‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ S2.E5: ‘Furusato’ Recap

In Santa Soledad, Titan X becomes a target for Apex, forcing Shaw and the Randas to infiltrate the covert experiment.

In Tokyo 1990, we see a man waiting among other men. “Okay, it’s time for bed now,” Hiroshi says in English. “Past time. Are you tucked in? Okay. Close your eyes and let the dreams come.” Hiroshi is on the telephone calling Cate while he waits for Kentaro to be born.

“I’m not sleepy, Daddy. Can you talk to me just a little longer?” Cate says as the scene changes to give a quick flash to a child holding a phone receiver as she is in bed, in her own room alone.

Back in Tokyo, Hiroshi asks, “Hey, you remember the song, ‘Furusato’? My mother used to sing to me whenever I couldn’t sleep?”

Cate has a lit globe as a nightlight on her bedside drawers and there’s a picture of her and her mother. “I thought you said that was when she missed Japan?”

“Yeah, but, um, it calmed us both when we needed it,” Hiroshi replies. They begin to sing the song together.

“Furusato” (故郷) literally means “old home” or “hometown.”

兎追いし　彼の山
小鮒釣りし　彼の川
夢は今も　巡りて
忘れ難き　故郷

如何にいます　父母
恙無しや　友がき
雨に風に　つけても
思い出づる　故郷

志を　果たして
いつの日にか　帰らん
山は青き　故郷
水は清き　故郷

English Translation:

I chased after rabbits on that mountain.
I fished for minnow in that river.
I still dream of those days even now
Oh, how I miss my old country home.

Father and mother―are they doing well?
Is everything well with my old friends?
When the rain falls, when the wind blows,
I stop and recall of my old country home.

Some day when I have done what I set out to do,
I’ll return home one of these days
Where the mountains are green, my old country home,
Where the waters are clear, my old country hom

Greg Irwin translated the song into English and it is included in his publications.

In Japan, “Furusato” is included in the songs generally taught in the Japanese public school system. The music is by the Tottori-born Teiichi Okano (1878 – 1941) and lyrics by the Nagano-born Tatsuyuki Takano (1876 – 1947).

Hiroshi is called by a nurse before he and Cate can finish singing the song. He tells Cate, “This way, you’ll have something to look forward to.”

“How soon are you coming home, Daddy?” Cate asks.

“I’ll be home before you know it,” he replies. “I love you.” But he goes to see his newborn son.

“Not the way you wanted it to be, I know,” Emiko says.

Hiroshi says, he thought the two of them together was enough.

“I thought of taking your father’s name,” Emiko says. She means “William” and “Bill,” but Hiroshi explains that was his stepfather’s name. His father’s name was Kentaro. So the baby becomes Kentaro. As Hiroshi takes Kentaro into his arms, the scene changes to remind us of Cate sleeping in her bedroom in the San Francisco area.

That’s the cold open.

When we return, we’re in Pensacola, Florida in 2017, with Hiroshi angry at his mother Keiko. She follows him from the cheap hotel parking lot to the dining are.

Keiko says, in Japanese, “Hiroshi, O-negai, hanashitakute” which is translated as “Hiroshi, please. I want to talk to you.” But Hiroshi says they don’t have time because the Titan X, Krakilla, is heading to Santa Soledad. They need to get there and find a way to send it back.

Keiko insists that she wants to see the letter. In Japanese, Hiroshi says, “Of course. Forgive me for reading it. It belongs to you…” Actually it belongs to Young Lee who is now Old Lee. He does add that it also belongs to Lee and that she doesn’t owe him an explanation. While Keiko insists that it was a one-time mistake, Hiroshi reminds her and the writers reminds us that she wrote, “I love you, Lee. I always will. In another lifetime, we could be together. Your Kei.”

Hiroshi blames his mother, Keiko, for Bill Randa leaving him, saying that Bill Randa also knew “And your betrayal drove him away.”

“I don’t believe that,” Keiko replies. “That’s not who he was. Billy loved you. He wanted to be the best father he could be for you.”

