Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season two, episode five, opens with a sweet moment between Hiroshi and Cate and ends with a devastating loss. In between, relationship rifts start to mend and Cate has a close-up encounter with Titan X.
(The following is a recap of season two, episode five – “Furusato” – and there are spoilers.)
Tokyo 1990 – Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira) calls Cate and tries to help her fall asleep. He reminds her of the song his mom used to sing, “Furusato,” and sings it to her now. Cate joins in. She wonders when he’ll be home and he promises it will be soon.
It turns out as he’s speaking with Cate, he’s in the hospital waiting for his son to be born. He didn’t plan to have a child with Emiko, and she wonders if they should call him Bill. He explains that it was his stepfather’s name; his dad’s name was Kentaro.
The action catches up to the end of episode four, with Hiroshi reading Keiko’s letter to Lee. He tries to blow his mom off, claiming they need to concentrate on Titan X’s approach to Santa Soledad. Keiko (Mari Yamamoto) pleads that it was a one-time mistake, and Hiroshi quotes the letter’s declaration of love. He reminds his mom that Bill also read that letter and learned about her feelings for Lee. Hiroshi blames his mom for Bill leaving, and Keiko recalls her last conversation with Bill was about his desire to get back home to their son as quickly as possible.
Santa Soledad, Southern Chile – May (Kiersey Clemons) is with Brenda (Dominique Tipper) at the Apex Cybernetics base quickly set up ahead of Titan X. It’s 13 hours until Titan X is expected and May admits she’s not sure her code is the answer. Brenda’s certain they can control the gigantic Titan if May’s code works.
Lee (Kurt Russell) has a heart-to-heart with Hiroshi, suggesting he should stop worrying about the past and focus on the future. “You got your mother back, Hiro. You did that. Do you really want to push her away now?” asks Lee. Lee knows Hiroshi’s wasting the opportunity to really connect with Keiko by being upset she fell in love with two men. Lee also points out the hypocrisy of Hiroshi being upset about that situation.
Tim (Joe Tippett) has got Monarch Outpost 18 heading to South America and Director Barris (Curtiss Cook) doesn’t understand his reasoning. Neither trusts Apex, and Tim points out his source has inside info that Apex is aware Titan X is heading to South America. Tim’s forced to admit his reliable source is Lee Shaw, which makes Barris even more leery. However, he’ll let Tim proceed if he can get more proof.
Keiko, Kentaro (Ren Watabe), Cate (Anna Sawai), and Hiroshi spend an uncomfortable amount of time on a plane in silence before Cate opens up that she heard something at the Golden Gate Bridge. She thinks she heard the ocean singing but confesses she was drunk at the time. Lee joins them with news that they’ll land in two hours and take a boat to Santa Soledad.
Kentaro wonders how they can be sure Titan X is heading there, and Keiko explains the villagers host a Co-Cai festival to celebrate the monster’s return. Bill predicted Titan X would return there every 15 years, but the Suzuki device upped his arrival by six years.
Lee believes Apex will attempt to place a neural implant in the Titan when it shows up.
Once on Santa Soledad, the group makes their way toward the village. Kentaro has a moment alone with Cate and suggests that since Hiroshi was abandoned as a kid, he may have wanted two families, so he’d never be alone. Kentaro believes he loves both his families, and Cate points out he left both. Kentaro reveals Hiroshi was destroyed when they thought Cate was dead.
Keiko wonders why Lee kept the letter, and he confesses he did it because it was all he had left of her. He thinks they just need to give Hiroshi time to come to terms with it.
At the Apex base, Jason Trissop (Cliff Curtiss) reports to his boss, Brenda, that they found a boat hidden in the cove. His orders are to make sure Lee’s group doesn’t interfere. Meanwhile, Lee’s group is above Apex’s base and calls Monarch.
The villagers left after Monarch arrived on the island and all the houses were deserted. Brenda’s not sure why Titan X comes here, but they’re moving forward on their plan to launch a drone with the projectile. Brenda believes May told the Randas about their plan, but May insists she hasn’t been in contact with them. May thinks this plan is reckless…but she also believes it will work.
Titan X landing time = 3 hours.
Lee points out a building they can use, and it appears Monarch used it in the ‘60s to wait for Titan X’s return. Keiko finds a drawing Hiroshi did as a child and realizes that Bill came back there.
