Monarch: Legacy of Monsters stomps ever onward into Season 2 with the second episode, “Resonance.” How does Monarch plan to stop the newly unleashed Titan X? How does its release in the modern day connect back to Santa Soledad in the 1950s? And will anymore of those small but sinister orblings be making an appearance?
All these questions and more will be explored in our full breakdown of Episode 2. This is your final warning if you haven’t had the opportunity to watch “Resonance” for yourself yet. So, without any further delay, let’s dive right in.
What happens in Monarch Season 2 Episode 2 “Resonance”?
As the Monarch helicopters escape from Skull Island, Shaw asks Keiko if she recognizes Titan X from their time on Santa Soledad before the Monarch crew assesses their next move. After some debate with Shaw, Tim, now acting leader following Verdugo’s death, decides to pursue Titan X at a close-but-not-too close proximity to find out what they can and avoid civilian casualties. Meanwhile, Cate overhears Hiroshi and Kentaro arguing and assumes Hiroshi blames her for what just happened. Hiroshi insists that they should just move on, but Cate is not convinced.
Back in 1957 Santa Soledad, Bill (Anders Holm) emerges from the cave after having seemingly spent the entire previous evening inside, with Shaw and Keiko waiting by the docks. Bill insists they need to leave to follow a map he found in the cave that he believes lays out Titan X’s migratory route, but Keiko believes there is still work to be done where they are. After some debate, they ultimately decide to divide and conquer, with Bill leaving to follow the map while Shaw and Keiko stay on the island.
Lucia, the woman who danced with Bill in the previous episode, and her friend explain that the villager’s religious beliefs say the presence of outsiders will keep fish from coming in, but they invite Shaw and Keiko to that evening’s festival, anyway. Returning to the present day, an older Shaw convinces Tim to increase Outpost 18’s speed to keep pace with Titan X before it collides with civilian sea traffic in the Strait of Malacca. They also formulate a plan to lure Titan X away from said civilians by modifying the onboard drone’s sonar to emit an infrasonic signal to the creature since it responds to sound.
Keiko and Hiroshi bond as they prepare the sensor while Cate tries to steal a moment of peace in her quarters when she hears an orbling shuffling around the halls. Unable to call for help, she grabs the first thing that could reasonably be used as a weapon, a fire extinguisher, and readies herself for battle, Luckily, before she has to do that, Kentaro fires a flare gun into its face from across the hall, leaving it disoriented. Cate begins to bash its face in with the fire extinguisher as Kentaro fires another flare, causing the creature to emit its own infrasonic signal to the nearby Titan X.
See, while all this has been happening, Outpost 18 has caught up to Titan X and is attempting to use the drone to send their infrasonic signal to no avail. Shaw attempts to force the drone to fly lower in an effort to give the signal better reach, but that just causes the drone to crash. But having picked up on the orbling’s signal, Titan X does turn away from the Strait of Malacca only to set its sights directly on Outpost 18. Thankfully, our heroes manage to release the orbling into the water in time for Titan X to take it back and leave them alone for the time being.
Wrapping up our flashback storyline for this episode, Shaw and Keiko attend the festival as Keiko finds herself drawn to the center of the crowd in a seemingly hypnotic trance. Shaw follows her, and as they meet up in the center, they share a kiss in the heat of the moment. They snap out of a trance and find themselves in the middle of an ancient ritual worshipping Titan X, known to the indigenous population as “Cocai.” A man cuts open an orbling corpse and dabs its surprisingly viscous blood onto Lucia’s forehead before Titan X emerges from the water, ending the episode.
Is Monarch Season 2 Episode 2 worth watching?
As to be expected from Monarch: Legacy of Monsters at this point, “Resonance” has a very strong balance between monster action and character drama. Moments of characters struggling to figure out what to do and ultimately finding connection with each other, like Shaw and Tim’s debates or Keiko and Hiroshi’s bonding, are effectively interspersed with great set pieces like the Titan X attack. What isn’t quite as expected, but very much welcome, is the use of tension and horror.
The ticking clock element of Titan X getting closer and closer to the Strait of Malacca adds a lot to the overall stakes and the way the orbling crawls around the ship waiting for the perfect chance to strike an unsuspecting victim felt surprisingly reminiscent of classic horror creatures like the face huggers from the original Alien. While Godzilla and other giant monsters aren’t typically thought of as horror, that is where they started. And as such, it’s fun to see the franchise embrace its roots in new and creative ways, like we see here.
Also, the atmosphere in the final flashback scene is just plain creepy in the best possible way. The way Keiko seems to lose touch with reality, the man with the mysterious black markings around his eyes luring her in before somehow being replaced by Shaw, all great stuff that adds a lot to the episode. I personally would’ve liked to see these horror elements explored a bit further (perhaps have the orbling kill off a couple people before getting to Cate or something like that), but it’s still really well done overall.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV.
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