“That’s not what I remember,” Hiroshi replies.

“No, I was just talking to him driving into Kazakhstan. He was saying we’d never been away from you for so long,” Keiko says. “And he wanted to get back home to you so bad.” We flash back to Keiko, remembering them in Kazakhstan. For her, it was two months ago. Sarcastically, Hiroshi gives his condolences for her loss, but reminds her, “You still have your other great love.” As he leaves the hotel dining area, he passes Cate and Kentaro who are standing in the doorway. How much did they hear?

Then on to Santa Soledad, Southern Chile with Brenda, May and Trissop who are leading an Apex team. The village that Keiko, Billy and Young Lee knew is now ruins. May complains, “When you said, ‘fieldwork,’ I didn’t know you meant this far afield.”

Brenda replies, “We didn’t pick this spot. The Titan did.” They drive up to some modern white domes that will make you think of 3D printed igloos. There’s a warning for “Attention, all Apex Cybernetic’s personnel: Titan arrival in T-minus 13 hours. Stage 2 alert.”

This looks like high-tech glamping, but how did all those vehicles get on that island?

Brenda wants to know, “Are you having second thoughts?”

“Aren’t you? Do we really think my code’s the answer?”

“Yes, I do, Corah,” Brenda replies.

But May/Corah warns, “You know, this isn’t a tiny Leafing you can search on your arm and feed peanuts to. Do you really feel like we can control this thing?”

Brenda is self-assured and says, “Yes. Now, make sure your code skill’s up to control Titan X. No pressure. I’m counting on you.”

Back in Pensacola, Old Lee it talking to Hiroshi. “You know, you have every right to be upset, but, can I ask you something? What good is it doing you to live a life that’s so fixated on wanting to change the past that you can’t allow yourself to create a better future? I mean at some point, you’re gonna have to move beyond blaming everyone for what they did and start building a life that’s yours.”

Hiroshi isn’t convinced. “What do you expect from me? Just pretend that none of this ever happened?”

“No, of course not.”

Hiroshi says, “Well, it would be convenient for you, wouldn’t it?”

Old Lee says, “I’m not telling you this for my benefit, Hiro, but yours. And hers and your children. You got your mother back, Hiro. You did that. Do you really want to push her away now? Because if you do, you’re blowing off the opportunity to discover one of the most fascinating, fearless and unique people alive. All because you’re mad that a long time ago, she just happened to fall in love with two men. I’d expect you of all people might know a little something about that.” So are the writers justifying infidelity and/or covertly having two families at once?

Hiroshi doesn’t have an easy answer, but the plane has arrived and is ready to board and they are on their way to Santa Soledad. Google tells me that a one-way flight on the fastest route to Santiago, Chile from Pensacola, Florida takes about 12 hours. That time won’t be wasted because we’re back to Outpost 18 with Tim in communication with Director Barris.

Tim says, “If you would just hear me out.”

Barris says, “Absolutely. If you can explain to me why you’re headed to South America when Apex Cybernetic is telling us they have a positive hit on Titan X in the Bering Sea.”

Tim responds, “Because the last time Apex told us they had a ‘positive hit,’ we chased a blue whale halfway across the Pacific Ocean. So I don’t trust Apex.”

Barris admits, “I don’t trust them either. That’s why I need eyes on the scene. I can’t just call them liars.”

Tim argues, “A reliable source has confirmed that Apex knows that Titan X is headed to South America.” Barris wants to know the source, but Tim can only say, “a highly respected and confidential informant.”

Barris believes it “Colonel Shaw” and says, “Damn, it Tim. The world’s on a precipice. I’ve got possible Titan sightings popping up all over the globe and you want me to take a valuable asset off the board based on the word of a fugitive? ”

Yet it is “not just Shaw’s word” because “he has evidence.” That evidence is “a migratory map from Bill Randa’s journals.”

“So I’m supposed to trust a fugitive and a crazy dead man,” Barris replies.

