The series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, currently streaming on Apple TV+, is nowhere near as good as the recently released Toho Godzilla movie, Godzilla Minus One.

Yet a little more than halfway through its 10-episode run (as of this writing), it shows promise. A strong second half could make this series, which is part of the American MonsterVerse franchise, a better offering than the current slate of MonsterVerse movies. It’s already better than the last two films (Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong). It’s just a few clicks short of the original 2104 Gareth Edwards Godzilla that kicked off the MonsterVerse movies on a promising note.

Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt play the same role, Lee Shaw, in different time periods. He is a military man assigned to watch over a scientist (Mari Yamamoto) shortly after World War II. Their adventures eventually lead to the discovery of mythical monsters beneath the Earth’s surface—and eventual encounters with Godzilla.

The present-day activities take place after the destruction of San Francisco (which occurred in the 2014 film) and involve a lot of human elements rather than wall-to-wall monsters running around. Like Godzilla Minus One, the show does a decent job with the human stories, although it does get a little long-winded at times. Both Russells do good work, giving both time periods a solid action-hero type to keep things moving.

Hopefully the second half of the season will have more monster activity. If not, Monarch will wind up being a non-extraordinary, mostly admirable, good-enough addition to the MonsterVerse.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes released on Fridays through Jan. 12.

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