Monarch Season 2's Best Idea Ends Up Being A Missed Opportunity

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Titan Alert: This article contains spoilers for season 2, episode 2 of "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters."

Beware Titans bearing monstrous little gifts. After the "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" season 2 premiere ended with Cate Randa (Anna Sawai) pulling a "Jurassic World" on us and unleashing Titan X upon the globe, episode 2 attempts to deal with the frightening aftermath. Titled "Resonance," this week's adventure shifts the action from the wilds of Skull Island to the familiar confines of Monarch's research vessel in the middle of the ocean. Boy, it'd be a real shame if this presumably safe ship, crewed by the brightest minds in the business, suddenly turned into a bloody house of horrors, wouldn't it?

That appears to be the direction that this hour is heading in, as our escaping characters inadvertently bring along an uninvited guest with them, but the reality proves to be much more disappointing. One sneaky little Scarab, a pint-sized Titan that we learn factors heavily into the 1950s flashbacks, hitches a ride on a Monarch helicopter and promptly skitters around the massive ship. Several early scenes ramp up the tension even more, especially when we follow one unfortunate scientist who returns to his lab only to find out that he's not alone.

All the pieces are in place for a glorious riff on "Alien" by way of the MonsterVerse ... but, just as it seems like "Monarch" is about to deliver its best idea yet early in the season, it lets it go right by the wayside.

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It's typically poor form to criticize a movie or show for what you want it to be rather than what it is but, come on, sometimes you have to make an exception or two. When the universe hands you the perfect recipe to switch things up a bit and rely on one of the most tried-and-true tropes of them all, you thank the storytelling gods for their providence and do it. In this case, that ideally would've led to "Monarch" showrunner Chris Black and his writing team embracing their instincts to recreate the claustrophobic panic of "Alien" in a world where Godzilla and King Kong are stomping around. Instead, they step right up to the precipice of this idea ... before making a hasty retreat.

Is this merely the earliest instance of "Monarch" getting its priorities mixed up a bit? Admittedly, my review for /Film made no bones about season 2 getting bogged down by too much melodrama. In this case, however, it's more about getting too caught up in the overarching plot at the expense of having some fun. Sure, it's no surprise that the show's writers would need to keep the engine running (so to speak) and move the story forward as Titan X threatens to wreak havoc on the world at large. It makes sense that the creative team couldn't exactly hit pause on a threat like that and focus instead on a creepy little Scarab picking off crew members one by one.

But can anyone honestly claim that this wouldn't have been an absolute blast to watch? Topped off by Anna Sawai's Cate turning into a final girl against this killer little bug? We get a taste of that, but not nearly enough. 

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Regardless of whether going all-in on an "Alien"-inspired bottle episode was a missed opportunity or not, season 2 of "Monarch" needs outside-the-box ideas like that to give this cast its due. Continuing to flesh out this universe Marvel-style in between the movies is a great start, but this ensemble is simply too talented to waste. Cate is currently wrestling with her guilt over causing this entire Titan X emergency in the first place, and understandably so. Meanwhile, Keiko (Mari Yamamoto) is beginning to face the reality of being a woman displaced from time and thrust into a modern world — which she fears might not have as much use for her anymore. Of course, the ongoing drama with Lee Shaw (both the elder and younger versions, played by Kurt and Wyatt Russell, respectively) is well worth the price of admission (uh, subscription?) alone.

Either way, the potential of this show clearly remains. For those fascinated by the origins of Monarch and the logistics of how this organization first came to be, the continuing flashbacks to the 1950s with Keiko, Lee, and Bill Randa (Anders Holm) are there to help scratch that itch. For those invested in the arcs of young protagonists May (Kiersey Clemons), Kentaro (Ren Watabe), and Cate, the present-day storyline puts them in the middle of the action — more or less, at least. To everyone else here for the Titan spectacle of it all, well, hopefully, the wait is worth it. We may have been denied the visual of Anna Sawai going full Ripley on us, but there's more than enough time to make up for that.

New episodes of "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" stream on Apple TV every Friday.