Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Episode 8 Drops a Major Betrayal — and That Ending Changes Everything

Critic’s Rating: 3.25 / 5.0

3.25

There comes a point in any TV season when things have to change, and for a while there, it really didn’t feel like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 was interested in doing that.

The opening stretch was strong, but the middle episodes have dragged, repeating the same beats and spinning their wheels without much payoff.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Episode 8 finally does something about it.

Not everything works, but at least it feels like the story is moving again — and yeah, I’m still not over what Kentaro did.

Seriously, what was that?

I’m so freaking disappointed in him. Betraying Cate is bad enough, but doing it after learning that Titan X is protecting an egg makes it worse. He had all the information and still chose chaos, calling Isabel and setting this whole mess into motion.

And for what? Revenge?

Kentaro can blame Cate for what happened to their father all he wants, but Hiroshi made that call. He chose to save her. That’s not on Cate, and it definitely doesn’t justify Kentaro blowing everything up like this.

He’s not thinking clearly. He’s angry, he’s hurt, and he’s lashing out — and now everyone else has to deal with the fallout.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Just Changed Everything

You could see it all over Cate’s face when she realized what he’d done. That wasn’t just hurt. That felt like the moment something between them broke for good.

Every time these two start to get back on the same page, something drags them right back into the mess, but this feels different.

I don’t see how she comes back from this one.

The wild part is that Kentaro’s betrayal might not have changed the outcome at all. Godzilla was always going to collide with Titan X, and no version of that fight ended quietly.

At least it didn’t happen in the middle of a city for once, because this season has already racked up enough destruction as it is.

But the bigger issue now is everything that comes next.

Monarch isn’t going to trust this group again, and why would they? What should have been a straightforward mission has turned into something way more dangerous, and now a shady company is circling whatever’s in that egg.

That’s on Kentaro.

Lee was ready to die for this mission, and instead, he’s stuck dealing with the fallout of Hiroshi’s kids tearing everything apart. That’s a rough place to land.

Meanwhile, Cate continues to be one of the only people actually thinking things through. While everyone else jumps straight to “Titan = threat,” she’s the one asking if there’s more to the story.

Honestly, that alone makes her more Monarch material than half the people already there.

If she tells them what Kentaro did — and she should — that might be her way forward.

Because let’s be real: there’s no defending him at this point. He put everyone at risk, and the show needs to actually deal with that instead of brushing it aside.

Where the episode loses me a bit is with Isabel.

She just hasn’t been around long enough for this to fully land. The show clearly wants her to be a major player, but that development feels like it came out of nowhere, which undercuts how big Kentaro’s decision is supposed to feel.

If anything, Brenda would’ve made more sense in that role. Every time she shows up, there’s this chaotic energy that makes it feel like something could go sideways at any second.

The Series Needs a Creative Overhaul

Instead, she’s barely used, popping up mostly for exposition — including that weird scene with May that didn’t really add much beyond confusion.

There’s a better version of this storyline where those relationships are more fleshed out and actually hit the way they’re supposed to.

Still, for all its issues, this episode of the Apple TV drama does something the season desperately needed.

It shakes things up.

And with only two episodes left, that might be enough to get things back on track, finally.

The storyline I’m most unsure about is Lee. He’s proven to be resourceful and can disappear for episodes at a time on missions that allow him to get results.

I don’t know if this is partly due to Kurt Russell’s filming schedule, which was reportedly tweaked to allow him to work on The Madison at the same time.

But it feels like Lee disappears for emotional beats and then returns in the nick of time.

I’m not sure how he will really feel about Cate and Kentaro now that this has happened.

I did enjoy Lee’s admission to Keiko about her absence on G-Day and how the world’s views on Titans have changed.

I thought the show would delve deeper into the differences between when Keiko was in the land of the living and now, but it’s mostly taken a backseat.

That’s all I got, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Fanatics!

What are your thoughts on Kentaro’s betrayal? Do you think there’s any way back for him?

Do you believe that Cate managed to crack the truth about Titan X, or do you think a left-field pivot is about to happen?

Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
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