Keiko tells Hiroshi she loved his father with all her heart. She chose Bill. Hiroshi confesses he felt relief after reading the letter that he wasn’t the reason Bill left. Keiko grabs Hiroshi and holds him tight as he admits a weight’s off his shoulders now. He didn’t disappoint Bill. Keiko explains she made the decision against Bill’s and Lee’s wishes to go through the rift. She convinced them she should go down and wishes she hadn’t taken that risk. If she hadn’t made that reckless decision, she could have been there for Hiroshi.
Hiroshi takes a step forward in healing and owns his mistakes, too.
A flashback to 2014 shows Hiroshi just steps away from bringing flowers home when Tim calls with news a fishing trawler retrieved a Monarch bag with William Randa’s name on it. Hiroshi thinks that can wait a week, but Tim insists the contents could be important. Hiroshi changes his mind and heads back to DC without stopping to see his family.
Monarch Outpost 18’s sonar picks up something huge that suddenly appeared behind them. It looks like Titan X and it’s closing in on the ship. Titan X passes below them, rocking the ship as it heads straight to Santa Soledad. They won’t beat it to the port, so Tim warns Lee it’s on the way.
Lee and the Randas hide in the abandoned homes near the dock, avoiding Apex’s security. They enter the old tavern, realizing they’re running out of time to stop Apex. Lee spots the drone and believes they can use two metal torches to jam the drone and prevent it from flying.
They’re shocked when they spot May near the drone and they call for her to join them. May informs them Apex knows they’re there and they should leave. Cate demands to know why she’s helping Apex and May insists the work they’re doing will allow them to control the Titans. Keiko disagrees, calling it barbaric. May warns them to stay away from the drone.
After she leaves, they wonder why – if Apex thinks this is the answer – they would keep it secret from Monarch. Lee believes it’s because Apex would hold the power to create a G-Day wherever they want. They would weaponize the Titans and sell them to the highest bidder.
The ground begins shaking and the Scarabs emerge from underground and head toward the sea. Apex orders their people away from the launch zone as the Scarabs scurry by. That gives Lee and the Randas the opportunity to make their move. They grab the poles as hundreds of Scarabs head toward them, and Lee orders his group back inside. He remains by the drone but is too late to stop it from launching.
Lee’s stuck in the middle of the road as Scarabs run over him heading to the water. His leg is injured, but he survives and as they take him back inside, Cate remains in the street. She hears Titan X and approaches the dock as it rises from the water.
Hiroshi realizes Cate’s still outside and sees her standing in front of Titan X. It doesn’t attack her but does bite at the drone buzzing its head. After it flies by, he returns his attention to Cate, and they seem to be communicating without speaking.
Brenda orders the drone to fire, insisting to May that this is how they’ll save Cate. The drone lands on one of Titan X’s legs and the monster screams in pain. Cate holds her head, also whimpering in pain.
Apex’s equipment indicates the injection has affected Titan X’s somatic responses as planned, and full cognitive override should be next. However, May’s system shows the Titan has too many neurons and her code isn’t scaled up enough to handle it. Brenda orders her to fix it but May can’t.
Hiroshi remains with Cate as her nose bleeds and she groans in pain. Lee, Keiko, and Kentaro step outside as the Scarabs break off the leg with the projectile. It crashes onto the land and knocks Cate and Hiroshi off their feet. Lee, Keiko, and Kentaro run for cover as inside Apex’s command center Brenda orders everyone to evacuate.
Titan X growls as it wipes out the Apex facility before returning to the ocean.
Cate’s able to stand but Hiroshi’s badly injured. Kentaro runs for help and Keiko holds Hiroshi as he tells Cate he missed so much of her life. She tells him he’ll be okay, but Hiroshi knows he’s dying. Keiko sings “Furusato,” the song she sang to comfort him as a child. Cate and Hiroshi join her, sharing one final moment together. Hiroshi becomes too weak to sing but Cate and Keiko don’t stop. Hiroshi holds Cate’s face as he passes away.
Monarch Outpost 18 lands and Tim orders his people to lock the site down and preserve everything.
Brenda and May survived the attack and remain at the camp, but Jason drives away after taking hard drives from the command center.
Kentaro missed saying goodbye to his father. Tim and the medics walk up but there’s nothing they can do.
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