The Reel Rejects - MONARCH - LEGACY OF MONSTERS 1x4 REVIEW!

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

HOLLOW EARTH?! Manscaped: Visit https://www.manscaped.com/ and use code Rejects for 20% Off  SHOPIFY: Visit https://www.Shopify.com/rejects  Monarch Legacy Of Monsters 1x04 Reaction, Recap, Commenta...ry, Easter Eggs, Analysis, Ending Explained, & Spoiler Review where the Ice Kaiju Monster returns! The Apple TV series features Kong & is directly connected to the Monsterverse of Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla Vs Kong, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, & is debuting alongside Godzilla Minus One. The cast consists of Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, John Goodman, Anna Sawaii, Ren Watabe, Aners Holm, Kiersey Clemons, & MORE.  #Monarch #Godzilla #Kong #KingKong #GodzillaVsKong #Monster #MonsterVerse #Kaiju #monarchlegacyofmonsters #GodzillaMinusOne  Become A Super Sexy Reject For Full-Length T.V. & Movie Reactions! https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG On INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:27 Itineraries vary by sale date. Ships Registry Bahamas. This week's video is sponsored by Manscaped and Shopify. More on them after the reaction, people. What has happened in their citizens of the Reject Nation? It's time for Monarch. Episode 4 today. John Howard Roo.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Arcan't wait, Mon. That works. Yeah, that works for me. Leave a like on this video, ladies and gentlemen. Also, be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell. I get notified when our reaction for episode 5 is up here on the channel. Big thank you to Prepper for helping us edit down these highlights. And as always, full-interaction watching along this.
Starting point is 00:01:59 sync up with your own copy of Monarch. Available for our super sexy rejects over at our Patreon page. Over there, we cover several things exclusively with highlights and watch-alongs included. Thank you to all who have joined our Patreon page for the month of November. Hope to see you over here in December. Let's get in action and see what this episode's all about. Focus on the sound of my vol. And if you actually took it serious, you would have been able to meditate.
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Starting point is 00:06:09 episode that you've ever been like i did not like that yeah i don't think one i i i challenge it must anyone here to test to find one time we're John's been like, I don't like this episode. That's not to imply that I didn't like this episode not in a well, yeah, it's harder in this environment because
Starting point is 00:06:34 too, it's very fun getting to do this and being able to watch it. It's hard to be honest on the camera porn. Well, it's easier when it's just like you just walked out of a movie and you don't have to It's my shirt. Yeah, my shirt is John likes everything. That'll be my specific
Starting point is 00:06:50 real rejects official shirt at rejagnation shop.com and five people will buy it and we'll know all of us will know uh yes uh okay so instead of saying i enjoyed this episode i will say that this i loved it i hated it is it's you know it's continuing uh about the same like level of quality i have come to expect thus far for for better mostly and for you know could be a little better in other places but oh but the way i read it Ouch. Yes. Everything is literal and it's all immediate.
Starting point is 00:07:27 Yeah. So I hated everything, but I loved only the most. Trying to get clicks, are you? Yes, absolutely. Woke Monarch, just ruining the legacy of monsters. But no, I like that this episode was doing more of a character thing. I think that it was nice to have an episode that decisively chose one character. and went well two characters really and went we're going to peer in on them to kind of compliment and flesh out some of this stuff while we do the things in the present like the things happening in the present are like very very very straightforward at the moment even though you do have the cool like oh space and time weird you know like oh when you get too close to kaiju things get strange like they're still good at kind of stretching out this mystery part but uh but it was nice to have something with a little bit of tonal contrast and contemplation to you know balance you know
Starting point is 00:08:22 out the rest of the stuff that's just like we got to evade the monster and hey we got to go find these guys you get your john credit man when even though he likes everything he knows how to explain why he likes it yeah i'll never just be like was good goodbye there are people who will i know and i should learn to become one man i know so that nobody ever knows what i think just uh you know the basics i'll just give everything a number and not say anything else. Yeah, John. Are you done?