Tim points out, “Well, Apex does, and they’re not sharing that information. Why not? Look, sir. We cannot afford to be wrong about this. There are good people on this ship and equipment that can help. But it’s not going to do any good in Alaska because there is nothing there.”

“Apex are our partners in this, ” Barris replies. “And they have friends in high places.” After thinking about it, Barris warns, “If I back this play, it’s going to be both our necks on that chopping block. I’m gonna need more than your source, Tim. Get me the proof.”

In the airplane heading toward Santa Soledad, it’s not luxury accommodations. Cate and Kentaro sit together. Hiroshi and Keiko sit away from each other and everyone else. Cate asks, “Do you want to talk about. it?”

Just how does a young grandmother go about things? “I’d rather talk about you,” Keiko replies. She crosses and sits next to Cate. “You said you think you can help. Did something happen to you in San Francisco?”

“I think I heard something, ” Cate says. “I went to the Golden Gate Bridge and there was this vibration, like…I don’t know, a song coming from the ocean.”

Kentaro asks, “You hear the ocean singing?”

Cate admits she was drunk.

Old Lee interrupts, saying, “Pilot said we land in two hours. And then we’ll go on shore at Santa Soledad by boat.”

Kentaro wonders can they be sure. Keiko explains about the villagers and Co-Cai. “And Billy believed that this was one stop on its migratory route.”

Old Lee says, “He predicted Titan X should reappear about every fifteen years. He didn’t live long enough to see if he was right, but if he was, Titan X isn’t due back before 2023.”

Kentaro does the math, “So, Bill Randa was late and we’re six years too early.”

Keiko explains, “By activating the Suzuki device on Skull Island, it appears that we have awakened Titan X and brought it out of Axis Mundi ahead of its schedule.

Old Lee adds, “If its natural instincts do dick in, it should follow the path its always has: Skull Island right back to Santa Soledad.”

Cate wonders, “What do you think Apex is gonna do if it does show up?”

Old Lee replies, “Tim said the intel we got from our little incursion into Apex, indicates they may be working on a way to control the Titan. with a neural implant. Probably air-launched from a chopper or a drone. But the real question is: Why are they keeping it a secret?” Obviously because they have nefarious plans.

Wandering on Santa Soledad, Kentaro explains his father to Cate: “It might explain a lot about him. The two families. He was abandoned as a kid. Maybe he never wanted to risk being alone.”

Cate replies, “So you think he needed a backup family? A spare just in case?”

Kentaro says, “He couldn’t help himself. It’s the engineer in him.” Ouch. That is so cringe. “Neither one of us was a spare. It doesn’t matter who came first. He loved us both.”

“And left us both,” Cate reminds him.

“You didn’t see him when I told him we thought you were dead,” Kentaro replies. “He was destroyed. He barely slept for two years straight. I finally get a chance to see all of him now, not needing to keep himself half hidden all the time.”

Then there’s Keiko and Old Lee. “Why did you keep that letter?” Keiko asks.

“It’s all I had left of you, Kei,” Old Lee replies. “I’d take it out from time to time, you know, and kick myself for not fighting harder for you. Or pat myself on the back for how noble I was.”

“How do we make this right?” Keiko asks.

“We can’t change the past, Kei,” Old Lee says. “I don’t think Hiroshi’s in any mood to hear an apology from us right now, even if it is owed. Just give it time.”

Back on the other side of the island where Apex has set up, Trissop tells Brenda, “Security sweep on the north shore found a Zodiac boat hidden in a cove.”

Brenda is a bit peeved. “They got here sooner than I expected. Corah’s friends. It was only a matter of time before they showed up.” When Trissop asks how he should handle them, Brenda tells him, “Do what you have to do and make sure they don’t interfere. We can’t have them leading Monarch here.”

When May’s friends reach the other side, they can see that Apex is already there. Old Lee says, “We gotta let Monarch know and stakeout of sight until they get here.”

May asks the question I’ve been asking: “Where’d all the people go?”

