Monarch Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Finale Recap and Ending Explained: Is Rodan Back?

Co-created by Chris Black and Matt Fraction, Apple TV+’s ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ begins its second season by introducing a new monster, called Titan X. Though this beast mostly rests in the liminal, atemporal realm known as Axis Mundi, excessive human intervention forces it out into the open, from where it begins a long and strenuous pilgrimage cycle that’s supposed to bring it back home. However, for Lee Shaw, Keiko Randa, and their entire team, saving lives while keeping Titan X on course proves to be almost too difficult, especially when nefarious forces like Isabel step in.

Episode 9 of the season confirms that all of space and time converges into a single point in Axis Mundi, which itself can be accessed from within Skull Island. However, as the race to conquer this rift begins, Kong and potentially even greater powers also join in, shaping up the climax in episode 10, titled ‘Where We Belong.’ SPOILERS AHEAD.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Plot Recap

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ season 2 episode 10 begins with Keiko and Lee making their way out of the central rift as Titan X continues to struggle in pain. Though Tim and May are also alive, they are simply too far away from the Monarch site to make it in time. On the other end of the island, Kong continues charging at the Skullcrawler sounds, not knowing that he is slowly being driven to Titan X’s exact location. Though Kentaro still isn’t pleased about the idea of Kong and Titan X duking it out, he swallows up those concerns in the hopes of bringing Hiroshi back. Cate, however, doesn’t think that’s possible and is forcibly locked inside a room by Isabel’s men as the plan goes on.

As Keiko and Lee continue walking, they discuss their respective findings, including Cate’s ability to understand Titan X’s speech and Lee’s inexplicable conversation with his past self. Keiko is exasperated by the fact that Lee let fate take its course, as the alternative could have meant her making an early exit and reuniting with Bill while he was still alive. Meanwhile, Tim and May find one of Isabel’s student teams and forcibly seize their jeeps, chasing Titan X’s screams down the line. Cate doesn’t stay put for long either and uses her chemistry skills to burn a hole through a vent, which leads straight outside. However, opening the manhole, she finds herself right in front of Titan X, who seems too blinded by rage to communicate with Cate as she did before.

Tim and May ultimately reunite with Keiko and Lee, and together they establish a plan. Tim and May are tasked with infiltrating the base and shutting down the signals harming Titan X, whereas Keiko decides to take one jeep and head straight towards Cate. Lee, on the other hand, goes back to the helicopters that were projecting Skullcrawler sounds, hoping to use Titan X’s recordings to guide her. However, before any of that happens, Kong leaps into the scene with pure killing intent, prompting a battle of the giants that hasn’t been seen since G-Day. Though it doesn’t take Tim and company long to take over the headquarters, May realizes a little too late that her code is beyond repair and the signal is likely to blast on as long as Titan X is still standing.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Ending: Is There a Second Rodan? Is the Fire Demon Back?

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ ends its second season by teasing a second Rodan that is nestled somewhere in Southeast Asia. This Rodan appears to be different from the one we see in ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters‘, who is still contained inside Isla de Mara’s volcano as of this timeline. Based on the chronology of events, there are still roughly two years before the Isla de Mara Rodan escapes into the wild and is subdued by Ghidorah. Instead, what we see in the show’s finale is possibly a sibling, or more likely a mate, which is consistent with how monsters function in this universe. The location of this second Rodan also fits into this puzzle, as while Isla de Mara is located in Mexico, this Rodan might be resting inside an antipodal volcano, tracking all the way back to Southeast Asia.

If there is one thing the season finale proves definitively, it’s that axis mundi rifts aren’t randomized, but follow a sophisticated pattern that is often communicated only to monsters. In such a scenario, natural openings like lakes, gorges, or most fittingly, volcanoes, make for perfect channels. For the show to continue its literal and figurative dive into Axis Mundi, as such, this second Rodan might just become a key player. It is likely that Isabel and Kentaro also come to a similar conclusion, which is what drives them to these jungles. What they don’t know, however, is that the boss of these lands, A-Wut, is friends with Lee and has no intentions of divulging what are known to be sacred secrets.

Unlike Santa Soledad, where the villagers greet Titan X with equal parts awe and terror, in A-Wut’s case, there appears to be nothing but fear about what the jungle hides. The burn scars on his arms suggest that attempts to contact Rodan might have been made, but didn’t end well. However, this doesn’t stop Lee from going solo on this mission, presumably, to set up a bait for Kentaro and company. While we know what Rodan is capable of, this also comes with an understanding that it prefers to follow rather than lead, which makes it a bigger question as to which titan might appear next. Lee’s desire to self-sacrifice has been obvious from the start, which makes his future actions all the more unpredictable, especially when dealing with a monster that might be even more dangerous than Titan X.

Why Does Kentaro Side With Isabel? Where Are They Going?

Though the episode ends with the monsters reconciling and going their own way, the same cannot be said for the human end of the story. Kentaro, convinced that figuring out Axis Mundi can bring Hiroshi back, chooses Isabel over his sister and grandmother, parting ways for good. Though Cate initially tries to reason with him, she falls short of arguments when he brings up the efforts Hiroshi made to save her during that two-year lapse. Given the sheer number of secrets Axis Mundi holds, it makes sense for Kentaro to sacrifice it all for a single shot at reuniting with his father. What he doesn’t know, however, is that we already have proof of how time works in this story, thanks to Lee’s brief encounter with himself in episode 7.

The fact that Lee has to force his past self to leave Keiko behind and embed a tracker into Titan X shows that the timeline follows a closed loop. Things that happen in the past and future, as such, are irretrievably dependent on each other, and that makes Hiroshi’s death inevitable. While Kentaro’s understanding of a parallel universe theory might itself be a nod to the many variations of Godzilla and other monsters, it also confirms that his journey is doomed from the get-go. Isabel may already know this and has plans to use his scientific prowess to get what she wants.

By siding with Isabel instead of Cate, Kentaro has alienated the remaining bits of his family, all to pursue a goal he subconsciously knows will never be realized. It is possible that he is still being motivated by the nightmare he had of everyone in his life dying. Instead of learning from it and focusing on the living, however, he has now pivoted his attention to undoing what is essentially set in stone.

Does Titan X Return to Axis Mundi? Why Does Kong Spare Her?

Despite Isabel’s desperate interventions, nature ultimately triumphs, setting Titan X back on her course to Axis Mundi with her egg. However, even beginning that journey means countering Kong first, and that proves to be far from easy. Given that Titan X, like Godzilla, is better suited for aquatic combat, Kong naturally has the upper hand in this final clash. To counter that, Isabel restarts the system designed by May to control titans, except this time they use it to disrupt her signals. Though we never get a clear reason as to why Titan X is immune to the signals, it’s possibly because she has a language system of her own that can resist the code. As such, when Isabel pushes the signal to its limits, Titan X winds up getting aggressive to tackle Kong.

The turning point in the fight comes when Monarch’s team breaks into Isabel’s headquarters and lifts up the barricades to Titan X’s egg. Almost instantaneously, her maternal instincts override the signals, killing the system entirely. Kong, likely sensing her waning bloodlust, also takes a step back as she rushes towards her egg. Though the following exchange takes place entirely without words, it is clear that the two giants come to an understanding and call it even. But still, there remains one last hurdle in Titan X’s journey back home, which is the fact that she no longer remembers the way to the central rift. Though Lee tries to get her to listen to her own song as bait, it appears to have no effect, just like the signals. At the end, it is Cate who puts her mystical connection with Titan X to use, guiding her to the lake where all pathways come together.

How Do Lee and Keiko See Lee From the Past?

After Titan X opens the Axis Mundi portal through the lake, Lee catches sight of a vague reflection of himself in those waters, which surprisingly turns out to be, once again, his younger self. It takes Lee a while to decipher whether the sight is even real or a hallucination, but all doubts clear up when Keiko pitches in, finally catching sight of the younger version of Lee she knew for years. Given that Axis Mundi is a space where temporality flows unusually, it makes sense for the three of them to be connected once again, especially as Lee once made contact with Titan X within this liminal space and is connected to it on some level. However, given how time and memory work for Lee, his past version is likely to forget all about this encounter, at least until he sees himself once again, decades later.

When Lee sees himself through Axis Mundi’s time lapses, he unlocks a core memory of what he told Keiko all those years ago. In the present, when she tries to communicate with his past self, the mirror-like structure doesn’t allow Lee’s voice to come through. Except this time, the older Lee is here to fill in the gaps, and he tells her that this was meant to be their goodbye until they reunited in the present. Though Keiko regrets not being able to return any sooner and meet Bill again, this brief exchange tells her just how important it is to let time take its course, and more importantly, how important it is to say goodbye. Her decision contrasts with Kentaro’s failure to move on, which ultimately puts them on two opposing paths that are doomed to clash.

What is Monarch 2.0? Will Keiko and Cate Join the Team?

The season finale also bids goodbye to the existing structure and modus operandi of Monarch, and instead gives way to a secret unit called Monarch 2.0, which so far only includes Tim and May. This unit is purposefully designed to go under the radar and do the things Monarch may not be officially authorized to do, and for that reason, it is hidden neatly inside the company’s basement. Though Keiko and Cate initially don’t seem too keen to work under a company that they have grown to not trust, things change when they learn what is at stake. Isabel, as it turns out, isn’t exactly working with Apex and has plans that are far more ambitious and risky.

With Kentaro now in her grasp, it is but a matter of time before Isabel makes yet another leap, and it is up to Monarch 2.0 to outpace her in that department. As such, Keiko and Cate are hardly able to turn down a chance to rescue their family, especially if it means working with Tim and May again. While no one in Monarch knows the exact details of Isabel’s plans, it clearly has something to do with Axis Mundi’s ability to bypass time. Cate hears from Kentaro about Axis Mundi potentially even reversing time and bringing people back from the dead, which opens up a world of possibilities.

As of now, Monarch 2.0 believes that Isabel is set to create a time capsule of sorts that can allow people to pretty much stop aging indefinitely and return to the human world whenever they wish to. We already know from Lee’s brief interaction with himself that these rifts can send people back to their own timeframe, as well as to the past or future. For a reality-warping power to end up in the hands of someone like Isabel can easily spell the worst outcomes, especially since the world is a few years away from Kong conquering Axis Mundi, which is then renamed Hollow Earth. Whether or not the fate of humanity is preserved, as such, rests entirely on this new Monarch team, whose goal is to live up to their motto: Discovery and defense in a time of monsters.