Parallels and Interiors
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"Parallels and Interiors" (パラレルとインテリア Parareru to Interia) is the fourth episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Directed by Julian Holmes and written by Milla Bell-Hart, it premiered on Apple TV+ on December 1, 2023.
Plot
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“I knew that『plot』wasn't up to much.” This plot synopsis is missing or incomplete. Please help by editing this section. |
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2015: At Monarch Outpost 47 in the US state of Utah, Dr. Barnes noticed one of her older machines was giving alarming readings and immediately called Monarch's Assistant Director Natalia Verdugo. In Alaska, the Frost Vark finished dismantling a plane and turned its attention towards the plane's former occupants: Lee Shaw, Cate Randa, May Olowe-Hewitt, and Kentaro Randa. Kentaro noticed a nearby flare gun and attempted to shoot it at the monster despite Lee's insistance on running. Kentaro missed, but the shot distracted the Frost Vark long enough for them all to flee into a cave. Lee and May reprimanded but went quiet upong hearing tremors from the Frost Vark investigating the cave's ceiling. The tremors quickly caused the ice May was standing on to break, soaking her legs in freezing water and leaving her on the ground barely keeping herself from screaming. Kentaro helped May to her feet and asked if she was okay as the group left the cave, but May angrily retorted that she was going to die of hypothermia and rhetorically asking if he was happy they came.
2014: In Tokyo, Kentaro prepared his speech for his art debut with his sponsor Kimi, who scolded him for hesitating during a question on what inspired his art despite having months to prepare. Kentaro repsonded that art came from a place that was hard to process and to him it was just intuitive. Kimi stated that while she respected his process, her buyers would be more interested in who they were buying from rather over the art itself and told him to come up with an answer in the two hours before the show started. As Kimi left, Kentaro's mother Emiko Randa approached her son and complimented her son over a promotional poster's praise of his art along and affirmed that she and his father Hiroshi Randa were proud of him when he showed doubt in his work. After Emiko confirmed that Hiroshi would attend the show, Kentaro excused himself and went outside to photograph the poster. As he did so, May walked in front of him and confronted him over taking her picture. Kentaro confirmed it was an accident and pointed to the poster behind her. May read the show's name, "Parallels and Interiors" and stated it sounded pretentious, which Kentaro agreed with before deleting the picture. Kentaro questioned May why she didn't like her picture being taken and began flirting with her, to which May questioned if this was the real him and if there would be wine. Kentaro stated the wine would was cheap and pretentious, and offered to show her to a place with better whiskey despite the looming deadline for the show.
2015: As the group walked, Kentaro asked May to slow down and May balked back thatthat he needed to speed up. Lee agreed with Kentaro as she needed to conserve her energy to fight off the hypothermia. Kentaro stated that they needed to dry May's legs, but Lee told him that they had nothing to build a fire with and that they couldn't stay put with the Frost Vark on the prowl. Kentaro asked if he still thought it was in the area, but Lee stated he didn't know. Cate spoke up and questioned where the group was going with night approaching, and Lee stated they were heading northwest since it was more likely for them to encounter people. Kentaro then said he had seen a large round building from the plane, but when nobody else said they saw it. Kentaro confronted May as he assumed she had seen it too and that she was just lying because she was angry, but she snapped back that she had never seen it and that this was about her hypothermia.
2014: Kentaro showed May to a bar, but Soka, the bar's manager, jokingly refused to let him in. Upon actually letting them in, served their whiskey as Kentaro introduced the two. Kentaro revealed he had his own bottle because he designed the bar's lighting. Kentaro asked May what she did, but she deflected by just saying it was uninteresting computer stuff. May asked how long he was doing art, to which he revealed he this was his first big show and that he was letting suspense build as part of the act. May questioned whether the date was part of the act and asked Suko if he brought other girls. Suko jokingly responded that as a bar tender he wasn't allowed to say. Kentaro told May it wasn't an act and brought May to his office, where she saw his art and asked why the art on his walls wasn't in the gallery, and Kentaro told her they weren't for sale. May questioned why Kentaro didn't tell Kimi what art he wanted in the show, which he answered it was Kimi's gallery and that she was taking a chance on him. May retorted that people don't give others chances unless there was something in it for them and Kentaro pushed back saying that was a very cynical viewpoint. Hearing Kentaro recieve a text, May told him he better go to the gallery and Kentaro requested she come with him, but May declined. The two then shared a kiss after May messed up Kentaro's hair.
2015: After climbing a hill to see what was nearby, the group was unable to see any buildings. Kentaro asserted that it must be behind some bearby hills while Cate saw a light in another direction. Kentaro asserted that the lights might be too far away and that the building he saw was much closer. Lee agreed to split up when Kentaro wouldn't budge despite Cate's protests. At Monarch's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, Verdugo answered Barnes' call, whos showed her gamma radiation similar to those released by black holes in Alaska, amounts that hadn't been seen since 2014. As a snowstorm blew over Alaska, Kentaro began having hallucinations where he heard May before he collapsed. Elsewhere, Cate lamented allowing Kentaro to leave afraid that he wouldn't survive, but Lee assured her that he just needed to live until they got help. Noticing May struggling, Lee offered to carry her bag, but she refused thinking he would take it. Lee realized she was delirious and left Cate to help and comfort her for the moment. As they climbed over a hill, they found themselves in the same valley the Frost Vark had attacked them in with the light just behind a hill. Lee blamed the light on the Frost Vark. Realizing May wasn't going to make it if they kept going, Cate stated they needed to warm her up and refused to leave her despite Lee's objections due to the nearby titan. Unable to stand, Kentaro hallucinated May lying down beside him.
