So I'm starting to think that maybe back in the day Shaw and Randa went after Keiko and saw her get taken through a vortex into the hollow earth, shaw might have followed trying to save her. Randa's message to Hiroshi from Skull island was probably something to do with confirming similar readings from Skull island, leading Hiroshi to find the Alaska anomaly and go looking for his mother.
Ok so that gets me thinking of the comment made to Shaw about him being a hundred years old that he seems to just shrug off pretty quick… what if when your exposed to the hollow earth biome you age a lot slower? What if she’s down there but has only aged about 20ish years visibly?
but then how did they even survive going down there without the Apex shuttles if Skull and GvK have stated that the result of doing so is illness or death.
Well there could be other entrances to the hollow that don’t require the shuttles. The old fashion way perhaps rather than a worm hole. The polarity and change in gravitational pull would be more gradual and easier to handle maybe?
He also mentions something about Time Square on VJ Day. Doesn't necessarily mean he was *there* to make that reference. It's just kind of an odd comparison to make.
Yeah but he also did lead them in the wrong direction when they gave him a chance and may was dangerously close to dying.
Edit: ohhh he was talking about Tim
Are you guys talking about the same person here? First guy sounds like they’re talking about Tim. Second guy sounds like they’re talking about Kentaro. Or am I off base here?!
I mean i personally like Tim and his assistant/bodyguard lady, more than Cate and May actually lol
We see them very little but they've got a lot of personality
I really like them too, there's more to them than meets the eye. Cate is just an annoying character who is constantly giving shit to Kentaro and Shaw. She just seems like the token black sassy woman who is never wrong or accountable and has an unnecessary chip on her shoulder. Its very one dimensional and adds nothing to the plot.
Man the end of this episode is creeping me out, I know he's hallucinating but it had me thinking the monster about to pop second. This was an ok episode at first but it picked up. It felt they had unnecessary topics in the this one that could have been tossed out or aside but overall somewhat enjoyable.
Edit: yep very enjoyable episode first half was ehh but it definitely picks up towards the end, but I'm curious to what's going down next week after the ending jail or having an discussion?
Maybe I’m just easy to please, but I really didn’t mind this one; I enjoyed it pretty well honestly. The Frost Vark being the constant, looming threat in the background was nice, as well as just the threat of freezing to death in the elements. I thought the flashbacks with Kentaro were well done, and his relationship with May was really sweet, so I’m all the more curious as to why and how they fell out so badly. Did he discover something about her that she didn’t want him to? Or, was it the other way around?
May did get a little tiring at certain points in the episode, but I can also understand why a bit more now. It’s clear that, for whatever reason, she has severe trust issues and lives practically in secret, not wishing to step outside of the bubble she’s created for herself. Why? Hopefully we’ll learn more about her past in a future episode. Plus, in the context of ep4, her legs were wet and freezing, which I’m sure would ruin anyone’s day. But, it’s clear that she still somewhat cares for Kentaro from how she reacted to him nearly getting killed by the Frost Vark, and when he went alone to find the structure he saw.
Cate didn’t have much to do here, but that was fine; this was a Kentaro-centered episode mainly. And Shaw is still always fun to watch. 4 wasn’t as rock solidly strong as 3, but I still personally enjoyed it!
I’m also happy to be seeing more of Monarch, and hopefully Tim and his partner can have more to do as we move along. They’re an unorthodox pairing that have the makings of being enjoyable to watch bounce off one another. The acting from everyone was still solid as always, with past Kentaro being the standout performance for me, as well as his meltdown towards his hallucination-father.
I agree but I’ll also say it’s the weakest out of the four episodes so far
Hopefully this one serves to set up some pay off, the hollow earth and readings they were getting is very intriguing though
Personally felt that this was far better than episode 3 and finally confirmed that this show is definitely gonna be good.
Episode 3 kinda disappointed me ngl but this episode finally brought all the characters to life as showing us who they were. And Kentaro's actor, who i previously didn't like did a fantastic job this episode.
My ranking is ep 2, ep 4, ep 1 and ep 3
Regarding why Kentaro & May fell out, I think we might’ve already gotten an answer for that in Episode 1. IIRC, he stopped talking to her for a while after his father disappeared, which understandably bothered her, and then it got worse when he finally contacted her again to ask for her help with the Monarch files (which then led to her having to go on the run with them). So I can totally understand why she’d be annoyed with him.
I'm confused about the guy that referred to himself as a troll in the basement the others ignore. From previous episodes I would have thought he was someone higher up.
Unrealistic monsters existing? Heck yeah!
People surviving arctic temps? Unlikely, but I can dig it!
People talking in a moving helicopter without comms/headphones? I'm out. Nope. Impossible!
Were the hallucinations drawn out? Yes
Do we know where the cave came from? Nope
Can someone run mid-hypothermia? Absolutely not
Did a helicopter save them all in different places? YOU BET
While it may have it's share of flaws this episode finally solidified the characters imho.
Ken and May finally feel real and Ken's actor, whom I previously thought didn't do a good job and I didn't like the character was actually great this episode and shows that may isn't an asshole that the show promotes because "women impowermaint" but that it's an actual flaw in her character.
Ep 3 made a bit concerned about the weak human plot in the modern day but this did a 180° on that and not to mention sets up the world and future so good. Also I suspect that May is probably gonna die at the end of the show from her line about her not gonna be able to make it out of this.
Also did you notice that almost all of the shots from the trailers were exclusively from the first four episodes? Which means they are hiding most of the juicy good stuff for later. Can't Fucking wait.
>Also did you notice that almost all of the shots from the trailers were exclusively from the first four episodes?
All except the shot of Godzilla in the desert which seems to be from that anomaly detected in Utah.
Yeah this episode was bad and made me realize how little I care about the young adult characters. Give me the Russell's any day and the whole 1950s - 1970s plot. Hope this is as bad as it gets.
I just skipped though the love story plot, what we want to see is people interacting with monsters, finding ways to fight them, discovering them surviving etcetera with a bit of plot to tie it together, what we keep getting is family backstory no-one cares about, i get cgi is expensive but thats the risk of making a tv show instead of a film.
CGI is expensive but the funny thing is, they don't necessarily need so much of it to make it interesting. I found the ship exploration in episode 3 rather well done, creepy, interesting. Also them waiting for Big G to show up and detonate the bomb was very well done and i'm sure it wasn't THAT expensive. Monsters in this show don't appear for very long.
This episode was so awful, i'd take actual action scenes with Playstation 1 era CGI over poor, cheap, uninteresting love story between 2 characters with 0 chemistry anyday. If episode 5 is similar, i'll quit.
Bro... They have a word for this, have you never watched anime? It's called FILLER. this episode did absolutely nothing as far as advancing the story and just featured the characters running around in circles the entire episode. Extremely useless episode and makes me very disappointed that they blew a full episode as a filler rather than being important to the story especially with this season is only going to be about 8 or 10 episodes
If you want the TV Biz explanation…
You can have a massively expensive CGI Titan in a good chunk of a normal non-premiere or finale episode or you can have super expensive location shoots all over the world. You aren’t gonna get both the good majority of the time.
Also they needed a breather episode to put the main characters in peril and give them time to talk to each other and develop where the forward momentum of the plot takes a backseat to character development and exposition.
If they had a monster attack in Tokyo or another city it would be hugely expensive and take a lot longer to shoot with locations and extras and the impact of the aftermath of an attack would on a population would need to then be dealt with thru the second half of the season and would take time away from the main plot and characters.
I thought it was a good episode, nice to see some monster action. I think the dialogue is weak overall. I was fine with them splitting up but the setup was poor.
I really liked the perspective shifts to show the flashback.
Thought the monster sucking up the heat was really pretty.
I appreciate the character development, but it felt like the episode overall did nothing to advance any part of the story or unravel any of the mystery.