Starting point is 00:08:58 Are you done? I mean, no, that's my nutshell review of the episode without, like, taking everything that there is to die. I like this knife that you've got here. You're something to talk about, John. Hey, gee. What did you think of Kentaro? Of Kentaro this episode is clearly the guy that you have been,
Starting point is 00:09:18 you know, sort of championing for him. You love cantara. And, you know, I've been sitting here going like, man, you know, I'm just waiting for that performance to really kick in. And you've been here in his corner being like he's my favorite actor in 2023. So what did you think? Did he rise to the occasion? I liked him more than I did in the previous episodes. I enjoyed his flashback scenes.
Starting point is 00:09:44 I thought him and Kiercy Clemens had, I think when it comes to chemistry, With actors, people usually chalk it up to, they have great chemistry to they have no chemistry. And I don't think it's either of those. I think it's intermediate. I think they have middling chemistry. It is there. It just could use more flavors. It's like you always feel like these actors want to do the work and they're giving them some of that.
Starting point is 00:10:13 I think it is the baseline generic flirting chemistry. yes and then the baseline bickering we're argumentative chemistry and we both have these hangups that are you know grave to us but maybe more easy to resolve than we have i still don't think the writing on them is pert i think where the show lacks in qualitative dialogue they make up for a lot in aesthetic choices that evoke more emotion oftentimes that are stronger than the characters. Better direction than writing. A thousand percent.
Starting point is 00:10:56 I think everything is better than the writing. I agree. I know people love the hell out of this show, and I like it. It's got a 600% on run to me. I like it quite a bit, and I think the political stuff is better written than just character scenes often. Yes. Depending on the characters. And so, yeah, I mean, like the Cantaro and the, what's her name?
Starting point is 00:11:21 What's Cursy Clemmons' character name? May? Yes. May, I think it's May. Yes. I'm pretty sure it's me. Correct. Because like two minutes into wandering into the snow, he already, it was like
Starting point is 00:11:31 that Homer Simpson episode when he was on his own. And it's like, he's got like a beard. He was in Marge's car. It's just like, it's been a day. Homer? Yeah, yeah, totally. And it's like, you just water it off like 15 minutes ago. I know this show deals with like a span of time, but mad.
Starting point is 00:11:47 not feel like they really earned getting to like wandering lost in the snow this had uh and and now hallucinating thing like and i think they were trying to imply that there's the that there's an acceleration on the hallucination because of kajou mumbo jumbo hollow earth things crossing altitude uh you know like there's a variety of things i'm sure uh but i thought we got there like a really quick on the sudden. They do a decent job of drawing mumbo jumbo that like sells the way
Starting point is 00:12:24 time passes enough in the immediate moment, but yes, I thought that it had this weird time quality in both sets of stories, which is odd because like, I kept thinking in the flashback like, how long is this gallery over? You've been at a bar, you went
Starting point is 00:12:40 home, you made love, you're in bed, you're getting out of bed, like how long is this thing and how long are people waiting around for you and like how close is this to the you're such a girl i just you know for that ad that advertiser friendliness you know i don't want to say too much cheity cheity bang bang they got bizay they had their they got it on they had g i don't know if i should say g day vijida yeah vijitay g spot day whoa john too too too vulgar sorry it was too monetized no a g spot does anywhere Godzilla appears.
Starting point is 00:13:16 Duh. But anyway, the way time is compressed is a little funky. And it's, and like I, and you said during the reaction, I, too. I definitely said it. I'm going to start saying that you said stuff in the reaction that you definitely did not say. Just see if people pick up on it. No, I really enjoy and I'm fascinated by the aesthetics of people on, like, icy expeditions and the hardships that those involve.
Starting point is 00:13:44 And, like, I was just watching a couple episodes of this show called The Terror, which is all about this doomed Arctic mission, basically. And it's, like, set in a much earlier time. But, like, that's a show that really lets you live in the sort of, like, there are overt monster horror elements involved. But half the time, you are just, like, in the real nastiness of being out here. And there were times where this was flirting with that in ways that I liked. But at the same time, at the end of the episode,
Starting point is 00:14:12 when he shows up with a frigging helicopter, I was a little bit like, oh, you know, I, yeah, I feel like this is like very popcorny in the way that it's conceived because it's like really clipping along and it like has this sense of atmosphere that pervades everything. But it's like not paste atmospherically in that sense or like it feels like it needs to move in a way that I get like I'm not, I'm not upset about it. And I'm like, yeah, you know, we need to kind of be globe trotting and going a bunch of different places. But at the same time, for the unique challenges that freezing to death presents, you know, part of me is sort of like, you don't have to go full cannibalism. But on the other hand, I am like, I want to live in the madness that isn't setting in, you know. Yeah, yeah. I think there's, I think there is, I kind of, in all honestly, I feel like the show kind of pulls his punches a little bit.
