the same period of time. Recognizing each other and accepting the time spent apart are different things.
For one person, the years have passed, while for another, they have yet to arrive. Therefore, even just by looking at each other’s faces, the days they have not shared become apparent. The age difference speaks before any explanation is given.
At this point, my feelings were more deeply stirred than when the monster appeared. It was a moment to feel happy, but simply saying “I’m glad” felt insufficient, so I paused for a moment. Even though we met again, we cannot reclaim the days we did not live together.
The past explorations, as seen before, now appear different here. At that time, we were people who were discovering something together. Now, we realize how short and precious that time was.
This is a compensation for the extended view of the past scenes. If I had only heard the explanation that something was lost, I would have simply understood the situation. Because I saw the moments we shared, the time that is now absent is painful.
The problem lies in the rules of time that make such encounters possible. The space where time flows differently on the ground creates a stark contrast, highlighting the family’s separation. At the same time, it is also used to make someone disappear and then reappear.
I would not immediately call this a a plot hole. However, what matters more than why that time elapsed is how that difference is shaping the current interactions. The emotions are clear, but the underlying rules governing them are less so.
The difference is not insignificant. If these rules determine how long a family is separated, the audience should be able to understand the weight of that separation. The more urgent the need for reunion, the stricter the process for making that reunion possible becomes.
Even so, I don’t want to diminish the power of reunion. This scene, rather than providing satisfaction from having solved all the mysteries, leaves a lingering pain – the realization that there is a time that, once lost, can never be fully regained. Therefore, is it worth enduring the loose relationships of the modern characters and following for ten episodes in order to achieve this reunion?
It is worth waiting for family time rather than monsters
I believe this drama feels more powerful and painful when it portrays the time lost by the family, rather than focusing solely on the monsters. I did not endure every scene without monsters, but I wanted to know, until the very end, whether these people would be able to reunite.
Kate’s memories of the Golden Gate Bridge and Lee in the two eras create a reason to showcase humanity for a long time. The reunion in the latter half visually represents the years they were unable to spend together. This is why I give this work a score of 3.5 out of 5.
The reasons for the deduction are clear. Modern relationships are less rigid than those of the past, and the rules of time are conveniently used when arranging family reunions. The fact that my heart was moved at the end does not make the dragging middle disappear.
If you want to explore the lingering fear after a disaster and the secrets of the parents, you can spend your time watching this ten-episode series. On the other hand, if you are looking for frequent confrontations between Godzilla and Kong, I would not recommend it. In this work, what you have to wait for is not the next fight, but the next conversation.
It is more interesting to follow how a parent’s choices affect a child’s behavior than to simply count the number of monster appearances. Remember not only the monsters that were discovered in the past, but also whom they made those discoveries with. Only then will the current loss feel more profound.
Next, I would like to recommend “Godzilla” (2014). It clearly illustrates the difference between surviving a disaster and enduring life afterward. It is also useful for comparing the differences between “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (2019) and “Godzilla” (2014), specifically how the victims’ sorrow is portrayed as a split between revenge and the fear of everyday life.
Godzilla destroys the city. What this drama does well is show a family trying not to collapse even after that.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can I watch the series from season 1 without watching the movie?
The story of Kate as she uncovers her father’s secrets can be followed within the drama. However, watching “Godzilla” (2014) beforehand will allow viewers to more vividly understand the disaster Kate experiences and the subsequent horror.
Does the fight between Godzilla and Kong appear frequently?
This work does not primarily focus on monster battles. It delves into the secrets of the family and the history of Monarch. If you are expecting frequent monster action sequences, this season is not recommended.
Season 1: How many episodes and where can I watch it?
Season 1 consists of a total of 10 episodes and is a production for Apple TV+. Because the story moves between the past and the present, it is best to watch while remembering who the characters were with and who they lost.
Is there a novel it is based on? Is it a remake of an existing film?
This is not an adaptation of a specific novel. The Godzilla and Kong films expand the MonsterVerse, a shared universe. Instead of remaking existing films, it connects everyday life after the disaster with the origins of Monarch.
Is it worth watching until the end, even just for the family story?
I believe it is the case. Kate’s traumatic memories and Lee’s past and present experiences support the emotional arc in the latter half. However, the work is not consistently tight, as there are sections where the relationships between the modern characters become loose.
