"The Alpha and the Omega" – Krypton S02E10 Review

I have to give Krypton this. The creative team does embrace the DC mythos. Then again, it's the season finale and SyFy hasn't announced if they're renewing Krypton for a third season. So maybe like with the season 1 finale, the creative team decided to go for broke and hope if they do get renewed, they get a few episodes to pick up the pieces.

So "The Alpha and the Omega" saw the arrival of the Thanagarians on Rann, Adam's adopted homeworld, and a dying/dead bald local. Zod is defeated and put on ice. So to speak. Doomsday is not quite dead. And Lobo is back! I have to admit, I wasn't fond of Emmett J. Scanlan's performance as Lobo, and Lobo still doesn't match the tone of Krypton, but... who cares, as long as he lightens up the proceedings. Krypton is such a dark, dour show much of the time and that's a shame because when they do comedy, they do it pretty well.

Yes, it's very broad humor, but I snickered when Adam yelled "I got a jetpack, bitches!" and then slammed into the ceiling. Or when Lobo urinated at the window, turned around without zipping up, and kept talking about his "weapon". Cameron Cuffe got a few decent eyerolls. And we had Ian McElhinney cutting loose and acting drunk.

But what did Val have to get drunk about? First we get an opening tag where Zod and his Kryptonian fleet prepare to conquer Earth.

Then we pick up where last episode ended, with the destruction of Wegthor. Seg isn't presumed dead for long, and the Rebels reunite at New Lurvan. Which is the city with the bar Jayna and Dev have been hanging out at. They all share a toast to Kem, and we also got a "He will be known as the brother of Seg-El" speech from Val. So it's nice to know they didn't drop Kem down the memory hole like, oh, say, Nyssa's father Daron. Remember him? Don't worry, neither does anyone else.

Lyta has used the two Sagitari she swayed to her side last week to infiltrate Zod's ranks. One of them gives up the Rebels' location, and Zod kills him for it. The other Sagitari gets killed warning Lyta, who comes up with a cunning plan. The Rebels, led by Jayna and Dev and supported by the bar patrons we saw earlier in the season, will hole up against the invading Sagitari. Zod has sent most of his forces to New Lurvan, so Seg and Lyta will go after him in Kandor.

Seg steps out first and tells the people of Kandor they've been brainwashed by Zod and the general is a dick. They start to come out of Zod's brainwashing, so I guess it's not very good. Zod and his Sagitari personal guard arrive. Lyta finishes Seg's inspirational speech, and in an awkward Easter Egg to the Superman movies, Seg invites Zod to step outside. Even though they're... already outside. I think.

Seg and Zod fight, and Zod starts to win. So Lyta joins in, and together the parents beat the bejesus out of Zod. Seg wants to strangle him, but Lyta comes up with a better idea. They give him to the Black Mercy, which feeds him the hallucination from the beginning that he's conquering Earth while his parents Seg and Lyta look on in smiling approval.

Adam lost the use of his legs after a tunnel collapse last episode. Nyssa sweet-talks him into telling her about his Zeta-Beam teleporter, and how he came from Rann with a scientist named Sardath who has a daughter named Alanna. It's all very touching to those of us who know Adam's backstory from the comics. Nyssa then uses the teleporter to zap off to Ranagar. She finds lots of burned wreckage and a dying local, and eventually sees a regiment of winged soldiers fly overhead. Which are presumably the Hawkmen of Thanagar, for those into the comic books.

Ir also illustrates the go-for-broke attitude of the producers. The Thanagar-Ranagar War in the comics is fairly big, and has nothing to do with Krypton that I recall. So, while it's fun seeing the creative team prove their comic book credentials, it's odd seeing them trying to build up to a second big war. It's not like the Krypton civil war we had this season was that big. It was mostly a handful of guys shooting at each other in dark corridors and barren desertscapes.

Since Seg and Lyta have defeated Zod, Zod's men quickly call off the attack on New Lurvan. Which is too bad, since like last week's fight, we got to see someone (Jayna, in this case) cut loose, kill a bunch of soldiers, and reign destruction down on the rest when she gets to a turret. And, sadly, Jayna and Dev haven't been well-served by season 2. They smile at each other, and this episode, they kiss. Jayna at least got to do a few things as Primus and Lyta's mother last year. This year, she's been back-burnered to the bar in New Lurvan so she can exchange loving glances with Dev. Dev is still woefully underused against the focus on Seg, Lyta, and Nyssa. And to a lesser degree Val and Adam and (the now-departed) Kem. It's hard to see season 3 changing that, if there is a season 3. If we get it, it looks like it will take place primarily off of Krypton, with Ranagar and Thanagar and Earth and Brainiac and Super Jor-El.