Starting point is 00:15:09 I think that there is a more interesting show out there about obsession and desperation. You just saw Zodiac. Yeah. And I think there's like a version there that these filmmakers kind of want to tell, but they can't. It feels like they can't. It feels like, yeah, it's like they're being restricted from going to all in on any one thing. Yeah. And I think they want to tell the story about like people who have become so obsessed.
Starting point is 00:15:39 with uncovering the truth of the titans and then watching what it's done to them as people and how it's tarnished their relationships but everything they do is with with that is kind of just like the very boilerplate yeah like the choices of what they choose to do with them feels boilerplate and then once in a while you get something that feels really rich like with cantaro's mom that felt like very rich but she's the MVP we talked about the brother and sister like a billion times so we're gonna talk about them but yeah i think they're uh they're kind of bland and well and the show is all but forgotten the sister no they haven't i feel like no she's rising to the occasion that's right she's best friends with me now she's like we're not gonna let her
Starting point is 00:16:24 die yeah take they went above then beyond and and and i do agree it's it's i'm sure it's there in the in the text and it's in the immediacy of the moment but this was also a time where i was like you know may really is just kind of along for the journey here to like add some cumbersome stakes well i think it's kicking off with john goodman flashback at the start of the show is kind of an indicator where i think they wanted to go with this show uh you're like yeah you got the monarch people who are like government corrupt blah blah blah but then you got like these other people who have given up their whole lives for it and and that is kind of what john goodman's character is like You see what he was like as a young, enthusiastic scientist explorer who then became John Goodman.
Starting point is 00:17:18 You know, we should all be so lucky. It's this like grumpy guy who just hates people. Yeah, but I want the truth, you know. Yeah, that's all I have now. Yeah. Daily and I didn't enough other people. And I kind of think that's what they wanted for everybody here is unpacking a truth. and uh you know cur russell's charming as always uh the monta kajou was cool cool kajou i like
Starting point is 00:17:43 i like the visual telling of the kaiju of how they're like slowly trying to figure out what it attacks and how to how to how to maneuver it i can't i have a hard time getting on board with creature that is um kind of made for the snow and then humans can outrun it like shit like that like mask themselves really easily that really bothers me a lot i'm like you got to know your rules a little bit here you're not on some weird fucking like this is fantastic land yeah you know yeah yeah totally this isn't a metaphor this is a real monster yeah it should be able to wreck all you people yeah yeah like shit like that was kind of bothering like i feel like it totally would i caught up with that helicopter yeah well and it seems like it has some like going up and what did you dress
Starting point is 00:18:33 Yeah, I feel like it would have enough Like push off its legs to lunge at it Or pull it in with its suction or whatever Yeah, yeah And like I liked a lot of that And I do still think they got away from it Again, it was just kind of like very baseline I am curious why people
Starting point is 00:18:51 Love this show I like the show so far With occasional scenes that I love I kind of love the third episode that's the closest I've come to saying like oh I love that episode and I think again you know intent versus what the actual end product is is very different and at the end for me I'm curious to know why people are so in love with it you know like does it go above and beyond your typical Kaiju show or something in the monster verse that does explode the humans yeah it does I think it does go above and beyond absolutely I I think they put way more attention in detail there than any of the monster verse movies have done. At the same time, does it earn, like, great writing just because it's better, you know? Well, it's...
