After a brief visit back in time to a discussion between Bill Randa (Anders Holm) and Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto), Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode eight catches up with Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) and Duvall (Elisa Lasowski) in 2015 as they head to a target in Kazakhstan.
But don’t get comfortable in the more modern era, as the first half of this episode recap is going to concentrate on the events of 1955.
Lee (Wyatt Russell), Keiko, and Bill meet with Lt. Hatch in Washington DC. He’s unimpressed with their latest work on gamma rays and thinks they’re wasting money on a ridiculous project. If a Godzilla-type monster shows its face, the U.S. will take care of him with a nuke. Hatch wonders why, after two years of throwing money into Monarch, there aren’t any new monster sightings.
Hatch believes the money should be used to ferret out hostile agents instead of chasing imaginary monsters. And speaking of hostile agents, do they have one in their midst? He’s very suspicious of Keiko and has no idea how she ever qualified for a top-secret clearance.
Bill, Lee, and Keiko realize that Hatch is going to write a negative report that will likely affect Monarch’s funding. To save Monarch, Lee suggests they tell Hatch that Godzilla isn’t dead. (They’ve been keeping his reappearance a secret.) Sure, the government will go after Godzilla again, but at least their funding won’t be pulled.
Bill and Keiko disagree, so Lee proposes that they draw Hatch a map of where the Titans are hiding since he’s so anxious to see more monsters. They have just three days to take all their research and put together a package that will convince General Puckett and the other senior officers that Monarch is doing important work.
Bill and Keiko put their heads together, with Keiko instructing Bill to remove anything that’s not a confirmed sighting from the map. He does so, but very reluctantly.
Bill’s still hard at work trying to figure out what they’re missing on the map when suddenly an ant crawls through a hole in the paper. Bill has an epiphany and heads to Keiko’s place, too excited to wait until tomorrow to share his discovery.
Keiko’s shocked when he pounds on her door and begs Bill to keep his voice down. She won’t tell him why, but Bill’s so bursting with news that he doesn’t question what’s going on. He explains the ants showed him what he was missing – the Titans live underground in another realm that exists together but separate from our world! That allows them to move around the planet without being seen.
Keiko says that’s a brilliant idea but doesn’t have time to say anything else before a little boy pops in and says, “Mama.” She introduces Bill to Hiroshi, and now it’s Bill’s turn to be shocked.
Keiko explains she requested to do her post-graduate work at Berkeley so Hiroshi would have better opportunities. She was surprised at how long it took to save the money to bring him to America, but he’s been here for six months now. Keiko confesses she wanted to tell him and Lee. She didn’t because of how she’s been treated being a woman and Japanese. If the officers had discovered that she was a widow raising a child, they never would have let her work at Monarch.
Bill insists he – and Monarch – have her back.
Elsewhere, Lee Shaw has an urgent meeting with General Puckett about Monarch’s funding. Puckett believes Hatch’s report is correct and that there’s no reason to continue funneling money to Monarch. Lee hands him Bill and Keiko’s map, showing potential Titan threats Monarch is currently assessing. When Puckett doesn’t change his mind, Lee informs the general that they did not kill Godzilla.
Puckett moves their chat into a private room, and Lee confirms he saw Godzilla with his own eyes. Finally, Puckett agrees to look at the map while Lee emphasizes the map came from Keiko and Bill – not from Hatch. Hatch had nothing to do with it, and it wasn’t included in his report.
Lee asks Puckett to agree that Keiko and Bill’s authority over Monarch’s scientific operations will remain unchallenged. Puckett confirms that’s the case.
Worlds Collide in 2015
Meanwhile, Duvall, Lee, and their team arrive at the Kazakhstan location, which is where Keiko fell into the pit of endoswarmers all those years ago. Lee says whatever is inside the building won’t be for the faint of heart.
Tim (Joe Tippett) takes Cate (Anna Sawai), May (Kiersey Clemons), and Kentaro (Ren Watabe) to Monarch, which isn’t as impressive as they expected. But Tim’s got a card up his sleeve and shows them Monarch’s inner sanctum. “Now, this is more like it,” responds May.
Monarch outposts all across the globe are picking up gamma-ray bursts reminiscent of G-Day in locations Hiroshi has visited. Deputy Director Verdugo (Mirelly Taylor) doesn’t know whether Hiroshi’s following the bursts or predicting them.
Verdugo reveals that after Shaw set off explosions in the Alaska rift, the gamma-ray emissions there dropped. However, they increased at other locations. If Shaw lets loose with more explosives, the world could have another G-Day on its hands.
