TV Talk - Krypton

Next up for the month is a bit of a review on the now-cancelled show, Krypton.  It aired from 2018 to 2019. When I first heard that Syfy (formerly known as the Sci-fi Channel) was going to make a Krypton show, I have to say that I wasn’t that interested. It was mostly because I didn’t have Syfy at the time. At least I was thinking that it was finally time that Syfy started to air sci-fi shows again. Let’s all forget the fact that NBC thought the channel should be a place for the WWF… more like WTF on that decision.

When I heard that David S. Goyer and Geoff Johns were involved, I got a little interested. Since Goyer was involved, I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to tie into the DCEU or not. I know some fans on Twitter were happy and then saddened when it was revealed that the show wasn’t mentioning the movies. I think that worked out in the end, though I don’t know if that was even going to happen. The only stars I knew of were Colin Salmon (who looks like the peeved version of my uncle Andre), Ann Ongbono (Wonder Woman). Everyone else is a blank to me, but for some reason, I thought I saw Zoe Kravitz in the trailer. I then realized it was someone else (Georgina Campbell).

When the show was put on DC Universe, I made plans to watch it there. I only watched the first episode and then got sidetracked with other things. When I realized that the first season was being marathoned on Syfy, I DVR’d the whole season and was able to watch it and the second season there. So, what happened on this possibly (fingers crossed) short-lived show?

SYNOPSIS

Krypton begins 200 years before the planet’s destruction. We follow Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), Superman’s grandfather,  as he and his family have been ostracized from Kryptonian society. One day, a weird guy by the name of Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) shows up and tells Seg that his descendant will be one of the best hopes in the universe. Through this and a “fortress” left over from Val-El, his grandfather, Seg  finds out that Brainiac (Blake Riston), the collector of worlds, is coming to Krypton. The season revolves around Seg trying to get help from anyone who’ll listen. Through it, we get a bunch of stuff thrown at us like a certain Zod and a certain world-ending threat called Doomsday… yeah, he’s here too.

Season 2 picks up a few months after the previous season. The  Season 1 finale ended with the time-displaced Dru-Zod (Colin Salmon) as leader of Krypton. Because of this, a civil war breaks out and the resistance, led by Val-El and Jax-Ur, try to combat him. Meanwhile, Seg’s… displaced (?) somewhere and he ends up running into Adam Strange as well as a pretty annoying pale bounty hunter named Lobo… they got him too, y’all! Season 2 revolves around Seg and friends basically contending with some of Superman’s most dangerous threats. It also ended in a cliffhanger which annoyed me especially since it was then cancelled days later. Thanks, Siffy!

PROS

This was an interesting show. While it wasn’t perfect, I was pretty much entertained. While it isn’t your standard superhero story, that’s actually fine for me. If you want to see a Super do their thing, check out Supergirl or stuff in the DCEU. I liked that this took certain characters and used them in interesting ways. The show starts out slow, and while this was a problem, it did fill in this new world. The creators took different aspects from 80 years of Superman lore and made the show into its own thing. This isn’t just a certain Krypton from a former or current continuity.

If I had to pick, I'd probably go with Season 2 Jayna... yeah, that's right! They all good, though!

The characters were fine for the most part. Seg-El, Lyta-Zod (Georgina Campbell), and Nyssa Vex (Wallis Day) were nice for the most part. Ones that took a while were Jayna-Zod , Dev-Em (Aaron Pierre), and Adam Strange. Adam really took a while for me since he really felt like another DC character, Booster Gold. I wonder if he was supposed to be in this show especially since time travel is involved. The one who kind of made this show really shine was Colin Salmon’s rendition of General Dru-Zod.

The stories were pretty interesting over the two seasons. We got political intrigue along with war, sci-fi action, and romance. While the show could be a little predictable at times, it did things with the characters and the lore that I wasn’t expecting. While the action wasn’t that good at times, you did get some good scenes here and there. Finally, the special effects were pretty good. Kandor looked nice as well as dreary.   You also end up getting some good looks of classic characters on here like Brainiac and Doomsday.

CONS

Oh yeah, I hated Daron Vex. I got words for that... p'tak! I was glad when I saw the second season's premiere.

While I liked the show, it did have some things to work out. It took a while for it to really get going. The pilot itself was not that interesting. It wasn’t until Dru-Zod showed up that the show started to get interesting for me. While Seg is a fine character, he’s not that interesting of a lead dude. I don’t think it’s the actor’s fault. By the way, he is apparently a big Superman fan. There were times where other characters like Jayna, Nyssa, and Adam had more interesting stuff going on with them.

Hey, Lobo... yeah, I know he has fans, but I'm not one of them.

I also thought the writing could be a bit on the “meh” side at times. You had characters doing some weird stuff. The romance subplot between Seg, Lyta, and Nyssa was okay. Personally, I was kinda looking at one potential hook up that happens in the second season. Y’all know the one… let’s just say “Stella Got her Groove Back.” I also thought some fighting scenes were not that good. The ones I’m talking about mostly occur in the second season. They just seemed poorly staged and poorly choreographed. You’d think seeing General Zod beat up Superman’s grandad would look cool, but not really. Other than those things and the fact that Syfy probably wasn’t the best place for this show, I really enjoyed it.

FAVORITE EPISODES

Finally, here are my favorite episodes of the series. They’re not in any order either.

Season 1

1.  House of Zod – Jayna has to make a decision regarding Lyta while Seg-El deals with the terrorist group, Black Zero.

2. Civil Wars – Seg and Lyta find out that General Zod, an eventual enemy of Superman, has come back in time to save Kandor.

3. Savage Night – When the Word of Rao, Kandor’s religious leader, gets infected by the Brainiac sentry, Seg, Zod, and the others come together to take him down.

4. The Phantom Zone – Seg and friends must risk it all to stop Brainiac from bottling Kandor.

Season 2

5. Will to Power – Seg has to compete with Brainiac while the civil war on Krypton gets hotter

6. A Better Yesterday – A hostage situation occurs between the two factions.

7. Zod and Monsters – We get an interesting origin story for Doomsday while Zod tries to control him.

8. The Alpha and the Omega – The series finale. After some major stuff happens, the resistance tries to take down General Zod's forces.

…………………………………………

In the end, this was a nice show. While it wasn’t perfect, it had potential. Here’s hoping that someone can put a third season out in some way. Maybe it gets revived on DC Universe? Maybe we get a comic that at least brings an end to that cliffhanger? Who knows what’ll happen. Well, I’m off to get some sleep. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t open that door!

 

Without spoiling anything, this is one weird family reunion.