Starting point is 00:19:47 Or does more? Like, you know what I mean? Like, does that mean it is... It is... I don't want to sound like I'm talking down to people who love it because I want people to love what they love. love i just i just don't quite get i'm not there yet i don't see myself fully succumbing to because i'm four episodes in which and i'm really not in love with our main characters and and i love like kurt russell and the flashbacks when you're with young white russell and the scientist's girl
Starting point is 00:20:20 well this episode also just in sitting here now it made me kind of realize like i just realized i just realized i said i don't like the people of color yes but i love my white man her Yeah, and his white son But I can't stand Well, the writers Need to remember How that sounded Yeah, yeah
Starting point is 00:20:42 Oh Well, this this episode Especially sitting discussing it now Like it, I really did, I think Kind of share your Your enjoyment of the third episode And that enthusiasm And the third episode in some ways
Starting point is 00:20:57 Is the most meaningfully I thought this meandered me. Are we on five? This is four. This is four, yeah. So, like, the last one was the most sort of we spent meaningful, like, development time in the 50s plot line. And this had none of the 50s plot line, and I feel like that is my favorite plot line easily. So much more intriguing.
Starting point is 00:21:16 And the characters in that one, while they're not like... Because that's when it's like Monarch origins. Yeah, which is really cool. And you get the fun sheen of the period piece stuff. Yeah, Charlie. The aesthetic. And, and, like, the thing is... The three of them, the trio of characters at the center of that, are the closest the show gets to, like, actually having some interesting characters where I'm not sitting here going, oh, this is like, and they are archetypical and they are familiar, but more, less so than the present day where I'm like, this is like, you know, you open up the box of like, oh, I got to get my wife back, or like, oh, you know, all these kind of tropey character things.
Starting point is 00:21:56 And, yeah, like, when those plot threads seem to all kind of be what the main present-day story is kind of riding off of. And it's like, yeah, you have them doing their romantic bickering and stuff like that. And then we see how they met. And, yeah, everything is very kind of familiar. And it's weird because Godzilla, like, especially the American Godzilla movies, are always kind of in this weird push pool of like, how do we do people? And how much do we do people? And nobody wants, like, a human, too much of a human drama. Like, it's the 2014 movie.
Starting point is 00:22:26 But we don't want to also, like, annoying and cartoonish the way, like, things can kind of get in King of the Monsters sometimes. Like, you know, you don't want humans that are unpleasant, but you don't want to feel like that's the main focus or something. And, like, I feel like they're splitting the difference by being as, like, kind of generic about it to be agreeable as possible or something. Yeah, I just think the mellow drama rings flat. Yeah, it just doesn't feel very alive or very seasoned. The whole thing with, like, I'm going to go look for my dad. I'm going to go off on my own. You made your own choice.
Starting point is 00:22:59 I'm like, I feel like emotionally void in this moment in time. Yeah. He's just like, go that way. And if you succeed, right, and we'll go this way. And if we succeed, great. Again, it's like, I recognize intent all the way I do. It's all here. It's just when it comes down to its final conclusion of what the final product is,
Starting point is 00:23:19 it does ring flat. And then when you're not cutting to the origins, it does. ring a little like the one it's most interesting to me is when you're in the origins
Starting point is 00:23:29 of the 50s or I find it more interesting when they're just like cutting a monarch Tim man I feel like Tim is going to rise
Starting point is 00:23:36 as an interesting character pretty soon yeah I'm like I don't really know what the mystery is that I'm supposed to be like
Starting point is 00:23:43 intrigued by honestly like I guess JJ Abrams that one there's something there I guess I'm supposed
Starting point is 00:23:50 to be intrigued by but I enjoy the pulse of whatever is happening there i think yeah because i'm at least like going i want to know what's happening here when it tickles that part of your mind it's like ooh conspiracy like this is the more sort of intriguing down to earth secret side versus the you know high scale secret side sure yeah um i think at i do think uh yeah it's okay like if you look at godzilla of 2014. I think Aaron Taylor
Starting point is 00:24:21 Johnson, who was kind of crapped on for some reason as being like a boring character. Yeah, just dower and... And I don't agree with that. I really don't. I kind of agreed with it the first time I saw it. But the second time I watched it, years later when I had like time away to where I was
Starting point is 00:24:37 able to just accept that, hey, Godzilla's not really going to be in this. Is my second time watching it? Let me just watch this movie. Like, that whole character makes so much sense to me as this kid who, like, loved his mom and dad and then lost the mom and he thought his dad went like crazy
Starting point is 00:24:53 all Sarah Connor on his ass. Then he's like, I don't want to be my dad. I'm just going to like toughen up. I'm going to join the military. Come to find out that dad was telling the truth. So it makes sense why he become this like growing up in military background why he would become this insanely internalized
Starting point is 00:25:10 serious person. So like the body language of his performance really registered with me. And I think everyone here has like 20 times more dialogue than as like individual characters 20 times more dialogue than Aaron Taylor Johnson and it's because
Starting point is 00:25:25 Aaron Taylor Johnson's white is why I find her to show. Yeah, definitely. No, I'm saying that I think is such a much more compelling character who I can get on board with than everyone here who is given exposition who has everything laid out and I don't
Starting point is 00:25:44 especially an episode like this where it's like it's not really about the monsters and it's kind of there And, like, I don't really, I just, I'm like, I don't really care. And I think your placement sometimes of when to do your, like, flashback episode is like, it's kind of a weird placement to me to do it. Yeah. And especially to zoom in. Taking your foot off the pedal.
