Summary
“Birthright” is hampered by more cliched dialogue and a repetitive narrative. The humor is quite off in this installment too and there is no real tension created at the creepy abandoned base. With all that being said, there are still many positives. The fifties romance is lovingly crafted and the episode ends with an exciting, action-packed conclusion.
The line between good and evil starts to blur in Episode 8 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters as the show teases a new potential villain. The latest entry from Season 1, “Birthright,” concentrates on the gang’s attempts to track down Lee Shaw in the 2015 timeline, whilst in the fifties, Bill and Keiko’s relationship develops further. It’s a slightly improved episode, but one that still suffers from the same old corny action dialogue.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 Episode 8 Recap
In the 2015 timeline, Lee Shaw takes his new team of soldiers to Kazakhstan. He’s got unfinished business there after his lover Keiko was killed in an abandoned base, consumed by a swarm of Titan creatures, back in the fifties. Lee is clearly out for revenge now in the present day.
Adjacent to this storyline, we pick up with Cate and the gang at Monarch HQ. Tim needs their help tracking down Lee, who seems to have transformed into the villain of the piece now. He shows them around the base, pointing out the spikes in gamma rays at numerous sites across the globe on their fancy map.
Why does Monarch need to stop Lee Shaw?
Verdugo updates them on Lee’s latest antics. Lee has detonated explosives in Alaska, which have caused that rift’s gamma-ray emissions to drop to zero, but then they have increased at every other site instead. This seems to be leading to another G-Day-type scenario. They need to predict where Lee is heading next, to stop him from causing any more catastrophes to occur.
Cate finds information about Keiko’s death in Kazakhstan in Monarch’s mountains of paperwork. They believe that Lee is heading to this very place next, due to sentimental reasons. Tim thinks Lee wants to rewrite the past. Verdugo is apprehensive about letting Cate and her friends go, but she eventually allows the mission to go ahead.
Meanwhile, in the fifties, Lee, Keiko, and Bill are finding their new boss at Monarch to be intolerable. He’s not impressed with their research or findings, wanting some solid proof or evidence in return for all the money the military has spent on them. To make matters worse, the boss demeans Keiko in front of her friends. Bill nearly attacks his boss, angered by his unprofessional words towards Keiko.
The trio contemplates their next move. Lee suggests making a map that pinpoints the potential locations of all the Titans in the world. They only have 3 days to make a case for their organization, they need to prove that Monarch is still viable and important to the world’s safety.
Keiko and Bill work on the map together, the couple start to flirt with each other and get rather close in a short period. The next day, Bill has a brainwave and heads over to Keiko’s house to tell her the good news in person. Here he makes a surprising discovery.
Is Bill the father of Hiroshi?
Bill proposes that the Titans are hiding underground and may even be living in another realm. While Keiko is mulling over this crazy theory, she reveals her greatest secret. Keiko has a child from a previous marriage and the boy is now living with her in the States. Keiko introduces Bill to Hiroshi, her son. This explains that Hiroshi isn’t Bill’s child after all, although it was inferred. Bill offers to support Keiko with her child as she is now widowed. The couple hold hands.
The fifties subplot concludes with Lee’s important meeting. He speaks with General Puckett before making his pitch to his new boss. Lee states that the new boss is being biased and ignoring all of the information. He adds that Godzilla is still alive, they did not kill it.
Back in the 2015 narrative, Cate and her team travel to Kazakhstan. They enter the abandoned building and begin to hunt for Lee. On the way, they find piles of shells from the creatures that killed Keiko all those years ago. Cate concludes that the creatures are growing, shedding their skin as they develop.
They soon discover a tunnel in the very center of the building, in the spot where Keiko was originally killed. The tunnel leads directly downwards. The team then finds Lee’s explosives, dotted around the site. Duvall then appears with her own team, holding them at gunpoint.
What is Lee Shaw’s plans with the explosives?
Lee arrives afterward, asking to speak with Cate in private. He informs Cate about Bill’s theory; he also believes that there is an entire world underground, a new realm deep down that humans cannot see. Lee states that Godzilla isn’t here to harm them. Lee wants to seal off their world, closing every one of their portals in the process.
Cate pleads with Lee to stop, mentioning how he is making things worse with his plans. She talks about the gamma-ray readings, but Lee isn’t interested. Nothing is going to stop him from achieving his goals now.
How does Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 Episode 8 end?
The episode ends at the Kazakhstan base. The building starts to shake. May falls down the hole into the portal. A Titan creature then emerges from this hole and attacks Cate immediately. The monster is hit on the head by the falling debris though, disappearing back down the hole once again.
Lee goes to save Cate, pulling her away from the hole, but the duo ends up falling into the portal anyway. Then the explosives are detonated. The building starts to collapse in on itself.
What did you think of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 Episode 8? Comment below.
RELATED:
