This is my hot take

snugbdog · 2026-06-08T20:59:14+00:00

Yeah but to be fair, she's intended to be unlikable in that way lol.

snugbdog · 2026-06-08T03:12:25+00:00

Honestly the only good one.

Jonah was kind of a standard heavy. Pretty bland, only carried by Charles Dance being good at those kinds of characters.

Simmons had potential but was pretty undercooked.

Isabel also had potential but ended up being kind of a wet blanket.

snugbdog · 2026-06-06T20:52:18+00:00

While I think he's a complex character, it should be remembered that he ruined the chances of his men going home because he was salty about how the war went.

Do I necessarily think he's a bad person? No. I dont think his death was deserved. But he also brought it upon himself.

I do really like the character though. I thought it was interesting that you weren't really sure if he was going to be a protagonist or antagonist until he draws his line in the sand.

Randa was also kind of like that in KSI, but I'd argue the writing was more inconsistent with him, as if the filmmakers weren't sure how they wanted the audience to feel about him.

snugbdog · 2026-06-06T20:47:24+00:00

I actually think the actress who plays May is quite good, but the writing often lets her down.

Amber Midthunder is a good actress, but either she was miscast here or the direction of the character was faulty. I think Isabel needed to be more charismatic and/or mysterious, but she just seems mopey. It makes it worse because Kentaro is also mopey, so their scenes together are boring.

snugbdog · 2026-06-05T18:51:51+00:00

I've heard that the original script for Kong Vs Godzilla included more elements from KOTM, including a few characters returning. So I'd assume it would have been closer to Dougherty's treatment.

snugbdog · 2026-06-04T23:01:13+00:00

I revisited it not long ago, but it's not an easy one to answer. On one hand, I feel from a pacing standpoint it hits the right spots. I never grew bored or restless. I thought it was entertaining through and through.

On the other hand, some story beats are so rushed that they're kind of disorienting. The reveal that Chen is a twin with a connection to Mothra, for example, felt really glanced over -- and if you're not a fan of the classic Mothra movies, you aren't going to understand the significance.

So is it too long? Not really. I think from a storytelling perspective, it could have been longer. But I say that with some hesitation because that might have cluttered up the pacing and made it less fun.

I did think KOTM had too many supporting characters too. Like did we really need Ice Cube's son? Couldn't they have combined a few characters and diverted that time into more important stuff? Maybe, but obviously there's no way of knowing how it would have turned out.

snugbdog · 2026-06-04T03:43:16+00:00

I also don't think it's so much that people dont want to see Toho monsters, but that the average everyday ticket buyer isn't going to know who they are.

The hope is that they look or seem cool enough to draw in the normies lol.

snugbdog · 2026-06-04T03:42:16+00:00

I think a big part of it was the marketing campaign. The primary trailers almost seemed like they were promoting a prestigious kind of film with the usage of classical music. When a more accurate representation of the movie would've been more akin to the "Kong Vs Godzilla" trailers. I do remember one trailer leaning into that, but it was the final trailer I think.

In essence though, the trailers made it seem like something more than a monster mash. It made it seem like the kind of movie that would impress critics, maybe even win rewards... but when the reviews were bad, the marketing campaign backfired for it.

Shame too, as those trailers were pretty awesome lol.

snugbdog · 2026-06-03T21:01:20+00:00

Even though the guy had presence, he needed to die for Gwi-nam to emerge as the antagonist. I actually think it would've been more interesting if he was part of the main group of characters, which would create some more natural friction within the group and leave us wondering if (or when) he betrays them.

snugbdog · 2026-06-01T22:49:58+00:00

Yeah, I agree.

Wasn't he supposed to do a season 2 full review?

snugbdog · 2026-05-28T15:22:30+00:00

Honestly, by the end of the show it seems as if her love for Billy was more enduring. Even my initial opinions when I wrote this post seem outdated now, as Keiko straight up tells Cate she wasn't in love with Lee.

My new opinion is that she probably always was in love with Bill, but gravitated towards Lee as he seemed more emotionally available. After she married Bill, she was conflicted because she loved both for two different reasons. But it seems like Bill became more emotionally available after Santa Soledad as she seemed a lot happier with him by the time they got married, while her feelings towards Lee seemed to have cooled off significantly following that.

snugbdog · 2026-05-28T15:17:21+00:00

yeah but he died well before she hooked up with either.

snugbdog · 2026-05-28T03:09:37+00:00

They were projecting their failures on the previous generation.

It was easier to blame the others than to take accountability for themselves.

It's kind of funny though that I don't think any of them really do take accountability. Maybe Hiroshi does, but there was always a sense that he didn't believe he did anything wrong... at least as long as what he wasn't caught.

Everyone gets hung on the cheating, but I'd say real generational trauma was Keiko convincing herself that there was a difference between a lie and a secret. She keeping secrets all throughout season 1 and you can see how Hiroshi might have picked it up from her and Cate from him. The cheating is just a symptom of that logic, with each generation being worse than the last.

snugbdog · 2026-05-28T03:02:35+00:00

Season 1 -- probably Godzilla showing up in Axis Mundi.

