Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Season 1 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Episode 9

Bill and Lee talk to Hiroshi, who is now a bit older in episode 9 of Monarch. Shaw mentions he has to go on a trip for a while, but that it’ll be safe. Then he hands the kid his pocket knife as a gift.

They are in a Monarch test site, and Shaw is about to go to the Titan’s world. He and his team enter a capsule right above a portal. As only monsters can enter their world, they must use a radiation simulator. It’ll attract a monster, which will allow them to go down and explore the place.

When the trip starts, the antennas nearby start to break, and a little hurricane forms above the portal. The capsule also starts breaking, and Shaw can’t contact Lee. No one can explain what happened. Bill comes back home alone and Hiroshi understands what that means, making a sad face as the scene fades.

Kentaro wakes up in a hospital bed, completely confused. Tim and Verdugo explain that after Shaw activated the bombs, the building collapsed and many people died, including Cate and May. He doesn’t believe it and says there has to be something they can do. Verdugo says the only thing he can do for his family is keep living.

Shaw finds himself in a barren forest, inside the Titan’s world. May also wakes up, disoriented, and stares at the unknown land and the ground. As it starts to gather electricity, Shaw rushes and jumps at her, avoiding a lightning bolt. They run and Shaw explains he’s familiar with the place because of a recon mission. Now, finding Cate is the most important thing.

When Shaw first comes back from his mission in the Titan’s world, he finds himself in a strange Monarch facility. He isn’t allowed to get out and doctors check him every day. He captures one of the nurses and threatens her so he can escape. Suddenly, someone he doesn’t know calls out to him. It’s Hiroshi, but 20 years older.

Hiroshi says they can’t let him out because no one knows if he is safe. Shaw explains the thing he saw during his mission and says that Bill was right about everything. However, Hiroshi doesn’t believe that. We find out he was the one who sent Shaw to the retirement home. There, he takes his medicine and just stares at the TV the whole day, but something changes inside him when he sees Godzilla on the news.

In Monarch, Barnes finds a signal and calls Tim and Verdugo. She tells them the first gamma burst isn’t about to erupt and follows a pattern. Someone is trying to send them a message.

As Kentaro tries to find something that can help him in his father’s office, Hiroshi arrives. He’s surprised to see his son there and tries to convince him to talk things out. Crying, Ketaro says it’s too late for that because Cate is dead. At first, Hiroshi goes into denial and then starts to cry too.

Cate wakes up in a different part of the forest. It looks and feels a lot more apocalyptic and dangerous. Suddenly, a new monster, which resembles a boar, appears. When it rushes to attack her, an arrow hits its eye. Cate looks around to find her savior and sees her grandmother, Keiko, who still is as young as ever.

The Episode Review

This might get fixed next episode, but the first thing that comes to mind is how uninteresting the Titan’s world is. With Shaw and May, we only see the same electric forest and nothing else. Cate finds a new monster and is in a different part of the woods at least, but we barely see anything. The place promises to be unique, but the show doesn’t explore it even a little.

And, as we are on this topic, at the time the boar is about to attack Cate, you’re already 99% sure Keiko will save her. With Shaw surviving on his first mission, Keiko being alive is the easiest theory to make. When the episode starts and you see May and Cate are okay, it becomes even more plausible. It’s incredibly disappointing because the showrunners couldn’t have done a more predictable twist.

As for the rest of the episode, almost nothing feels like a highlight. Of course, it’s not all bad; actually, it’s pretty okay. However, it feels like you’re only watching a different set of things happening. However, there is one thing that stands out. Even though Kentaro hasn’t been an enjoyable character to follow throughout the season, he gives us a good scene here. His and Hiroshi’s acting and dialogue when talking about Cate is quite impactful. Let’s hope they deliver a few great lines again in the finale.