Special thanks to Jeremy Williams for the submission!

*SPOILER WARNING*

So with a title like Monarch Legacy of Monsters, does it live up to the Legacy of the Godzilla franchise. Or for that matter does it even live up to the Legacy of the Monsterverse films. Only time will tell as we work are way through the series. Of which has it’s first two episodes dropping onto Apple TV+ on November 17, 2023, followed by subsequent episodes being added to the service over the next couple of months one at a time. I should mention that I was given access to the first 8 episodes. But in reviewing the series, I will be reviewing each episode weekly as they are added and won’t spoil anything from episodes that have yet to go live.

The story of the series follows two generations of characters. With the main plot being set in 2015 that includes Cate and Kentaro Randa, played by Anna Sawai and Ren Watabe respectively. The two siblings who until the passing of their father had no knowledge of each other. And have quite an awkward meeting when Cate seemingly breaks into Kentaro and his Mother’s place when using keys that were found in her Father Hiroshi’s desk. And in the process, learning that not only did her father have another child, but a second family and life in Japan. As the series proper starts with her travelling to Japan to investigate the property her dad kept a secret.

Next we have May who is a tech savvy Ex of Kentaro’s who is living in Japan, played by Kiersey Clemons. Kurt Russell plays the current day Lee Shaw. Along with many other characters that we are introduced to with a favorite side character of mine being a Monarch employee named Tim played by Joe Tippett.

The second generation of characters mainly focuses on a young Lee Shaw played by Wyatt Russell. A Younger Bill Randa played by Anders Holm and his wife Keiko played by Mari Yamamoto. As we follow them in the early days and formation of the Monarch organization that was first introduced in Godzilla(2014). Though their first scene taking place in 1959 after the formation of the organization.

With main character introductions out of the way I have to say it’s a shame that the series sort of starts out with an admittedly nice scene feature stock footage from Skull Island. It also shows the series’ looseness with continuity, with it quickly cutting to new footage of Bill Randa played by John Goodman from Kong: Skull Island. Which was a nice surprise even if it was given away by trailers. But we see him recording a message while being chased by a Bamboo Spider, which quickly and surprisingly turns into a monster fight with a new giant crab monster.

While we don’t know and aren’t given the exact moment this scene could’ve taken place in the Skull Island, what we are shown does show that it most likely couldn’t have taken place during the events of the film. While this instance of continuity breaking is probably the least egregious so far in the series, it still hurts the overall show as it makes no sense for the series to not be as cohesive as it should’ve been. As this scene in particular is what kicks off the whole Legacy aspect mentioned in the show’s title.

That aspect aside the show does look pretty great so far stylistically. The tone definitely leans more in line with 2014 in the present day sequences and Skull Island with the sequences set in the past. That said while we are introduced to a mystery plot of sorts when Cate and Kentaro find a secret safe in their Dad’s office in Japan that contains a Monarch bag filled with classified data. The more interesting aspect of this story definitely lies within the parts of the story set within the past. To me, its just more interesting plot and character wise. That’s not to say I hate the present day characters. I actually like Cate so far. Especially with her dealing with the PTSD of not only surviving G-Day, (which is what they refer to what happened between Godzilla and the Mutos in 2014) but also being there on the Golden Gate Bridge when Godzilla surfaced in the Bay. Providing us not only another angle of that fantastic sequence from the film, but more insight into her character as we see that she was a teacher who lost many of her kids to Godzilla walking through the bridge.

What doesn’t help the show though is that after the opening credit sequence the show randomly cuts back and forth to the past and present. With only one moment connecting the past to the present when they are going through the files and data found in their father’s safe with May’s help. And honestly in that instance I think it was a mistake to do so. As for the majority of the scenes set in the past in the first episode take place in 1959. Where our three leads in the past are well into Monarch being established and all three have a history together. And it’s not until episode 2 where we see them all meet for the first time before Monarch is founded.

I feel it’s a mistake because we see Keiko and Randa are married already even though there is a hint of a potential romantic past between Keiko and Lee with their first scene together. To me it really undercuts and kind of ruins any tension featured within the story taking place in the past in doing so. Not to mention it was a huge mistake to put this sequence of events in episode one as we see Keiko killed off before we get to know her all that much. And her death scene takes place right after Cate in the present mentions that her Grandmother died when her father was young. I feel they should’ve at least left it at that and saved her death for later in the series. But then again maybe it will flow better once the full season is out. It also wasn’t helped by the fact that her death scene has a really bad continuity error. In that we see her being attacked by new bug like creatures while climbing up a rope. Only for the weight of her and the creatures to make Randa lose his grip on the rope. We see her fall into the dark along with the creatures. Yet in the following shot the rope is still there.

One thing I’m curious to see is how others feel about the how the age of certain characters makes little sense in the story at times. Especially as we have two versions of Bill Randa in this one episode separated by 14 years in universe. Yet we are suppose to believe that he is suppose to age so rapidly in that amount of time.

While it’s not a perfect first episode, I feel it’s a solid introduction and I can certainly see fans and casual viewers being pulled in by the mystery aspect. Plus you get a surprising amount of Monsters considering what the budget must be. I know I certainly wasn’t expecting a moment with Godzilla in the first episode, even if the screen time was fairly limited for the monsters though.