Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 TV Review – The Kong and Godzilla series gets even more epic

Plot: Season two will pick up with the fate of Monarch — and the world — hanging in the balance. The dramatic saga reveals buried secrets that reunite our heroes (and villains) on Kong’s Skull Island, and a new, mysterious village where a mythical Titan rises from the sea. The ripple effects of the past make waves in the present day, blurring the bonds between family, friend and foe — all with the threat of a titan event on the horizon.

Review: The idea of a small-screen series expanding on the big-screen Monsterverse sounded great, especially when it landed Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell playing the younger and older versions of the same character. But, despite Apple Studios providing a substantial budget, the first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was a bit underwhelming. Focused more on the family secrets that connected half-siblings, Monarch had what amounted to mere cameos from Godzilla, and instead focused on giving us a lot of new creatures created just for the series. While the characters grew more interesting as the season went on, the finale promised a bigger sophomore run. Picking up from that cliffhanger, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is bigger and better in season 2, with Kong getting a good amount of screen time and a deeper understanding of the overarching Monsterverse mythology.

The first season of Monarch shifted between 2015 as Cate Randa (Anna Sawai) searched for her missing father, Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira), and discovered he had a second family in Japan. Joining her half-brother Kentaro (Ren Watabe) and his ex-girlfriend May (Kiersey Clemons), the trio runs afoul of Monarch agents hunting them and the files they believe their father has in his possession. They discover Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell), co-founder of Monarch, with Bill Randa (Anders Holm) and Cate and Kentaro’s grandmother, Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto). In flashbacks to the late 1950s, we see Bill and Keiko team with younger Lee (Wyatt Russell) to battle Godzilla and other MUTOs around the world, which connects to the present-day storyline. In the season finale, Lee is seemingly lost in a newly discovered world that connects Earth with Hollow Earth, known as Axis Mundi, while rescuing an unaged Keiko who disappeared decades earlier. At the very end, the crew and Monarch find themselves on Skull Island just as Kong is about to arrive. Season two begins as Kong defends his island, and the giant ape’s presence throughout the season adds to the increased scope and energy of this ten-episode run.

My biggest complaint about the first season was the tease of Godzilla and Kong but with limited screen time for either titan. The back half of the first season finally brought all of the main characters together which streamlined the momentum of the series leading into season two. The second season still features regular flashbacks featuring Wyatt Russell and Anders Holm but the present day storyline is much more engaging. With Cate and Kentaro reunited with their father and their grandmother, the focus shifts to finding Lee Shaw who is lost in Axis Mundi. By rescuing him, the family inadvertantly unleash another monster, Titan X, who becomes the focus of the narrative through this batch of episodes. We also get the introduction of a new antagonist, Isabel Simmons (Amber Midthunder), a very wealthy businesswoman with the resources to equal Monsterverse organizations like Monarch and Apex Cybernetics. As the Randa clan face their family trauma while May also tries to find her place in the grand scheme of things, the presence of Titan X and other MUTOs keeps them busy.

Having the father-son duo of Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell play the same character in different eras continues to work as both mine their performances to different effect. Wyatt plays Lee Shaw as hopelessly in love with Keiko Miura despite knowing she is in love with her husband, Bill Randa. In the present day, Kurt gets to enjoy the freedom of portraying Lee with more of a Han Solo energy and the potential to finally get the girl after Bill Randa passed decades earlier in Kong: Skull Island. The dynamic between Mari Yamamoto and both Russells propels the series along and makes their story more intriguing than in season one. Since season one, Anna Sawai won countless awards for her performance in Shogun and she continues to shine as Cate learns of a special ability she can harness that adds to the mythology of the Monsterverse and creates tension between her and her brother. Ren Watabe and Sawai were somewhat at odds in season one but the direction this story takes the Randa family is so much more interesting this time around. Kiersey Clemons and Joe Tippett also get a lot more to do this season with May and Tim serving as both solid supporting players as well as key factors into the season-long arc.

Series co-creator and showrunner Chris Black returns to write the opening episode with Dan Dworkin, Kari Drake, Ralph Eggleston, Andrew Colville, Maria Melnik, Joe Pokaski, Mariko Tamaki, and Tanner Hansinger along to script the season. The first season balances multiple time periods, new monsters, and a globe-trotting adventure while trying to fit into the broader world from the Godzilla x Kong feature films. By keeping the action about a decade in the past (2015-2017), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is able to avoid events from the new Monsterverse films while also informing the mythology in unique ways. The special effects are significantly better and I enjoyed the focus on Kong rather than Godzilla this season. It also helps that the story is much easier to follow with the characters unified in each time period. Yes, there are moments where characters have to pair off and follow sideplots, but the overall direction feels more coherent and well-structured. Returning director Hiromi Kamata and new hemer Lawrence Trilling do a solid job of making Monarch: Legacy of Monsters look like it could exist on the big screen while maintaining the energy and flow audiences rely on when committing to a television series.

With a prequel centered on Wyatt Russell’s version of Lee Shaw and the season setting up a great direction for a third run, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters improves upon the first season in every way. The story is stronger and the characters have improved with the Russells doing a fantastic job of turning Lee Shaw into one of the better protagonists on television. With the memorable theme and score from composer Leopold Ross and a lot of easter eggs and surprises, audiences will definitely find a lot to root for in this season. I cared more about Godzilla and Kong when I saw the first season rather than a bunch of generic creatures, but this season introduces a bunch fo MUTOs that are cool to see on screen as showrunner Chris Black has figured out how to balance the cinematic franchise with the television one. I hope this series keeps improving as I had a blast with this season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and cannot wait to see more.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season two premieres on February 27th on AppleTV.