It's time to extend our viewing queues to include Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The three main characters are all non-white and Cate Randa (middle) is a lesbian. Now that’s something to celebrate! While Apple TV may do nothing to advertise their shows, especially action-adventure-packed thrillers with diverse casts like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, we can do our part to spread the word. This show is fantastic, has genuine queer representation, and has growing stakes as imposing as Godzilla himself. The consequences of nuclear war are also extensively explored!

Godzilla the Gay Icon?

Godzilla is more than just a hulking monster with Chornobyl-like laser breath. Some people think his new look in the trailer for 'Godzilla x Kong The New Empire,' where he adorns magenta scales while powering up, is a sign of the ‘woke left’ invading monster media. This opinion is stupid and laughable - the queerification of the Godzilla franchise won’t come from pink spikes on his back; it comes from meaningful relationships the humans helping/hunting care for. Monster movies are always about the people trying to survive and how far they’ll go to keep love alive. Monarch gave a great look at Cate, one of the show's leads, and her same-sex relationship amid the Godzilla backdrop.

Love is hard to maintain, especially when giant monsters are roaming the planet. We see Cate deal with her tumultuous relationship, agreeing to move in with her co-worker/girlfriend but is actually cheating on her. Before they can resolve their issues, perhaps even overcome them, a monster attack takes her from Cate forever. Survivor’s guilt takes a huge role in this show about fictional monsters, making us feel grounded with these extremely raw human characters. Godzilla is a metaphor for nuclear imperialism- and nobody wins when atomic power is involved.

Without spoiling much, things are made complicated when Cate experiences firsthand the destruction brought by Godzilla in San Francisco (seen in Godzilla (2014)) and how the trauma of disaster can change a person. During the attack, Cate watched a bus of her students fall off the Golden Gate Bridge during an unprecedented monster attack, adding layers to her already complex character. Her growing depression from that incident, remorse for being unable to resolve things with her then-girlfriend, and inability to accept her cheating father's infidelities (when she did the same thing!) make her complex. You know how I love a complicated gay character!

Pink Godzilla

I'm not sure if you’ve been online lately, but since the new Godzilla trailer dropped, pink-spiked Barbz Godzilla is more of a meme than a reality. The queer community is joyously adopting Godzilla a la Babadook, but angry homophobes are busy vocalizing that Godzilla glowing pink is a sign of the end times. I fought with someone online who complained the same-sex relationship was too extreme for the show to explore, and I rebutted with something smart and sassy. Also, why are you watching Godzilla with a child and expecting it to be a no-questions-allowed space? If your kid can handle seeing monsters rip apart each other, he can learn 'sometimes boys love boys.' It's just ridiculous what parents will say to procrastinate the conversation. It doesn’t sound like good parenting…

Outside the trailer, it seems like queer culture and monster movies are joining together in a wonderfully weird harmony. I’m on a few Facebook groups for MonsterVerse fans, and some people were really angry about the same-sex love story briefly explored between Cate and Dani. ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ shows Kate still holding onto the key her girlfriend gave her before the Godzilla attack, a promise of a better life together. The show will develop Cate’s relationships with the women in her life, including a potential love triangle with the mysterious May. 

“We were good, but you don’t want good” is the last thing her girlfriend Dani says when Cate chooses to evacuate the city instead of remaining by her partner's side. Dani confronts Cate’s cheating at that moment and her inability to determine the happy path. Is she a glutton for punishment or the perfect reflection of her missing father, which the series is dedicated to finding him? It brings up moral questions about how love can survive a near-apocalypse and gives a subtle, unapologetic same-same love story for Cate to experience.

Applauding the VFX Team and Anna Sawai

I also want to applaud the show for its amazing visual effects. I’m a sucker for giant monsters (you must be bigger than Bigfoot to impress me), and the Kaijus of the Monsterverse impress me to no end! Huge in scale and threat, it’s awesome to see these mega-sized monsters go at it. The consequences of human connection in a world so rattled by atomic monsters are coolly explored by the scientific, headstrong, brave, and queer character like Cate. Anna Sawai does a wonderful job portraying Cate’s hard exterior and soft center, stealing scenes with her acting.

‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ is available to stream on Apple TV Plus.