Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Episode 1.07: Will the Real May Please Stand Up?

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: Will the Real May Please Stand Up? 

After having Godzilla march on-screen at the climax of the previous episode, "Monarch" gets right back to spinning its wheels in service of a tedious plot. Tim – the Monarch agent who has been chasing Cate, Kentaro, and May – survives his encounter with Godzilla. He confronts the Randa siblings at the Algerian airport and makes a truce with them. May, meanwhile, is abducted by AET, the cybernetics corporation she's been on the run from the whole time. She's given a deal by her former boss, just as her friends arrive to rescue her. Meanwhile, Lee Shaw performs a coup at Monarch, grabbing the resources necessary to take the fight right to the Titans. 

At this point in the narrative, "Monarch" has become a show about a three-way battle between two factions within a secret government organization and a nefarious tech company. Because that's what I want to see when I'm watching a series about giant monsters. I know I keep belaboring this point but I really can't get over what an obnoxious bait-and-switch "Legacy of Monsters" has become. Shaw and his allies are trying to take back control from what he sees as Monarch's ineffectual leadership. Tim is trying to get Director Verdugo to push the organization into a more public role. Meanwhile, AET wants to sneak into Monarch and undermine its plans. Who are AET, a third organization that hasn't been introduced until this episode? The final seconds reveal what any viewer already would've guessed: They are Apex Cybernetics, the evil company that built MechaGodzilla in "Godzilla Vs. Kong." 

At least this reveal connects back in a loose way to the MonsterVerse movies I'm ostensibly invested in. However, I still can't get over how ass-backwards "Monarch's" story construction has been. In service of a mystery box style structure, constantly teasing out a past or backstory to keep people glued to Apple+, this series has done something as asinine as introducing its primary antagonists seven episodes into a ten episode season. Perhaps letting us know this information right from the beginning might have allowed a viewer to actually be more invested in this winding, convoluted narrative. At this point, I can't say I even care that much about Lee Shaw and his attempts to wrestle back control of the organization he created. Sincerely, who gives a shit about this? Why am I watching this fucking thing? 

If I actually cared about the characters, maybe "Monarch's" discombobulated web of double-crosses and corporate espionage might be involving. Unfortunately, this is not the case. After telling May to go fuck herself at the end of the last episode, Cate is now searching tirelessly for her. By the end of the episode, the show is even teasing a potential romantic attraction between them. Some consistency about who these people are and what they want sure would be nice! This tangled dynamic is so boring that even Kentaro, a character in this program, seems fed-up with it. You know something has gone wrong with a TV show when the reveal that one of the characters actually isn't dead – Tim in this case – actually disappoints you. 

None of this is even the main point of this episode. As you probably guessed from the title, "Will the Real May Please Stand Up?" is focused on the subplot I've been most vocal about hating. We finally find out who Kiercy Clemmons' May is running from and what her double identity backstory is all about. At the very least, this grounds the character some what. Seeing her interact with her family gives her some actual personality. So does the way she flees AET upon discovering they are doing bizarre, unethical experiments with animals. However, the continued suggestion that she may be screwing over her friends again, this time by becoming a double agent for Apex within Monarch, really makes me wonder if any of this backstory matters. Does May have ethics or not? Is she loyal to her friends or only out to save her own ass? We have contradicting evidence for either conclusion. 

Inconsistencies like this really beg the most important question of all: Wasn't this show supposed to be about Godzilla? Yes, after the Big G's re-emergence last episode, he doesn't even appear here. He's mentioned in dialogue repeatedly, as if the writers are desperately trying to reassure viewers to keep watching, but is a no show. What a way to deflate any forward-momentum or tension this show might've had! There's a giant, city wrecking monster wandering around Algeria and this show pauses for an hour to do a bunch of other bullshit. Even Lee Shaw seems unconcerned about Godzilla. The obligatory, single kaiju related scene in this episode has him going after the Frost Vark in Alaska. And, sure, that's a decent sequence that ends with a big explosion, an elaborate light show, and a cheering Kurt Russell. 

Yet I can't help but feel like this is just another pitstop on the way towards whatever greater destination "Monarch's" creative staff is envisioning. In other words: By following the demands of modern serialized storytelling in television, "Monarch" has become yet another show designed to continuously frustrate and tease the viewer, always promising more but never actually delivering while filling time with a bunch of bullshit nobody cares about. [4/10]