Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Season 1 Episode 10 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Episode 10

Unlike Cate, Keiko doesn’t seem very surprised with the situation at the start of Monarch episode 10. She asks if Bill Randa or Shaw are with her, but Cate is too desperate to answer.

Hiroshi tells Kentaro that he disappeared to prove his parents right; he needed to show Monarch the rifts exist and are connected. That’s the only way to keep the human species alive. So he asks Kentaro to work with him, a proposition the boy doesn’t like.

Why did Keiko create a signal?

Keiko created a signal so she could be found. She is calm because she is sure Cate and a rescue team are there to save her, but that’s not what’s happening. When she becomes suspicious of Kate, May and Shaw appear there. At first, Shaw doesn’t want to show his face, explaining the situation behind a tree. Keiko starts crying after learning she has been stuck there for many decades. The good news is that she finds out Cate is her granddaughter, and that Hiroshi is okay.

Tim, now back at work, wants to know more about the signal. Even though it can mean that someone is alive, Verdugo states Monarch has other priorities at the moment. That infuriates Tim, who says the three could save billions of lives. If they don’t do anything, then Shaw was right about the organization all along.

Keiko configured the radiation emitter so it would send out a pulse to let Monarch know where she was. While Shaw investigates the machine, she asks Cate about Hiroshi. Even after everything, she tells a happy and optimistic version of who her father is.

What is Shaw’s plan?

Shaw has a plan to get them out of there, but he needs Keiko to rewire the machine back to its original configuration. They attach branches to it and start carrying it somewhere else.

Tim finds Kentaro at a bar and explains the signal to him. The chance of Cate being alive makes him happy, then he says he knows who can help them. Hiroshi, who’s crying while watching Bill Randa’s video on Skull Island, hears a sudden knock on his door. Tim and Kentaro recruit him, saying there might be a way to save Cate. Hiroshi agrees but says Monarch won’t be able to help them. Luckily, Tim has another idea.

Shaw takes them to the ship he used to get to Axis Mundi in his mission. They connect the emitter to it, planning to attract a Titan who will make them travel back to their side of Earth. However, the one who comes is a hostile pterodactyl which was already there. It ends up damaging the ship.

How does Monarch end?

Shaw gets out to fix it so they can leave safely. Soon after, Godzilla comes out of the rift and battles the pterodactyl. The green lizard easily overpowers his opponent, allowing the protagonists to start the ship. Shaw does his best to enter it, but he can’t. Keiko holds his hand but, like she did once, he sacrifices himself so everyone can escape. After he falls, they close the ship and go through the portal.

They arrive at a facility with Kentaro and Hiroshi waiting for them. Everyone is very happy, but Brenda, from Apex, interrupts them, saying they have to go into medical and debriefing. May and Cate are shocked, and Kentaro says a lot changed in the past two years. As the facility’s gate closes, King Kong roars outside.

The Episode Review

The final episode finally gets the emotional moments between characters right. Kentaro’s talk with Hiroshi, Keiko’s reunion with Shaw, Keiko learning about what happened with Bill, and so on. However, that doesn’t stop it from having a pretty cheap death at the end. Shaw’s sacrifice feels more like the show didn’t trust itself enough, so it had to have a death so you would definitely get emotional. Besides, like the previous episode’s revelation, just changing who is stuck in the Axis Mundi is a very predictable twist.

The high point of the episode is Godzilla’s fight at the end. People mainly watch kaiju movies so they can watch the monsters fight. So, obviously, this would be an incredible moment. The effects are great, as always, and Godzilla feels like a threat even to other strong Titans.

Unfortunately, the Axis Mundi still feels uninteresting. It’s doubtful the characters will go there again, but that might happen in a possible future season. It’d be a good chance for them to “redeem” themselves, and build more creative sceneries for the characters to explore. Even so, the emotional moments make everything better, so following Cate and the others doesn’t feel like a slog.

The season finale already sets up an interesting plot for the next season, with the cast having to work with Apex. It’s easy to see various threads they can use throughout it, like the construction of Mechagodzilla. A bigger conflict between the characters and the two organizations (Monarch and Apex) also has a lot of potential.

Monarch still needs to clarify some aspects of its universe and better develop its characters, but it has the potential to be a great addition to the Monsterverse.