The globetrotting adventures of the Randa kids bring the team back to base, as after Kentaro, it is Cate’s turn for some self-reflection and emotional unpacking before setting off to new frontiers in search of Hiroshi Randa. In the previous episode of Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters, as the team tried to evade Snow Vark, the frost Titan in Alaska, May accidentally fell into an ice puddle and faced the risk of getting affected by hypothermia. Kentaro got separated from the group while trying to search for help, as he decided to follow his gut feelings and venture alone. On the other hand, Monarch learned about probable Titan activity in Alaska after pulsar-level radioactive readings were registered.
Kentaro’s solo journey into the unknown turned out to be a quest of self-exploration by confronting his past, which ended with him discovering an abandoned research facility, where he finds proof of his father Hiroshi’s recent visit as well. Thanks to Hiroshi fixing the radio system at the facility during his visit, Kentaro was able to call for help just in time. The team manages a narrow escape as Shaw distracts the Titan long enough for the team to board the rescue helicopter; however, it is revealed that the team was rescued by none other than Monarch agents Tim and Duvall. In the fifth episode of Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters titled The Way Out, the cat-and-mouse game between the two parties introduces a new angle, and viewers are treated to a post-apocalyptic world, which, needless to say, enriches the series’ creative output in the process.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did May And The Randa Kids Decide To Go To San Francisco?
Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters Episode 5 begins at Monarch’s outpost in Alaska, where May, Cate, Kentaro, and Shaw are taken by the organization agents and are being held captive. After nearly getting frostbitten, May is gradually recuperating, while Cate and Kentaro are getting restless as their questions addressed to the organization’s higher-ups remain unanswered. Duvall goes to May with the damaged laptop where May had stored Bill Randa’s findings, and assuming that she has already created a backup, Duvall asks her to hand it over. As May refuses, Duvall promptly reminds her that Monarch has looked into their past, and they are aware of her sister Lyra’s close bond with her. Before leaving her with Monarch’s communication details, Duvall’s passive-aggressive threat implies that if May doesn’t change her stance about assisting Monarch soon enough, she should be worried about severe repercussions. Monarch chief Verdugo and her associates Tim and Duvall discuss their possible course of action regarding the three of them. Tim opines letting the Randa kids know about their family’s legacy—the Monarch and its objective—to which Verdugo vehemently disagrees. Duvall suggests the idea of letting the trio go on their course, searching for Hiroshi Randa, and tracking them covertly so they might get their hands on Bill Randa’s findings. Meanwhile, Verdugo can rattle up Lee Shaw to learn what might be the reason for his sudden escapade with three young associates.
Tim arranges for the necessary measures to let Cate, Kentaro, and May return to Tokyo, and as he departs, his deliberate verbal discouragement works like a charm as Kentaro gets triggered to continue on their former course of finding Hiroshi. Cate suggests checking Hiroshi’s office at his other home, San Francisco, to learn where he might have been headed—and thus the team, except Shaw, would venture to the other side of the globe.
What Did Shaw Reveal To Verdugo During Interrogation?
On the other hand, Verdugo decides to have a one-on-one chat with Lee Shaw and begins her session by reminding the former Monarch founder about the past days by playing video recordings featuring Keiko, Bill, and his younger self. Once customary pleasantries are out of the way, Verdugo cuts to chase, as she wants to know whether Shaw has shared some very particular confidential details with the Randa siblings and details about Bill Randa’s family. Shaw denies sharing information with the kids and calls out Monarch for being totally ineffectual in Titan crisis management. He mocks the Monarch, especially Dr. Serizawa’s decision regarding G-Day, of letting Godzilla and M.U.T.O. battle, and asks Verdugo to speculate on what could have transpired had Godzilla failed to end the primeval threats. Needless to say, by now Verdugo is tired of getting her patience tested, and she warns Shaw with severe consequences lest he doesn’t reveal what Bill Randa’s files contain. Shaw isn’t intimidated and once again calls out Monarch, this time directing his statement towards the rest of the operatives who are watching the interrogation from the other side of the screen—Tim and Duvall in this context.
