There is no doubt that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is one of the finest entries in the MonsterVerse. The Apple TV show stunned everyone with its intricate storytelling, superlative performances, and giant titans battling it out against each other. While Season 1 laid the perfect foundation for things to come, it ended on a massive cliffhanger, and fans have been waiting to know about Lee Shaw's fate. Fortunately, Season 2 does not waste any time digging deeper to find an answer to that question and opens up with an episode that provides a lot of answers while raising even more intriguing questions about what lies ahead.

Episode 1, titled Cause and Effect, begins with Kong letting everyone know he is not happy. The reason? Well, humans and their ever-growing need to do something stupid. However, the reason for Kong's reaction is not just Monarch carrying out its dirty business on his island; it is something more sinister. Despite narrowly escaping Kong's wrath, Cate, Hiroshi, Keiko, and others are adamant that Shaw is alive and they need to find him, which means they would have to go back to Kong's island and start their search. 

Will they risk their lives to find Shaw? Or will they realize that their former partner is gone for real? 

The main premise of the premiere is the search for Lee Shaw. After the terrifying events of the Season 1 finale, many assumed Shaw had met his end. Monarch believes the same, and its deputy director, Natalia Verdugo, does not want Cate to go back to the island. Monarch is going through a lot, and with what Kong did earlier in the episode, they are still wondering what triggered the giant titan. While Cate and the group are deciding what to do next, the premiere reveals that the fall did not kill Shaw. 

Instead, Shaw has been surviving in the surreal, gravity-defying landscapes of the Hollow Earth. Back on the surface, the team seems to be fractured but focused. Cate, Kentaro, and the brilliant but hesitant Corah find themselves at Outpost 18, navigating a world where Monarch and Apex are breathing down their necks. Apex wants to detach Corah from the group and use her expertise to find a way to live alongside titans like Godzilla and Kong. They want her specifically for the code she developed, believing it is the key to co-existing with the otherworldly creatures. 

But she has no interest in joining Monarch and instead wants to stay with her friends. So, she and Cate come up with a plan to escape the outpost and look for Lee Shaw. After creating a distraction, the group pulls off a risky escape and heads toward the most dangerous place on Earth, Kong’s Island. While the brass at Monarch, including Deputy Director Natalia Verdugo, initially blame Kong for the rampage, the reality is far more complex.

They do not have much time for their search operation, and the clock is ticking. They have a mere eight-hour window before a massive storm hits and makes rescue impossible. The search for Shaw begins with a horrifying encounter with a creature, which makes them and us realize that the island is alive, but not in a friendly way. As they move forward through the dense jungle, the team eventually crosses paths with the King himself. In one of the most intense sequences, the group finds Kong sleeping amidst the ruins of the base he just trashed. 

'Monarch: Legacy of Monsters' Season 2 – Release Date, Plot, Cast, and Everything You Need to Know

It serves as a moment of profound vulnerability and terror; Cate nearly gets crushed because the giant shifts his hand in his sleep. Cate, Hiroshi, Corah, and Kentaro finally reach their destination, and now the most difficult part of the search begins. The group has to turn on the pod that would help them in opening a portal to hollow earth and allow Shaw to return, if he is still alive. 

They manage to start the machine and create a portal. As soon as the portal opens, we see Shaw running towards it, trying to escape the dangerous place. However, the creatures of hollow earth are not letting him go and are causing a big problem. The rescue is turning out to be a nightmare for the group as the portal awakened something, and it is not Shaw, but something really dangerous. 

Shaw attempts a frantic escape from the Hollow Earth and finally reunites with the group. The "search" has been successful in proving he is alive, but it has also made a terrifying discovery. 

While Cate and the group come face-to-face with a new threat, we are treated to eerie flashback sequences set in 1957. These scenes play a vital role in telling viewers about what the creature is and why it is treated as a GOD. It is 1957, and Lee, Keiko, and Bill Randa arrive in Santa Soledad, a coastal town in Southern Chile that feels like it is frozen in time, and fear. They are following rumors of "Sea Serpents," but what they find is a community that has built its entire identity around a hidden deity.

The trio enters a diner-slash-bar where Bill encounters a creepy wall hanging, which seems to be of a sea creature. He wanted to take a picture of it, but got pushed away by the locals, making them believe that they were not welcome in the town. A few moments later, they encounter a local bar lady who knows about the town's secrets and the creature. She explains that this "Sea God" provides for the town, and in exchange, the residents keep its existence a secret from the outside world.

Back in the present, Keiko Miura is struggling with the modern incarnation of the organization she helped build. She’s convinced that Kong’s "attack" was not an act of random aggression. After reviewing security footage with Verdugo, Keiko spots something the others missed: another creature. Kong was not the aggressor; he was the protector. He was trying to stop something from coming through. Surprisingly, the creature they saw in the footage looked eerily similar to the one Bill saw inside that diner in 1957. 

In another flashback sequence, the bar lady leads the trio to a dark, damp cave covered with strange symbols. She tells them that the community worships the serpent-like creature for giving them everything they need. As a result, it would be better for them to stop looking for the monster and get off the island as soon as possible.

In the final moments of the episode, we see these two timelines collide in spirit. On the island, Cate has managed to activate the pod that opens a gateway to the Hollow Earth. But opening the door goes horribly wrong. Instead of just letting Shaw out, something horrifying hitches a ride. A massive, aquatic Titan, the very one hinted at in the 1957 flashbacks, emerges from the hollow earth. In the ensuing chaos, the creature kills Deputy Director Verdugo, proving that no amount of Monarch protocol can prepare you for the raw power of nature.

The entire chaos makes Kong really angry, and he destroys the pod with a single punch while trying to stop the creature from running away.  However, he fails to do so as the creature slips into the dark ocean waters, leaving a frustrated and agitated Kong roaring at the shore. 

Apart from the monster fights and the rescue mission, the episode sets up a fascinating new political landscape. The introduction of Natalia Verdugo showed us a version of Monarch that is more bureaucratic and guarded than ever before. However, with Verdugo now gone, the power vacuum at Monarch is bound to cause issues. 

Meanwhile, the shadow of Apex hangs over everything, indicating that the corporate universe is refusing to sit on the sidelines while Monarch fumbles the ball. But most importantly, it makes Kong look like a weary landlord who is tired of his tenants (humans) trashing the place.

By showing him exhausted and agitated, the episode, with the robust cast, shifts him from a distant legend to a character with his own breaking point. This episode perfectly sets the stage for a season that is not just about surviving the Titans, but about who gets to decide the future of the planet.

As the "Sea God" disappears into the waves, and Shaw makes a return, the stakes have never been higher. However, the biggest question that this episode poses is: Where is the Kaiju king, Godzilla, and if he will be making his long-awaited return, because when Godzilla rises, the balance of power is bound to change forever.

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Did you watch Episode 1 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2? Let us know your thoughts.