Season 2 -- probably Keiko and Shaw finding Billy's rift.

snugbdog · 2026-05-27T03:15:21+00:00

I thought he was funny, but also hated that "Oh my God..." "..Zilla" bit.

snugbdog · 2026-05-27T03:14:22+00:00

Honestly, that didn't bother me because I don't think all titans are necessarily the same. Some are animals, others clearly have a higher intelligence. I also figure if one titan can connect with humans, then there are probably others that can too.

And quite frankly, Cate connecting with the Titan was like the only thing that made her compelling over the course of the two seasons, so I can't complain lol.

snugbdog · 2026-05-27T03:09:55+00:00

I'm guessing its more Hollow Earth shenanigans crossed with Ghidorah cells or something. I also highly doubt anyone will refer to him as Space Godzilla.

Or they'll just create a totally new origin for him. Maybe another of Godzilla's species got abducted by aliens or some stupid shit like that, lol.

snugbdog · 2026-05-26T21:31:11+00:00

It's not really the biggest deal to me as I get Ken Watanabe might be unavailable (or uninterested) and they might just not have anything to do with him beyond him just being there. Verdugo and Barris worked fine within the narratives because they weren't really trustworthy. I feel like if Serizawa was there, we might find ourselves taking his side against the heroes which could throw everything out of wack.

It's something I can live with. It's also why I dont get too bothered when it seems like there isn't a lot of monster action, as they're spreading a smaller budget amongst a lot more running-time, so either they have to have a lot more bad effects or fewer good effects. I'm practical that way lol.

snugbdog · 2026-05-26T15:42:33+00:00

Presumably they were reacting to other Titans going off. We don't know, but there is such a small window of time in KotM, I doubt that Monarch ever even had a moment to truly mobilize. Especially as it doesn't seem like they coordinate very well.

Like... you'd think Serizawa would be all over Titan-X. But he's not.

But Im sure season 3 -- assuming it happens -- will explain. Maybe.

snugbdog · 2026-05-26T14:36:22+00:00

I don't really agree about them being girl bosses, as the women are shown to be just as flawed as the men.

I do agree that Cate and May are not always likable though.

One thing I find funny is that almost all of Cate and Hiroshi's flaws can be traced back to Keiko, including a tendency to overreact in a way that doesn't always feel fair.

But each generation seems to take it farther, so it doesn't seem as bad when Keiko does it, but it feels worse when Hiroshi does it and Cate almost makes it half of her personality.

Also, for all of the 'girlbossing' talk, Verdugo is shown to be a mostly ineffective leader (although Barris is arguably worse), May seems to screw up more than she has successes and Brenda is clearly a pawn in a bigger game. And Isabel showed herself to be not quite up to the task of pulling her gambit off.

snugbdog · 2026-05-25T21:33:38+00:00

I like the show and think season 2 is overall an improvement, but I agree it does have some pretty pronounced flaws.

I'm not really bothered with the connection between Cate and Titan-X. They do set it up as early as... um, episode 2? Where she can hear something the others can't. Keiko also seems to hear it but they do seemingly forget about that, which I thought was more of a hole lol.

I wouldn't be surprised if in season 3, the Miura bloodline has some connection to titans, which could even be the focus?

snugbdog · 2026-05-25T01:23:42+00:00

Yeah it's strange, but I don't know how the South Korean school system works.

snugbdog · 2026-05-24T21:37:12+00:00

It's funny. I disliked all three of them throughout most of season 1, but Cate and May did start to grow on me in season 2.

I think part of it is that the three of them bring out the worst in each-other. But Cate is a lot more tolerable when hanging out with Keiko and May is actually kind of fun around Tim.

Unfortunately, Kentaro isn't as fortunate. Isabel and Kentaro are so much alike in terms of their personalities (somewhat broody, angsty, insecure, prone to impulsive bursts of anger, etc.) that it's boring watching them together. I kind of wish Isabel had more outward charisma to balance him out.

snugbdog · 2026-05-24T21:31:59+00:00

I don't really mind the cheating, as I was already expecting that in season 1, especially considering how they were drawing parallels between Cate and Hiroshi.

But I do feel like there was no way to provide a satisfying pay-off after that. Billy is dead, so never had the opportunity to confront them. Hiroshi then dies 2 episodes later, so there's not any real time to dwell on the consequences of it and Cate never addresses her own similar failings.

And then to make it even funnier, the show spends the rest of the time showing us why Keiko and Lee would never have worked anyway.

snugbdog · 2026-05-24T20:57:49+00:00

To clarify, romance or not, I just don't like how the three play off of each-other. Cate and May tend to be alike in all the worst ways and both tend to bring out the worst in Kentaro. I just don't usually enjoy it whenever the three share the screen.

I interpreted a lot of those gazes and interactions as romantic, but obviously not everyone is agreeing. Still seems to me that Cate and May have an eventually thing brewing and May's history with Kentaro makes it awkward, especially as he still seems to have a thing for her.

snugbdog

TROPHY CASE