Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: Beyond Logic
January 12, 2024 5:00 PM - Season 1, Episode 10 - Subscribe
Maybe the real legacy was the friends we made along the way. Well, everyone but Tim. Nobody likes Tim. You know what people like? Monsters.
I was hoping for a bit of a "see? We can pull it off" monstersplosion in this final episode of the season, but... no. It looks like the series is actually about the Randa kids Forrest Gumping their way through every other Monsterverse movie.
I dunno. The Double Russell thing was a great idea, nothing else really worked for me. Boo.
I was hoping for a bit of a "see? We can pull it off" monstersplosion in this final episode of the season, but... no. It looks like the series is actually about the Randa kids Forrest Gumping their way through every other Monsterverse movie.
I dunno. The Double Russell thing was a great idea, nothing else really worked for me. Boo.
There's a fine line between creating deep character development and saving special effects money by adding yet another scene of a bunch of characters arguing over a map.
posted by Stanczyk at 2:53 AM on January 13
posted by Stanczyk at 2:53 AM on January 13
Okay, now that it's over, I can say that while I don't regret watching the show, they really flubbed the execution. There was a compelling story there and I think maybe it should have started in the 50s and stayed for a while. Build up towards the MonsterVerse as it is now instead of trying to make those pieces fit.
Well, Wyatt and Kurt Russell were a delight anyways. And the actor who played Keiko Miura was also very dope.
posted by Kitteh at 5:15 AM on January 13 [1 favorite]
Well, Wyatt and Kurt Russell were a delight anyways. And the actor who played Keiko Miura was also very dope.
posted by Kitteh at 5:15 AM on January 13 [1 favorite]
While the show did get sort of ponderous with repeated map arguments across multiple episodes, the actors were enjoyable and Fleeb Jr was jazzed about the finale and seeing Big G do some action.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:22 AM on January 13
posted by Fleebnork at 5:22 AM on January 13
Eh. That was there.
At least my initial question about how the hell Shaw was still bopping around at 91 was answered with what I guess is a reasonable in-universe explanation. On the other hand, even at a biological 71...
Unless we're outliers in the audience, I don't really see this getting picked up for a second season. It was probably kind of expensive for this kind of reaction.
posted by Naberius at 11:04 AM on January 14
At least my initial question about how the hell Shaw was still bopping around at 91 was answered with what I guess is a reasonable in-universe explanation. On the other hand, even at a biological 71...
Unless we're outliers in the audience, I don't really see this getting picked up for a second season. It was probably kind of expensive for this kind of reaction.
posted by Naberius at 11:04 AM on January 14
I'm really struck how poorly this show misunderstood the assignment. Did they think that the sets of "people who want to watch a monster movie" and "people who want family drama" had much intersection? A few seconds of Godzilla versus unnamed bat monster in the finale was the entire kaiju fighting action in ten episodes, but they found time for hours and hours of arguing over possession of a physical map instead of taking a photo of it.
It's time to cancel the apocalypse and rewatch Pacific Rim again, a film that had no pretensions about subplots or drama (you can safely fast-forward through the little bits of dialogue without missing anything). Why build giant robots to punch kaijus? Because it's awesome, that's why.
posted by autopilot at 1:54 AM on January 16 [3 favorites]
It's time to cancel the apocalypse and rewatch Pacific Rim again, a film that had no pretensions about subplots or drama (you can safely fast-forward through the little bits of dialogue without missing anything). Why build giant robots to punch kaijus? Because it's awesome, that's why.
posted by autopilot at 1:54 AM on January 16 [3 favorites]
Well, and I could've dealt with a more sciency MUTO show? Like, the stuff in the 50s was fine - here's where MUTOs come from, here's how they move around, here's their ecological niche, they're powered by wishes and gamma radiation, oh hey look it's Gamera!
And even the modern era bits with dealing with the effects of a kaiju attack, there's compelling drama there, too.
But the kids looking for asshole dad and sniping at each other for their father's sins for far too long? Monarch as a poorly defined secret agency, maybe, maybe just a branch of the US military? Ecccch. I mean, I enjoyed it enough for the bits that were interesting, but I would totally understand if it didn't get renewed due to viewership numbers.
posted by Kyol at 7:44 AM on January 16
And even the modern era bits with dealing with the effects of a kaiju attack, there's compelling drama there, too.
But the kids looking for asshole dad and sniping at each other for their father's sins for far too long? Monarch as a poorly defined secret agency, maybe, maybe just a branch of the US military? Ecccch. I mean, I enjoyed it enough for the bits that were interesting, but I would totally understand if it didn't get renewed due to viewership numbers.
posted by Kyol at 7:44 AM on January 16
I think the sole lasting memory I will have of this show was my gradual realization that the bug tracking software we use, Jira, was a play on the name of some other bug tracking software, Bugzilla. Usually my etymological epiphanies are totally wrong, but this one turned out to be 100% accurate!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:02 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:02 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]
If there is a season 2, Godzilla saves Lee Shaw and brings him up to the surface.
posted by the webmistress at 6:17 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
posted by the webmistress at 6:17 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
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posted by Kyol at 6:22 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]