Krypton Review: The Phantom Zone S01E10

Somehow, we’re already at the finale of the first season on Krypton, with episode 10: The Phantom Zone.  (BEWARE! This review contains SPOILERS!)

As there are only 10 episodes, we’ve surprisingly come to the end of the first season, which doesn’t seem long enough to fully iron out the kinks in this show.  There has been a lot of good stuff so far and it has shown promise, with a generally upward momentum; but while there have been consistently strong performances from Wallis Day and Ann Ogbomo as their respective characters, Nyssa-Vex, and Jayna-Zod, some of the other characters don’t seem to be as well rounded.  While I acknowledge it is early days in the shows history, it does feel like there needed to be a few more episodes this season to let each character find their equilibrium.

KRYPTON — “The Phantom Zone” Episode 110 — Pictured: Blake Ritson as Braniac — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/Syfy)

In this episode, we see a culmination of the Brainiac (Blake Ritson ) plotline that has run throughout this first season, and it ends in a slight anti-climax.  It never seems like there is enough menace from this main enemy, and when finally revealed comes across visually as a mix of Lorne (from Angel), John Jones of Mars, and Locutus of Borg, but without the depth of any of them.  There are some nice touches in the story that bode well for the future, but in other areas, it felt a bit weak.

KRYPTON — “The Phantom Zone” Episode 110 — Pictured: (l-r) Wallis Day as Nyssa-Vex, Cameron Cuffe as Seg-El, Colin Salmon as General Zod, Ian McElhinney as Val-El — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/Syfy)

Principally, the resistance spend much of the show trying to figure out the best way to defeat Brainiac, as he has now turned up on their doorstep, and they have no idea what to do next.  Clutching at straws, it suddenly turns out that Dru-Zod (Colin Salmon) can get back into the Phantom Zone using a ‘projector’ in the Fortress to go and rescue Val-El (Ian McElhinney), who might be able to help.  While it is brought up by Seg (Cameron Cuffe) that this seems a tad convenient all of a sudden, Zod claims he didn’t know about the Fortress, which is why it wasn’t mentioned before.  This doesn’t ring true for some reason, and it feels very forced in the storytelling.  However, what it does do is bring Val-El back into play as a person rather than a hologram, even if it is to immediately rubbish any suggestion of them defeating Brainiac.

KRYPTON — “The Phantom Zone” Episode 110 — Pictured: Georgina Campbell as Lyta-Zod — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/Syfy)

This would appear to be the prevailing reality, as Lyta (Georgina Campbell) returns to lead the Sagitari in a spectacularly miserable attack on Brainiac, and it seems that he is just too powerful.  Although I can see what they’re trying to do with Lyta, the character still seems too uneven to me, and the proper angle hasn’t been found yet.  There’s a lot of potential with Lyta, and it will be interesting to see if next season they can find the perfect balance.

Somehow though, despite all Brainiac’s power, this massively intelligent villain is defeated, by a contrivance that didn’t really work for me.  It all seems too easy, and very unlikely.  The episode title did sort of give away what the potential solution would be, but there was at least a slightly unexpected twist in that Seg also gets pulled into the Phantom Zone.  It would not be a surprise however, for Brainiac to escape when they inevitably go in to save Seg.

Sadly, two characters are poorly serviced by this plot, with Jayna not even appearing, and a throwaway line explaining her absence, and Adam (Shaun Sipos) being used to highlight the reality of being in one of Brainiac’s ‘exhibits’.  These scenes with Adam are only shown when someone else is talking about it, and we never get to see him investigating where he is, which is a little frustrating.

KRYPTON — “The Phantom Zone” Episode 110 — Pictured: Hannah Waddingham as Jax-Ur — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/Syfy)

On the positive side, there is a nice thread running through this episode with Jax-Ur (Hannah Waddingham) and Nyssa, as Jax shows her the truth behind her life and Daron-Vex’s (Elliot Cowan) secret cloning project.  As has been the case throughout the season, Nyssa has been the most consistently interesting character, and this plotline shows it again.  Not only does she return to the city to save her unborn child, but she also has her own childhood brought into doubt, unsettling her, and showing some nice range, as her life begins to make less sense.

KRYPTON — “The Phantom Zone” Episode 110 — Pictured: Wallis Day as Nyssa-Vex — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/Syfy)

After the dust has settled, the denouement of the season sees Dru Zod in charge of the whole planet, having conquered the other city states, and turning the populace into a standing army; including a very brief shot of Kem (Rasmus Hardiker), who we’d almost forgotten about!  The timeline has been changed, and the symbol on Superman’s cape has switched to that of the House of Zod.  Lyta seems a little perturbed, but she seems to be going with it, while Dev-Em (Aaron Pierre) looks to be firmly against what he is seeing.  Hopefully, in the next season we will see Lyta forge her own direction and pull apart all the inner conflict, creating a more solid character.

I suspect that this review may come across in a very negative way, but really it’s just that this finale is a bit patchy, and not as good as some of the previous episodes, except for the Nyssa storyline.  Over the course of the season it has been improving, and this slight misstep can be forgiven.  It’s been a growing period, just like any show in their first season, so with this fairly good foundation, it should return much stronger.