Krypton Review: ‘The Alpha and the Omega’ S02E10

After a bit of a bumpy ride, we’re at the season finale, ‘The Alpha and the Omega’, episode 10 of Season 2 of Krypton.  Spoilers lie ahead!

For a season finale, this felt like there wasn’t enough serious closure on many of the issues raised by the show this time around, while at the same time it opened new, more interesting avenues.  Mainly, this episode dealt with the fallout, literally and figuratively, from the Wegthor explosion, and the Rebels attempting to take on Zod (Colin Salmon), once and for all.

Following the moon’s destruction, Lyta (Georgina Campbell), Dev (Aaron Pierre), and Jayna (Ann Ogbomo) begin to concoct a plan to kill Zod, assuming that all the other rebels are dead.  Although this quickly proves to be an incorrect assumption, they do at least have some conviction to see it through.  Their plan though is a little shaky, and not very likely to succeed, but gets a boost when the rebels return alive.

Strangely though, when they do return there’s a whole scene of the rebels having a drink and mourning the loss of Kem (Rasmus Hardiker), before Seg (Cameron Cuffe) finally notices that Nyssa (Wallis Day) isn’t there and asks about her.  Determined to find Jor-El, Nyssa has stolen the Zeta beam device from Adam (Shaun Sipos) and used it to find Sardath on Rann, which will hopefully lead to Brainiac (Blake Ritson).  I have to admit that I found it gratifying that someone else finally uses this macguffin, which has been stuck in Adam’s pocket for ages, without anyone trying to get hold of it.  This also starts a potentially interesting new plotline on Rann, where Nyssa finds some burning bodies, sees some Winged Invaders, and a whole new mystery.  This seemed much more intriguing than the story back on Krypton, but sadly we didn’t get much of it.

Instead we predominately get the denouement of the whole Dru Zod storyline, which was unconvincing at best and didn’t really hang together.  Like most Bond films, where the villain inexplicably takes an age to try to kill bond, or tries to do it very elaborately, Zod doesn’t take the easy option.  The rebel plan appears to be turn up in Kandor, say some anti-Zod things, then goad him into a fist fight, all of which convinces the populace that he was the bad guy all along.  It is never fully explained why the rebels aren’t easily defeated, as Zod’s forces significantly outnumber them, and why he doesn’t just arrest Lyta and Seg immediately.  He could easily throw them in a dungeon somewhere, if he didn’t want to kill them, although that wouldn’t be beyond him.

The idea that a quick speech by Lyta somehow exposes Zod as a charlatan in front of the populace doesn’t ring true, especially with all the somatic reconditioning that he’s been doing.  It seems far too easy a win for Seg and Lyta, and in theory one they could have done at any time.  This kind of uncertainty in the plotting has unfortunately been a feature of this season, which has had to be carried by the performances of the cast and the occasional high points that we have had.  If they get a third season (EDIT: They didn’t), this will need to be addressed.

Luckily, there are some bright spots on the horizon, with the new Nyssa storyline being particularly promising.  A short scene with Brainiac, who is on his way to Earth, also opens up a few doors.  There is also a whole bit with Lobo (Emmett J Scanlan) near the end, which may have just been there to help with the Lobo Pilot that is about to be made, but could mean some more angles to the Brainiac plot.

It’s been patchy this season, but generally there has been some fun to be had.  Nyssa and her storylines have tended to be the most interesting and fully rounded, with Dru Zod and his takeover not really working out as well as it might have.  The shame is that there is something here that has potential, but it never quite clicks.