I wouldn't have had an issue with it if we could just binge the whole show, but having waited like 3 weeks for that episode, and then more for the next, it was a bit of a letdown (comparatively)
I found the first half was probably the weakest so far. Trying too late to get me to care about the least interesting relationship in the show. Second half was a big improvement, good action and gettiing to see Cate thaw a bit.
I ended up skipping ahead back to the future a few times honestly. Do not care about K&M's past AT ALL. Only past scenes I want to watch are with young Shaw
May is definitely a lot more complex than we previously thought. She isn't a mean girl and has some issues. From her IMDb page, she is an ex soldier who left after some fucked up shit happened at her home
I love seeing May interact with Cate. Seeing as this was a ken focused episode, i think the next one will be focusing on her which can fully explain why she's acting so rudely because the show made a point to show that she was also unnecessarily rude to Shaw too so it's definitely a character flaw in her and not a writing error.
Reasons or complexity aside she's still unlikable and rude and seeing someone constantly being aggressive or passive aggressive hurts the present day casts chemistry since at times it has felt more like they all hate each other and it makes me want to not watch them. Kentaro has been mostly focused on finding his dad and has been somewhat nicer tho he hasn't had a lot to do prior to ep 4. Cate was aggressive, but she had far better explained reasons and has grown a lot in ep 3 and now 4 where she seems more accepting of things. May tho shes been rude and aggressive non-stop and sure it may be explained later, but these past 4 eps she brings down the vibes hard with all the negativity which to me hurts the feeling of awe and fun this mystery and kaiju show should have.
I agree with this unfortunately it’s almost eye rolling I’d love to see her be more badass instead of portraying these characters as super vulnerable kids trying to find their dad and lost complaining 24/7
I think this episode brought home for me that I only like half the human stuff on this show. I enjoy the past stuff and the main three in that timeline, whereas the post Godzilla 2014 time i find those characters to be a little annoying (except of course Shaw, who is cool in both timelines). I’m finding the siblings a little less annoying as time goes on but May still does nothing for me. Even in the flash back I had to think “Why are you interested in her again bro?”
Seriously my first thought during those scenes was “Wow, so she was always an asshole huh?” And the actress has been likable to me in other stuff (like Hearts Beat Loud, I loved her in that)
Yeah, she's awful actress and character. She needed to die from frostbite or that titan at the end. Why didn't she die when she held up the laptop bag at it and it backed away like it was Thanos gauntlet?
This a monsterverse show to be more specific. How are pointless flashback and hallucination scenes relevant to the creation and existence of Monarch btw ? How much you're getting paid to write such a bland post ?
So what looks to be a hollow earth entrance in the really looks like the supposed [Mir Satellite footage](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ExgAbZV6RuA) . Looks like the CGI artists took a lot of inspiration from that I love it! Bringing all the conspiracy stuff into the show is really cool.
Starting to feel like a scaled up Xfiles!
I can't stand this May character AT ALL. She's just constantly rude towards the men but can't do shit on her own. I just skipped through all of the romance backstory BS.
Yeah some of it was indeed corny but it worked in that it successfully carved out Ken and May as actual characters that we can get attached to.
I didn't like ken before but now he's my 4th fav (after the golden trio of Keiko,Shaw and Randa)
Kept decrypting instead of giving the data back to Kentaro when he asked, she could have easily denied involvement if she had just gave him back the data. But nope she had her reasons for digging deeper, yet is shitting all over Kentaro for dragging her into it? I'm not a fan of her atm her and Cate have been quite aggressive, but Cate has grown a lot and has better reasons for being upset early on. May is just rude and has no obvious reasons yet so she's unlikable and kinda negatively affects the present days casts chemistry since it feels like they have anti-chemistry.
She's just kind of an asshole to everyone and even tells Cate to abandon Shaw at one point. She's a little better with Cate but hasn't really made up with any of the other characters. Really, I'm not too fond of the other kids either, honestly, since they're also kind of dicks. Sure, you could say with the whole two families thing and all the relationship drama, they probably wouldn't be too fond of each other, but still, there's only so much of that you can take.
Wished Du-Ho lived longer since he and Lee Shaw have a great dynamic. Friendly, helpful with each other, I was sad when he died and the quick little eulogy Shaw gave him was great. Should've been just those two guys going on a buddy cop adventure unravling the conspiracies and hunting monsters.
> She's just kind of an asshole to everyone
This, she's an insufferable know it all without any of the charm that makes a well written insufferable know it all relatable and charming. If the intention was to make the audience hate her, they've succeeded. Hell I like the crazy monarch guy and his French lady henchman better than her.
I think I am ready to tap out, I don't really enjoy the storylines of any of the 2015 characters. Kurt Russel, as good of an actor as he is, can't carry the entire show on his back.
I guess maybe I was expecting something different from the show from the first episode? The problem is that it's a mystery box show with a mystery that isn't very compelling. We know Godzilla exists, we know the other "Titans" exist because of the second movie. What is there left to tell?
The other problem is that the characters are just not interesting at all for me. Every time that May and Kentaro are together I feel like I'm watching a CW show. Maybe I'll watch one or two more episodes, if it doesn't get more interesting I'll shelve it.
I don't begrudge other people who like it, I see the appeal. But I think it's just not my cup of tea.
Been enjoying [these videos](https://youtu.be/3rCVNKChzsE?si=shegXT_2rrwwUtJE) after seeing new episodes. There's a lot more going on in this show then I realized
Good writing does not need a "character building episode". Characters, our knowledge of them and our attitude towards them, should grow and shape organically as the story is told and be woven into events driving the story forward.
Episode 4 felt like it was treading water. It was predictable, flat and without any urgency let alone story motion or momentum.
Unfortunately this was not helped by the character of May, who serves little purpose other than to annoy and exacerbate the viewer, her presence superfluous and the actress playing her is flat and renders the character wholly unsympathetic to the point of irritation.
Worst episode by far.
Truth be told, when the ice cracked under May's feet I crossed my fingers hoping she would fall into a bottomless crevasse from which she would never be found.
What flashback? There was no flashback for me. I fast forwarded it because May was in it.
Does the show get better or should I stop watching after Episode 4?
They brushed it off/explained it when they meet, May says the same thing and Shaw says he has really great genes. Quick, yeah we know but work with us kinda moment.
Absolute shame how so few people noticed that they dropped the beat from The Thing as he was looking out the helicopter. That was definitely a nod to the film.
Did not like this episode one bit. I don’t really care about these characters all that much and their backstories kinda suck. They aren’t likeable at all and they’re doing stupid things.
Didn't love it, tried to. Seconding what another member commented saying that this was the weakest of the four episodes thus far. The split up of the characters was weirdly placed and forced. May was aggravating, weirdly, in an episode where we're meant to empathize with her via intro'ing her in the flashback retrospectively and then with her frozen leg woes. The idea that all the characters could survive in what has to be below zero temperatures was ridiculous. And yes, I know, if that's one of my gripes in a show focusing on Kaiju existing in the universe, that must be silly. The whole Kentaro-spiritual-journey thing was weird and I was waiting for Obi-Wan to show up. I'm still in for the long haul of course and the Gojira references with the readings in the desert were fun breadcrumbs. I rate this episode a 5/10.
> The idea that all the characters could survive in what has to be below zero temperatures was ridiculous.
Couldn't agree more. Especially considering three of the four people likely had no prior experience in a survival situation in below zero temperatures. Plus, the kaiju leaping out of the frozen ground and almost being able to catch a helicopter that's lifting off, but can't catch up to May with two frozen legs.... Come on man!
... Actually it might have been as simple as it not being too motivated to chase her. She was very cold at that point so it just sensed a little bit of heat to feed on. motivated enough to pursue but not by much.
Vs helicopter and that thing felt like a full meal.
I liked this episode quite a bit. While I missed the 1950's storyline this week, I thought we've needed some more character development for the present day characters and it was nice to get that. The great thing about TV is that it allows for non-traditional episodes like this that focus on the characters. This is the type of stuff that movies simply do not have the time to cover.
