Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has brought its first season to an end with its tenth episode, throwing in some massive curveballs at kaiju fans. With the penultimate episode ending on a moment that “broke the internet”, the final installment of season one moves at a breakneck pace to not only end the current cast of characters’ story, but create a wild set-up for a potential second season. Aside from the twists and turns, some familiar kaiju are making their television debut thanks to Monarch’s season finale.
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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season Finale Recap
Warning. If you have yet to watch the tenth episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, be forewarned that we’ll be diving into serious spoiler territory for the season finale. Following the reveal that not only was Keiko alive, but hadn’t aged a day thanks to the time fluctuations of the Hollow Earth, Cate finds herself at a loss. With Keiko revealing her identity to Cate, the latter explains what has happened and begs frantically to start the search for Lee and May. On the surface world, Kentaro continues to have a confrontation with his father, Hiroshi, as the former wonders if his father only cares about the Titans and not his family. Hiroshi tells his son that he never wanted his children to be a part of Monarch with Kentaro continuing to take some harsh shots at his absentee father.
Back in the Hollow Earth, May and Lee reunite with Cate, with Shaw hiding himself to start from Keiko once they discovered she was alive. Shaw breaks down to Keiko that time moves differently in the Hollow Earth, so while she has experienced only around two months in this strange locale, decades have passed on the surface world. When Keiko fell into the Hollow Earth in the late 1950s, she could not imagine that she would be transported to 2015. Lee’s story is revealed to be true when he shows Keiko how much he’s aged.
The reunion between Lee and Keiko isn’t a happy one, as the former informs Keiko of Billy Randa’s death on Skull Island, helping to cushion the blow by stating that Billy helped to make Monarch what it is today. Switching back to the surface world, we are once again brought to Monarch HQ, as Tim implores his boss to search for his friends who are believed dead following their fall into the Hollow Earth. Tim is told to get with the program or leave Monarch forever, which comes into play later in our episode.
Escape From Hollow Earth
Back in the underworld, Lee, Keiko, May, and Cate come up with a plan to make their way back home, using Shaw’s original vehicle from the 1960s and the “Titan Caller” to forge a new path. Having some time to hash things out, Keiko asks Cate about her son Hiroshi, following the reveal that Cate is her granddaughter. Lying, Cate tells her grandmother that her father is a “family man” and that he never knows when to stop. Keiko asks if Hiroshi is happy, a question that Cate doesn’t quite have an answer for.
On the surface, Kentaro is approached by Tim, who has seemingly ditched Monarch and is aiming to find a way to bring their friends home. With Kentaro’s mother handing back her wedding ring to Hiroshi, Tim and Kentaro go the monster tracker for help in finding the lost new denizens of the Hollow Earth. The trio set out to see if they can bridge the gap between the surface and the Hollow Earth.
The plan to free themselves from the underworld continues as Keiko describes why she calls the location “Axis Mundi”, aka the pole between heaven and Earth. Finally coming across Lee’s original vessel, Cate’s grandmother states that she’ll be staying in the Hollow Earth as there is nothing left for her in this future world. Cate ultimately convinces her grandmother otherwise, stating how Godzilla and the Titans took so much from their family and won’t be taking anything more.
Godzilla Isn’t Alone
Beginning the process of luring a Titan their way, the quartet, unfortunately, brings a kaiju their way from inside the Hollow Earth itself. The dragon-like kaiju from the second episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters flies their way, but luckily, they didn’t only summon one giant monster. Lo and behold, Godzilla himself breaches forth into the Hollow Earth and begins laying a smackdown on his new opponent. During this particularly brutal battle, the king of the monsters is able to prove why he deserves the crown as he both fires his atomic breath at his target and rips off one of its wings before hurling it back through the portal.
The portal starts dragging the vessel into it, and Lee finds himself outside the capsule and running in an attempt to not “miss the bus”. While Keiko is able to grab his hand, Shaw realizes that he is not making it back. He tells Keiko to live before he falls back to the Hollow Earth, now trapped in the monstrous locale once again as Cate, May, and Keiko make their way back to the surface world.
In the shocking final moments of the season finale, May, Cate, and Keiko are greeted by Kentaro, Tim, and Hiroshi. While they are able to have a happy reunion, they are greeted by Brenda, May’s former boss at Applied Experimental Technologies. Now running under the name of “Apex Cybernetics”, Brenda and the employees of the organization usher the three former residents of the Hollow Earth inside for what is coming. In the final show of the tenth episode, we learn that they are on Skull Island and Kong breaks his way through the trees to give kaiju fans a monstrous tease for a possible second season.
