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SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion. |
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"Axis Mundi" is the ninth episode of the first season of the MonsterVerse series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Synopsis[]
Shaw and May search for Cate and make a startling discovery. Kentaro struggles with his loss.
Plot[]
Monarch Test Site, Kansas
1962
Hiroshi plays with a toy car while Billy talks to Shaw. Billy says goodbye to Hiroshi because he has to go to work. Shaw has to leave for his trip too. Shaw talks to Hiroshi alone and explains that it's top-secret army explorer stuff. He's doing something a little dangerous, but Hiroshi knows about that already. Shaw says he'll be back soon and gives Hiroshi his pocket knife to look after until he gets back.
Shaw and Billy give Hiroshi to his grandmother. The men head to start Operation Hourglass. They discuss Keiko as they walk; making jokes, reminiscing, and wishing she was there. Billy reminds Shaw that he doesn't have to do the mission, but Shaw wouldn't ask someone to do something he wouldn't do himself. They stare at the pit.
General Puckett explains Operation Hourglass to a senator. It's a trip to a place that will redefine their understanding of the planet. They're going to plant a flag in under space. Shaw, along with four others, boards a pod. Billy salutes Shaw as he boards, and Shaw returns the salute. They lure a Titan to their location so it can take them to the tunnel, which will stabilize as the Titan moves through it. The pod drops down the pit. Antennas spark and bend as everything metal begins to snap. A ferocious wind kicks up and a blast of energy comes from the pit. The pod loses control, unable to communicate with anyone else. The wind begins to suction everything around it inside and then passes. Puckett demands answers from Billy, but he doesn't have any to give.
Billy goes to the motel to tell Hiroshi about Shaw's disappearance.
Tokyo
2015
Kentaro wakes up in the hospital. Tim and Verdugo are there to explain he's in Tokyo. Everything went terribly wrong at the reactor plant. Shaw imploded the rifts and the whole thing collapsed down on itself. Tim remembers Duvall dragging him out. A lot of people didn't make it out, including May, Shaw, and Cate. Kentaro wants to look for them, but Verdugo laments that all three of them died. She thanks him for his help, but his time in their world is over. Kentaro begs them to let him do something. She tells him to live. Verdugo and Tim leave Kentaro in the room with Emiko, who sobs over her son.
Axis Mundi
Shaw wakes up in a different world. One of electricity, energy, and fire. He shouts for Cate and starts looking for her. May wakes up in the same place, feeling disoriented and seeing the electricity move through the ground. Shaw tackles her to the ground seconds before the electricity shoots up to the sky. He tells her to avoid the lights, all of which burst when the electricity meets in one place. They dodge blasts until it's safe to stop. He explains that he's been down there before on a recon mission. They're in the Titans' world now, a part of their realm. He tells May that Cate went back, and May freaks out, believing Cate is dead. Shaw admits she started to fall but he caught her, so she's somewhere in the realm with them. She has to trust him. She just wants to find Cate. They walk together shouting for Cate as creatures buzz above them.
Monarch Headquarters
1962
Billy works in his office at Monarch. His assistant tells him General Puckett is there. Puckett tells Billy that the DOD has ordered no further funds to be allocated to Project Monarch going further. Billy doesn't understand how he's supposed to understand what happened without funds. Billy wants to bring up another monster to spark more funds, but Puckett disproves them. Puckett is sad over Shaw as they were friends. Billy can't let this one go, and Puckett reminds him that Hiroshi's lost a mother and an uncle - don't take his father away next.
Axis Mundi
Lee explains to May that time moves different where they are.
1982
Shaw wakes up in a hospital room after his trip to the other realm. Several people in hazmat suits come to visit him. He identifies himself and they send him a barrage of questions. He requests Bill Randa. One of the nurses, Emiko, worries because Shaw refuses to eat. She brings him a cookie. He wants Bill Randa to bring him a sandwich, but he's on a hunger strike. The monitors go off and Shaw holds Emiko hostage as he demands the presence of William J. Randa. Hiroshi, now an adult, marches down the hall. He can't bring Randa to Shaw because he's dead. He disappeared during Operation Hourglass in 1962 - twenty years ago. Hiroshi holds up the pocket knife as proof of his identity. He welcomes Shaw home, and the man faints.
Hiroshi goes to the nurse's station to speak with Emiko. He apologizes for the events of the day. She insists she's fine. He feels Shaw is his responsibility. Emiko understands that Shaw feels lonely, scared, and in pain. He gives her a vase of flowers. She asks why he's avoiding Shaw. Hiroshi explains that Shaw promised to come back but never returned. He mourned them and moved on. The nurse thinks it seems like Shaw kept his promise.
2015
Emiko and Kentaro come home, and she fusses over him. He snaps at her. She tries to reason with him that he can get his old job back after he heals. He doesn't want to talk about work. He should be with Cate, which she believes is a horrible thing to say. He feels as though he should have saved them or been with them. He can't go back to how things were before them. Emiko doesn't expect that. He's been through so much loss, grief, despair, and pain that going back isn't possible. She's sorry, and he insists it's not her fault. She's sorry he has to feel this way, but he has to let himself feel it. He doesn't know what to do. She believes he does. He's never been good at doing what others told him to do, anyway.
