Apple TV+’s first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters continues with episode six, which, unlike episode five, revisits the past and brings Keiko, Bill, and a younger Lee Shaw back into the story. And after an episode that was devoid of monsters – except for a brief glimpse at Godzilla – episode six serves up new scenes with the gigantic monster.
Washington D.C. – The Summer of 1955
Dressed to the nine, Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell) escorts Dr. Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto) to the American Defense Industry Federal Summer Ball. Their goal: convince the powers that be to continue funding Monarch.
Lee’s been promoted to captain, and General Puckett (Christopher Heyerdahl) heaps praise on a man he seems to now consider his protégé. The other officers are eager to hear about Monarch but less eager to speak with Keiko. An officer points out she’s Japanese, and Puckett assures them she’s “one of the good ones.”
(Is it just me or is Wyatt Russell looking and sounding much more like his dad, Kurt, as the episodes go on?)
It’s obvious Lee is into Keiko, and Keiko also seems to be interested in the handsome young officer as they dance. They take a break, and Lee confesses being career military wouldn’t be so bad. He could have a house, a family, and live a normal life. Keiko leans her head on his shoulder as they discuss their favorite things about children.
As Keiko and Lee are about to escape upstairs, Lee receives an urgent message from Bill Randa (Anders Holm). They join him at Monarch Headquarters, and Bill reveals he thinks they’ve spotted signs of another Titan. Keiko confirms it’s possible it’s a Titan, but they won’t know until they go to Japan and find out for themselves.
Lee reminds them they need to present their budget ASAP, and Keiko and Bill suggest they split up. They’ll go to Japan while Lee remains behind to plead for more money.
Keiko and Bill arrive on Hateruma Island, Japan, and Dr. Suzuki welcomes them to Monster Island. They quickly get down to work, with Dr. Sukuzi insisting his readings are correct, which Bill points out would mean physics is wrong. Sukuzi prefers to think that theoretical physics is incomplete.
He’s been using an invention of his – a gamma ray simulator – to send out signals, and he’s been getting responses. Keiko calls the invention a Titan phone, but Bill thinks it’s equally correct to call it Titan bait.
Bill calls Lee to let him know their mission is the real deal. They can barely hear each other, and Bill doesn’t respond when Lee asks about Keiko. Bill thinks they have a big fish on their line.
Lee intrudes on General Puckett’s family BBQ and requests that he be allowed to join Keiko and Bill. Puckett warns Lee he has decisions to make and that if he makes the right choice, he’ll get to run Monarch his way.
The Titan phone/bait is activated, and Bill’s disappointed that nothing immediately happens. Lee drives up, even though he’s supposed to be in a meeting securing funding back in the States. Bill realizes he needs to allow Lee and Keiko time alone to talk, and Keiko seems upset that Lee followed her instead of remaining behind.
Lee insists his place is with her and that without her, there is no Monarch. Keiko thinks they can’t get involved romantically because that will place Monarch’s needs behind theirs. “If we can’t put the greater good before our own desires, we risk losing everything,” says Keiko.
Lee says he doesn’t care, and they kiss. Keiko insists he does care.
Their moment is shattered when Keiko realizes the Titan phone out in the ocean has stopped working. Plus, it’s disappeared. They barely have time to react when Suzuki’s invention comes hurtling through the air and crashes near them on the beach.
They’re looking at it and don’t notice Godzilla emerging in the water right behind them! It’s only now that they realize they didn’t kill it. Lee’s upset by the news while Keiko smiles.
As Keiko, Bill, and Lee return from their trip and enter Monarch’s headquarters, Keiko and Lee are still arguing over whether to inform General Puckett of Godzilla’s reemergence. There’s no weapon that can bring Godzilla down in America’s arsenal, and Keiko believes if they tell Puckett what they just saw, he’ll have the military build a bigger, more powerful weapon.
They enter Monarch’s headquarters to discover it’s full of military personnel. There’s been a change of command during Captain Lee Shaw’s unauthorized absence, and Puckett has handed Monarch’s command over to someone else.
Keiko blames all of this on Lee. He shouldn’t have followed them.
Delta Junction, Alaska
Lee (Kurt Russell) is being taken somewhere by Monarch guards, head covered with a hood. The vehicle comes to a sudden stop, and Duvall (Elisa Lasowski) bangs on the door, requesting entry. She knocks out the guards, frees Lee, and demands to know why he believes he knows more about the Titans than the finest minds at Monarch.
Lee confesses he’s making up for not doing enough when he had the chance. He’s been telling Monarch what’s going to happen for years, but they don’t believe him. They just assume he’s crazy.