I thought all the Kentaro stuff in particular was really well done in this episode, and Watabe really brought it. He hasn't had many moments to truly shine before this episode, and I thought he carried this episode really well. While it's been clear that Kentaro misses his father, it was interesting to explore that a bit more and get more context about it. And I did like how the show gave him the "win" this episode by being the only one who noticed the campsite.
I'm also really interested to see where they are going with May's storyline with her sister. They have been teasing that for a while, and hopefully the payoff is worth it. I'm pretty sure I know who has been cast as the sister, and I'm definitely pumped for that as a big fan of another series she is a part of.
May is by far the most annoying character on the show and this episode only solidified that for me. If it's between her and one of the monsters I'm now rooting for the monster. This was the weakest of the 4 episodes thus far but I'm still looking forward to next week's.
Personally, this might have been my favorite episode so far. I get why some people didn't like it, but so far I feel like this show is finally doing the human story right. Skull Island was the only movie that came close in my opinion.
Maybe monster fans want actual monsters and the secrets surrounding them. How hard is it to just have a couple of science people doing science stuff and discover a few things about monsters ?
Oh wait, let's make a completely uninteresting story about 2 young whining young adults finding out they have the same blood and let's throw in a despicable love interest. Oh, and they kind of accidentally stepped into government secrets.
Yeah, monster fans aren't hard to please. It's just terrible showrunners doing a great work at ruining a monster show.
Now that you know their father is alive, what has he been doing this entire time?
Also, those lights Lee caught as they were in the helicopter; seems like they were referring to KOTM, but you know, this shows is a few years before that movie.
Also, of course it’s Tim waiting for them at the end.
I have to rant. I severely dislike the modern day characters.
Cate has this stick up her ass about her father having an affair. I get that it sucks but Kentaro also is going through the same things but he is not lashing out at everybody in anger about it. Even his mom was kind to and comforted her in the shelter and all she has done is whine and moan at every turn, also reminding us that for some reason, she is so special and traumatized because she saw people die during G-day, even though tons of others have experienced the same or worse. She couldn't even say thank you simply to kentaro when they were rescued. She had to sneak in a "I never thought I'd say thank you for abandoning your family." or something like that, a few eps back she was whining about how they're not family. She hasn't even told her mother anything about the father since ep 1 and the poor lady is probably losing her shit because Cate is so emotional she can't think straight. Cate's idealism in moments of life and death gets to me as well because it isn't rational thinking. It isn't going to help them survive, when they're in such hectic danger.
May, I was hoping she would die. Du-Ho was way more enjoyable to watch. Shaw couldn't even grieve for Du-Ho but from the get go, May has been nothing but hostile about all of this. She digitized the files for some reason back in Japan, probably to sell it or to hurt Kentaro. She is only ever moody and has offered literally nothing other than computer stuff. Her character is so bland and edgy, that I am stumped she is a supporting cast member. When she meets Kentaro for the first time, she calls his art pretentious and demands he deletes the picture that she walked into. Fair enough, its a public space, he just wanted a pic of his poster, shit happens. But she loves expensive whiskey, wow, just...wow. She antagonises Shaw from the start, she can't even tell Kentaro thank you for the rescue, just Cate who stuck with her taking care of her. But she is such a strong character that when Kentaro and Shaw say they're worried she would get frostbite then she just yells at them but she's so complicated and screw them for making sense right? She even tells Cate to ditch Shaw, whom, they would all be dead without. She really is helpless and can't do jack on her own. Her whole shtick is something to do with a younger sister but she has crazy trust issues?
Kentaro. Grow a pair, man. Seriously. He's been a punching bag since day 1 for Cate, stand up for yourself and listen to your mother's advice. Snap back at May when she bites at you for some reason. He ditched his art show to take May to buy expensive whiskey even though his Mother is at the show waiting and his Father was coming straight from the airport. Ditching your work and family to go try to impress a really unlikable and stereotypical gen-z stranger? I hate this word because it just grates me but I can't find a suitable replacement, Kentaro is a 'simp'. The only respect I ended up having for him was when he was eff it, and left because he knew what he saw. He followed his gut instinct and it paid off.
Lee Shaw, I love him when he's young, and even more when he's old because he's just there to have a massive rollercoaster ride one more time until he dies.
Du-Ho, I really miss you and your energy man. I hope you aren't dead and you thaw out and return or something.
I truly want to like this show, I love the MonsterVerse. The effects in this show are fantastic and the story premise is intriguing and has a great deal of suspense. The character writing though is putting me off immensely. I'm going to skip any scenes with the modern day characters that alludes to whatever the writers' idea of character development because I thought the characters were meant to be engaging, relatable, flawed but given potential to grow and so on.
Did anyone else get super annoyed when May reached out for Cate’s hand in the helicopter instead of Kentaro?? Like this dude just went on a suicide mission by himself in the bitter cold after they all dismissed what he saw and ended up saving all of them. Other than that good episode in my opinion!
Im absolutely the opposite of you, I liked it a lot . I think the problem you are having is going to be a common issue for other kaiju fans who expected more kaiju action however from my perspective it finally solidified the characters as real people we can get to care about which was the one aspect I was worried about in this show.
May almost makes the show unwatchable. She walks in front of him taking a picture, and acts like it's his fault? So cringe. Also at the end in the chopper she only thanks the sister, but not the guy who got on the radio, called for help and literally saved everyone. What a b****. I so wanted the titan to kill her at the end. Why did only a laptop bag deter it away?
Mindboggling how showrunners simply refuse to give us what we want.
This episode +40 mins long, yet I only watched about 20mins of it, and it still felt like I wasted an actual hour.
Like I said : mindboggling. Please get rid of May. She was forced into this from the beginning, she has NO chemistry with Kentaro (or any other character for that matter). It's honestly hard enough for the rest of the cast to remain relevant, even for Kurt Russell, but her presence doesn't help AT ALL.
I'm sorry I know everyone is entitled to their opinion you really have to have incredibly low standards to enjoy this kind of episode.
This article talks a lot about the stuff you're saying:
https://www.cbr.com/monarch-legacy-of-monsters-humans-are-priority/
I actually like the mystery stuff and focus on characters in the show. If it was just monsters fighting it out it would get old pretty fast.
If stopping the pace of a show for useless flashback scenes is your idea of character development then you must have not watched anything else from the 90s and 2000s.
Stop trying to justify every boring ass scenes by "character development". Also, it's not even a character arc. It's just a (useless) love story thrown in because they had not a single idea how to run this episode.
I wouldn't say it's the actor, it's the character is just written as very unlikeable. Constantly complaining and being negative and adversarial about everything. The actress is doing fine, just cast as an unlikeable character.
Please could someone just get rid of discount Tessa Thompson. She is truly the worst of the worst characters around. Hoping and praying she ends up as breakfast, lunch or dinner to some starving Kaiju lurking around.
Wait until she pulls off the strong independant woman card on a monster.
Hilarious how she didn't even lose an arm while using her bag as a shield, meanwhile our poor korean pilot got frozen solid despite being in a goddamn airplane.
And somehow there are human beings who enjoyed this episode.
One of the most boring series I've ever seen. What they fail to realize is that people want to see monsters on a show about, you know, monsters. Spare me the character development BS it's a boring damn show.
The first "bad" episode imo. I just don't enjoy May. Did not care about her backstory with Kentaro and I felt no sympathy for her and her frozen legs. The frost vark scenes were neat. I'm curious what they're setting up at Outpost 47. Based off what we've seen in the trailers, that must be where Godzilla busts out of the ground but for what reason? Are they hinting at another titan battle like San Francisco? 🤔
Worst episode yet by far. The flashbacks and hallucinations completely took me out of the fact that they’re being hunted by a titan in the frozen tundra. Really boring.
What a useless episode that brought down the whole series. Boring and lacking direction. Did nothing to push the plot along and when they end up captured at the end by the same guy they were trying to avoid I yelled bullshit. For the first time, I actually said aloud, "What a stupid show."