Time is running short, and Monarch’s options are limited, so Verdugo needs Cate and Kentaro to think about where they believe Shaw will head next. They saw their dad’s map and may have better insight into Lee’s plans than anyone at Monarch does.
The Scooby gang heads to Tim’s office, which just happens to be the same one Keiko and Bill shared back in the day. Tim believes there’s something in all the paperwork he’s kept (he’s pretty much a hoarder) that could help them find Lee’s next location. Tim’s certain there’s a direct line from Hiroshi’s map to the current gamma-ray readings.
Cate discovers a report on Keiko being lost during field duties, a report that declares her missing and presumed dead. The report was signed by Lee Shaw. Since Keiko died in Kazakhstan, the group believes that’s where Lee is headed next. Verdugo is skeptical, but Cate insists that Lee is a sentimental guy and that he spoke of Keiko as if he was in love with her. Tim’s certain Lee’s rewriting the past, which means Kazakhstan has got to be the next target.
Verdugo decides only a small team can go, and Cate, May, and Tim volunteer. She agrees, saying, “Sure. Why not? I always thought Goonies deserved a sequel.”
Kentaro’s a reluctant member of the team, unsure if he wants to continue to follow their dad. He ultimately agrees to go with them to Kazakhstan, but not because of their dad.
A small team of Monarch personnel joins the gang to protect them from anything dangerous. Cate’s worried that if Shaw sees armed “monster nerds,” he won’t let them get close. Kentaro and Cate truly believe Lee wants them there to take over the family business and won’t hurt them, so they refuse bulletproof vests.
They arrive at the location, and it’s clear Lee’s group blasted its way into the building. Tim, Cate, Kentaro, and May step through the hole behind three armed Monarch personnel. The radiation reading inside is bad-adjacent – similar to a chest X-ray. Tim notes this building was supposed to be uninhabitable, but apparently, something is absorbing the radiation.
They make their way through the building with just flashlights guiding the way. Tim nearly faints when he steps on a creature. Fortunately, it’s only an exoskeleton. Dozens of them can be seen in the immediate vicinity. Cate points out that animals molt when they’re growing, which isn’t what anyone in the group wants to hear.
They continue to head toward the reactor and to where Keiko was last seen alive. Cate’s sure that’s where Lee will be.
The hole Keiko fell into is still there, but now it’s obvious that it extends thousands of feet into the earth. Tim calls it a portal/entry point to “tinfoil-hat land,” and Kentaro wonders if maybe Shaw’s plan to close it isn’t actually a good idea after all.
There are enough charges set up around the perimeter of the hole to bring down the entire building. As they’re taking a closer look, Duvall and her team surround them at gunpoint, ordering them to step away from the explosives.
Duvall reminds Tim he’s not cut out for fieldwork, and Cate finally speaks up, demanding to see Lee Shaw. Lee shows up at the mention of his name and agrees to speak only to Cate. Lee believes Godzilla isn’t a mindless destructive force. Instead, he’s guarding a world below us that Lee knows exists because he visited it a long time ago.
Monarch doesn’t believe him, but Cate says she does. She wants to know what he saw, and words fail Lee. However, he learned that Keiko was right about needing to keep Godzilla alive. Godzilla is keeping us safe by keeping the Titans in their own world.
Lee is determined to seal off every portal, but Cate wonders if he’s not actually making things worse. Gammy rays spike in other locations when he closes off a portal.
Lee refuses to believe that, suggesting Monarch’s misinterpreting the data. It’s more important to believe in the work than it is to overanalyze data. Lee thinks Keiko would want this, too, and Cate knows all this is to make up for losing her.
Lee agrees but also points out it’s impossible to actually make up for her loss. However, closing the portals will honor the work Bill and Keiko did.
Suddenly, the earth begins to rumble just as Lee has the explosives begin their two-minute countdown. Duvall yells that something’s coming and everyone makes for the exits, except May who turns back to fetch Cate. Unfortunately, May slips into the pit and falls. Cate stops to try and help her just as a Titan roars up from underground.
Cate’s on the verge of tumbling into the hole when Lee grabs her hand, screaming at her to hold on. She’s still holding Lee’s hand when they both plummet toward the other realm.
The final scene of episode eight shows the building going up in a massive explosion.
- 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 6 “Terrifying Miracles” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 7 “Will the Real May Please Stand Up?” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 9 “Axis Mundi” Recap
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 10 “Beyond Logic” Finale Recap
* * * * * * * *
New episodes of Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters stream on Fridays.
