Hey you! Yes, you! Do you like seeing giant monsters destroying things, wreaking havoc on everything they come across? Of course you do! Do you have at least a passing familiarity with Godzilla? Great! Do you like only seeing those monsters, including Godzilla, for a couple moments at a time, surrounded by many, many scenes of people talking about mildly interesting conspiracy theories? Have I got a show for you!

It feels like an impossible task to placate fans of the Godzilla films, especially the recent “Monster-verse” films beginning in 2014, which you almost have to have seen in order to understand what’s going on here. Do you focus more on the monsters wreaking havoc, or more on the humans that are caught in said havoc? Of the five episodes watched for this review, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters seems to be veering towards the latter strategy.

Some of this is understandable. Though Apple has clearly gone all-out in funding the show, perhaps there were budgetary concerns that prevented series creator Chris Black from inserting monster battles at the forefront of every episode. Rather, the show concerns two timelines, set almost 60 years apart, and deals with the people caught in Monarch’s wake. For the uninitiated, Monarch is the shadowy pseudo-government agency from the films that’s tasked with tracking and containing the monsters – here referred to as Titans.

First, there’s Keiko (Mari Yamamoto), a scientist investigating Godzilla and its correlation to radiation, who teams up with fellow scientist Bill Randa (Anders Holm) and Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell). Shaw, a military officer tasked with keeping an eye on the eggheads. This storyline mostly works to set up the dynamics in the modern timeline because there isn’t much excitement to be found otherwise.

Thankfully the 2014 story presents some interesting character opportunities. It mostly concerns Cate (Anna Sawai), an American who ventures to Japan to settle her recently deceased father’s estate. But once she arrives, she finds Kentaro (Ren Watabe), who may or may not be her half brother, after her father led a second, secret life in Japan. Together, and with the help of Kentaro’s friend and American ex-pat Kay (Kiersey Clemons), they venture into the unknown to uncover the truth about their father, who was somehow connected to Monarch. Eventually they’re joined by present-day Lee Shaw, played by Kurt Russel, Wyatt’s real-life father.

It’s not around the midway point of the season when the modern-day storyline gets creative, if a little predictable. Most of it involves a globe-trotting adventure from Japan to Alaska and back to San Francisco. The production design and visual effects across the board are impressive; it’s astounding how good TV can look when it’s not produced by Disney. This includes the monsters, who may or may not be canonical to the larger Godzilla universe. I’m no expert in the matter. It’s just a shame that they’re rarely given more to do than to briefly chase the humans around and subsequently roar at them menacingly. That being said, the episode in Alaska is the best of the season, with one monster stalking our heroes as they survive the elements as well.

The Monster-verse films have succeeded, in my opinion, when they lean into the implausibility of what’s on screen. The most recent entry, 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, worked because it didn’t shy away from the bugnuts insanity of what it would be like to see the two giant monsters punching each other. With Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the monster interactions we see are impressive, but they’re too few and far between. Also lacking is the commentary that most films have had about man’s fear of nature, or our reliance on destructive weapons. At least it’s not a boring show, with decent performances from actors that don’t take the material too seriously, and solid visual effects. What more could you ask for? Oh, right.

Two episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premieres on AppleTV+ now, with new episodes premiering every Friday.