Starting point is 00:26:06 Yeah. And I mean, like, I like Kentaro generally. And I like seeing a window into his character and Maine, all that. But it also seems like, okay, we're on episode four. We're changing the format of the flashbacks. And now we're doing this first. And it does feel a little bit like, huh. I wonder why, and I wonder why it wasn't maybe the girl that we were set up to think is the lead who is now, like, status four in all these scenes.
Starting point is 00:26:28 Sure, yeah. I don't know. Yeah, it does sort of, I'm waiting to see if maybe the rest of the season will draw a clearer map for that. And, and, too, I mean, I love. I just feel like I'm a such, sometimes I feel like I sound like a hypocrite because I'll sit there, I'll sit here with you and I'll go, I want more from them. and they give us more and then I'm like not doing anything for me
Starting point is 00:26:53 well the thing is the character I get what you mean and it's no shade to the actors it just feels I don't know there's something that feels like there wasn't enough time or like people were instructed not to go too deep because like I like Kurt Russell I love Kurt Russell I love watching
Starting point is 00:27:08 Kurt Russell but here it pretty much feels like you just plucked fun Kurt Russell and we're like just have your personality be the heavy lifting for you know these scenes in that you're charming and we love you and i love how he's just having fun he's just chilling and like and so it's funny you know to me coming into this like again big respect to wyatt russell i really like white russell but i wasn't expecting him to do like the heavier lifting in terms of like i was like man you know now he's in a position where he's like acting in a way complimentary to his
Starting point is 00:27:38 dad and like that's going to be hard shoes to fill and now in as of seeing what's happened thus far. I'm sitting here going, Wier Russell is like doing so much of the heavy lifting in terms of like bringing a character that I feel has like a big level of commitment, but also like feels lived in even in ways despite whatever dialogue or whatever. Like there's something about that character and to a degree the characters around him, especially the trio there and
Starting point is 00:28:05 when he's dealing with Chris Heyerdahl and all those people. Like there's something that feels more alive about those characters than the present-day characters and something that feels like they were just allowed to go deeper when doing the homework or, you know, kind of bringing the life underneath the dialogue out. Whereas in the present, I can't tell what it is because, again, I feel like each time it's never really the actors
Starting point is 00:28:31 that I'm upset about, you know, I feel like all these people are capable, but it's something about the way that it moves and it does, like, move, I feel like pretty quick, even though it's good at selling you that it's not rushing in the moment. Well, I think the flashback, the monarch origins in the 50s, their characters naturally fit for their immediate plot, whereas I kind of feel like they made up shit to fill in because they have notes for like, well, we got to give our character's backstory. We got to, how do we, how do we make this more personal? Like, you could, I kind of get the sense more of the notes that feel, one feels very natural.
Starting point is 00:29:16 Yeah. Because their development is so intrinsically tied to the advancement of Monarch. Yes. Whereas these guys, it's like this strange daddy issue show. Well, it feels like you should be heading toward like a center point in some kind of complimentary way where it's like, yeah, you have the past where they're for learning. and charting this territory and setting up the structure to study it and then something kind of dark
Starting point is 00:29:45 at the center of that that the people on the current timeline are going to discover that Kurt Russell maybe has to answer in some way forward that is going to be both maybe a revelation that's I don't know
Starting point is 00:29:55 to give it some level of heft or some level of conflict in that like oh man maybe this went bad and it seems like something in the past with Monarch is certainly going to go bad but well I think what they are missing is it in the show?
