- Title: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Parallels and Interiors
- IMDb: link
“Parallels and Interiors” concludes the two-parter arc of Cate (Anna Sawai), Kentaro (Ren Watabe), and May (Kiersey Clemons) following Lee (Kurt Russell) to Alaska looking for answers about their father’s disappearance and presumed death. The episode is mostly about survival as the quartet fractures with Kentaro separating from the rest and looking for a structure he saw in the opposite direction the others plan to go.
The main takeaways of the episode are the revelation that Titans can affect the world around them (more than rampant destruction and atomic aftermath, that is). The Frost Vark under the ice confuses the navigation of our travelers as Cate, May and Kentaro end up back where they started traveling in a circle and ending up back at Hiroshi’s camp. Kentaro’s choice to go off alone and not get trapped within the loop proves to be the decision which saves them all as he’s able to radio for help which arrives just in the nick of time to save them from the Vark before it, or the cold, kill them all.
The Frost Vark is menacing, but not one of the more interesting monsters of the MonsterVerse. Although we aren’t given any flashbacks to the early days of Monarch, “Parallels and Monsters” does fill in some character information with flashbacks to how Kentaro and May met while also revealing the circumstances behind Kentaro’s last interaction with his father before Hiroshi’s disappearance. We also get some scenes of modern day Monarch monitoring for Titans and a scientist in Virginia making a discovery suggesting the coming of a possible new G-Day. Starting here, our present day Monarch agents will take a greater interest in what Cate and her friends uncover.
