Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has been a series that explores the present, and the past, when it comes to all things kaiju in Legendary’s MonsterVerse. While the latest episode doesn’t return to the 1950s, it does take the opportunity to explore the budding relationship of Kentaro and May in the past. Of course, in the present, the quartet of main characters is dealing with a wildly new kaiju who has a superpower that might put Godzilla’s atomic breath to shame.
Warning. If you have yet to watch the latest episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, we’ll be diving into serious spoiler territory.
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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 4 – The Present
Our episode begins in Utah, 2015, focusing on a new female character sitting near a trailer in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. Housing a satellite on top of her camper, the mystery woman has a large array of equipment inside and discovers a loud beeping in a hidden compartment. Discovering a mysterious piece of tech, she connects the mystery box to her gear, making a call to her higher-ups and revealing her name to be Barnes.
We swing back to Alaska wherein Lee, Cate, Kentaro, and May are witnessing the giant beast from episode three’s finale wreaking havoc upon their plane, seeing their pilot who was frozen solid by the kaiju’s frost breath. Kentaro fires a flare in the sky, distracting the giant monster long enough for him to follow his friends for a hasty retreat. While the beast might appear mole-like, it’s clear that the flare wasn’t enough to keep it occupied for long.
The quartet are able to scratch their way inside a cavern filled with ice, attempting to stay quiet as the giant beast hunts them. May finds herself accidentally stepping through a weak ice patch, immediately causing her some serious pain as her legs experience the intense cold beneath the surface. As the kaiju shambles away, May lets loose a hilarious string of obscenities before Lee is forced to calm her down.
As Lee leads the three through the perilous tasks of both evading the Titan and finding a warm place for May, he explains that he’s never seen two Titans that are the same in his life. Lee tells his panicking cohorts that they will be heading northwest, though Kentaro states that he saw an enclosure that “looked like a golf ball”. Unfortunately, once the quartet travel back to find the enclosure, they’re unable to do so, but see a massive blue light in the distance. The four argue about which direction to go, as Kentaro stakes his life on what he saw. Kentaro splits with Cate, Lee, and May, as the three walk toward the ominous blue light.
We jump back to Barnes, revealed to be an agent of Monarch, who explains to her boss that her equipment picked up a “pulsar” in Alaska, which seemingly is related to the blue light the four saw. Explaining that the last time such readings were seen was before the arrival of Godzilla, Monarch realizes that things are seemingly about to get much more dire for the world at large.
Kaiju Bonfire
Kentaro doesn’t have much luck to start when it comes to finding the “golf ball enclosure”, hearing his name yelled out in the wind and discovering that his water has frozen solid. On the flip side, Lee, May, and Cate are attempting to make their way to the blue light as May finds herself barely able to hang on thanks to the setting in of hypothermia. The trio find themselves arriving back at Cate and Kentaro’s father’s tent, as Shaw explains that Titans can have strange effects on their surroundings, which has seemingly caused them to walk in a circle.
May continues struggling with hypothermia as the three set up camp and light a fire, Lee bringing back some food that he was able to discover. Before they can manage to fully heat up May, the kaiju they saw earlier emerges from the ground, destroys their tent, and consumes the fire that they had started. In a wild display, the giant beast seemingly absorbs the fire, transforming it into a blue light before diving back into the Earth. Shaw figures out that the monster wasn’t hunting them, but was instead hunting for heat sources, which it had done with the plane previously. Using this knowledge, Lee comes up with a plan.
As Lee prepares a plan to attract the kaiju into a trap using a massive heat source by gathering material around them, May asks Cate to leave her behind if things get bad. Kentaro, who is struggling to stay alive, hallucinates and sees his father walking past him in the snow. Following his imaginary father, Kentaro stumbles upon an outpost, imagining his art exhibit around him. Kentaro has a conversation with his deceased dad, who tells his son that he’s proud of him before he comes back to the present.
Before Shaw can put his plan into place, the kaiju re-emerges once again and begins chasing after Cate and May. The mole-like monster fires off its ice breath at May, holding up the package from Monarch, before being distracted by the mysterious chopper that enters the scene. Unfortunately, Sha’s plan works a little too well as the explosion knocks him back and causes the kaiju to come right to him. Luckily, all three are able to get onto the chopper and make an escape from the beast, but not before seeing that the large hole caused by the kaiju was eliciting some wild lights beneath the surface.
The chopper housed Kentaro and the four have a nice reunion as they fly from the scene. Kentaro believes that, thanks to the evidence he found at the outpost, his father is alive. Lee doesn’t have much time for a happy ending as he discovers the laptop in the Monarch satchel has been frozen solid. The four land at their destination, only to be greeted by agents of Monarch.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 4 – The Past
Rather than immediately bringing us back to the 1950s around the time Monarch was first formed like previous episode, we’re instead shown Tokyo, one year earlier from the current events, during the time when Godzilla first surfaced in the MonsterVerse. Kentaro is shown at an art exhibit featuring his art that has patrons “challenge the assumption of their identities”. As Kentaro’s mother arrives, the protagonist struggles with the exhibit, believing that it won’t be well received.
While taking a picture of his art poster, he accidentally takes a snapshot of May, who he is meeting for the first time. Deleting the image from his phone, Kentaro asks May why she doesn’t like having her picture taken, sparking a conversation between the two. Rather than stay for his art exhibit, Kentaro inquires if May would like to share a drink, seemingly setting the stage for their future relationship. The two reach what appears to be a bar hidden in the back alleys of Tokyo and share some rather expensive whiskey.
Kentaro reveals that not only was the night an important one for his art, but his first-ever art exhibit. May doesn’t buy his story, causing Kentaro to show off his artwork that he kept hidden in his studio. Their date is cut short as Kentaro receives a text, but the artist asks if May is willing to come with him to his show. Clearly, there’s a spark between the two future monster dodgers. After the two spend the night together, May gets a call in the studio as Kentaro leaves for his exhibit. Whoever was calling May on the phone seems to cause her some serious distress, potentially sowing some seeds of things to come.