Starting point is 00:30:09 and I'm just not feeling it, is what was my dad looking for? Well, that's the thing is it feels, yeah, the way it moves. If they had that, like, as an element of like, you know, it's another trope, but this is like trope show. If they had that trope and they zeroed in on that a little more, like, what was my dad looking for? What did he uncover about kajou or the monster of Titans?
Starting point is 00:30:36 What did he uncover about them? If they had us, then it kind of feels like you can have the development and not take her foot off the pedal, as opposed to let's just slow down and show shit of their back sort. I feel like it is technically there, but I feel like what they focus mostly on is just fine. Dad had two families and he might still be alive. Like that's kind of it. And like, and I liked his presence when he showed up here.
Starting point is 00:31:01 But yeah, like I feel like while it is technically there, it's not really something that they've done a lot to accentuate or focus on yeah what was he searching for what is the thing that drove him out into this and how could maybe Kurt Russell's experience kind of play off of that and give us some insight into that because I think there's a way to do
Starting point is 00:31:20 a lot of archetypical and what when it's not working you would call like boilerplate kinds of scenarios or characters as long as you have and I think it would be appropriate in a place like this to have those archetypes as long as you've got a lot of flavor going on in the performances and the little details that
Starting point is 00:31:36 make the characters beyond just the broad strokes and I feel like it's taking it's taking the you know very straightforward familiar story melodrama elements like really seriously in a way that doesn't detract from like the enjoyability of the show
Starting point is 00:31:52 in the moment but that does seem like it's missing a sense of fun well it's starting to I'm still excited it's weird like these are really fun reactions and it's a really fun show to watch but then when you start to break it down at least for for us it does feel like
Starting point is 00:32:07 I think we're like the only one I don't know I really haven't listened to anyone's videos on this yeah I haven't either I haven't listened to anyone's videos but I see like how the all how people react on Twitter and I see the critic score and I'm like
Starting point is 00:32:24 I guess I'm just like in this weird camp was like I think it's fine I don't love it though yeah well I think that's that's partly the the treachery of rod tomatoes is that like all those could be sevens or six and a half's and quite glowing from what I've skimmed. And it does create this weird dissonance where it's good enough that I'm, again,
Starting point is 00:32:45 happy to be here and would love to see it grow beyond this. But it's, yeah, it's a show where for the amount of like joy people have had over it and just remembering recent times of, you know, the different receptions of the Monsterverse movies and the up and down journey that has been. It does kind of fascinate me that people are so glowing. about this because you know it's good enough that i get why it's popular anyway but yeah the fact that everyone's like 100% i'm like this is the moving Godzilla trauma that you haven't felt like uh you've gotten in various movies or whatever else like at least of the movies even though
Starting point is 00:33:24 the human characters can be flat um you know it's just building to the climax of the movie yeah like at least there's like exciting action to you know distract your mind and feed your like stimuli. Yeah, whereas this feels like it would just be an ongoing mellow drum. It really does. You know, it happens to have monsters sometimes and that like maybe they'll find their dad at some point, but like. And like the visuals of the Titans are really cool.
Starting point is 00:33:52 Yes. Because it's on a television show. And a lot of the times I'm like, well, if I saw this exact visual in a movie theater, would I be as impressed or would I just be like I appreciate it yeah what I actually I'm a logical stance I appreciate it
Starting point is 00:34:12 would I actually be wow I think this but I think on TV you're like wow for TV this is amazing you know I feel like this for me like this could have been the ice episode you know or like the Arctic whatever
Starting point is 00:34:27 wherever they are Alaska this could have been the thing yeah this could have been the thing episode or the something episode whereas like you know this is a pretty good episode four to me but i feel like the setting the the ever like all the trappings of this could have been like i just think coming to the psychosis of the past that that was just like it didn't seem like it had anything really to do with the immediate plot who's just like they're in the ice and they hallucinate it seems like
Starting point is 00:34:55 the only reason of mentioning the the fact that oh like time and space are sort of weird and funky and different around kaiju is just to explain away that one loop they do and to kind of bolster the transitions when he's like wandering around and then the radio brings him out of the flashback and all of a sudden he's inside like but generally it doesn't feel like that sense of magic is like or that you know strange sci-finess is like truly everywhere here i can't just turn off my brain and have fun with it i can't because i'm so distracted by a potential and B be weakness I am
Starting point is 00:35:33 distract because the show treats it like it's fucking prestige television and it's working hard enough
Starting point is 00:35:39 on certain things to clearly indicate that it wants to do that but it's also not really paying much mind
Starting point is 00:35:46 to certain other things that are essential to actually becoming that it's so strange to watch yeah
Starting point is 00:35:51 I mean honestly this might have been my like least favorite episode of them all in some way like for
Starting point is 00:35:58 for impact again like the promise of the setting and the kinds of movies you could imagine. Just the kinds of situations you could homage. And this place are like nice and rich. And so in the moment, I think you're always kind of benefiting of the doubt because you're like, oh, maybe some kind of real set piece is going to give away.
