‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ Season 2, Episode 10 “Where We Belong” Recap & Review: A Fitting Yet Predictable Finale

This article contains spoilers for Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, Episode 10

It’s always interesting to watch a season finale when you don’t know whether the show will be renewed. This is the case with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which, as of this writing, has yet to have its fate decided by Apple TV. Be that as it may, Season 2, Episode 10, “Where We Belong,” continued the story and made some predictable decisions along the way. Thankfully, there were some surprises as well, making the Season 2 finale an enjoyable way to end things without everything tied up with a neat little bow.

It’s now all hands on deck on Skull Island as everyone races to execute their own plan surrounding Titan X. Isabel Simmons (Amber Midthunder) and her crew want Titan X to kill Kong so they can have free rein over the island and get to Axis Mundi without interruption.

Meanwhile, the mixed group of good guys connected to Monarch is trying to get Titan X back into the Axis Mundi safe and sound, while leaving Kong to continue ruling and watching over the island. Big plans with huge holes. As the episode unfolds, it’s clear that there are no guarantees of how things will go. 

Lee (Kurt Russell) and Keiko (Mari Yamamoto), having discovered Billy’s (Anders Holm) special rift, the central station of rifts (as mentioned), head off to find the group and work out a plan to get Titan X home. There are some great moments between these two as they touch on the ideologies that center on Monarch. Most importantly, they explore how decisions can shape the future, especially when dealing with Axis Mundi and time travel.

They fill each other in on things they’ve missed, including Cate’s connection with Titan X, the recording Keiko made, and the idea of a Titan language. They also discuss Lee meeting his younger self (Wyatt Russell) and his decision to let things play out rather than interfere with the timeline. Interesting points of view and ideas made for a great scene. 

They catch up with May (Kiersey Clemons) and Tim (Joe Tippett) and reach the Monarch research center, where Kong and Titan X are fighting, while Isabel and her group push Titan X on with increased violent impulses from the sensors they placed in it. Cate escaped from the Isabel group, only to wind up in the middle of the battlefield between Kong and Titan X.

Lee had left, taking the recording with the hopes of using it to lead Titan X away, so Tim and May head to the Monarch facility while Keiko rescues Cate. If it sounds like a lot is going on, that’s because there is. Too much at certain points, leaving some questions unanswered as the story moves along, but move along it must. 

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Titan X finds the eggs it was looking for and is no longer a threat. Kong watches it carefully as it makes its exit. While Tim and May might have failed to shut down the sensors, the instinct to protect its young was more than enough to short them out and free Titan X from the artificial aggressive shocks from Isabel’s team.

Lee arrives in a commandeered helicopter, and the team races to catch up with Titan X to lead it to the central rift. When the sound system overloads, it’s up to Cate’s connection with Titan X. It eventually works, getting them back on course for the rift to Axis Mundi. 

In between these events, Cate caught up with Isabelle and Kentaro (Ren Watabe), who saw the writing on the wall and were preparing to jump into a helicopter and leave. Cate tried to convince him to stay, but to no avail.

Again, though, the whole Isabelle/Kentaro dynamic is just strange and awkward and simply feels so artificial and fake. It’s a struggle to watch scenes together, as they just don’t flow well. It dragged both the scene and the episode’s momentum down. I’m still not sure where they are going with this, but I was glad when the moment was over. 

Meanwhile, the group managed to get Titan X into the rift, with its eggs, but not before something strange happened. A young Lee Shaw was visible through the shimmering rift, unable to be heard, but both older Lee and Kieko acknowledged him with a special kind of silent thank-you. When the rift finally closed, it was like a chapter of a book had been shut. But as with all things in this show, it quickly moved to a new chapter, with a peek at what may be to come next. 

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Keiko, Cate, Tim, and May are assigned an office and positions at Monarch to continue the original mission — to discover and defend, and to keep things on track. As for Lee, he is on a secret mission of his own in the jungle, and eventually he finds what he’s looking for atop a mountain oozing lava: Rodan. With Lee’s final statement to Rodan, “I’ll see you soon,” we are left wondering exactly what Lee is up to this time in the world of Titans.

The show’s greatest strength is its ability to walk the tightrope between humans and monsters, making the sometimes convoluted story interesting. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, Episode 10, “Where We Belong,” did just that. Despite some awkward scenes and a story that checked off all the boxes in a predictable fashion, it made for a good ending to a season that showed the series still has stories to tell and more monsters to discover.