Things are busy at Monarch Headquarters where Dr. Barnes is listening to music while working. She exclaims that she has a signal. The gamma rays are all a signal. There's a pattern to all the gamma rays, a message someone is sending them.
1982
Shaw wakes up again in the hospital bed. Hiroshi stands by the foot of his bed. Shaw asks about the nurse, who Hiroshi admits will be okay. Shaw doesn't know why Monarch is treating him like a prisoner. They aren't sure if Shaw is safe - contagious, radioactive, or a Russian plant. Hiroshi doesn't believe that. Monarch wants to know what happened to Shaw and how. His survival and age defies logic. They both know the Monarch slogan. Shaw isn't sure about opening up because he'll sound crazy. Hiroshi pushes as if keeping it to himself means it is all for nothing.
Shaw flashes back to the pod spiraling out of control. It was an out-of-control flight into the terrain. He and the rest of the crew get out of the pod and look around the realm. Ben was down on arrival, so they began to plan EVA. They began recon of the landing side while trying to reach home. Something happened while they were doing that. They encountered a MUTO, and he called for immediate evacuation. He cries as he remembers the horrors of the creature, the screams of his friends, and their deaths. The local phenomena made their egress difficult. The next thing he remembers is being in the woods, back on Earth. Hiroshi explains they found him in the woods outside of Higashizumo. Inside is a shrine believed to be the boundary between the living and the dead. There is a rift in there. Shaw chuckles as Billy would have liked that. His father was right about everything - the two worlds. Hiroshi thinks Shaw is confused. His father was crazy and lost himself after Keiko and Shaw. Monarch is moving Shaw to what seems like a retirement home. Shaw offers to do this together with Hiroshi to figure it out. Hiroshi refuses and coldly states that for 300,000 years, civilization lived with the creatures until the three of them. Some beasts are best left undisturbed. He gives Shaw back his pocket knife. Shaw stops him because this is his legacy and family business. Hiroshi buried that family business in three empty coffins a long time ago.
Shaw watches television in the Monarch retirement facility. He takes medication and grows old for the next twenty years. The program interrupts with breaking news of the MUTO's attack on Honolulu. He stops taking his medication.
Axis Mundi
May and Shaw walk through the other realm as she digests the information. He doesn't think he lost years. If Shae finds a way to get her home, then what happened to him doesn't happen to her will make it worth it. She thinks he looks good for 90-whatever. They shout for Cate but still don't find her.
Tokyo
Kentaro flips through research in his father's office. Hiroshi walks in, and Kentaro coolly greets him. Hiroshi is back to continue his work and hasn't had a chance to contact Emiko yet. Something went wrong in the desert, and he needs to know what. He wants Kentaro's help and asks how he got in the office. Kentaro got the keys from Cate. They were looking for Hiroshi when they found him in the desert. Hiroshi has a lot to explain to both of them. He never wanted Kentaro to know about Cate or the other half of his life. Kentaro wants his answers because Monarch won't help him anymore. Hiroshi knows he's hurt them both but the answers aren't in the files. He wants to talk to Kentaro and his sister, but the boy repeats that it's too late for that. Kentaro reveals to Hiroshi that Cate died. Hiroshi can't believe it and accuses Kentaro of trying to hurt him. He grips his son and begs him to say it's not true. He breaks down in sobs at his son's feet. Kentaro blames Hiroshi for Cate's death because he was a sad man who kept running from her.
Axis Mundi
Cate wakes up in the other realm in a state of confusion. She hears a noise and starts trying to flee as a Brambleboar marches up to Cate. It blows inches from her face and then leaves her. It circles back around, sniffing and huffing. She tries to crawl away when she sees skeletons around her. The creature charges at her and, seconds before it can hit her, an arrow flies through the air into her eye. Cate looks behind her to see Keiko Randa.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Anna Sawai as Cate Randa
- Kiersey Clemons as May Olowe-Hewitt
- Ren Watabe as Kentaro Randa
- Mari Yamamoto as Keiko Randa
- Anders Holm as young William Randa
- Joe Tippett as Tim
- Elisa Lasowski as Michelle Duvall
- Wyatt Russell in the role of Lee Shaw
- Kurt Russell in the role of Lee Shaw
Guest starring[]
- Takehiro Hira as Hiroshi Randa
- Mirelly Taylor as Natalia Verdugo
- Qyoko Kudo as Emiko Randa
- Christopher Heyerdahl as General Puckett
- Leo Ashizawa as Dr. Suzuki
- Jess Salgueiro as Dr. Barnes
Co-starring[]
- Kelton Sakamoto as Hiroshi Randa (10 years old)
- Isaac Keoughan as Ben Brandt
- Lisa Chandler as Grace Burke
- Mamie Kakimoto as Dr. Davis
- Charlie Karumi Dr. Udekwu
- Justin Lacey as Monarch Tech
- Sayo Onishi as Nurse 1
- Mei Uritani as Nurse 2
- Sean Hara as Doctor
- Taz Vanrassel as VIP
- Frank Crudele as Stan
Appearances[]
Monsters[]
- Endopede (flashback)
- Ion Dragon (flashback)
- Godzilla (stock footage)
- MUTO (stock footage)
- Brambleboar
Trivia[]
- It is revealed that Keiko is alive and she has not aged.