Jayna and Dev check the wreckage from Wegthor, and find Doomsday's body. So he could show up in season 3. Although what part he has to play now Zod is out of the picture, who knows? Doomsday has only been effective this season because they kept its presence to a minimum. It's an unstoppable killing machine. It's kneeled to Zod, it's torn through a few ranks of Kryptonians, it gave us a "Heroes make heroic sacrifice against the killing machine" scene or two, and we got its origin story. What else can you do with it?

Brainiac and Super Jor-El? Oh, yes. After the shooting dies down, everyone gathers in New Lurvan to celebrate. Val gets drunk off his ass, but not before making a red suit for Adam that looks like Adam's most-recent "Adam Strange Costume" in the comics. It lets Adam walk and has a jet pack. Lobo shows up at the bar and tells Seg (or as he calls him, "Seagull") he's looking for Brainiac, and needs Seg to answer a few questions. Seg agrees as long as Lobo helps him rescue Jor.

And in the closing tag we see Brainiac telling Baby Jor he'll make him a god among men, and we discover Brainiac is heading for Earth. With the yellow sun, which gives Kryptonians superpowers and make them... gods among men. Who knew Jor-El was a "superman" on Earth a generation before his son Kal?

And so Krypton ends its season (and possibly its run) with a lot of pieces on the board. Brainiac is heading to Earth with a pocket Superman. Lobo and Seg have joined forces to track Brainiac down and rescue Jor. Nyssa is stranded on Ranagar in the middle of a war that apparently the Ranagarians are losing. And Adam has a jetpack, bitches!

Season 2 has been... okay. More so when they went for the humor. Not that Krypton is a comedy. But Adam and Kem were always comedy gold, and Val to a lesser degree. The presence of Lobo seemed to let the creative team lighten everything up a little bit, even when he's not on-screen in the episode. Then he disappeared, and it was doom-and-gloom again. Lobo came back for the season finale, and the promise of more appearances down the road, if the show is renewed. And/or if the rumors of a Lobo show on Syfy pan out.

But where they go on Krypton, in Krypton, who can say? Zod is off the board, and Lyta, Jayna, and Dev don't seem to have much to do on a planet at peace. We had Brainiac in season 1, and Zod in season 2. It seems like there should be some planetary threat to target Krypton if the show stays set on Krypton. And it's called Krypton. I don't have any problem with the show becoming "The Space Adventures of Seg, Adam, Val, Lobo, and Nyssa". But the title is a bit misleading if that's primarily what they do.

And hey, we've got Hawkmen! Brian Blessed is still alive: maybe they could get him for a cameo as an elderly Thanagarian general named Vultan. And then do a Flash crossover just so he can yell "Flash!" What can I say? it's late, I'm on cold meds, and sometimes my mind goes strange places.

The title promises Krypton, we want Krypton. Okay, I don't. The planetary setting feels a bit panned out. Jax is still floating around somewhere, so I could see her coming back and getting ahold of Doomsday to use in some scheme or another. But she was introduced late in season 1 and I've never gotten major villain-vibes from her. Yes, Jax could be a contender. But she doesn't have the presence of Brainiac or Zod.

But I figure a lot of fans (Krypton has fans, right?) want to keep seeing more about the planet Krypton. So they probably wouldn't be happy with less of the show set on Krypton.

That's why "The Alpha" had a lot of going-for-broke vibes going for it. They wrapped up all the plotlines, and they set up a season 3 if they get it. But it seems like what they set up will be a radical change for Krypton. If it goes like the end of season 1/beginning of season 2, they'll spend the first 2-4 episodes of season 3 just trying to assemble all the pieces they tossed out in "The Alpha" so they can make a pretty picture for the last six episodes. The creative team managed to do it--barely--for season 2. Can they do it for season 3? Will they have to, hoping the show gets renewed? We'll have to wait and see.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?