Apple TV’s Godzilla show is the incredible missing link of the Monsterverse

polygon.com:

In the span of just four films (along with a few graphic novels and an underrated Netflix cartoon about King Kong), the “Monsterverse” has evolved quite a bit. What began as a pseudo-Spielbergian attempt at finally making a competent American Godzilla film quickly morphed into a more studio-driven extended universe. As such, the 2014 Godzilla stands in stark contrast against all that came after it; its atmospheric restraint was quickly replaced by a “dumping all the action figures out of the toy box” approach in later sequels.

Of course, this is the nature of most sequels in many genres, but it means that there’s little thematic connective tissue between the mood of Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters or Godzilla vs. Kong. The sequels obviously imply a familiarity with the monsters involved, so comfortable as they are with mining Godzilla’s Japanese mythology for its classic foes. But we never really see that in the universe of the films — how does a world become accustomed to multiple giant monsters roaming around all of a sudden? Luckily, the upcoming Apple TV Plus series, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, is here to answer that question.

Or at least, you know, make it clear that we’re not all suddenly cool with joining Team Godzilla just because he happened to beat the hell out of some other monsters that one time.

It’s in the aftermath of this San Francisco brawl in the 2014 film that we find survivor Cate Randa (Anna Sawai), a woman about to be swept up in Legacy of Monsters’ globe-trotting (and time-hopping) adventure. It’s one that puts focus on the humans that are forced to grasp for understanding in the wake of (what seems like) a monster apocalypse. And there’s a lot to learn: Through multiple generations