Krypton Review: ‘Mercy’ S02E08

Everything takes a Pamela Ewing turn this week on Krypton, with episode 8 of Season 2, ‘Mercy’.  Beware! Major SPOILERS ahead!

In the least surprising twist of the season, we are presented this week with a predictable turn of events that made me roll my eyes a little.  Much like the laughable moment in Dallas, when they threw away their ninth season as a ‘dream’ by having a ‘back from the dead’ Bobby Ewing appear in the shower.  What makes this worse is that we could see this coming, and that it would take something of a miracle for it not to be a bit of a cop out.

The episode opens with a 5 minute pre-titles section of alternate reality, with Seg (Cameron Cuffe) and Lyta (Georgina Campbell) having an idyllic romance that culminates in them leaving Kandor.  Everything is perfectly set up for them, as they start a new life in Kryptonopolis, all with the blessing of Jayna (Ann Ogbomo).  Here they will go through the binding ceremony and the rest of their charmed lives.

Back in the real world, the supposed death of Lyta, was actually the death of her clone that Zod (Colin Salmon) created and reconditioned to be compliant.  The actual Lyta he puts into this state of alternate reality using an alien plant called the ‘Black Mercy’.  This particular plant, or at least a version of it has appeared in the Superman comics before, so this isn’t a new idea, but the ‘trapped in heaven’ trope is also quite common anyway.  While it’s interesting to bring in elements that hardcore fans will know from the comics, it still has to be more substantial than this, and not a cheap device.

Apparently, the Black Mercy is quite potent and as Zod explains to Lis Ser (Aoibhinn McGinnity), the only way that its hold will be disrupted is if the subject realises that they’re being deceived and rejects the false world.  Having been under its spell for months, it’s obviously convenient, plot wise, for something to disrupt this control.  In this case, it’s that Lis Ser needs the Black Mercy toxin to try to finally make Doomsday (Staz Nair) a puppet of Zod.  Extracting the toxin momentarily cracks the illusion for Lyta and her real memories start to creep in.

Ultimately, this leads to her escaping from her comfortable mind prison, and she turns up just in time to save Jayna and Dev (Aaron Pierre), which is fortuitous, as they infiltrate Fort Rozz.  Jayna and Dev have caught up with Seg and Nyssa (Wallis Day) to tell them that Zod is launching his interstellar fleet, just after Brainiac (Blake Ritson) has run off with their son.  It’s not great family news all round for Seg and Nyssa then, as the fleet will destroy the rebellion once and for all.  This means they pause the search for Jor El, their son, and instead go to try to aid the rebels by destroying the fleet.

Once again, there is a convenient tunnel system that Seg is aware of, that takes them directly under Fort Rozz, which he and Kem (Rasmus Hardiker) used to use to steal things to distribute amongst the rankless.  Obviously, this plan goes awry, but we do end up with the grand reunion of Lyta and Seg, much to Nyssa’s disgust.  Not much is said about this though, unfortunately.

To say that this episode felt like a missed opportunity is an understatement.  On many levels, the story tended to stay in very safe zones, and not try anything too ‘out there’.  It would have been better for instance if the real Lyta had been imprisoned or something, rather than go for a softly softly approach which will probably have no consequences whatsoever.  There are also a couple of moments where there could have been some in depth emotional drama, but they don’t take the chance to delve into them. Yes, it moves the story along, but all very predictably and it’s just not very satisfying.