Spoiler warning
While episode threads allow spoilers, a heads up to new Monsterverse viewers that not only does the episode description reveal key developments from season one, as compared to the ones for shows in other franchises, it gives more away about the episode and the season.
Decades after being presumed dead, Keiko’s return shocks Monarch. Cate defies orders to save Shaw — and unleashes a terrifying new Titan.
Written by: Chris Black & Matt Fraction
Directed by: Lawrence Trilling
Season 2 has been off to one hell of a start! Lots of action and more mystery around this new titan. I like seeing Skull Island and more of the creatures that are there. The animated Netflix Skull Island show featured a lot of other deadly creatures that are there, so it was nice to see the giant crabs and other flying creatures.
The desperation of Cate makes sense because she seems to be wanting some sort of father figure and Shaw was fulfilling that, plus he tried to save her in S1. Her relationship with her actual dad is very strained and she almost seems to be acting out to punish him. That being said, her actions were reckless and she is going to get a lot of people killed.
I can’t believe how quickly they just killed off Verdugo. Is Tim next in line to run Monarch or something now? Dr. Keiko Randa (she deserves recognition for her accomplishments) is too fresh to the modern world to run things.
The new titan seemed on the small side. Curious to see if this thing grows and evolves. I’ve seen predictions about this being the Monsterverse version of Biolante, which it does have a similar look so I think it’ll need to grow in order to take on Kong and/or Godzilla.
I can’t tell if Apex and Monarch are enemies, frienemies, or if Apex is going to be the evolution of Monarch. They’ve been kind of reckless with their tech but also seem to work alongside Monarch or under their watch.
Final thought is around the season’s episode titles that have been revealed on other sites. Are we going to be dealing with man and monsters coming to some sort of new age understanding? Past humans were connected to the titans, but current humans are in contention. The titles seem to possibly indicate everything is connected (String Theory, Ends of the Earth, Where We Belong).
All things said, I’m totally IN and can’t wait to see how this season unfolds! I recently rewatched all of the movies, read the tie in comics and watched tie in shows, and rewatched S1. My first watch I enjoyed it, but after revisiting everything, I am absolutely hooked and better understand all that was happening/care about the characters.
Thanks for joining the conversation.
We seem to be appreciating the same things.
Watching the dynamics, between Bill Randa, Keiko Mura and Lee Shaw in the earlier time frame, made me realize that Cate and Kentaro inherited a legacy of stubbornness, mono focusing, risk taking and impetuousness from their grandparents.
Yes, there’s the impact of trauma and their father’s upbringing, but they both exhibit some of Bill Randa’s behaviours — although not usually at the same time.
I liked how the premiere showed that Kentaro had settled into being capable of handling danger with cool competence. He didn’t get as much dialogue as Cate, but I’m intrigued by who he seems to be growing into during the two years the others were in the Hollow World.
BTW the season’s episode titles were in an earlier post. I didn’t post the episode descriptions as they are quite spoilery.
Confident is the word that comes to mind after watching this premiere.
The world building and character development foundations of season one pay off immediately. I felt like I was watching a contender the strongest science fiction season premiere of the year.
Like many others, I hadn’t been sure where the mystery box of season one was taking us. Everything had seemed to be coming together in the first season’s final episodes, leaving me with a some frustration that we might not see where it would go if there wasn’t a second season.
Now, the narrative, action and character beats were all there as well as the monsters, MUTOs/kaiju/Titans — old and new.
Some deep cuts in there to rarely seen smaller monsters from what I could catch. The Skull Island and Hollow Earth scenes really give a richer sense of a broader ecology of monsters. The consistently excellent vfx make it unquestionably believable.
WOW.
Confident is the word that comes to mind after watching this premiere.
This community has convinced me to start delving in to all of this stuff, but I’m nowhere near this current season, but I just wanted to say that I love this.
You can really tell when a show knows what it’s trying to be, and executes it.
