Monstrous Fun

Godzilla has been back in the zeitgeist in a big way over the past year, and I am lagging rather far behind: I didn't make it out to the theater for either of the two films that have been released in that time. But I still have an Apple TV+ subscription. And with that, I recently finished the 10-episode first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Monarch is a show with two tantalizing hooks. One: it will include Godzilla and other giant monsters to satisfy all you kaiju lovers out there. Two: it features a marvelous bit of stunt casting. In the show's decades-spawling narrative, the same character is played in two different time periods by real-life father and son Kurt and Wyatt Russell.

Monarch manages to deliver wonderfully on both of these two elements. When it comes to the giant monsters, that was by no means a given. Television simply doesn't have the budget of a major motion picture, and my friends who watch all the Godzilla stuff routinely offer this bit of criticism: "I could have used more giant monsters in that movie." But each episode of the show does have at least one big kaiju set piece, it generally doesn't feel wedged in there, and for the most part, the human story elements are compelling enough that they don't feel like filler between.

As for the gimmick of Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell playing the same character? That's flawless. Every time-hopping story that has ever used old age makeup or creepy CG to age or de-age a character has been striving for something that works as well as this. Wyatt has clearly studied all his father's classic 80s movies (or, alternatively, simply didn't need to), and perfectly embodies that Plissken-esque swagger. Kurt, for his part, is a delightfully credible "aging action hero"; it doesn't feel like a reach that he's still out here MacReadying after all these years.

And it's not like the Russells are carrying a weak cast. Anna Sawai (who appeared in the just-finished Shōgun -- still queued up on my TV to-do list) is the solid anchor of the modern-day story line. Meanwhile, Mari Yamamoto and Anders Holm (the latter usually known for comedy) are strong foils in the "past" story line.

Not every episode is a home run. There's a lengthy side plot about the secret identity of one of the characters that left me cold (though more for the writing; it's not any fault of the actor's). Also, I think the show works better when both time frames are featured in an episode -- not just one, as the series sometimes does.

But the series is ultimately entertaining on its own, even as it does the unthinkable: it makes me consider going back to watch the earlier movies in this larger "Godzilla-verse" for the connections this show weaves into the background. Ultimately, the 10 episodes feel largely "contained" to me... and yet the show was popular enough that a second season has been announced. I'm nervous-but-hopeful about what they might do with it.

I give Monarch: Legacy of Monsters a B+. There's no shortage of compelling series to watch on Apple TV+. (Seriously, folks. The quality, show for show, has to be highest value proposition of any of the innumerable streaming services around.) But I'd say it's worth making time for this one.