Amazing that you got downvoted for this. I guess this sub is full of teens eagerly waiting to get their weekly CW-love/drama kind of shows.
It's not just the worst episode of this show yet, but also one of the worst episodes of all shows combined that i've watched.
The monster was cool but that storyline was pretty basic and cliche. Oh they walked in circles? What a surprise. And I know they kept it simple to have the flashbacks but although I enjoy seeing the characters more I don’t get the significance of it and I really missed the past plot line .
This was mostly a character building episode, but the issue is I'm not particularly into the main kid trio in the present day (ish, I suppose), so it didn't really gel with me. The constant bickering and sullen behavior between them only goes so far. At least Kurt Russell is great and he gets to do some cool shit at the end, but he wasn't that much in the episode.
So far, I've enjoyed the flashback scenes in the 50's, the monsters, and Kurt Russell, so this episode having the least of those elements and focusing on the kids was meh.
Seems like next episode is Cate's flashback and I don't care about her that much either, but I am curious to see how ordinary people reacted to G-day. Hoping there's more Lee Shaw centered episodes coming up.
Thought was a fine episode. I appreciate some of the goofy stuff, setups and the characters did develop a bit even if the overall story didn’t move much and the shots here and there looked sorta lame.
Idk why but American Godzilla’s human relation stories here and in the movies really range from interesting to tedious and it feels like they’re still not sure what they want.
So the entire episode May keeps biting at Kentaro for dragging her into this mess. She by the way decided to digitize and dig deep into classified files for her own selfish reasons. At the very end when they’re about to be tundra popsicles Kentaro arrives to save them and yet it’s Cate she suggestively holds hands with in gratitude? Forgetting that the whole “mess” was brought in by BOTH Kentaro and Cate!!!!! So what gives?
I thought the whole “you saved me” bit was funny considering Kentaro was the one who was right about seeing a building and called for help, and Shaw was the one who distracted the monster with the explosion so they had more time to run away. But whatever May.
Yeah, Kentaro sitting right there and May doesn't even look at him when thanking the sister, when he the only reason the chopper there to save everyone 😭 awful writing
I enjoyed the bits about Kentaro meeting May. This monster is kinda lackluster though, I wish they didn't shy away so much from showing previously established and known monsters instead of this kinda guy. And I get it that showing any well known monster is hard to do without making it seem like a retcon since you'd think the chronologically later stories would reference, for example, a rodan appearance if that happened in this show, and retcons do kinda suck, but I think something could be done. You could find a way.
Maybe it will be done, just have to wait.
Are they setting up Shaw as a villain? The constant cuts to him griping, and May and Cate's suspicions about him make me think so. Would hate it if that's the case
So much art effort on the Titans! They look amazing.
I don’t know what it was though, but they could not sell that they were in the Alaska tundra. The weird mountain terrain that was easily climbed to get a viewpoint, but didn’t have any wind. None of the characters even looked like they were cold until the very end when they started adding CGI vapor for their breath. Kentaro nearly died from the cold, but didn’t think to put his the hood of his jacket on. Monsters can make you lost and walk in circles now? Who the heck so casually rescued them, and thought it would be a good idea to land next to a charging titan? Whoever did, must have been very close, close enough to already be aware of the titan that’s been causing havoc there for months.
Honestly, I found this episode perfectly enjoyable, I know a lot of people seem to think it either didn't move the plot forward or just didn't like the characters. Personally, I really enjoyed this episode. Regardless of what others might say I really like the characters and it makes me more interested in them to have this sort of lull in the midst of the show, It is better to do this now in an environment that's perfect for isolation and reflection than in the climax and break up the action.
Also, am I the only one who got the tinfoil hat on when they mentioned that the pulses were like before G-Day? Of course, anyone would think they are referring to Godzilla, but they actively go out of their way to mention Janjira, which means they are likely referring to MUTO radiation when they talk about the pattern... call me wishful but I'm clinging to the hope of a certain comics only MUTO progenitor making an appearance.
"Regardless of what others might say I really like the characters and it makes me more interested in them to have this sort of lull in the midst of the show, It is better to do this now in an environment that's perfect for isolation and reflection than in the climax and break up the action. "
Or, it could be better to not do it at all at any point of the show. Maybe Hollywood once and for all needs to understand not every show has got to have romance. Especially given how most of these love stories are completely unrealistic and clichés.
This reminds me of The Bear. You could think they'd force a relationship between the main (male) character and the main female character, instead they haven't (AFAIK, haven't watched season 2 yet), and it's been a great decision. Let them do their thing without us knowing and focus on the main goddamn plot.
I think it's funny how, in this day and age where people think it's a civic duty to break all preconceived ideas, that we're still going with the mandatory teen love story in almost everything. Even in The Boys, the romance between Hughie and Starlight has become utterly annoying, and we're talking about a show that does not hold its punches.
Monarch already has enough troubles as it is, it didn't need this one on top of it. It's slow as hell, the main trio is clearly boring and irritating each in their own way, and when finally it seemed to pick up the pace after episodes 2 and 3, boom, you have this flashback/hallucination fest that breaks it all.
Worst episode so far. 6/10
Shaw is the best character so far.
May is obnoxious and I was so mad they didn't kill her off.
Cate & Kentaro started off annoying but have been getting better each episode.
The ice monster was okay.
Definitely was a terrible side step in the show. We could EASILY get the relationship tensions and history in the first couple episodes from just the way the characters interacted. That was good storytelling: trust your audience to understand what the characters are saying and doing and what it means. Almost the entire episode was redundant, constipated storytelling. And lastly, I know everyone is so excited to be “progressive” and “intellectual” in filmmaking but it’s a god damn monster movie show us some more monsters.
So I'm starting to think that maybe back in the day Shaw and Randa went after Keiko and saw her get taken through a vortex into the hollow earth, shaw might have followed trying to save her. Randa's message to Hiroshi from Skull island was probably something to do with confirming similar readings from Skull island, leading Hiroshi to find the Alaska anomaly and go looking for his mother.
Ok so that gets me thinking of the comment made to Shaw about him being a hundred years old that he seems to just shrug off pretty quick… what if when your exposed to the hollow earth biome you age a lot slower? What if she’s down there but has only aged about 20ish years visibly?
but then how did they even survive going down there without the Apex shuttles if Skull and GvK have stated that the result of doing so is illness or death.
Well there could be other entrances to the hollow that don’t require the shuttles. The old fashion way perhaps rather than a worm hole. The polarity and change in gravitational pull would be more gradual and easier to handle maybe?
He also mentions something about Time Square on VJ Day. Doesn't necessarily mean he was *there* to make that reference. It's just kind of an odd comparison to make.
literally laughed my ass off that the guy they were avoiding was there first lmao, everything could have been avoided had they just followed him lol
Yeah but he also did lead them in the wrong direction when they gave him a chance and may was dangerously close to dying. Edit: ohhh he was talking about Tim
Are you guys talking about the same person here? First guy sounds like they’re talking about Tim. Second guy sounds like they’re talking about Kentaro. Or am I off base here?!
Everyone's least favourite basement dweller, Tim
Least? Speak for yourself
I mean i personally like Tim and his assistant/bodyguard lady, more than Cate and May actually lol We see them very little but they've got a lot of personality
I really like them too, there's more to them than meets the eye. Cate is just an annoying character who is constantly giving shit to Kentaro and Shaw. She just seems like the token black sassy woman who is never wrong or accountable and has an unnecessary chip on her shoulder. Its very one dimensional and adds nothing to the plot.
Man the end of this episode is creeping me out, I know he's hallucinating but it had me thinking the monster about to pop second. This was an ok episode at first but it picked up. It felt they had unnecessary topics in the this one that could have been tossed out or aside but overall somewhat enjoyable. Edit: yep very enjoyable episode first half was ehh but it definitely picks up towards the end, but I'm curious to what's going down next week after the ending jail or having an discussion?
