Written by John Edward Betancourt
Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Nine of ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
Perhaps one of the hardest truths about life to reconcile, is that in many ways… we simply don’t know where our particular choices will take us. Because the world and the universe it resides within, are grounded in chaos and while we do our best to try and make a calculated decision that should benefit us in this life… we simply don’t know if that will be the case. Because sometimes, the best decisions we make can fail because the timing wasn’t right, and sometimes they fall to pieces because we aren’t on the right path, even though we thought we were, and sometimes… things go sideways just because that’s the nature of the universe and there’s little we can do to control it. But we make those choices anyways, because sometimes… everything goes right, or a choice pays off later down the line and really, the wild nature of choices and the wild places choice takes us is top of mind today, because that served as the focus of the next episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters on Apple TV+. For ‘Axis Mundi’ focused less upon the fallout of what happened in Kazakhstan and more upon… Colonel Lee Shaw and his long and winding story. For this episode opened up in the past and explored how back in the day, his gambit to get Monarch rolling in the right direction paid off, to the point where at last, real funding and real attention were being paid. A move and a flashback that made us all wonder, what the heck happened to this place then if it did have a push in the right direction, and well, as it turned out… the decision to investigate a gateway to another world, like the one that Lee wanted to close in the last story… changed everything for Monarch and Lee. Because… he went through the portal and on the other side was a world so alien to our own. Complete with a sky that made no sense and was disorienting and filled with dangers untold. For this was the world of the Titan, where the MUTO roamed free, and that led to all kinds of chaos and pain for Lee and his team, since lives were lost, and terror seized the day. That is until Lee was pulled out of that place through a portal. One that dropped him into 1982, twenty years after he initially started the mission and well, Monarch was now a shell of itself. For Bill Randa was gone, a casualty of the Skull Island expedition, and all that remained was Hiroshi and the organization’s desire to bury the incident by sending Shaw off to the retirement home where we first met him. Which was quite the path for the heroic choice he made, one that he had no idea would come to fruition and that truly spoke to the chaos of decision.
But there was mention of the fact that eventually, those decisions can pay off, and well… in present day it most certainly did. Because Shaw and May/Corah awoke in the Titan Realm, and he was able to help her navigate the disorienting nature of this world between worlds. Giving rise to some real payoff for Shaw. For there was a chance he could now save lives with his knowledge of this place and well, the surprise of the century might also allow for him to make peace with his deep-rooted trauma regarding Keiko. Simply because, we came to learn… she’s alive and well in this place and has not aged a day. For this world defies rules and defies logic and if Shaw and May can find their way to Cate, they’ll say hello to Keiko and the past and there has to be something healthy waiting for Shaw in that encounter.
In fact, it would seem there will be some major emotional payoffs in next week’s finale. Because in addition to the now looming reunion between two lovers that denied themselves the call of their hearts, Hirioshi returned home to Japan and spent time with his son. For Kentaro and Tim (who clearly has nine lives) survived the rubble and went back to their lives to grieve and resume life as it was and well, that reunion brought about anger and truth and the very real opportunity for these two finally speak honestly to one another, and it set the stage for a vastly different kind of season finale for this show. Because it would seem, we are not going to spend the entire hour watching a grandiose fight to stop Shaw and stop Godzilla. Instead, we will see these characters deal with some heavy concepts, with hopefully a little Gojira thrown in for good measure, and well… this is welcome. For this series has made it clear, the characters are the royal members of this story, and their journeys matter and their emotions matter and that should bring about a supremely intimate finale, one that was set up by an equally as intimate penultimate episode. Since we were privy to Lee Shaw’s journey in the raw and were able to see how much pain and suffering, he has endured in the name of heroism that wasn’t recognized, and in the name of a choice that he thought would change the world and well, that made for one fascinating tale. One that really did allow for us to see Lee in a different light, as less of a villain and more of the broken man he is and it will be interesting to see if he and others in need of healing can find peace in the next episode and it will be equally as engaging to see, if Shaw and the others can escape a world between worlds, without losing decades of precious time. Until next time. Watch ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’
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