Krypton Review: ‘A Better Yesterday’ S02E05

At the midpoint of Season 2, the key players are back together, and the seeds of a reckoning are being sown in episode 5 of Krypton Season 2, ‘A Better Yesterday’. BEWARE – SPOILERS LIE AHEAD!

After returning to Krypton last episode, Seg (Cameron Cuffe) is now back mixing it with the usual characters, and is having to catchup somewhat.  Since he’s been away things have obviously changed quite drastically and he still hasn’t quite figured out how much, as he ineffectually attempts to rectify things.  Elsewhere, Adam (Shaun Sipos), also newly returned, is doing slightly better and at least has a grasp on what the real situation is.

This sort of sums up how I feel about this season so far, as in some regards it’s aware and knows what it’s doing, but in others it seems to be stumbling around in a clueless manner.  There is definitely a problem with utilising a very sad trope, whereby Lyta (Georgina Campbell) isn’t wholly responsible for her actions as she’s been brainwashed.  This is a cop out and removes the potentially interesting part of that story.  It would have added much more depth and drama if Lyta had actually been convinced that Zod’s (Colin Salmon) plan was the right one.  Instead we end up with one of the lead characters being denied proper depth and character development, in favour of an inevitable easy ‘macguffin’ fix later on in the season. This is of course assuming that her ‘death’ is either faked, and they ‘de-brainwash’ her, or they pull a clone out of storage.

In contrast, they seem to be putting Nyssa (Wallis Day) through an actual moral quandary, even if it’s also a relatively standard formula.  As in the first season, Nyssa seems the most interesting character, which may just be down to the fact that they know what to do with her, unlike some of the others.  Adam for instance, seems underused and underdeveloped.  We still know very little about him and it’s difficult to connect with him.  Similarly Kem (Rasmus Hardiker) hasn’t featured as much as he could have, which is a shame as he’s quite interesting, although he is getting some screen time now.  He’s a more complex character than many of the others, and hasn’t been well served. 

There are some positive developments though, as Araame (Kae Alexander) looks like a character with quite a lot of potential.  They have established a bit of a previous connection with one of the main characters, even if that was for plot convenience, and there is more to explore with her. She is certainly one of the more interesting of the rebel characters, as Jax (Hannah Waddingham) can be annoying, and Val El (Ian McElhinney) is just bland.

I’m not entirely sure where they’re going with this story that isn’t all just a bit predictable.  It feels as if we could end up in a ‘by the numbers’ second half of the season.  Hopefully, this won’t be the case and some invention will manifest.  They have a capable cast which is gelling more and more, so they should take some risks.  It would be quite easy to make the choices much more morally complex for instance, and give the show a much grittier tone.

Even with these reservations, the show is an enjoyable romp, but it needs to make sure that it doesn’t descend into broad strokes, simplistic Sci-fi, when it could be so much more. So far it hasn’t lived up to its promise.