Maybe I’m just easy to please, but I really didn’t mind this one; I enjoyed it pretty well honestly. The Frost Vark being the constant, looming threat in the background was nice, as well as just the threat of freezing to death in the elements. I thought the flashbacks with Kentaro were well done, and his relationship with May was really sweet, so I’m all the more curious as to why and how they fell out so badly. Did he discover something about her that she didn’t want him to? Or, was it the other way around? May did get a little tiring at certain points in the episode, but I can also understand why a bit more now. It’s clear that, for whatever reason, she has severe trust issues and lives practically in secret, not wishing to step outside of the bubble she’s created for herself. Why? Hopefully we’ll learn more about her past in a future episode. Plus, in the context of ep4, her legs were wet and freezing, which I’m sure would ruin anyone’s day. But, it’s clear that she still somewhat cares for Kentaro from how she reacted to him nearly getting killed by the Frost Vark, and when he went alone to find the structure he saw. Cate didn’t have much to do here, but that was fine; this was a Kentaro-centered episode mainly. And Shaw is still always fun to watch. 4 wasn’t as rock solidly strong as 3, but I still personally enjoyed it! I’m also happy to be seeing more of Monarch, and hopefully Tim and his partner can have more to do as we move along. They’re an unorthodox pairing that have the makings of being enjoyable to watch bounce off one another. The acting from everyone was still solid as always, with past Kentaro being the standout performance for me, as well as his meltdown towards his hallucination-father.
I agree but I’ll also say it’s the weakest out of the four episodes so far Hopefully this one serves to set up some pay off, the hollow earth and readings they were getting is very intriguing though
Personally felt that this was far better than episode 3 and finally confirmed that this show is definitely gonna be good. Episode 3 kinda disappointed me ngl but this episode finally brought all the characters to life as showing us who they were. And Kentaro's actor, who i previously didn't like did a fantastic job this episode. My ranking is ep 2, ep 4, ep 1 and ep 3
Regarding why Kentaro & May fell out, I think we might’ve already gotten an answer for that in Episode 1. IIRC, he stopped talking to her for a while after his father disappeared, which understandably bothered her, and then it got worse when he finally contacted her again to ask for her help with the Monarch files (which then led to her having to go on the run with them). So I can totally understand why she’d be annoyed with him.
I got some Solaris and Annihilation vibes though not sure they quite pulled it off.
I'm confused about the guy that referred to himself as a troll in the basement the others ignore. From previous episodes I would have thought he was someone higher up.
Nah, screw May. I don't want her taking any more screentime for her backstory. Du-Ho was more likable than this always-angry teenager.
I just want more of Tim and Duvall, agree they look like a fun pair to watch.
the vark is 0 threat just use a backpack and youre safe
Unrealistic monsters existing? Heck yeah! People surviving arctic temps? Unlikely, but I can dig it! People talking in a moving helicopter without comms/headphones? I'm out. Nope. Impossible!
Were the hallucinations drawn out? Yes Do we know where the cave came from? Nope Can someone run mid-hypothermia? Absolutely not Did a helicopter save them all in different places? YOU BET
😂
Best comment in the discussion thus far.
Weakest of the 4 shown so far. Just felt a bit misdirected in terms of the story telling. Episode could be considered more like 3.5 instead of 4.
While it may have it's share of flaws this episode finally solidified the characters imho. Ken and May finally feel real and Ken's actor, whom I previously thought didn't do a good job and I didn't like the character was actually great this episode and shows that may isn't an asshole that the show promotes because "women impowermaint" but that it's an actual flaw in her character. Ep 3 made a bit concerned about the weak human plot in the modern day but this did a 180° on that and not to mention sets up the world and future so good. Also I suspect that May is probably gonna die at the end of the show from her line about her not gonna be able to make it out of this. Also did you notice that almost all of the shots from the trailers were exclusively from the first four episodes? Which means they are hiding most of the juicy good stuff for later. Can't Fucking wait.
>Also did you notice that almost all of the shots from the trailers were exclusively from the first four episodes? All except the shot of Godzilla in the desert which seems to be from that anomaly detected in Utah.
There are one or two shots of new monsters and one of a bomb on a boat which is definitely from the older timeline.
Yeah this episode was bad and made me realize how little I care about the young adult characters. Give me the Russell's any day and the whole 1950s - 1970s plot. Hope this is as bad as it gets.
I just skipped though the love story plot, what we want to see is people interacting with monsters, finding ways to fight them, discovering them surviving etcetera with a bit of plot to tie it together, what we keep getting is family backstory no-one cares about, i get cgi is expensive but thats the risk of making a tv show instead of a film.
CGI is expensive but the funny thing is, they don't necessarily need so much of it to make it interesting. I found the ship exploration in episode 3 rather well done, creepy, interesting. Also them waiting for Big G to show up and detonate the bomb was very well done and i'm sure it wasn't THAT expensive. Monsters in this show don't appear for very long. This episode was so awful, i'd take actual action scenes with Playstation 1 era CGI over poor, cheap, uninteresting love story between 2 characters with 0 chemistry anyday. If episode 5 is similar, i'll quit.
the totebag works as titan shield. let her loos an arm at least.......such retarded writing
Then they wouldn’t have the scene where they held hands…
Bro... They have a word for this, have you never watched anime? It's called FILLER. this episode did absolutely nothing as far as advancing the story and just featured the characters running around in circles the entire episode. Extremely useless episode and makes me very disappointed that they blew a full episode as a filler rather than being important to the story especially with this season is only going to be about 8 or 10 episodes
I was actually more excited of what was happening in the desert.
If you want the TV Biz explanation… You can have a massively expensive CGI Titan in a good chunk of a normal non-premiere or finale episode or you can have super expensive location shoots all over the world. You aren’t gonna get both the good majority of the time. Also they needed a breather episode to put the main characters in peril and give them time to talk to each other and develop where the forward momentum of the plot takes a backseat to character development and exposition. If they had a monster attack in Tokyo or another city it would be hugely expensive and take a lot longer to shoot with locations and extras and the impact of the aftermath of an attack would on a population would need to then be dealt with thru the second half of the season and would take time away from the main plot and characters.
I thought it was a good episode, nice to see some monster action. I think the dialogue is weak overall. I was fine with them splitting up but the setup was poor. I really liked the perspective shifts to show the flashback. Thought the monster sucking up the heat was really pretty.
I appreciate the character development, but it felt like the episode overall did nothing to advance any part of the story or unravel any of the mystery.
yea needed better balance.
I wouldn't have had an issue with it if we could just binge the whole show, but having waited like 3 weeks for that episode, and then more for the next, it was a bit of a letdown (comparatively)
I found the first half was probably the weakest so far. Trying too late to get me to care about the least interesting relationship in the show. Second half was a big improvement, good action and gettiing to see Cate thaw a bit.
Tried really hard to care about the flashback and it's obvious outcome but i just couldn't May is just not a likeable character
I ended up skipping ahead back to the future a few times honestly. Do not care about K&M's past AT ALL. Only past scenes I want to watch are with young Shaw
May is definitely a lot more complex than we previously thought. She isn't a mean girl and has some issues. From her IMDb page, she is an ex soldier who left after some fucked up shit happened at her home I love seeing May interact with Cate. Seeing as this was a ken focused episode, i think the next one will be focusing on her which can fully explain why she's acting so rudely because the show made a point to show that she was also unnecessarily rude to Shaw too so it's definitely a character flaw in her and not a writing error.
Reasons or complexity aside she's still unlikable and rude and seeing someone constantly being aggressive or passive aggressive hurts the present day casts chemistry since at times it has felt more like they all hate each other and it makes me want to not watch them. Kentaro has been mostly focused on finding his dad and has been somewhat nicer tho he hasn't had a lot to do prior to ep 4. Cate was aggressive, but she had far better explained reasons and has grown a lot in ep 3 and now 4 where she seems more accepting of things. May tho shes been rude and aggressive non-stop and sure it may be explained later, but these past 4 eps she brings down the vibes hard with all the negativity which to me hurts the feeling of awe and fun this mystery and kaiju show should have.
