Monarch: Legacy of Monsters enters its second half with the sixth episode, “Terrifying Miracles.” What new corners of the globe will Cate and Kentaro travel to in the search for their father? How will they react to learning that May is a traitor? Will they be reunited with Kurt Russell’s Lee Shaw? And will that prequel storyline become relevant again?
All of these questions as more will be answered as we dive right into the latest Monarch installment. Please bear in mind that there will be full spoilers for “Terrifying Miracles,” so tread lightly if you haven’t seen it yet. Without further ado, let’s begin.
Also Read: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Review – A Strong Start To The MonsterVerse’s Next Chapter
Monarch Episode 6 Plot
After retrieving the map from Hiroshi’s office at the end of the previous episode, Cate, Kentaro, and May prepare to head out to the Algerian Desert before being unexpectedly reunited with Lee Shaw; who had just been rescued from captivity by a rogue Monarch agent named Michelle. Everyone heads out to the desert hoping to find Hiroshi and……… actually find him setting up mysterious equipment on a pickup truck.
Cate, Kentaro, and Shaw frantically wave to him from the hill above; but are forced to run away almost as quickly as Hiroshi is forced to drive off. Monarch agents catch up to our heroes after triangulating their location through gamma radiation and nearly recapture them before being taken out of the sky by none other than Godzilla himself.
Godzilla rises out of the desert and seemingly recognizes Cate from G-Day before wandering off in the opposite direction from where Hiroshi was driving earlier. Shaw, Michelle, and a few other rogue Monarch agents plan on following Godzilla in an apparent effort to “help” him, while our main trio head off to find Hiroshi. Soon enough, May confesses to selling them out due to her troubled past, with Cate and Kentaro abandoning her in the desert, heartbroken.
Meanwhile, in the flashback storyline, the younger Lee Shaw attends a military ball with Dr. Muira in an effort to secure more funding for Monarch. Soon after, Bill Randa discovers abnormal seismic activity reminiscent of previous Titan sightings on a small island off the coast of Japan. Randa and Dr. Muira head to the island to investigate, while Shaw stays behind to negotiate with military leaders.
On the island, Muira and Randa meet eccentric scientist Dr. Suzuki, who has built a gamma radiation simulator in an effort to communicate with the Titans. After learning just how high the stakes are, Shaw abandons his meeting with the military leadership and heads to the island to be with Randa and Dr. Muira.
Shaw and Muira share a kiss before Suzuki’s device is hurled violently through the air by Godzilla who quickly swims away. Realizing this means that they did not in fact kill Godzilla in their last encounter, Shaw attempts to use this knowledge as a last-ditch effort to secure Monarch funding before discovering that, during their trip to the island, the government had turned over command of Monarch to another high-ranking officer and seized control of the operation from the trio.
Monarch Episode 6 Critique
Despite some oddly slow pacing at the start, a surprising amount of major plot developments happen in “Terrifying Miracles.” Not only does each storyline get a Godzilla appearance, but both the past and present day stories feature major interpersonal conflicts and falling outs, or at least the start of falling outs, amidst the human ensemble.
Starting with the flashback storyline, the growing internal conflict in Wyatt Russell’s Shaw concerning what he wants for himself versus what he wants for Monarch was surprisingly palpable. And while I’m not overly fond of the romance angle between him and Mari Yamamoto’s Dr. Muira, mainly because I can already tell where the conflict is going in terms of those two and Anders Holm’s Bill Randa, the actors do a good job selling it and the flashback trio’s presence in general was a nice change of pace after being absent in the previous two episodes.
I felt like Dr. Suzuki made for a fun addition to their dynamic and the appearance of Godzilla was a fun surprise; but name-dropping Monster Island, the home base of Godzilla and many other Toho monsters during the Showa era, while seemingly not following through feels like a cop-out to me.
As for the present-day stuff, the character dynamics continue to be very strong and the surprise appearance of Hiroshi made for a great twist. The idea of ideological conflict within Monarch is an intriguing one to me and for as much as I’ve ragged on Joe Tippett’s Phil in these recaps, the Columbo bit they do with him here is actually pretty fun.
Godzilla’s appearance makes for not only a great action set-piece, but also an intriguing new direction for the story since, according to MonsterVerse canon, he’s not supposed to have been sighted at all during the time Legacy of Monsters takes place. Sure, Monarch could easily cover it up, but to what end? Why does Shaw want to help Godzilla? How does he expect to help Godzilla?
These are all fascinating questions that, if answered in a satisfying way, could help the show end its first season on a high note. I’m also intrigued to learn exactly what May did to land her in so much trouble, which will also likely be explored in a future episode. In the meantime, “Terrifying Miracles” is very entertaining and well put-together TV that sets the stage for the remainder of Monarch‘s first season in a very engaging way.
9/10
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