Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

I was super excited for this show but it has been a super disappointment (at 8th episode so far). Only the first episode was good, it all becomes downhill after that. Only Apple TV was still producing big budget sci-fi like Foundation and Silo. Now they are also going to invest less in big world building saga citing the failure of Monarch.

The characters in the present time are so immature especially the teacher from San Francisco who seems to be a teenager living in an adult body. She is such a turnoff with her attitude similar to teenagers. May is useless and the brother from Japan, while not annoying, is so weak and useless.

I really don't care about their family drama or each of their backstory. This is a show about MONSTERS !! Why are we spending 90% of an episode with character backstory and their feelings, especially when none of them are likeable ?? Where are the MONSTERS? Where is the story about their habitats, their backstory, how they have been hidden for thousands of years, what is common between them, where do they come from? These are the elements that make a fantasy sci-fi interesting, not the annoying, unlikeable teenager mindset adults and their story.

They could have just kept this story in the 1940-50s and gone full on Monsters backstory, some WWII and Cold War drama about how many world powers were vying for the power of the Monsters and culminates in how this set off an underground Cold War that was hidden from the rest of the world with Monarch. Subsequent seasons could be what happened in the 70s-80s and so on culminating in D-day. Then once they catch up to current time, new seasons could be in between storylines between blockbuster Godzilla and Kong movies. This Monster universe could be the Marvel universe of this decade. Why are these Hollywood companies these days ruining entertainment ? People just want to be entertained, why is that so hard to understand? And the ironic part is that they could make a ton of money doing that.

Even though I really liked the show, the good parts of the show was really good and deserved to be part of a much better show. Kurt and Wyatt Russel playing past and future versions of a character was really charming. But it was Mari Yamamoto who stole the show every time she appeared on screen, so much so that her appearance was what I was looking forward more like the occasional appearance of the monsters. But for all those good parts and the monster mayhem, there's so much things that are handled very badly. The human drama might not have been that bad when it was conceived but a lot of the situations were very forced and a lot of the dialogues were utter trash. The first three episodes were consistently of great quality and it was after that the quality dropped suddenly. Even though in totality, I thought it was good, it's a show that had great potential that ruined itself.

Binge watched the show today and found it underwhelming compared to the movies that legendary has made since Godzilla(2014). The show has potential and I hope they utilize it better in the next season.

The scenes with Keiko, Shaw and Bill Randa are the ones that make the show worth watching . Everyone else just felt like dragging the show. The CGI wherever used is top notch and the screen presence of Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell made it 7 out of 10 else if would have been around 5.5.

Apple has confirmed that it has been renewed for another season atleast, hope they bring Kurt and Wyatt back for it.

This is a great series to watch if you're stuck on a plane with nothing else to do. It filmed better than most of the generic blockbusters but it has the writing of a CW show.

On the acting side, I am a diehard Kurt Russell fan, however, Wyatt steals every scene he's in and was the sole standout of the show. Joe Tippett, Anders Holm, Anna Sawai, and Mari Yamamoto are able to lift their thinly written characters, and Kiersey Clemons is serviceable in a role where her character sucks. However, Ren Watabe is a standout for all the wrong reasons. His wooden delivery behind a nonsense annoying character really took me out of any scene.

With all that said, it's worth watching if you like spinoff streamers that have more dialogue and less action than their movie counterparts, and it's worth watching Kurt and Wyatt Russell play the same character.

It's supposed to be a show about monsters! If for some unfathomable reason it gets renewed for the second season, please remove all the boring stuff and add more monsters! Nobody watches a show about Kaijus for the personal drama. Unnecessary flashbacks into the unnecessary drama aspect. Monarch backstory might be interesting if not for the romantic line, please drop it.

Keep Kurt Russel, he's a cool grandpa.

I'm giving it 6 only for some glimpses of monsters here and there.

I like to hope the show continues, but improves over this boring and dragging piece it is now. The makers of the show can do much better, they made the trailer, way to go, folks!