It seems fitting for Godzilla, at this point, to have an atomic bomb really kick things off as episode 3 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters gets started with a bang!
The recent third episode of Monarch is my favourite so far this season as it begins to better clarify what the narratives behind both timelines will be as we move forward. While we don’t really have any answers to the mysteries just yet, we do have a better understanding of the questions being asked, which are: How did Monarch become the shady organisation it has become in the modern world, and what information did William Randa and Hiroshi Randa have that is so important to what they are trying to hide? We do also get an appearance from the King of Monsters himself, Godzilla!
Starting things off in 1954, it’s been two years since Lee, Billy, and Keiko encountered the Dragon Titan in the Philippines. Since then, they have been studying other Titans, including the atomic breath firing lizard we all love, Godzilla. The group managed to find a footprint he left behind in Indonesia and made a massive cast from it, but Lee believe it’s about time for them to get some much needed funding and resources, even though Billy and Keiko are understandably concerned about the U.S Army taking over. The recently promoted General who first ordered Lee to escort Keiko in the Philippines, is rather aghast when he is shown the cast the group managed to have safely transported to a hanger, then again when Lee requests 150 pounds of uranium to bait out Godzilla.
The General reluctantly agrees but Billy is clearly annoyed at his interference and at the idea that he has to bite his tongue for a bunch of “gun-toting Neanderthals,” as he describes them. It later turns out the General was able to make good on his promise of 150 pounds of uranium but he delivers it to our group as a bomb, which we see a soldier paint an anti Titan logo on, confirming Keiko and Billy’s fears. At Bikini Atoll, the real life site of several U.S. nuclear weapons tests, the U.S Army intend to turn the location into Godzilla’s tomb. As Godzilla makes his appearance, a distraught Keiko make a last ditch attempt to stop the army from detonating the bomb but, unfortunately, she’s stopped by Lee. Godzilla showing up at Bikini Atoll is pretty exciting while having the added benefit of being new footage, despite technically being shown in glimpses during the 2014 film’s opening credits. The bomb successfully detonates, to the horror of our protagonists, but as any Godzilla fan will know, 150 pounds of uranium exploding isn’t going to stop Godzilla.
After the test, we see Billy and Keiko wallowing over having “destroyed” Godzilla, until Lee arrives and tells them he has made an insane request for future funding, figuring the worst they’ll hear is a no. Instead, the General hands Lee a blank cheque and a mandate to find more Titans. Despite being thrilled, Keiko and Billy quickly realise the funding is a bit of a double edged sword, accepting it means working for the army and their goals. Despite being an army man himself, Lee recognises the issue and the three make an agreement, since Lee is bound to report everything he learn to his superiors, Lee trusts the pair and that they’ll ‘tell him everything he needs to know.’ As Keiko says, there’s a difference between a secret and a lie, something that sticks with Lee for the next six decades.
Now, on to 2015 and our “modern day” protanogists Lee, Kentaro, Cate, and May. We start with Lee convincing Kentaro and Cate to join him in escaping Monarch’s retirement prison, as well as in finding their father. After an amusing little sequence where Lee can’t work out the button starts on the newer cars, he manages to evade Monarch’s security and drive them all away. Upon discovering May was able to digitise all of the Monarch files, he asks her to search for any information relating to Alaska, Hiroshi’s last known location. There’s something contained in the files that Hiroshi didn’t want Monarch discovering, and Lee surmises that if they find this secret, they’ll find Hiroshi.
Lee manages to get our group out of Japan and heading towards Korea, where they meet up with Dae-Ho, who helps them get out of Pohang. Turns out Dae-Ho is an old friend of Lee’s and owns an old plane, which is used to take all five to Alaska. During the flight, May and Lee are able to figure out exactly where Hiroshi landed and where they need to go. One of the digitised files had a list of coordinates Billy Randa had written down and Hiroshi had been crossing them off, except for a set that lead our team to Alaska.
After a bit of a rough landing and some very fancy flying by Lee, everybody gets out into the frozen wastes and finds the wreckage of Hiroshi’s plane. The pilot is dead but there’s no signs of Hiroshi until they find an abandoned tent. Now, with proof Hiroshi survived, Dae-Ho investigate the wreckage a bit more and finds giant claw marks on the destroyed fuselage. He manages to get back to his plane and heads to pick up our plucky group when a brand new Titan emerges from the ice and snow, looking like a mix between a pangolin, a star nose mole, and a wolf. Poor Dae-Ho gets made into an ice cube by the new Titan as it makes swift work of destroying the plane, trapping Kentaro, Cate, Lee, and May in the wastes with it.
Overall, in my honest opinion, this has been the strongest episode to date, giving us a clearer look at what both groups are trying to achieve, as well as both groups making decent progress towards said goals. I am a little disappointed by the fact they keep making new Titans, instead of using already established Kaiju from Godzilla’s incredibly long past, but the designs for the new ones never fail to disappoint. It will be interesting to see how Cate and co escape the Ice Titan in the next episode, as well as seeing our 50s team make progress in establishing Monarch and tracking down all the Titans.
What do you think of the newest Titan? Do you think we’ll see anyone from Godzilla’s past? Let us know in the comments below!