2014: While in bed with Kentaro, May held a flashlight that shined moving lights onto the ceiling and proclaimed it was beautiful. May questioned Kentaro on why he didn't want to go to his gallery opening, Kentaro attempted to deflect, but May told him he shouldn't be ashamed of his art. Kentaro attempted again to ask May what she does, as he had revealed a lot about himself while she hadn't told him much about herself. May revealed that she came from Tacoma, Washington, US, and thought it was boring so she moved to Japan. The two exchanged numbers as May received a call, which May refused to answer until Kentaro had left and told the caller to stop calling her. May lied back down on the bed and looked at the lights again, restating their beauty.
2015: After the others had started a fire and set Mei within a tent, Mei complained that her legs were hurting. Cate stated her this meant she didn't have frost bite yet Mei asked Cate to call her sister Lyra Mateo if she didn't make it and attempted to give Cate Lyra's number until Lee returned with research papers from Hiroshi. Lee asked whether Cate wanted to burn the papers to stoke the fire or keep them to learn as much as they could about her father, but Cate immediately told him to burn them. Lee obliged, only for the Frost Vark to appear, consume the fire, and leave again. At Monarch's headquarters, Verdugo showed a collection of experts Barnes' readings. As the leaders were debating this revelation, Tim suggested that Bill Randa's files held the answer to their questions as there had to be a reason lee was going after them. In Alaska, Lee realized that the Frost Vark fed on heat and would be attracted to something warmer than them. Using this information, he planned on creating a bonfire with aviation fuel and Du-Ho's corpse. Cate attempted to comfort May, but May told Cate that they would eventually have to leave her and possibly Lee behind so Cate could survive. Elsewhere, Kentaro began hallucinating a visage of Hiroshi calling to him and walking past him. After the hallucination disipated, Kentaro noticed pencils shavings on the ground, similar to the ones his father created when working, creating a trail he could follow until he stumbled upon the spherical building. As he walked inside, he began hallucinating that he was back at his art debut with his father. Kentaro told the vision that while he had sold some of his pieces, Kimi dropped him anyway. Kentaro confronted Hiroshi about how he felt forced into the job by his father's encouragement, and that this was the last time he had seen Hiroshi. The hallucination told Kentaro he was proud of his son as Kentaro came back to reality. Kentaro found that the building's radio was still powered and that more of the pencil shavings were left beside it.
As Lee began pouring the aviation fuel over Du-Ho's corpse, Cate questioned if they should do that. Lee reassured her that Du-Ho always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and began recounting the story of how the pair first met. As he did so, the Frost Vark burst out of the ground right in front of Lee. The titan chased May and Cate as Lee desperately attempted to light the fire. The women noticed a helicopter ahead of them and attempted to get its attention until May tripped, holding out her laptop so the beast could heat it let out first. Lee finally lit the fire, distracting the Frost Vark, allowing Cate to help May to her feet, and successfully alerting the helicopter. The helicopter landed, revealing Kentaro already inside, and the three quickly got inside as the Frost Vark finished its meal and burrowed towards them. The helicopter launched and succefully escaped the titan, but Lee noticed a glowing hole in the Earth as the helicopter flew off. As they rode out, Cate thanked Kentaro, who revealed Hiroshi had been to the same building. May thanked both of them and held Cate's hand, to Kentaro's chargain. Lee checked May's bag, but found the laptop had been destroyed by the Frost Vark. As the helicopter landed, the group was met by Tim, Duvall, and a group of armed Monarch guards.
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Anna Sawai as Cate Randa
- Kiersey Clemons as May Olowe-Hewitt
- Ren Watabe as Kentaro Randa
- Joe Tippett as Tim
- Kurt Russell as Colonel Lee Shaw
- Elisa Lasowski as Duvall
- Takehiro Hira as Hiroshi Randa
- Mirelly Taylor as Deputy Director Natalia Verdugo
- Qyoko Kudo as Emiko Randa
- Bruce Baek as Du-Ho
- Jess Salgueiro as Dr. Barnes
- Shota Tsuji as Sota
- Kamilyn Kaneko as Kimi
- Camille Legg as Collins
- Sheyi Ryane as Major Alaba
- Babak Haleky as Dr. Bagheri
Appearances
TitansCharacters
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Weapons, vehicles, and organizationsLocations
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Gallery
Promotional stills
Screenshots
Trivia
- This episode was released the same day as Godzilla Minus One's North American theatrical release.
- The episode's title "Parallels and Interiors" is taken from a piece of Kentaro Randa's art which includes the phrase in Japanese.
- "Parallels and Interiors" is the first episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters to not feature Godzilla in any capacity, as well as the first to not include flashbacks to the 1950s.
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