Starting point is 00:36:15 But the fact that they outran that Kaiju like twice with her legs freezing off. That really bothers me. It really does. I'm like, this is kind of bullshit, honestly. You know? A little bit. They're not just combating like running in the snow. No, they've also got a mild snowfall they're fighting against that
Starting point is 00:36:36 apparently fluctuates between storm to snowfall. Yeah, and, and I just like, there's no way. There's no way they would have outran this shit. This is, you're on this monster's turf. I'll give you the beginning. I'll give you the beginning. But the very end moment, like, what? No.
Starting point is 00:36:56 Yeah. No, and it undercuts the threat. It does. It's, it's, it really annoys me. And that whole thing happens pretty foul. Like when he showed up with the helicopter, I was actually kind of disconcerted at first. I was like, wait a minute. Who's flying right now?
Starting point is 00:37:11 Sure. How did you get here so quick? You know, but yeah. Yeah. It's, it's really fun in the moment and you keep hoping that something else is around the corner. And I think that's what the mystery box element does. And that's why I'm worried about the JJ Abramsness of this. Because I think in some ways, that's a great tone.
Starting point is 00:37:29 Like, I think it's stuff like Lost, I'm like, that's the kind of tone you want for a monarch show. So, creeping, conspiratorial dread. But also, I'm just aware that sometimes those mystery boxes don't have anything in them. Yeah. You know, except for vibes, which are cool. But, uh, yeah. I like Kentaro's house. His art show was fun.
Starting point is 00:37:53 It's an interesting. I guess. Interesting. I don't know. It's, it's, it's not a bad choice. but at the same time it is one of those I have so many other questions I shouldn't be having because of stuff like that
Starting point is 00:38:05 yeah I don't this is my least favorite of them all I still like the show it's not enough good things for me to like it but I guess I just I'm not over the moon about it and that's all that's missing for me
Starting point is 00:38:22 is being more enthusiastic that's what I'm missing yeah so intermittent but what do you guys think are you in love with it are you mad at us oh don't be mad at this far I'm not reading the comments on this
Starting point is 00:38:38 oh you should all I like is that woke trash Doctor Who that's right the meep the meep's coming for you Gene your woke ass pronouns yeah
Starting point is 00:38:49 screw anybody who uses a pronoun as if Dr. Who hasn't had very over cheesy writing countless times never they ruined Doctor Who I'm like, there's way worse Doctor Who episodes. I'm feeling that this is in a well-ingrained tradition across shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek, various other things.
Starting point is 00:39:10 Terrible, terrible, Doctor Who episodes. That was where I was like, the audience, the reception of a certain crowd is going to be insanely predictable. And I'm also going to be here going. You guys clearly don't know Doctor Who because you guys clearly tuned in just now. There are some shittier episodes for sure. Yeah, and some with thinner-veiled attempts at, you know. There's channels out there who are like, they've talked about trans people and they indulge the existence of trans people.