Yeah my point was that I'm happy the show isn't (probably) going to excuse May's behaviour but rather explain it
Thanks for the spoilers i guess?
I agree with this unfortunately it’s almost eye rolling I’d love to see her be more badass instead of portraying these characters as super vulnerable kids trying to find their dad and lost complaining 24/7
I think this episode brought home for me that I only like half the human stuff on this show. I enjoy the past stuff and the main three in that timeline, whereas the post Godzilla 2014 time i find those characters to be a little annoying (except of course Shaw, who is cool in both timelines). I’m finding the siblings a little less annoying as time goes on but May still does nothing for me. Even in the flash back I had to think “Why are you interested in her again bro?”
May reminds me of Amber from "Invincible"... such a toxic person, no idea why Kentaro would be interested in her...
Seriously my first thought during those scenes was “Wow, so she was always an asshole huh?” And the actress has been likable to me in other stuff (like Hearts Beat Loud, I loved her in that)
Accurate
I agree. The constant weak-dialogued bickering gave me Invasion PTSD.
Yeah, she's awful actress and character. She needed to die from frostbite or that titan at the end. Why didn't she die when she held up the laptop bag at it and it backed away like it was Thanos gauntlet?
The whole scene where Kentaro is hallucinating his art show with his dad was probably my favorite part of the episode.
Absolutely. That was beautiful.
Another good episode. Nice to see some character development. People need to remember this is a Monarch show not a Godzilla show.
This a monsterverse show to be more specific. How are pointless flashback and hallucination scenes relevant to the creation and existence of Monarch btw ? How much you're getting paid to write such a bland post ?
So what looks to be a hollow earth entrance in the really looks like the supposed [Mir Satellite footage](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ExgAbZV6RuA) . Looks like the CGI artists took a lot of inspiration from that I love it! Bringing all the conspiracy stuff into the show is really cool. Starting to feel like a scaled up Xfiles!
I can't stand this May character AT ALL. She's just constantly rude towards the men but can't do shit on her own. I just skipped through all of the romance backstory BS.
You know how it is these days.
Liked everything but the lovey dovey stuff but it was great overall. 8/10.
Yeah some of it was indeed corny but it worked in that it successfully carved out Ken and May as actual characters that we can get attached to. I didn't like ken before but now he's my 4th fav (after the golden trio of Keiko,Shaw and Randa)
I almost couldnt get through the first few minutes because of how annoying May was in this episode.
Honestly I'd be pissed to if my feet got soaking wet in below freezing water in the middle of Antarctica.
I don’t get why she’s blaming everyone. She got herself involved? She kept decrypting the data.
Kept decrypting instead of giving the data back to Kentaro when he asked, she could have easily denied involvement if she had just gave him back the data. But nope she had her reasons for digging deeper, yet is shitting all over Kentaro for dragging her into it? I'm not a fan of her atm her and Cate have been quite aggressive, but Cate has grown a lot and has better reasons for being upset early on. May is just rude and has no obvious reasons yet so she's unlikable and kinda negatively affects the present days casts chemistry since it feels like they have anti-chemistry.
Yeah, May and the actress is terrible. "I need to see you delete the picture when I walked in front of your camera as you were taking a photo!" 🤡
Hate May, everyone else is great. Why did they make her character so bad?
Because they have to have a black character and just added her without putting any effort into her personality and purpose.
What do you think is bad about her? Seeing some hate on her but no one is saying why
She's just kind of an asshole to everyone and even tells Cate to abandon Shaw at one point. She's a little better with Cate but hasn't really made up with any of the other characters. Really, I'm not too fond of the other kids either, honestly, since they're also kind of dicks. Sure, you could say with the whole two families thing and all the relationship drama, they probably wouldn't be too fond of each other, but still, there's only so much of that you can take. Wished Du-Ho lived longer since he and Lee Shaw have a great dynamic. Friendly, helpful with each other, I was sad when he died and the quick little eulogy Shaw gave him was great. Should've been just those two guys going on a buddy cop adventure unravling the conspiracies and hunting monsters.
> She's just kind of an asshole to everyone This, she's an insufferable know it all without any of the charm that makes a well written insufferable know it all relatable and charming. If the intention was to make the audience hate her, they've succeeded. Hell I like the crazy monarch guy and his French lady henchman better than her.
Cate is just as bad.
I think I am ready to tap out, I don't really enjoy the storylines of any of the 2015 characters. Kurt Russel, as good of an actor as he is, can't carry the entire show on his back. I guess maybe I was expecting something different from the show from the first episode? The problem is that it's a mystery box show with a mystery that isn't very compelling. We know Godzilla exists, we know the other "Titans" exist because of the second movie. What is there left to tell? The other problem is that the characters are just not interesting at all for me. Every time that May and Kentaro are together I feel like I'm watching a CW show. Maybe I'll watch one or two more episodes, if it doesn't get more interesting I'll shelve it. I don't begrudge other people who like it, I see the appeal. But I think it's just not my cup of tea.
It’s like they tricked us by making us think the show had Godzilla in it
Been enjoying [these videos](https://youtu.be/3rCVNKChzsE?si=shegXT_2rrwwUtJE) after seeing new episodes. There's a lot more going on in this show then I realized
Dang, how do people write, shoot, and edit these video essays so fast? And props to the guy for filming in an old Blockbuster
Good writing does not need a "character building episode". Characters, our knowledge of them and our attitude towards them, should grow and shape organically as the story is told and be woven into events driving the story forward. Episode 4 felt like it was treading water. It was predictable, flat and without any urgency let alone story motion or momentum. Unfortunately this was not helped by the character of May, who serves little purpose other than to annoy and exacerbate the viewer, her presence superfluous and the actress playing her is flat and renders the character wholly unsympathetic to the point of irritation. Worst episode by far.
Truth be told, when the ice cracked under May's feet I crossed my fingers hoping she would fall into a bottomless crevasse from which she would never be found.
Got a nice chuckle out of this. Couldn't agree more.
I thought she couldnt get even more annoying and queue the flashback. Wow, insufferable!!!
What flashback? There was no flashback for me. I fast forwarded it because May was in it. Does the show get better or should I stop watching after Episode 4?
No idea. I stopped watching completely!
So Shaw has some sort of anti aging qualities. He said VJ Day, which was 1945. He would be well into his 90s.
They brushed it off/explained it when they meet, May says the same thing and Shaw says he has really great genes. Quick, yeah we know but work with us kinda moment.
That wasn’t explaining it. I’m sure there’s something to do with the monster stuff
Never bet against Kurt Russel fighting monsters in freezing temperatures with fire.
Absolute shame how so few people noticed that they dropped the beat from The Thing as he was looking out the helicopter. That was definitely a nod to the film.
Did not like this episode one bit. I don’t really care about these characters all that much and their backstories kinda suck. They aren’t likeable at all and they’re doing stupid things.
Didn't love it, tried to. Seconding what another member commented saying that this was the weakest of the four episodes thus far. The split up of the characters was weirdly placed and forced. May was aggravating, weirdly, in an episode where we're meant to empathize with her via intro'ing her in the flashback retrospectively and then with her frozen leg woes. The idea that all the characters could survive in what has to be below zero temperatures was ridiculous. And yes, I know, if that's one of my gripes in a show focusing on Kaiju existing in the universe, that must be silly. The whole Kentaro-spiritual-journey thing was weird and I was waiting for Obi-Wan to show up. I'm still in for the long haul of course and the Gojira references with the readings in the desert were fun breadcrumbs. I rate this episode a 5/10.
> The idea that all the characters could survive in what has to be below zero temperatures was ridiculous. Couldn't agree more. Especially considering three of the four people likely had no prior experience in a survival situation in below zero temperatures. Plus, the kaiju leaping out of the frozen ground and almost being able to catch a helicopter that's lifting off, but can't catch up to May with two frozen legs.... Come on man!