Brenda says, “They moved after Monarch moved in. I guess living under a microscope didn’t appeal to them.” And she tells May, “If our recently acquired research from Bill Randa is correct, with Titan X on the loose, it should return to Santa Soledad. ” May wonders why. “To spawn, to feed. I Imagine we’ll find out tonight when the Titan arrives. First we launch the drone carrying the projectile. Then we launch the projectile into the Titan. Unless someone wants to try and stop us.”

When May asks what she means, Brenda replies, “Your friends, the Randas. You know, they’re here.” When Brenda asks what she is talking about, Brenda coolly replies, “Am I really supposed to believe you’re surprised?”

May replies that she doesn’t need her friends in her ear “telling me how dangers and reckless and stupid this is.” And yet, May says, “But I also believe this is gonna work or else I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

Wandering through the woods, Old Lee points out a metal structure to Keiko that wasn’t there before, but looks like it might belong to Monarch. Old Lee, Keiko and Hiroshi go to investigate.

Inside the unlocked facility, there is a bed and a map. There’s a calendar from 1968. Keiko finds a drawing that Hiroshi made as a child. They know that Billy had come back. Hiroshi steps out of the abandoned Outpost and Keiko confronts him, telling him that she loved Billy (“his father”) “with all her heart.” She continues, “I chose to be with Billy. I wanted us to be a family.”

“When I read that letter, I was filled with anger. At you. At Shaw. For what you did to Dad and what it made him do to me. But then, you know what I felt? Relief. I always assumed that he left because of me. That I did something wrong. That I wasn’t he own flesh and blood. That he didn’t really love me.”

Or, that Billy was a selfish man on a crusade?! Keiko comforts him, and tells him, all of that wasn’t true. “So reading that letter and finally understanding that I wasn’t the one who disappointed him in a way lifted a weight off my shoulders.”

Keiko replies, “If only I had been there. If only I hadn’t taken foolish risks. The day I fell through that rift, it was me that made the decision.” We get a brief flashback of Keiko before she climbs down at the Kazakhstan power plant in 1959. “They were both against it, and I convinced them that I should be the one to go down. And that reckless decision cost me years of my life. Years I could have spent with you, been there for you as a mother. Maybe then you wouldn’t have spent so much of your life feeling so abandoned.”

Hiroshi says, “I realize now the people I disappointed…Those mistakes were my own. You own yours. I own mine.”

Then we go to Tokyo 2014. As Hiroshi gets out of an elevator, he receives a phone call (this time on a cellphone). It’s Tim, “Hey, where are you? Something’s come up and I think you should really get back to DC.”

“I haven’t seen them in over a month,” Hiroshi explains.

As Hiroshi is about to put his keys in the door, Tim says, “A fishing trawler in the Western Pacific hauled in an old Monarch bag. It has “Property of William Randa” stenciled on it. It’s got field notes in it, old maps, data tapes. It might be from his Skull Island expedition.” Although Hiroshi says, he’ll be back in a week, Tim insists. “There’s a treasure trove here. Stuff nobody’s ever seen.” Hiroshi still insists he wants to be with his family, but Tim continues, “He’s your father. You’re the only one that even knew him.”

Tim talks about the readings out of Janjira (Japan). Then, without entering the apartment, Hiroshi says he’ll be on the next flight. Do you think Tim is a confirmed bachelor?

Speaking of Tim, we transition to Tim on Outpost 18. The radar picks up something that “came out of nowhere.” It’s behind them. Someone, not Tim, says, Hard to starboard. Bring us around to heading 2-2-0.” Outpost 18 makes impact as the creatures swiftly passes beneath them. The creature, Krakilla, is heading straight for, you guessed it, Santa Soledad. Tim says, “We’re not gonna make it in time. We gotta tell Shaw.”

Brenda is talking to Walter Simmons (CEO of Apex Cybernetics) about how the beast is “about 10 miles out, making a beeline right for us just like Bill Randa’s map told us it would.” Brenda is sure that the code will work. “Everything’s proceeding as expected. It won’t be a problem. I have faith in Corah’s code. The synaptic link will scale, yes. And we’ll have a proof of concept.

