‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Season 2, Episode 9 “Ends of the Earth” Recap & Review

This article contains spoilers for Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, Episode 9

Well, I’ll give credit where credit is due. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 has had a little bit of everything, and as we march towards the episode ten finale, there are plenty of story options to keep viewers guessing. However, the show will need to be pretty focused to pull this off.

As we see in Episode 9, “Ends of the Earth,” there seems to be a direction, albeit with a little too much dialogue about things we already know, and the possibility of a wild finish now seems tantalizingly close.

It certainly doesn’t take long to figure out where this episode is headed, location-wise, anyway, as it opens with Godzilla chasing Titan X towards Skull Island. Monarch’s floating Outpost 18, in steady pursuit, is tracking the team that took the eggs from Titan X and is flying them directly to Skull Island, hence the Titans’ clear path.

However, before they reach the island, the two Titans have a sort of shouting match/stand off, and Titan X continues to the island while Godzilla turns and swims away in the opposite direction. It seems like Godzilla is more interested in making sure Titan X is back where she belongs, and even Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell), who brought Godzilla into this fight, realizes that the plan is a bust and it’s time for a different approach. 

The Monarch team lands on Skull Island with two goals: track Titan X and get it back to Axis Mundi, and find Cate (Anna Sawai) and Kentaro (Ren Watabe), both of whom are now on the island, ‘guests’ of Isabel Simmons (Amber Midthunder) and her team. While Cate tries to convince Kentaro he’s backing the wrong side, Lee and Keiko (Mari Yamamoto) follow Bill Randa’s (Anders Holm) old notes, where he theorized there was a central hub or rift on the island. Again, the show is juggling a lot at once, and up until this point, things are going well, moving at a good pace. That would soon end, however.

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The middle of the episode gets bogged down with multiple characters rehashing old storylines to lead us to something new. In theory, it’s a normal way to move the plot forward, but with so many things going on, it gets exhausting after a while. Another back and forth between Cate and Kentaro that goes nowhere, and more speeches from Isabel, who at this point is beginning to give off more than just villain vibes, but possibly being a tad unbalanced as well.

Isabel finally lays out her whole plan (over two different conversations): she wants to control the mysterious central rift for her own personal gain. But to do that, they lured Titan X to Skull Island to gas and then affix with technology to make it more aggressive, all to kill King Kong. This is one heck of a plan, and her facial expressions and well-timed emotional cues make you think she is beyond reason at this point.

When Cate escapes after they attempt to get her off the island for not being on board with all of this (she doesn’t even know about the Kong part yet) she manages to get a message to the Monarch group on the island and then finds Titan X’s eggs, and has it out with Kentaro once more, where she finds out that his whole part in this is to somehow bring their dad back. 

There are powerful time-shift moments that help offset some of the other storylines. We flash back to October 1958, when Keiko and Bill are excited about the confirmation of a rift and impulsively get married. She gives a great speech, but he doesn’t have the words.

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We also flashback to after Keiko’s death, where Bill and Lee (Wyatt Russell) are both devastated, Lee blaming Bill, and Bill is lost on how to go on. It ties in nicely to the present, when older Lee and Keiko stumble upon the place where Bill died, as depicted in the 2017 film ‘Kong: Skull Island’. However, soon after, they discover the central rift and the evidence that Bill had indeed never stopped looking for Keiko. 

It was great to see Skull Island front and center again, and it now looks like we’ll be getting a Kong/Titan X fight in the final episode. While Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, Episode 9, “Ends of the Earth” struggled at times, it ultimately set the stage for an intriguing finale, where all groups have a plan and not everyone will be happy with the final outcome. If the show does jump back into Axis Mundi one more time, chances are there are going to be some surprises awaiting the fans, human characters, and Titans alike.