Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters (2023) Review
Episode 3, Secrets & Lies
Well, perhaps I should eat my words. We were granted early access to three episodes of Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters by the good folks over at AppleTV+ and it would be easy to go back and edit my episode two review where I, harshly, said we didn’t seem to be getting much in the way of actual monsters.
Well, now we have episode three to contend with and, finally, we get to see more monsters than we have before and, bonus, not just in the final few seconds, although that does happen also.
Once again we are flip-flopping between times with younger LeLand Shaw, Wyatt Russell (“Cold In July”, “Ingrid Goes West”), Keiko, Mari Yamamoto (“Pachinko (TV)”, “Kate”), and Billy, Anders Holm (“The Muppets Mayhem (TV)”, “Show Dogs”), and older Shaw, Kurt Russell, (“Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood”, “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2”), and Cate, Anna Sawai (“Pachinko (TV)”, “Girl/Haji (TV)”), Kentaro, Ren Watabe (“461 Lunch Boxes”), and Kentaro’s on/off girlfriend/friend May, Kiersey Clemons (“Dope”, “The Flash”).
The former are now engaging with the US military in order to request some provisions to prove that these monsters exist. What they get is not quite what they asked for, but we do get a huge monster.
The latter are on the run, pure and simple. Older Shaw has no hesitation in wanting to get out of his prison / retirement home and, very quickly, manages to get everyone on a boat heading to South Korea.
Meanwhile Tim, Joe Tippett (“Spirited”, “Rise (TV)”), and Duvall, Elisa Lasowski (“Hill Of Vision”, “Police”), are the two people from Monarch who have been chasing Cate and co. and are now forced to call in a very angry boss.
Despite the boss wanting to remove the pair of them from chasing some 40-year old files down, she is convinced otherwise and the chase is resumed.
If, like me, you stopped and thought about things for a moment you may have begun wondering about some of the maths involved in Monarch. Specifically around Shaw as the filmmakers have provided us with very specific years in which we are watching events unfold.
The mid 50’s is the start of the Vietnam War and, if we believe Paul Hardcastle, the average age of a solider was 19. Fast forward to Tokyo 2015 and Shaw would have to be nearly 80, which Kurt Russell is not, nor is he made up to look like he is. Whilst not addressed exactly, this is pointed out by Cate, something we’ll keep an eye out for.
