Summary
“Axis Mundi” is the best episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters to date. This action-packed, penultimate installment is filled with epic twists and superb world-building as viewers are treated to the Titan’s realm and Lee Shaw’s horrifying back story.
The penultimate episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 is filled with big surprises, featuring some truly breathtaking plot twists as we near the end of the show’s first season run. Episode 9, “Axis Mundi”, takes viewers to the highly anticipated Titan’s realm as Lee and May search for Cate in the wilderness, whilst the fifties timeline merges with the present day as audiences are shown Lee Shaw’s horrifying life story.
“Axis Mundi” starts in 1962 at the Monarch Test Site in Kansas. After Keiko’s death, Bill has taken on the father role, raising Hiroshi as his own. And Lee has become Hiroshi’s cool uncle. Lee says an emotional goodbye to Hiroshi before embarking on a perilous mission. He hands Hiroshi his trusty pocket knife as a parting gift.
What is Operation Hourglass?
Lee’s mission is titled Operation Hourglass and involves sending a craft directly into the Titan’s portal, hopefully taking Lee and his crew through this tunnel to the other side. To access the portal, they need to lure a Titan into it first. This means using Dr Suzuki’s device, which awakens a Titan almost immediately.
With the Titan’s arrival opening the passageway, Lee’s craft and Suzuki’s device are then released, hurtling into the portal. This causes the portal to react strangely though, creating a swirling vortex in Kansas, which sucks in the surrounding items. The crowd of onlookers struggle to escape this powerful vortex, as metal structures are dragged into it.
After what feels like an eternity, the vortex abruptly stops and disappears. Thankfully, there are no casualties in Kansas, but Lee and his crew are never heard from again. Bill is unable to explain what has just happened and the entire project is subsequently shut down.
Bill can’t take no for an answer though, promising to continue the search for his missing friends no matter what. General Puckett urges Bill to let it go, adding that young Hiroshi cannot lose any more precious people in his life. Hiroshi’s already lost his mother and his uncle to the Titans, he can’t bear to lose Bill too.
How does Kentaro react to Cate’s death?
Meanwhile, in 2015, Kentaro wakes in a Tokyo hospital. Tim and Verdugo inform him that Cate, May and Lee are all dead, having died in the explosion in Kazakhstan. Kentaro cannot believe it. He wants to help look for them all regardless of this information, but Verdugo orders him to stand down. His time at Monarch is now officially over.
Kentaro returns home to his mother, filled with anger and regret. His mother inspires him to continue searching for his friends though. Kentaro starts his journey by breaking into his father’s office, to look for clues. Here he is reunited with Hiroshi. They argue and Kentaro breaks the news that Cate is dead. Hiroshi is devastated by this news, blaming himself for her passing.
In the third subplot of “Axis Mundi,” viewers are taken to the other realm, the Titan’s world. Lee awakens in this strange place, gawping at the beautiful colors in the sky. He must dodge deadly electrical charges to stay alive. Lee soon finds May in this forest and together they search for Cate.
Lee tells May that he has been in this world before, warning her that time works differently in this realm. The series then rewinds in time, showing audiences how Lee returned to Earth after his misadventures in the Titan’s world.
This narrative begins with Lee waking in a Monarch medical facility. He is interrogated about his time in the portal and the other realm, but he refuses to answer any questions until he sees Bill. They ignore his requests and Lee goes on a hunger strike in response. Later he takes a nurse hostage, demanding to be taken to Bill once again.
What year is it when Lee exits the portal?
A man informs Lee that Bill is dead, that Lee is in fact in the year 1982. Operation Hourglass took place 20 years ago. The man then shows Lee his trusty pocket knife, implying that he is Hiroshi. Lee is overwhelmed by these revelations and falls to the floor.
Hiroshi speaks with Lee later, when he has finally recovered. Hiroshi asks about Lee’s time in the portal, commenting on how his age defies logic. Lee hasn’t aged a day since entering the portal, but 20 years have passed back on Earth. Time does indeed act differently in the Titan’s realm.
Lee recounts his heartbreaking story. The craft crash landed in the other realm. They buried a fallen crew member and then analyzed the crash site itself. It wasn’t long before they encountered their first Titan. The monster attacked the crew and then the portal came back to life, sweeping up Lee in the process, returning him to the other side.
After retelling his crazy story, Lee admits that Bill was right. There is another world out there. Hiroshi doesn’t quite believe Lee’s story though, adding that his father went mad after Lee’s disappearance, he cannot be trusted. Lee is then told that he will be taken to a retirement home to be monitored and observed by Monarch for the foreseeable future.
Lee pleads with Hiroshi to continue the research, to help him to understand this foreign realm. But Hiroshi isn’t interested, he’s still traumatized by all his grief. He doesn’t want anything to do with the Titans no more. Hiroshi hands Lee his pocket knife back, signifying his feelings on the matter.
How does Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 Episode 9 end?
Next, Lee is taken to the retirement facility, where he spends the next few decades. Lee is heavily medicated and kept prisoner in this facility from the eighties all the way to the modern day. It is only the reappearance of Godzilla and the G-Day footage on his TV screen that causes Lee to fight back. From that day forward, he refuses to take any more of his medicine.
Is Keiko still alive?
The episode ends in the Titan’s realm in the present day. Cate awakens in the woods. She is attacked by a gigantic creature and attempts to crawl away from it. The creature is about to kill her, when Cate is thankfully saved. An arrow hits the monster, coming out of nowhere, causing it to flee. And the person who fired the arrow turns out to be Keiko. She is still alive! She has been living in the Titan’s realm for all this time. What a twist ending.
What did you think of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 Episode 9? Comment below.
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