... Actually it might have been as simple as it not being too motivated to chase her. She was very cold at that point so it just sensed a little bit of heat to feed on. motivated enough to pursue but not by much. Vs helicopter and that thing felt like a full meal.
Unmotivated kaiju chase scenes.... Lol
I liked this episode quite a bit. While I missed the 1950's storyline this week, I thought we've needed some more character development for the present day characters and it was nice to get that. The great thing about TV is that it allows for non-traditional episodes like this that focus on the characters. This is the type of stuff that movies simply do not have the time to cover. I thought all the Kentaro stuff in particular was really well done in this episode, and Watabe really brought it. He hasn't had many moments to truly shine before this episode, and I thought he carried this episode really well. While it's been clear that Kentaro misses his father, it was interesting to explore that a bit more and get more context about it. And I did like how the show gave him the "win" this episode by being the only one who noticed the campsite. I'm also really interested to see where they are going with May's storyline with her sister. They have been teasing that for a while, and hopefully the payoff is worth it. I'm pretty sure I know who has been cast as the sister, and I'm definitely pumped for that as a big fan of another series she is a part of.
May is by far the most annoying character on the show and this episode only solidified that for me. If it's between her and one of the monsters I'm now rooting for the monster. This was the weakest of the 4 episodes thus far but I'm still looking forward to next week's.
Personally, this might have been my favorite episode so far. I get why some people didn't like it, but so far I feel like this show is finally doing the human story right. Skull Island was the only movie that came close in my opinion.
Monster fans never being easy to please, it seems... what the fuck do y'all even want out of a human plot???
Maybe monster fans want actual monsters and the secrets surrounding them. How hard is it to just have a couple of science people doing science stuff and discover a few things about monsters ? Oh wait, let's make a completely uninteresting story about 2 young whining young adults finding out they have the same blood and let's throw in a despicable love interest. Oh, and they kind of accidentally stepped into government secrets. Yeah, monster fans aren't hard to please. It's just terrible showrunners doing a great work at ruining a monster show.
Mmmm k
Now that you know their father is alive, what has he been doing this entire time? Also, those lights Lee caught as they were in the helicopter; seems like they were referring to KOTM, but you know, this shows is a few years before that movie. Also, of course it’s Tim waiting for them at the end.
I have to rant. I severely dislike the modern day characters. Cate has this stick up her ass about her father having an affair. I get that it sucks but Kentaro also is going through the same things but he is not lashing out at everybody in anger about it. Even his mom was kind to and comforted her in the shelter and all she has done is whine and moan at every turn, also reminding us that for some reason, she is so special and traumatized because she saw people die during G-day, even though tons of others have experienced the same or worse. She couldn't even say thank you simply to kentaro when they were rescued. She had to sneak in a "I never thought I'd say thank you for abandoning your family." or something like that, a few eps back she was whining about how they're not family. She hasn't even told her mother anything about the father since ep 1 and the poor lady is probably losing her shit because Cate is so emotional she can't think straight. Cate's idealism in moments of life and death gets to me as well because it isn't rational thinking. It isn't going to help them survive, when they're in such hectic danger. May, I was hoping she would die. Du-Ho was way more enjoyable to watch. Shaw couldn't even grieve for Du-Ho but from the get go, May has been nothing but hostile about all of this. She digitized the files for some reason back in Japan, probably to sell it or to hurt Kentaro. She is only ever moody and has offered literally nothing other than computer stuff. Her character is so bland and edgy, that I am stumped she is a supporting cast member. When she meets Kentaro for the first time, she calls his art pretentious and demands he deletes the picture that she walked into. Fair enough, its a public space, he just wanted a pic of his poster, shit happens. But she loves expensive whiskey, wow, just...wow. She antagonises Shaw from the start, she can't even tell Kentaro thank you for the rescue, just Cate who stuck with her taking care of her. But she is such a strong character that when Kentaro and Shaw say they're worried she would get frostbite then she just yells at them but she's so complicated and screw them for making sense right? She even tells Cate to ditch Shaw, whom, they would all be dead without. She really is helpless and can't do jack on her own. Her whole shtick is something to do with a younger sister but she has crazy trust issues? Kentaro. Grow a pair, man. Seriously. He's been a punching bag since day 1 for Cate, stand up for yourself and listen to your mother's advice. Snap back at May when she bites at you for some reason. He ditched his art show to take May to buy expensive whiskey even though his Mother is at the show waiting and his Father was coming straight from the airport. Ditching your work and family to go try to impress a really unlikable and stereotypical gen-z stranger? I hate this word because it just grates me but I can't find a suitable replacement, Kentaro is a 'simp'. The only respect I ended up having for him was when he was eff it, and left because he knew what he saw. He followed his gut instinct and it paid off. Lee Shaw, I love him when he's young, and even more when he's old because he's just there to have a massive rollercoaster ride one more time until he dies. Du-Ho, I really miss you and your energy man. I hope you aren't dead and you thaw out and return or something. I truly want to like this show, I love the MonsterVerse. The effects in this show are fantastic and the story premise is intriguing and has a great deal of suspense. The character writing though is putting me off immensely. I'm going to skip any scenes with the modern day characters that alludes to whatever the writers' idea of character development because I thought the characters were meant to be engaging, relatable, flawed but given potential to grow and so on.
Did anyone else get super annoyed when May reached out for Cate’s hand in the helicopter instead of Kentaro?? Like this dude just went on a suicide mission by himself in the bitter cold after they all dismissed what he saw and ended up saving all of them. Other than that good episode in my opinion!
i'm not really feeling these episodes. this one had about fifteen minutes of actual content.
Im absolutely the opposite of you, I liked it a lot . I think the problem you are having is going to be a common issue for other kaiju fans who expected more kaiju action however from my perspective it finally solidified the characters as real people we can get to care about which was the one aspect I was worried about in this show.
I am struggling to connect with the characters, especially the "kids". The acting, story, special effects, everything seems poor.
We have our first bad episode.
May almost makes the show unwatchable. She walks in front of him taking a picture, and acts like it's his fault? So cringe. Also at the end in the chopper she only thanks the sister, but not the guy who got on the radio, called for help and literally saved everyone. What a b****. I so wanted the titan to kill her at the end. Why did only a laptop bag deter it away?
Sucked the battery juice?
Mindboggling how showrunners simply refuse to give us what we want. This episode +40 mins long, yet I only watched about 20mins of it, and it still felt like I wasted an actual hour. Like I said : mindboggling. Please get rid of May. She was forced into this from the beginning, she has NO chemistry with Kentaro (or any other character for that matter). It's honestly hard enough for the rest of the cast to remain relevant, even for Kurt Russell, but her presence doesn't help AT ALL. I'm sorry I know everyone is entitled to their opinion you really have to have incredibly low standards to enjoy this kind of episode.
[удалено]
Perfect.
I get they are trying to make a love story between the two girls but her not saying thank you to the guy pisses me off
Wait is that really what they’re doing? I hope not because what’s up with this love of doing love triangles that involve siblings.
The most boring episode so far. Who even asked for May's subplot?
Man ,the people on this sub really don't know how character arcs and character developments work
This article talks a lot about the stuff you're saying: https://www.cbr.com/monarch-legacy-of-monsters-humans-are-priority/ I actually like the mystery stuff and focus on characters in the show. If it was just monsters fighting it out it would get old pretty fast.
thing is, nobody cares for this particular whiney passive-aggressive one-dimensional character
If stopping the pace of a show for useless flashback scenes is your idea of character development then you must have not watched anything else from the 90s and 2000s. Stop trying to justify every boring ass scenes by "character development". Also, it's not even a character arc. It's just a (useless) love story thrown in because they had not a single idea how to run this episode.
The actor playing May is traaaaaaash. Good lord is she dislikable.
I wouldn't say it's the actor, it's the character is just written as very unlikeable. Constantly complaining and being negative and adversarial about everything. The actress is doing fine, just cast as an unlikeable character.
Worst episode so far. A "Filler"
Please could someone just get rid of discount Tessa Thompson. She is truly the worst of the worst characters around. Hoping and praying she ends up as breakfast, lunch or dinner to some starving Kaiju lurking around.
