SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion.

"Departure" is the second episode of the first season of the MonsterVerse series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Synopsis[]

Monarch closes in on Cate, Kenataro, and May as they try to track down a key individual. Keiko, Lee, and Billy stumble on a major find.

Plot[]

Manila
1952

Lieutenant Lee Shaw reports to an Army colonel. The colonel comments on Lee's black eye, which he got from fighting two of his men. He was standing up for a woman in a bar. The colonel gives Lee an escort mission with a Japanese scientist. He is to protect, observe, and report when he can.

Mindanao Docks
Philippines
1952

Lee's boat docks and he tries to find the scientist, whom he mistakenly believes is a man. Keiko Miura approaches him and, after a brief miscommunication, explains she's Dr. Miura. They speed through the mountains in an Army jeep, and she ignores his warnings about her driving. He's there because a WB-29 on a routine weather mission picked up some airborne radioisotopes over the Philippine Sea. The radiation says they originated here and not from bomb fallout. She's there to investigate where it came from.

Tokyo
2015

Kentaro is awake in his room when his alarm goes off. He walks to work and then changes course to his father's office. He looks at the family photographs on the desk and then swipes the desk clean. He proceeds to wreck the office. He finds a locked filing cabinet and uses his father's keys to open it. Inside is a folder with the Monarch logo. The file is about Lee Shaw, who may be living in a retirement home. Also inside is a film from the Philippines in 1952.

Philippines
1952

Lee and Keiko discuss her work. He points out that if the readings were accurate, they wouldn't have sent her, which she acknowledges is true. They both made snap judgments about each other when they met. When he's at the jeep, Keiko hears rustling in the woods. William Randa emerges moments later. Lee sneaks up behind him with a gun and demands answers. Billy is a Navy vet and a cryptozoologist. He thinks they may be hunting for the same thing - the truth.

Tokyo
2015

Cate walks to the airport while Michelle Duvall follows her. She answers a call from her mom and promises to talk to her when she gets home. Tim approaches her, and they get off to an awkward start. He insists he's harmless, but she brushes him off until he admits to working for Monarch. She's not in trouble yet, but the files she found belong to them. He escorts her to make a call out of the station. She calls her mom and throws the phone in Tim's face to run away. Duvall grabs her and pushes her into a car.

Tim promises not to hurt her but can't let her see where they're going. He covers her face with a hood, but this triggers her into a panic attack of D-Day. She kicks Duvall in the face. The car wrecks over a construction site. Cate crawls out of the wreckage and flees the scene while Tim struggles to escape.

Kentaro visits May, though she isn't happy to see him. He needs her help again with the film he found. She refuses to help him, and they talk about their failed relationship. Moments before she closes the door, he asks for the files back. She's busy and tells him to come back tomorrow. She goes back to her desk, where she's working on decrypting the rest of the Monarch files.

Cate tells a police officer about what happened to her. He thinks she's drunk, but she insists on her kidnapping. He instructs her to visit the American embassy. She's unnerved by him and leaves the station.

Kentaro comes home where his mom is looking at old photographs of Hiroshi. She's not angry initially but then tears up photographs. He joins her, and it brings them some happiness. Emiko goes to the kitchen to heat the curry. Kentaro looks at a picture of a young Lee Shaw.

Philippines
1952

Lee, Billy, and Keiko discuss their mutual work and the radiation. He recommends they follow the legends. There's one about a fire-breathing dragon, which he wonders could be ionizing radiation. Keiko and Lee argue over letting Billy join them on their mission. She relieves him of his responsibility to her, so he leaves with plans to send someone back with the jeep.

Billy and Keiko walk through the jungle. He named the creatures he's hunting M.U.T.O's - Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms. Everyone told him versions of the same story about the dragons and the patterns the birds they see follow. It's the same pattern as the radiation her aircraft picked up. They use the map to find an abandoned ship - the Lawton.

Tokyo
2015

Cate is on edge as she navigates the streets to May's apartment. She hears Tim and Duvall inside. May grabs her into the shadows and leads her away.

Emiko tells Kentaro about Hiroshi's relationship with his "Uncle Lee." He didn't talk about Lee much or that part of his life. She doesn't know if Lee is still alive or not. He gets a text from May moments before the doorbell rings. Waiting outside are Tim and Duvall, who barge in without an invitation. He wants Bill Randa's files as they belong to Monarch. If he returns what he stole, they'll leave him alone. Otherwise, he'll have to come with them. Emiko encourages Kentaro to give them what they want. She slips Lee's photo to him before he leaves. She distracts them while Kentaro sneaks out of the house. Tim recognizes Hiroshi in a photograph. Duvall chases after Kentaro to no avail. All that Tim finds is Bill Randa's bag.

Philippines
1952

Billy identifies the ship as from Pearl Harbor, over 5,000 miles away. He records their tryst inside the Lawton. Billy finds a chest labeled "Randa" that has memorabilia within it. He was on the ship once. He hoped it would still be there. They hit something that night, and it went down in under three minutes. He was the only survivor.

Lee is driving when the Grieger counter alerts. He sees lights in the sky that he can't explain. He turns the jeep around.

Tokyo
2015

May and Cate find refuge in a restaurant. May has a duffel bag packed with passports and money. They meet up with Kentaro in an alley. Cate suggests giving the files to the people looking for them. May wants to flee instead. Kentaro knows where to go and tells them to trust him.

Philippines
1952

Billy and Keiko find an organic organism covering the walls of the ship. Cocooned inside it are human bodies, both skeletal and newer. They start to leave, but the organism covers the ladder that gets them out.

Tokyo
2015

Kentaro takes Cate and May to see Colonel Shaw, who is still alive and living in the senior home. He recognizes Kentaro as Hiroshi's son, though Lee cuts them off before they can talk. He leads them outside. They discuss what Kentaro and Cate found in the safe. As Cate, Kentaro, and Lee talk, May spots a camera in the trees. Lee reveals this is Monarch's version of secure asset management. He has an ankle monitor. Monarch will keep following the trio until they get what they want. He doesn't believe Hiroshi disappeared without a trace. He offers to get out of there and learn what happened to their father. He cuts his ankle monitor and tells them to make a choice.

Philippines
1952

Billy leads Keiko through the ship as the organism changes and grows. It dents the walls and closes in, forcing them to run. A giant claw pins Billy to the ground with a ladder. Lee arrives with a flare and helps Keiko free Billy. They escape the ship seconds before it topples over. A dragon erupts free from the wreckage. The trio hides in a crater in the ground and watches the creature in awe.

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[]

• Qyoko Kudo as Emiko Randa
• Christopher Heyerdahl as General Puckett
• Tamlyn Tomita as Caroline

Co-starring[]

• Ryuta Kato as Desk Sergeant
• Yuki Shinno as Desk Attendant
• Daisuke Nakagawa as Japanese Man
• Kyle Riefsnyder as Orderly
• Adam Kirschner as Spradlin
• Ryan Cowle as Rossi
• Crysthelle Rue as Local Rue
• Jory John as Albert

Appearances[]

Monsters[]

• Godzilla (cameo)
• Ion Dragon

Trivia[]