Monarch Just Revealed Its Endgame With The Most Surprising Movie Crossover Yet

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters."

While "Monarch" may have started off a bit slow by leaning hard on its mystery-box storytelling in the early going (as /Film's Chris Evangelista pointed out in his review here), the smoke is finally starting to clear and the show's overall goal is rounding into shape — along with a heavy dose of even more Monster-Verse connections. Last week's episode "Will the Real May Please Stand Up?" featured a major Easter egg referencing the future events of "Godzilla vs Kong," but ended on a cliffhanger that didn't clarify exactly what the present-day Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) is up to with his renegade force of former Monarch operatives. Those questions have now been answered emphatically as of episode 8 and, in the process, we've been given a roadmap to one of the wildest twists incorporated in the movies.

This week's adventure, titled "Birthright," lives up to the "Legacy" aspect of the show's name. In the past timeline, we watch Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto), Bill Randa (Anders Holm), and a young Lee (Wyatt Russell) scramble to keep the lights on at the then-nascent Monarch ... such as creating the map to the Titans that, in the present-day storyline, ended up in the hands of the older Shaw. Armed with that valuable intel, however, Shaw has now set off on a global crusade to find each and every entry point that Titans have used to invade the surface world, starting with the radioactive fissure in Alaska seen in episode 3. His ultimate goal? Seal off these "portals" and keep the monsters contained within the hollow earth.

In other words, "Monarch" is now laying the groundwork for both "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and "Godzilla vs Kong."

Have you ever sat down to watch Godzilla throwing hands with various MUTOs or the occasional three-headed dragon from outer space and found yourself wondering how such massive beasts managed to remain hidden from prying, human-sized eyes for so long in this universe? You probably shouldn't have, but the sequels to 2014's "Godzilla" decided to provide an explanation anyway. The secret, as established in "Godzilla: King of the Monsters," had to do with an extensive series of tunnels and passageways deep underground that proved the crackpot conspiracy theory of a "hollow earth" correct. This was a reveal befitting the fantastical and admittedly absurd tone that "King of the Monsters," "Kong: Skull Island," and "Godzilla vs Kong" (and now "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire") have largely embraced in recent years. But it's somewhat unexpected to see a series as grounded as "Monarch" begin to connect those dots, as well.

It's to the show's credit that it's been able to convincingly bridge the gap between the darker and more ultra-serious approach of Gareth Edwards' "Godzilla" and the heightened reality of "Godzilla vs Kong," but this latest development may be it's most intriguing and surprising one yet. Our main trio of protagonists — Anna Sawai's Cate, Ren Watabe Kentaro, and Kiersey Clemons' May — followed the breadcrumbs left by the missing Hiroshi Randa (Takehiro Hira) all the way to Lee's doorstep in Kazakhstan, the same location where Keiko tragically plunged to her death way back in the premiere. Thankfully, Lee tells Cate exactly what he's been up to and admits that he's actually seen the labyrinthine "realm" that Godzilla and other Titans call home.

It's a difficult claim to believe, but the final moments of the episode point to even more zaniness to come.

Ah, "Monarch" — a show that has been predominantly focused on human-scaled issues and relationship melodrama (we don't have just one thorny love triangle between the characters in the past, but potentially two if we take the lingering looks between Cate and May at face value!) while also providing answers to burning questions like, "But how did Apex Cybernetics get the idea to make Mechagodzilla in the first place?" and "How soon will we get to hear the words 'hollow earth' come out of the mouth of Kurt Russell?" Not every spin-off show could thread that needle like this one has, but next week's episode promises to up the ante like we've never seen before.

For those wondering when "Monarch" would truly go to places that only the movies have doubled down on, well, it sure seems like your time has finally arrived. By the time Lee's master plan is finally revealed and we learn that Monarch's data indicates that his actions could be inadvertently unleashing the monsters he's so intent on protecting the world from, it's already too late to stop him. He abruptly cuts short his terse conversation with Cate and fires up the detonation charges planted around the nuclear facility in Kazakhstan, which was meant to seal off the deep portal to the world below. Though to give credit where it's due, this was a theory first proposed by Bill Randa in the episode's flashbacks. In the chaos, however, May is thrown down into the pit and followed shortly thereafter by both Cate and Lee. Will they end up in some hidden locale similar to that "Avatar"-like underworld seen in "Godzilla vs Kong"?

We'll find out when episode 9 debuts next week. "Monarch" is currently streaming on Apple TV+.