Starting point is 00:39:42 And they were on the nose about it. Oh, I need to pretend to be mad. This is really taking away from my ability to thrive as a human being right now. I need to pretend to be mad so that I could get my views. This is about me and it is distressed. I need this fixed It's okay
Starting point is 00:40:04 It's okay You knew it was coming As long as Godzilla doesn't get woke You know Somehow they manage to Slip some Asian leads And a black lead in here too It is cool to see
Starting point is 00:40:18 Asian people in a In a I don't know if they're actually Japanese So it is cool to see Asian people as the lead of a show about
Starting point is 00:40:32 and the gods of a show that seems I mean but clearly seems to only care to make maybe
Starting point is 00:40:39 one of them the lead at a time Caucasian creators behind the show definitely really did a better job writing Caucasian characters
Starting point is 00:40:49 and they don't even need to like a lean on I appreciate the effort though like hey he actually speaks Japanese and there's like a cultural thing going on with the
Starting point is 00:40:58 girl. I would love if this was like really bi-cultural that way. They don't need to make it about the culture, but I appreciate the intent to to anyway, look, I'm done done. I'm all of this. We've spilled all the ink that needs to be spilled
Starting point is 00:41:15 and we keep talking. And I got my Doctor Who rant out. Yes. Yeah. I'm not diving into these comments. I'm going to embrace the fun. Sure. Because if you're upset about Doctor Who, you should probably go examine some other things about your life if you're really
Starting point is 00:41:31 that mad about it I was like I'll give you it's overt and on the nose and I'll be like and they've done that with many a topic other topics yeah that's Dr. Who for you oh what a resolve that needs to get a couple of themes out real quick
Starting point is 00:41:46 subtle tea is not the name of Doctor Who not one name one other time it's okay ambiguous ending sometimes But subtlety I would not be like That's Doctor Who for you Open to subtle interpretation
Starting point is 00:42:05 I don't know what this episode was trying to say allegorically The reason the reason Doctor Who has episodes That truly stand out like midnight Like blink Like the Kepalty episode where he's in the time chest Or whatever The prison yeah Is because those are few and far between
Starting point is 00:42:26 Yes, yes, yes, there is a steady contrast. And, yeah, the handiest episodes bolster some of the most impactful. There's a reason those episodes are huge because they're not as common. And you've got to, and that's part of a of an ecosystem. You're some common sense, guys. Why do you think they stand out?
Starting point is 00:42:47 Why do you think they stand out? Because the rest of the time, there's a wide range of tones. Let's be super exposition about it. Yeah, let's get mad cap and let's just throw a bunch of shit at you. And let's wrap it up real fast because we don't actually have enough time to do all this stuff. So let's just tell everybody what the point is and get out of here. Jesus, guys. Jesus.
Starting point is 00:43:07 That fucking acting like, oh, God, so annoying. Yeah. I don't know. At that point, in some ways, I'm like, I go on the nose because the people are going to get bent out of shape about this. If you go, you go subtle or on the nose, you're going to get the same reaction. Yeah. Or you'll get people. championing something for the wrong reasons.
Starting point is 00:43:27 I liked it because I could tell this is not the greatest writing. But they are so congo about it in the most overt way that I'm like, hey man, you're embracing it and you're doing it with a giant smile on your face. This seems almost intentional
Starting point is 00:43:43 the way that you have made this point blank straight forward because I think you want to upset and rile the people who are going to be ignorant towards this. You're like weed them out. Yeah. Yeah, and hey, like, let's, I mean, big respect to a broad display of acceptance because, again, in the community that that is for, I can imagine being overjoyed.
Starting point is 00:44:05 There are people who are completely for the message, but don't like the way it was written. And I was kind of in the middle there of like, hey, there are parts about this writing. And I'm like, I do not think this was well, that moment was well written. But there are, but I'm talking specifically to the camp that's like, oh, ruined my doctor. that's the top talk woke that's what I'm talking about because I'm like
Starting point is 00:44:28 this show has been so fucking woke I don't care what anyone says you know that's half the point I'm sure the second fucking black
Starting point is 00:44:36 Martha Jones show is going about every world life or lesbian bill like come on Jesus doctor at one point has like a whole
Starting point is 00:44:45 coterie of like lesbians helping them out we're even around for that and I'm sure that existed yeah
Starting point is 00:44:51 yeah yeah um and then people forget that that's half of what a lot of sci-fi is for is just for giving us metaphors to help people better swallow just basic tolerance anyway but uh yeah leave us your thoughts on monarch episode four see you guys of the wope

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