Cate, Kentaro, and May reach San Francisco, and the ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge remind viewers of the viciousness of the Titan calamity at once. Post-G-Day, this part of the world has coped differently, and profiteering middlemen have taken charge to commoditize tragedy by organizing ‘trauma tours’, creating bunker shelters for the affluent, paranoid customers, and whatnot.
Anyway, for so long, Cate hadn’t informed her mother, Caroline, about the shocking revelation of Hiroshi’s second family in Japan, and quite obviously, Kentaro’s arrival comes as a shock to her. Cate has an argument with her mother in private, as she is livid about not seeing her react as strongly as she had hoped. Perhaps Cate’s own emotional turmoil let her expect a similar reaction from her mother Caroline, who seems to be too weary of the drudgeries of life to hold her grudge against her husband forever. She shares that the news of Hiroshi’s cheating didn’t come out of the blue, as she had anticipated his extramarital relationship previously, but to keep the peace in the family intact, she chose not to call him out in the end.
Where Will The Team Venture To Find Out Hiroshi Randa?
Hiroshi’s office lies in the midst of the Titan battle-devastated site of the city, and Cate plans to venture inside by infiltrating military surveillance. Caroline works as a licensed scavenging crew on the site, and Cate convinces her to escort her, May, and Kentaro inside. As the trio reaches the site and moves towards the abandoned, dilapidated cityscape, a dystopian world unfolds in front of viewers, which perfectly highlights the severity of the tragedy experienced in the wake of the Titans. It almost reminds us of Sam and Ford Brody’s exploration of the dilapidated Janjira nuclear power plant in Godzilla (2014). Cate’s PTSD is triggered by the sight of the places that were once dear to her being in ruins, which reminds her every passing moment of how much she has lost. In a flashback sequence, Cate’s love life with Dina is shown, with whom she was going to start a new phase of life. Cate used to teach in a high school and remembers how, a day prior to G-Day, much like other naysayers, she brushed off her students’ concerns about Titan’s emergence in other parts of the world as a government prank.
The trio escapes getting caught by the military twice and enters a subterranean collapsed site while being chased. By now, Cate’s PTSD has taken hold of her mind, and she almost hallucinates her father Hiroshi in Kentaro. Furthermore, in the flashback, it is shown how Cate secretly cheated on her girlfriend and, in the end, was separated from her, which doubled up her survivor’s guilt in the process. Not only did she lose the students she was meant to protect during the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge, but she also lost the person she loved, whom she unknowingly denied the right to truth even before her death. A distraught, shell-shocked Cate is unable to proceed, and Kentaro entrusts May to comfort her while he goes to find a way out of the collapsed area.
May assures her faith in Cate, and to assuage Cate’s guilt-ridden psyche, she reminds her that without her help, May wouldn’t have survived in the Alaskan wilderness. Cate gathers herself up somehow, and Kentaro joins the band to take the team to the surface by following a cat trail. Finally, the team was able to locate Hiroshi’s office, where they initially struggled to find any secret vault or, for that matter, anything that might indicate his whereabouts. However, after superimposing one of Keiko’s radiation pattern maps on Hiroshi’s specialized world map, Kentaro and Cate are able to pinpoint several locations across the world, which connect San Francisco, Alaska, and extend to Africa. Realizing that Africa is where Hiroshi might have headed next, the trio decides to once again embark on their globetrotting mission.
Before taking her leave, Cate reconciles with Caroline and informs her about Hiroshi’s survival. As Kentaro too gets busy while calling his mother, May uses the opportunity to contact Monarch HQ, presumably Tim and Duvall, to inform them that she is willing to cooperate in exchange for being able to go back home—Tacoma, in this context, to reunite with her sister. May’s supposed betrayal adds a new dimension to the series, as so far, the strong dynamic between the team will be tested in the worst possible way if Kentaro and Cate fail in their attempt to locate Hiroshi due to Monarch’s interference. Her murky past might be connected with the Titan situation in more ways than previously assumed, which will be revealed in upcoming episodes. Additionally, Shaw’s secret, which he hasn’t yet shared with Randa’s grandchildren yet, is another intriguing mystery that might be connected with the larger world-building of the Monsterverse as well. All in all, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is really proving itself to be a valuable addition to the kaiju genre through the multifaceted exploration of various themes and spectacles, and hopefully, the remaining five episodes carry on the same tempo.