The other five creep under the cover of night, into the ruined village despite the armed guards. The guards are informed that the “next arrival in 20 minutes.”

Old Lee says, “Let’s go through the old tavern and get a better look….We have to stop Apex and we’re running out of time.” From the tavern, they can see the drone which will carry the synaptic link. “See those two metal torches on either side of it up against the buildings? We’re going to use those to jam the rotors on the drone.” Then they see May.

While Trissop is in a hurry, May says, “I still need to recompile the module and then make sure the interface doesn’t bottleneck.” Titan X, however, is expected in 16 minutes. Trissop says, “Let’s not perfect the enemy of good,” but May believes, “Perfect is the only option.”

Trissop leaves, giving Old Lee an opportunity to surreptitiously approach May. May goes into the tavern to talk. “They know you’re here. You need to leave. Now.” She tells them that she’s working with Apex “because I feel like the work that we’re doing could prevent another G-Day. We made incredible progress. We’ll be able to control them.”

Yet Cate asks, “Who gets to control them? Brenda? Her boss? Do you hear how naive you sound right now?”

Brenda says, “We’re trying to do something good. Stay out of the way. I don’t want you guys to get hurt.”

Old Lee thinks she’s making a compelling argument, but Cate and Keiko wonder why Apex is keeping this away from Monarch. Keiko says, “If Apex truly believes this is the answer, why keep it a secret?”

Old Lee says, “Because whoever holds the other end of that leash, cannot only prevent a G-Day, but they can create and pinpoint a G-Day to destroy whatever or wherever the leash holder chooses. And that makes it a weapon that can be sold to the highest bidder. ”

May/Corah tells Brenda she needs more time. Brenda replies, “We all need more time. We make the most of what we got.” Then the ground begins to shake. The Trilobillas/Scarabs emerge from that cave and head to the launch area. The launch area is cleared.

Old Lee tries to launch his plan, but the Trilobilla are coming on too fast. Old Lee can’t get to safety, but he falls close to those sacrificial stones and the Trilobilla scurry over him. Hiroshi and Kentaro help him into the deserted old tavern, but Cate hears the cry of Krakilla/Titan X. She stops and begins to walk toward the sound, toward the edge of the pier, following the last of the Trilobilla.

Back in the old tavern, Hiroshi realizes Cate didn’t come back in with them. And we can see that Cate is mesmerized by Krakilla. Hiroshi goes out into the village square and sees Cate standing in front of the roaring Krakilla.

May sees this and is worried, but Brenda says, “This is how we save her.” The drone implants and there are massive data spikes. A technician notes there is “intense neural firing in the frontal cortex and amygdala.”

May says, “Stand by for full cognitive override.”

A technician notes, ” We’ve disrupted its somatic responses, every muscle group is seizing up.

May’s data is worrisome. “The Titan has so many neurons.” The feedback loop is causing massive data spikes. I told you that I needed more time. ”

“Stop whining about time. Pull it together, Corah,” Brenda snaps.

May asserts, “I told you that we couldn’t scale the program to something this big.”

Brenda, like old bad leaders, simply says, “Fix it, now.”

May says, “Are you kidding me? The whole thing is gonna crash.”

The Trilobillas severe the tentacle that the implant is on. That’s got to hurt. I’m not sure why they didn’t implant it behind the skull on the neck.

In a rage, Krakilla approaches the Apex camp. Brenda tells people to evacuate, and Trissop takes a few items and leaves without Brenda.

Cate gets up from under some planks, but her father Hiroshi is wounded and bleeding. Hiroshi says, “I missed so much of your life” and regrets he told so many lies. Keiko asks if Hiroshi remembers the song, “Furusato.” Cate, Keiko and Hiroshi sing the song until Hiroshi dies, before Kentaro, who has gone looking for medical support, returns.

For those who are Buddhist and Japanese, there’s the added meaning of O-Bon, a time when the spirits of the dead return to their furusato.

Tim arrives and wants “every single person accounted for,” but Trissop is driving away alone.

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