‘Monarch’: Kurt & Wyatt Russell Break Down That Mind-Bending Lee Shaw Twist (VIDEO)

At the end of last week’s episode, “Requiem,” Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) was testing out Dr. Suzuki’s (Leo Ashizawa) “Titan telephone” when he made an unexpected connection…to himself, Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell), stuck in the Axis Mundi in 1962 after Operation Hourglass failed spectacularly, leaving him alone in the prehistoric portal. TV Insider spoke with the Russells about the twist. Warning: Spoilers for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Episode 7 ahead!

Lee meets Lee in an Axis Mundi mind-bender

In Episode 7, “String Theory,” fans of Monarch and the Russell clan are treated to an interaction between older and younger Lee, as the Axis Mundi bridges the gap between eras, allowing the Monarch’s greatest soldier to share a scene with himself.

In the Axis Mundi, young Lee buries his final crew member and is despondent, attempting to reach anyone on his walkie. Days later, he picks up a transmission of himself, as older Lee and Zuki test their machine. Shocked, Zuki explains that the device was sending a signal to locate a Titan, but instead picked up the Hourglass Expedition frequency from when Lee was lost in the rift for a few days, which equated to 20 years on Earth.

“Time is relative in there,” Zuki says. “Talk to him, Lee. What did you most want to hear?” Lee speaks to Lee, who is thrilled to hear a human voice. Older Lee doesn’t identify himself to younger Lee, but assures his younger self that he will make it home. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

Sadly, Godzilla is not in the rift when Lee is there, but older Lee gets an idea to place a tracker on Titan X instead. Suzuki and Lee guide the younger Lee in creating a tracker from parts of the entry pod, telling him that the Titan will also create a rift Lee can use to exit Axis Mundi. When Lee asks why he needs a tracker on the Titan to get home, older Lee reminds him that good soldiers ask few questions.

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Younger Lee has his doubts about the man on the other end of the walkie, but just as he begins to ask questions, he is struck by bolts of electricity, creating a scar older Lee bears in the present. As he runs away, he makes a startling discovery: Keiko (Mari Yamamoto), who has been lost since 1959.

Older Lee tells his younger self to back away, which makes young Lee suspicious and angry. “What aren’t you telling me?” Realizing he isn’t mission control, older Lee admits that the only thing that matters is protecting Keiko.

“Oh God, you do sound like me.” Then the realization of who he is talking to hits him like a ton of bricks. “I am your older self. I am you,” older Lee says. “I carry your scars, Lee. All of them. Keiko was the most painful.”

Young Lee wants to save Keiko, but older Lee cannot allow it, as doing so would might destroy the current timeline and undo the lives of her grandchildren, Kentaro (Ren Watabe) and Cate (Anna Sawai). If he leaves her alone, she will be rescued and will live. So to save her, he has to do nothing. Just watch, and walk away. Heartbroken, Lee does as he is told.

What the Russells have to say about it

TV Insider spoke with Kurt and Wyatt Russell about the pivotal scene where young Lee comes face-to-face with his older self and the heartbreaking choice to leave Keiko behind.

“It’s something we always talked about,” said Kurt. “We wanted to do something where these eras collide.”

“So, they came up with an idea that was interesting, and had some legs to it, and could scratch that itch — though it doesn’t completely scratch it,” said Wyatt.

“And I think that’s good,” explained Kurt. “You guys are going to be doing Young Lee Shaw Chronicles, and that’s a whole other aspect of the expansion of MonsterVerse.”

As for the scene in which Lee must choose between saving the woman he loves and walking away, knowing she will eventually be saved, Wyatt explained that the scene was more difficult than it looked.

“It’s a really hard thing to act, honestly, because you have to trust it will come together the right way, because when you are doing it, sometimes your instincts tell you otherwise. There’s things you want to do that you know you can’t because it will unravel, and you just lean on that frustration,” said Wyatt. “So it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating that he can’t do that. And sad, but also he understands that this will unravel things that will be extremely detrimental and devastating.”

“What I love about that scene is, again, its not father-son, it’s the same person, and because you can’t remember anything that happens in the Axis Mundi, as this connection is beginning to unfold, Old Lee is beginning to remember some of those things, so at some point, he’s experiencing it through himself as a younger man,” said Kurt.

How Lee helps Lee escape

Back in Axis Mundi, Lee makes his way to a Titan lair when a whole bevy of its residents pop up to say hello. He reaches Titan X’s hidey-hole and jams the tracking device into the creature, successfully waking the sleeping giant.

Younger Lee escapes as older Lee gives him instructions on how to get home. “Take care of her. And Hiroshi’s kids, too,” says the younger to the older. “Time for you to go,” and the two sign off.

Keiko and Cate have a theory

Keiko and Cate work to find the Titan before Lee can destroy it, studying the vibrations Cate is picking up, and Keiko agrees with her assessment that the Titan appears lost. Keiko recalls that in Billy’s notes, there was mention of “demons” inhabiting the bodies of medicine women in a small Japanese village. She believes those women were like Cate, transmitting messages from Titans.

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They travel to the remote village, where they find a well, and Cate promptly lowers herself into the dark, foreboding hole… only to nearly plummet straight to the bottom. She discovers a tunnel that allows her to climb out, and it appears to amplify the Titan’s signal, leading Cate to believe the creature is calling for help.

Kentaro makes a new friend

Kentaro meets Isabel (Amber Midthunder) in Phuket, Thailand, where she tells him she is not in cahoots with her father and that she hates Apex as much as Kentaro hates Monarch. She wants to work with him, but he is unsure. She explains that both their families have been dealing with the Titan situation for years, and it has only gotten worse.

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“What if we could live in a world where there was no G-Day?” Isabel asks.

She goes on to explain that within Axis Mundi, the rules of the physical world no longer apply, and that Hiroshi wanted Kentaro to carry on his work. The young man is intrigued.

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