Spoilers

“Beyond Logic”

So this was the season finale. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has been up and down for me all season long. Some of the moments were really good and other parts were not very good. That is a good example of this episode.

It was really predictable about what was going to happen, especially after Lee Shaw had to play Doc Brown trying to fix the wires in Back to the Future. As he was trying to fix the plug, he did it and then he stood around for several minutes while Godzilla and the flying titan fought. That led to him being left behind in Hollow Earth. Saw that coming.

However, Godzilla and the flying titan were awesome, though it did not have much time. 

Another week and Kentaro had some good scenes. He was the weakest character for most of the series, but last episode and this one, he really stepped up. And his mother had a great scene with his father too.

This show could have been consistently awesome every week, but it was not. It had its moments, but the writing did not feel as strong as it could have been. Since we just saw the Godzilla Minus One film that had a compelling story of the humans, this was just not at a level it needed to be.

Spoilers

“Axis Mundi”

Episode nine had the least shocking twist of the whole season. One that we all saw coming. Cate, who is lost in the Hollow Earth, was saved from a rampaging titan by a woman with a bow and arrow. The woman was, of course,  Dr. Keiko Miura, who we thought had died back in 1954 when she got pulled down by those bug-like creatures. 

Well, honestly, who really thought she was dead? 

We learned a lot about Shaw’s past in Hollow Earth and why he is so spry for a 90 year old guy. Wyatt Russell does a great job in these scenes.

The scenes between characters are the best scenes of this episode. The scene with Kentaro and his father were probably the best scene that Kentaro has had in the show. 

Kurt Russell’s Shaw and May found each other in Hollow Earth after last episode’s mess and they tried to find Cate. May seemed more worried about Cate than just a friend.

Everything is being set up here in this penultimate episode for the season finale next week. 

Spoilers

“Birthright”

Things went really wrong with the 2015 crew as we discover what Shaw’s plan was. He was going to close up the passageways from the Titans’ world to protect the humans and the Titans from each other.

Unfortunately, both May, Lee and Cate looked to fall into the pit to their deaths. Well, it clearly was not to their deaths. I don’t think that cliffhanger was shocking in any way. In fact, I think we will absolutely find that Keiko is still alive. It is obvious that when she got pulled to her death (or so we thought) way back in the first episode, she was just going to be living in the Hollow earth. My guess is that is the reason that Shaw has a long life and Keiko will be the same.

We barely get any monsters on this monster show. We got one at the very end. It’s like that seemingly each week. 

Only a few more weeks for this show. It has been an okay ride so far. I hope it picks up a bit as we approach the finale.

Spoilers

“Will the Real May Stand Up?”

Answers about the past of May came in this episode. 

Honestly, I was not that interested.

I have had a difficult time getting involved with the 2015 characters, outside of Kurt Russell. I am much more invested with the 1954 version of the show, but that was not on this episode.

Most interest part of the episode was that Tim did not die in that helicopter that Godzilla crashed last week. I guess Shaw didn’t notice him when he said no one survived the crash. Tim is showing some feelings toward the three 2015 kids and is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

No Godzilla this week though he was all over the show last week. Only one quick glance of a Titan this week and it got blown the hell by Shaw.

Monarch continues to be up and down every week. 

Spoilers

“Into the Abyss”

Apollo 15 landed on the moon in search of ice. A last minute change of landing location placed the crew in jeopardy, but lead to a huge success.

Molly Cobb became the first American woman to step on the moon. Meanwhile, her husband Wayne is struggling through the anxiety of the uncertainty of not knowing what might happen to Molly. He confessed to having a terrible dream of Molly dying in a pit. It was something that he then painted, trying to get the anxiety out.

Meanwhile, Molly and Ed were preparing to lower her into Shackleton Crater to search for ice. The amount of oxygen available has been depleting, making everything very nervous.

I kept waiting for something horrible to happen to Molly. With all the dreams and paintings about her death, I was scared that she was not long for the show.

For All Mankind did a great job of creating that tension in the situation and kept me off balance as a viewer.

The end of the episode saw Apollo 15 take off from the surface of the moon and then we got a two year time jump.

Spoilers

“Prime Crew”

For All Mankind is back up tonight as I watched episode 4.

After the tragic events at the end of last episode, NASA struggled to continue the female program. Under questions about potentially pulling the plug on it, Deke goes against orders to announce the four women who were now astronauts. Then, he removed Gordy from the Apollo 15 flight and replaced him with Molly Cobb.

Shockingly, I just discovered that Molly Cobb was played by Sonya Walger, a name that I recognized. Watching her in this episode, I knew she was familiar, but could not place her. Once I saw the name, I was able to place her. She played Penny on LOST! I love her and I was really a fan of the character here too.

NASA put the females on the fast track, even as Nixon was preparing to kill the program to focus on the Moon base.

The episode focused in on the reactions of the different characters in the show. Not only in the astronauts but also with their families and wives.

The film ends with the astronauts heading to the moon.

Spoilers

“Secrets and Lies”

The third episode of Monarch brought us Godzilla… and destroyed him with an H-bomb.

Not sure how I felt about that.

It was an incredible scene and some amazing images of Godzilla, especially on the old time camera, but the explosion was just uncertain for me.

I love the two groups we are following in each of the time frames. Both include Lee Shaw, younger played by Wyatt Russell and older played by Kurt Russell. There was such a great cut transitioning from old Lee to young Lee. It was a wonderful editing moment.

The monster at the end of the episode looks awesome and seems to be a wild danger. Since we learn that Cate and Kentaro’s father survived the trip but is now somewhere in hiding. I expect that he’ll pop up next time.

I do think that this was my favorite episode so far. The car driving by Kurt Russell (and airplane landing too) were all kind of fun.

Schmigadoon is one of my newest favs.

As a fan of musicals, I had always wanted to watch the Apple TV + series, but I never had gotten around to it. However, recently, I found some time and I figured that I could give this a try.

After the very first episode, I was in.

I did not binge the whole series, spreading out the two season, 6-episode seasons over about a week, which worked extremely well.

I have always been a fan of Keegan-Michael Key, who stars as Dr. Josh Skinner. To be fair, Keegan-Michael Key is not the best singer of the cast, but the show keeps his songs to a minimum and, truthfully, his song in season 1 was one of the most emotional moments of the first season.

Dr. Josh Skinner’s girlfriend in season 1 and wife in season 2 is Dr. Melissa Gimble, played by Cecily Strong, who has a strong comedic presence and great timing. She makes a effective team with Key. Even when I was not sure about what the show intended, I was always rooting for this couple to be together.

Season 1 was based on musicals such as Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the 1947 musical Brigadoon.

Season 2 takes several musical inspirations/parodies including obviously Chicago, Sweeny Todd, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Annie.

There is some remarkably clever writing in the series and the music is both enjoyable and extremely funny. You can hear the homage to the classic music from the different musicals that Schmigadoon parodies in the score for the show.

The ensemble cast included some heavy hitters like Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Ariana DeBose, Tituss Burgess, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Kristin Chenoweth, Jaime Camil and Michelle Rios.

That cast played different characters in the two seasons, highlighting different styles of musicals and some great work. Alan Cumming was especially brilliant in season 2 as the Sweeney Todd-inspired butcher, Dooley Flint. His unbalanced performance was spectacular.

Season two’s inclusion of the Narrator character, played by Tituss Burgess was a stroke of genius. It kept the meta aspects of the series in place.

I hope there will be more Schmigadoon on Apple TV in the future. This was a lot of fun and entertaining as could be.

“It’s a doggity-dog world”