Welcome back to the MonsterVerse. Welcome back to Kong Island. Welcome back to the chaos, the calamity, and the colossal creatures known as Titans. And most of all, welcome back to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. [Warning: Spoilers ahead for Season 2 Episode 1, “Cause and Effect.”]
Season 2 opens right where Season 1 left off: pure pandemonium. Our heroes are back from the Axis Mundi, and an enraged King Kong is attacking the camp set up by Apex Cybernetics on Skull Island. Cate, Kentaro, May, Hiroshi, and Keiko (Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Takehiro Hira, and Mari Yamamoto) are sent scrambling for their lives, and if the two-year time jump to 2017 wasn’t jarring enough, the savage attack by a 335-foot Megaprimatus kong is certainly startling. It is complete bedlam as Kong rages a hirsute havoc against the camp, taking out a helicopter carrying our protagonists, causing it to crash and then… blackout.
Keiko later awakens in an observation room aboard Monarch’s ship, Outpost 18, a deep-sea vessel that now stands as part of her legacy, as explained by her son Hiroshi. The island, and Kong himself, have changed, with Apex deeply embedded in Titan affairs through Monarch liaison Tim (Joe Tippett), while Deputy Director Natalia Verdugo (Mirelly Taylor) works to stabilize the growing crisis.
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As it stands, Apex and Monarch are working together in an uneasy alliance, though neither trusts the other fully.
As for our ragtag group of time-traveling Titan hunters, Cate is haunted by the decision to leave Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) behind in Axis Mundi and pushes to return for him, but Monarch declares the island off limits. May is offered a seat back at Apex, an offer that is sidelined for now as the quartet eventually defies orders and heads back toward Skull Island to rescue Shaw, encountering an Ion Dragon and passing a sleeping Kong along the way.
Meanwhile, in the Axis Mundi, Shaw is becoming acquainted with the local woodland critters, killing what he can with his sad little knife and doing his best to stay alive while his buddies in 2017 attempt to rescue him by sending a shuttle. It works, sort of, but unfortunately, a large sea creature slips through a portal meant to rescue him. And this is where we get to know the show’s new big bad: Titan X.
The season also weaves in flashbacks from 1957 set in Santa Soledad, Chile, where Lee, Keiko, and Bill (Anders Holm) investigate reports of sea serpents in a remote fishing village. There, they discover an altar, a suspended creature revered as a god, and cave drawings that suggest Titans have long been worshipped rather than feared. The locals warn them to leave, insisting the island is sacred and dangerous.
Back in 2017, long-buried tensions between Cate and Hiroshi surfaced about his second family, while Kentaro and May work together to rescue both Shaw and themselves. When Shaw is finally pulled back through the collapsing portal, Verdugo is swept away by a Titan’s tail (R.I.P.?), and Kong, furious at yet another human intrusion, reminds Monarch and Apex alike that Titans will never be controlled.
Monarch maintains its signature dual timeline structure from Season 1, with the new season promising fresh alliances, buried secrets, and the arrival of new Titans as even more of the MonsterVerse is unveiled. But one of the most compelling developments is the introduction of Dr. Keiko Randa into the modern era. When she vanished into Axis Mundi in the 1950s, Monarch was a scrappy, off-the-books operation fueled by passion and scientific curiosity, constantly clashing with a military establishment that preferred eradication over understanding. Decades later, she awakens to find Monarch transformed into a massive global organization. Even more surreal, she is no longer an obscure scientist fighting to be heard. She is a revered figurehead, her legacy institutionalized in ways she never could have imagined.
RelatedSkull Island, Kong, and a New Era: ‘Monarch’ Season 2 Goes Bigger Than Ever
In a small but poignant scene with Tim (who is overwhelmed at meeting her), Keiko is taking in all the modern technology and how Monarch has grown, “I hope I can be useful in some way.” To which he replies, “Are you kidding? Dr. Randa, you are everything that has been missing from this place.” A woman who has struggled her whole life to get people to call her doctor is now being worshipped as a living legend.
TV Insider sat down with Mari Yamamoto to talk about this juxtaposition between the two seasons and how the time jump affected her character.
“I think she’s, in a way, backtracking. I think coming into it, she’s so heartbroken over everything that she’s lost, and really, it’s the biggest jet lag of all time that she’s suffering from, so it’s really a lot to adjust to,” said Yamamoto. “So it takes a little time, but then, in this world, you’re never given enough time, because there’s always a monster, there’s always some life threatening circumstance that is, you know, coming at you, and so she doesn’t really get the time to process anything that’s happened, and she has to jump straight into action.”
“She’s worried if her skills and her knowledge are applicable at all,” Yamamoto added. “But it turns out that she’s smart and she can adapt, and she can be useful. And that really lights a fire in her again, ‘Oh, if I can be useful, like, there are things I can do. I can contribute.’ That gets the ball rolling into what becomes a massive adventure of 10 days this season.’”
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Fridays, Apple TV
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