Duvall claims she only works for Monarch because she’s determined an attack will never happen again. Others at Monarch feel the same. Duvall thinks Lee has the answers she’s been searching for.
Over at the Alameda Point FEMA housing, May (Kiersey Clemons) and Kentaro (Ren Watabe) aren’t nearly as enthusiastic about Cate’s (Anna Sawai) plan to head to the middle of the Sahara. The trio are absolutely shocked to discover Lee and Duvall have made themselves at home inside Cate’s trailer.
They’re not happy to see Duvall, but Lee explains she’s now on their side. Lee and Duvall believe G-Day times 1000 is on its way and that Hiroshi is trying to stop it. Despite Lee’s assurances, Cate and Kentaro want nothing to do with Duvall. Lee insists she’s with them now and no longer taking orders from Monarch.
Speaking of Monarch, Tim (Joe Tippett) and Asst Director Natalia Verdugo (Mirelly Taylor) tracked their phones to Hiroshi’s destroyed office but don’t know what they were looking for there. Tim figures out there’s something missing on the wall and traces the path of pin holes where the map used to be. The pattern seems familiar.
Verdugo reveals Hiroshi was booted from Monarch for repositioning deep space satellites to look at gamma rays on Earth. Tim believes he knows what Bill’s files reveal and what Hiroshi is looking for.
Hiroshi’s next stops should be in Central Asia, Cambodia, and the Sahara Desert. Verdugo orders Monarch’s satellites directed to the coordinates Tim has discovered.
Lee’s group drives through the Algerian Desert, with Duvall quietly assuring May she’ll send her home as soon as they finish this mission. They arrive at a temporary camp in the middle of nowhere, and Cate wants nothing to do with the Monarch personnel there. Lee assures her all the Monarch guys aren’t bad, and these are on Duvall’s – and therefore their – side.
Cate’s frustrated that their search for her dad keeps getting sidetracked by Monarch business. Lee reminds her he could have taken her map at any time but didn’t; it’s just that Monarch and the search for Hiroshi overlap.
If Cate doesn’t help out now, millions of lives could be lost. Cate hands over the map and reluctantly remains on board the mission.
They locate the correct coordinates on the map, and Lee believes whatever they’re looking for is nearby. They stand on a ridge and scan their surroundings, and Kentaro spots his dad down below! They shout to get his attention, and instead of coming to them, he desperately signals for them to get away from there. It appears he’s got a smaller version of Dr. Suzuki’s invention in the back of his Jeep.
Lee realizes what’s happening and gets everyone on the move just as a Monarch helicopter appears overhead.
The ground underneath Lee’s group shakes, and crevices open up as Godzilla emerges from under the desert. Everyone tumbles down the side of a hill as their Jeep flies over them, barely missing them.
Once the dust settles, they are face-to-face with Godzilla. The massive creature rises to its full height, and the helicopter can’t move away quickly enough. It hits the creature’s back and crashes.
Godzilla doesn’t attack Lee’s group even though it looks directly at Cate. Instead, Godzilla heads off in the opposite direction.
Tim and the rest of team in the helicopter are presumed to have perished in the crash. Lee takes permanent possession of Kentaro and Cate’s map, insisting they need to find Godzilla’s next location before Monarch does. Cate has no idea what they’re doing. They can’t stop Godzilla, so what’s their mission>?
“Jesus, Cate, I’m trying to help him!” says Lee.
May thinks Lee’s lost his mind. But Lee promises if they come with him, they’ll learn everything. May’s out and wants to go home, while Cate and Kentaro want to keep looking for their dad. Lee points them back toward civilization and drives off with Duvall.
Hiroshi drove off just as the earth started rumbling, and Kentaro’s not sure if he was really waving them away. (He was.) Cate believes it’s possible their dad left to either escape Godzilla or lure him away. Cate’s happy they’re all alive and that they finally confirmed for themselves that he’s not dead.
Cate hopes May has a backup of their map, and May finally admits she sold them out. She told Duvall where they were in exchange for help getting her life back. “I’m the reason that they found us,” says May.
She has a lot of money and offers to help them out however she can. Cate tells her to go to hell and walks away as episode six ends.
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 1 “Aftermath” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 2 “Departure” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 3 “Secrets and Lies” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 4 “Parallels and Interiors” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 5 “The Way Out” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 7 “Will the Real May Please Stand Up” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 8 “Birthright” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 “Axis Mundi” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10 “Beyond Logic” Finale Recap
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New episodes of Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters stream on Fridays.
