Occasionally Fun But Let Down By Annoying Characters
Summary
Monarch: Season 2 has some enjoyable Titan moments, but I just wish there were more as aside from Kurt/Wyatt Russell no one is is especially endearing. Godzilla is barely in it but the final two episodes are what raise this above 2 stars. It’s a spectacular finale and delivers what we want from the show. Bring on Godzilla: Minus Zero in November…
Plot: After surviving Godzilla’s attack on San Francisco, Cate is shaken yet again by a shocking secret. Amid monstrous threats, she embarks on a globetrotting adventure to learn the truth about her family—and the mysterious organization known as Monarch.
Review: I keep wanting to love this show more than I do as I really enjoy the Monsterverse movies; they are wonderfully silly with regular monster mashes and that’s really what we want to see in Monarch. Sadly, what we mostly get is insufferable characters doing stupid things which take sway any sense of empathy for any of them.
One of the few redeeming characters is of course played by Kurt Russell as his mere presence makes anything better. Like the first season his son Wyatt plays a younger version of the character Lee Shaw and we get flashbacks to him working with Keiko and Billy and a love triangle forms.
Like most Godzilla movies this show as at its best when it’s about the monsters, but in this series the real monsters are the humans. They just see the Titans as a threat, but learn that they can communicate with each other.
Cate develops a connection with Titan X which is a mother Titan who just wants to protect her babies. I love Anna Sawai, but I can’t really stand Cate as she is so selfish and annoying that I keep rooting for the Titans to step on her. Kentaro is equally as irritating and there is no reason to like him either. It’s nice to see Amber Midthunder show up as I liked her in Prey.
The series is mostly tedious family drama and it is at times quite dull however, the show shines when it feels like an old-fashioned adventure yarn.
I think the visual effects are incredible and as I say that fact we have a TV show that features Kong and Godzilla (occasionally) is awesome in itself. I just wish I liked the characters more, but it wouldn’t take much to make them mildly more interesting. Just keep Kurt and Wyatt in the show as without them it wouldn’t be worth watching.
Overall, Monarch: Season 2 will fill the gap until Minus Zero is unleashed in November and Godzilla X King: Supernova comes out next year. It’s at its best when the Titans are on screen, but that doesn’t happen often enough and instead we spend too much time with annoying characters who deserve to be squashed or eaten.