Krypton 1.08 "Savage Night" - Review:
Directed by Marc Roskin & Written by David Kob
Slowly but surely,
Krypton is getting better and better as we edge closer and closer to the end of the season. Over the last couple of episodes or so it's spent some much-needed time fleshing out its weakest character Adam Strange, and has upped the stakes and tension considerably by having the Voice of Rao possessed by Brainiac, and injecting Zod into the situation. This episode goes a great way to focus on Adam, who found a way to take charge of the situation as Seg's team planned a coup to save Kandor.
The show goes back to the beginning to focus on Adam getting lectured by someone with the name Sardath, whose face we never see. Sardath is annoyed at Adam despite his attempts to justify his actions and say that he really needs to complete his mission, and is only eventually dissuaded by Alanna, Sardath's daughter, who backs Adam but doesn't seem convinced herself. Sardath's dislike of Adam is something that is shared with the audience, and it's almost like he has to prove to not only the characters but also the audience themselves that he's worth his place and who he is. He's having a tough time on his own as he is, and he almost comes close to losing his only other ally on Krypton in the form of Kem, who is determined to rescue Ona from the Voice.
Kem takes out his frustrations on Adam and comes
this close to abandoning him for good. Not everything revolves around Superman, someone that nobody on Kandor has ever seen before. The decision to flesh out the backstory for Adam was a welcome one, even if it might be a good idea to brush up on your comic history after reading the episode. I'm not too familiar with Sardath myself, but in the comics at least according to a quick Google search, he's the greatest scientist on the planet Rann, responsible for the invention of the Zeta-Beam.
The odds against the plucky band of freedom fighters aren't good and General Zod knows that they need more reinforcements and quickly. Despite being exiled from Black Zero, he knows that he has to bring them on board, but only in exchange for Daron-Vex, Lyta's father. It's something that any normal person would object to, but it's important to remember that Lyta is not only a Vex and shares several traits in common with her father, but she's also witnessed him attempting to kill her. We also got some valuable scenes between Jayna and Zod during their journey to arrange a meeting with Black Zero's leader, Jax-Ur, where Zod understands Jayna's decision to forsake honour for family, stating that without her saving Lyta, he'd never have been born.
One of the weakest elements of
Krypton has been the love square between Lyta, Seg, Nyssa and Dev, which hasn't really worked as well as it should have done. Dev himself was lost in the Outlands after being possessed by Brainiac so Lyta goes to recover him. It turns out that Dev is still alive, and is taken to the fortress of Solitude, where after a lengthy process, Dev is freed with the help of Val and the connection with the Sagitari is broken.
Adam goes to Daron-Vex once he's shut out from Seg and ends up getting a meeting with him once he reveals that Daron-Vex is so incredibly out of his depth in regards to what he's dealing with. He tries to provide information on the planned coup in exchange for Seg's life so he can be away from Kandor at the time of its destruction, but it ultimately doesn't go anywhere as Seg and his team are able to reach Brainiac's Senty in the Genesis Chamber and Jayna is able to take him down before he can completely draw power from the Chamber itself. However, no body is found, and you just know that it won't be the end of the voice of Rao just yet.
And then this ends up leading to the real shock moment of the episode, that shows
Krypton's not afraid to hold anything back.
The Walking Dead tackled something similiar, but killing off kids is something that shouldn't be treated lightly and it has a clear, defining impact on the end of the episode. Ona being turned into a suicide bomber was the darkest the show has gotten so far. It also saw the intervention of Adam, who was able to save both Seg and Kem in the process, sacrificing himself in the blast before he wakes up in front of an unknown woman. We don't know much about this woman yet, the show is keeping secrets from us - but is she Alanna? Or is the show about to give us its own take on Hawkwoman, who has been teased as to appearing in the show in the past? Remember, we haven't seen her just yet. We'll have to wait until episode nine to see the true fallout.
It's also interesting to take into account the developing power vacuum that has come with the absence of Brainiac's sentry, the Voice of Rao, and the abduction of Daron-Vex. Nyssa is quick to demonstrate that she is smarter and better than her father, forgiving him despite everything that he's done before letting Black Zero take her. Jax-Ur agrees to give Black Zero's soldiers to Zod so he can search for the body of Brainiac's sentry, but she also seems to have some as of yet unknown history with Daron-Vex. I do like the inclusion of Jax-Ur here, and the fact that we finally seem to be getting more exposure to Black Zero at last after only meeting the extremist end of it in Zod.
Speaking of Zod, Jayna is starting to have doubts about her grandson, asking why he wasn't destroyed with Krypton itself. The answer to that of course is that Zod was imprisoned, and now they have to take into consideration that Zod might be about to make his claim for ruling Krypton. It's the question of who do you trust more at this point, Adam Strange or Zod? Both haven't been entirely truthful, and it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top before the end of the show itself.
What did you think of Savage Night? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to check out the next episode - Hope - next Wednesday on SYFY.