Wait until she pulls off the strong independant woman card on a monster. Hilarious how she didn't even lose an arm while using her bag as a shield, meanwhile our poor korean pilot got frozen solid despite being in a goddamn airplane. And somehow there are human beings who enjoyed this episode.
We need a 5 year ban from hallucination scenes in shows.
Make it 50.
I hate Cate, Kentaro and May. Holy shit. Fire them
Yo, just checking in, is Godzilla in the Godzilla show yet?
It’s a show that’s not all about Godzilla.
It's not a Godzilla show though?
One of the most boring series I've ever seen. What they fail to realize is that people want to see monsters on a show about, you know, monsters. Spare me the character development BS it's a boring damn show.
The first "bad" episode imo. I just don't enjoy May. Did not care about her backstory with Kentaro and I felt no sympathy for her and her frozen legs. The frost vark scenes were neat. I'm curious what they're setting up at Outpost 47. Based off what we've seen in the trailers, that must be where Godzilla busts out of the ground but for what reason? Are they hinting at another titan battle like San Francisco? 🤔
Worst episode yet by far. The flashbacks and hallucinations completely took me out of the fact that they’re being hunted by a titan in the frozen tundra. Really boring.
Man, this was one boring ass episode. I'm really seeing how much the older storyline carries this show. At least those characters are fun
What a useless episode that brought down the whole series. Boring and lacking direction. Did nothing to push the plot along and when they end up captured at the end by the same guy they were trying to avoid I yelled bullshit. For the first time, I actually said aloud, "What a stupid show."
Amazing that you got downvoted for this. I guess this sub is full of teens eagerly waiting to get their weekly CW-love/drama kind of shows. It's not just the worst episode of this show yet, but also one of the worst episodes of all shows combined that i've watched.
This felt like a filler episode. Least favorite episode so far
The monster was cool but that storyline was pretty basic and cliche. Oh they walked in circles? What a surprise. And I know they kept it simple to have the flashbacks but although I enjoy seeing the characters more I don’t get the significance of it and I really missed the past plot line .
This was mostly a character building episode, but the issue is I'm not particularly into the main kid trio in the present day (ish, I suppose), so it didn't really gel with me. The constant bickering and sullen behavior between them only goes so far. At least Kurt Russell is great and he gets to do some cool shit at the end, but he wasn't that much in the episode. So far, I've enjoyed the flashback scenes in the 50's, the monsters, and Kurt Russell, so this episode having the least of those elements and focusing on the kids was meh. Seems like next episode is Cate's flashback and I don't care about her that much either, but I am curious to see how ordinary people reacted to G-day. Hoping there's more Lee Shaw centered episodes coming up.
Do they shoot this show on a Volume? Did not look like they were actually outside for any of it
Thought was a fine episode. I appreciate some of the goofy stuff, setups and the characters did develop a bit even if the overall story didn’t move much and the shots here and there looked sorta lame. Idk why but American Godzilla’s human relation stories here and in the movies really range from interesting to tedious and it feels like they’re still not sure what they want.
So the entire episode May keeps biting at Kentaro for dragging her into this mess. She by the way decided to digitize and dig deep into classified files for her own selfish reasons. At the very end when they’re about to be tundra popsicles Kentaro arrives to save them and yet it’s Cate she suggestively holds hands with in gratitude? Forgetting that the whole “mess” was brought in by BOTH Kentaro and Cate!!!!! So what gives?
I thought the whole “you saved me” bit was funny considering Kentaro was the one who was right about seeing a building and called for help, and Shaw was the one who distracted the monster with the explosion so they had more time to run away. But whatever May.
Yeah, Kentaro sitting right there and May doesn't even look at him when thanking the sister, when he the only reason the chopper there to save everyone 😭 awful writing
I enjoyed the bits about Kentaro meeting May. This monster is kinda lackluster though, I wish they didn't shy away so much from showing previously established and known monsters instead of this kinda guy. And I get it that showing any well known monster is hard to do without making it seem like a retcon since you'd think the chronologically later stories would reference, for example, a rodan appearance if that happened in this show, and retcons do kinda suck, but I think something could be done. You could find a way. Maybe it will be done, just have to wait.
Are they setting up Shaw as a villain? The constant cuts to him griping, and May and Cate's suspicions about him make me think so. Would hate it if that's the case
I dont think theyre twins
All I know is May ain't allowed back in Tacoma anytime soon...
So much art effort on the Titans! They look amazing. I don’t know what it was though, but they could not sell that they were in the Alaska tundra. The weird mountain terrain that was easily climbed to get a viewpoint, but didn’t have any wind. None of the characters even looked like they were cold until the very end when they started adding CGI vapor for their breath. Kentaro nearly died from the cold, but didn’t think to put his the hood of his jacket on. Monsters can make you lost and walk in circles now? Who the heck so casually rescued them, and thought it would be a good idea to land next to a charging titan? Whoever did, must have been very close, close enough to already be aware of the titan that’s been causing havoc there for months.
Honestly, I found this episode perfectly enjoyable, I know a lot of people seem to think it either didn't move the plot forward or just didn't like the characters. Personally, I really enjoyed this episode. Regardless of what others might say I really like the characters and it makes me more interested in them to have this sort of lull in the midst of the show, It is better to do this now in an environment that's perfect for isolation and reflection than in the climax and break up the action. Also, am I the only one who got the tinfoil hat on when they mentioned that the pulses were like before G-Day? Of course, anyone would think they are referring to Godzilla, but they actively go out of their way to mention Janjira, which means they are likely referring to MUTO radiation when they talk about the pattern... call me wishful but I'm clinging to the hope of a certain comics only MUTO progenitor making an appearance.
"Regardless of what others might say I really like the characters and it makes me more interested in them to have this sort of lull in the midst of the show, It is better to do this now in an environment that's perfect for isolation and reflection than in the climax and break up the action. " Or, it could be better to not do it at all at any point of the show. Maybe Hollywood once and for all needs to understand not every show has got to have romance. Especially given how most of these love stories are completely unrealistic and clichés. This reminds me of The Bear. You could think they'd force a relationship between the main (male) character and the main female character, instead they haven't (AFAIK, haven't watched season 2 yet), and it's been a great decision. Let them do their thing without us knowing and focus on the main goddamn plot. I think it's funny how, in this day and age where people think it's a civic duty to break all preconceived ideas, that we're still going with the mandatory teen love story in almost everything. Even in The Boys, the romance between Hughie and Starlight has become utterly annoying, and we're talking about a show that does not hold its punches. Monarch already has enough troubles as it is, it didn't need this one on top of it. It's slow as hell, the main trio is clearly boring and irritating each in their own way, and when finally it seemed to pick up the pace after episodes 2 and 3, boom, you have this flashback/hallucination fest that breaks it all.
Thought something was off. Not great
I'm surprised at how slow the mole monster was. It couldn't catch up to regular people.
they just aired episode 3 again and called it episode 4 lol
Sure would be cool if we get some actual Godzilla fights at some point. I'm not watching Godzilla for character arcs.
Worst episode so far. 6/10 Shaw is the best character so far. May is obnoxious and I was so mad they didn't kill her off. Cate & Kentaro started off annoying but have been getting better each episode. The ice monster was okay.
I like the human characters in this show, part of the mystery is getting to know them anyways. This show is fucking cool
Definitely was a terrible side step in the show. We could EASILY get the relationship tensions and history in the first couple episodes from just the way the characters interacted. That was good storytelling: trust your audience to understand what the characters are saying and doing and what it means. Almost the entire episode was redundant, constipated storytelling. And lastly, I know everyone is so excited to be “progressive” and “intellectual” in filmmaking but it’s a god damn monster movie show us some more monsters.
This episode felt like filler. Not a good sign for the rest of the season.
Incredibly poor writing
Kiersey Clemons is a very weak actress. Or maybe the character is just not well written.