Ricky Church reviews the seventh episode of Krypton…
Since passing the midway point of its inaugural season, Krypton has been firing on all cylinders. ‘Transformation’ upped the stakes even more as Brainiac’s presence became known to all the characters as he made a gigantic play for control of Kandor. The episode was action packed with the focus remaining on the characters as the cast gave some of their best performances yet. It certainly sets up the final few episodes in a very exciting manner.
The story flowed very well from start to finish, making a very compelling instalment in the series that didn’t let up on the tension. It once again emphasized how much of a threat Brainiac is as he easily defeated the Sagitari and converted them into his collective. The visuals effects helped increase his threatening demeanor and really made it look much more than a standard television series. Blake Riston’s own performance was great, whether it was through his body language or vocal performance (heavily modified as it was, another sign of how great the effects were).
The rest of the cast did well of course. Cameron Cuffe got the chance to develop Seg-El into more of a leader as he took charge of their group towards the end of the episode, coming up with a fairly solid plan to expose Brainiac to Kandor. Wallis Day, however, got plenty of time to shine as Nyssa-Vex, showing for the first time that there really is something more beneath the calculating and manipulative Vex daughter. Her scenes with her father, who also benefitted from a great performance from Elliot Cowan, made her a much more relatable and even tragic figure as her relationship with Daron-Vex was given a bit more weight in light of his betrayal.
Regarding Daron, his character also benefited from both Cowan’s acting and the way he was written. We finally learnt some more backstory as to why Daron served such a ruthless religious zealot, but also why he was so desperate for a coup. It was a nice reveal that overthrowing the Voice of Rao wasn’t just a power grab, but also revenge for killing his family and an honest attempt to unify Krypton and work with the other cities. It still, however, makes him a hypocrite for both helping the Voice do the same thing to the Els and countless other families as well as willingly serving Brainiac out of self-preservation, a fact that was very nicely called out by Seg and Nyssa.
The story was well plotted and moved along at a nice pace. All the characters came together in a way that felt natural. Even Jayna-Zod learning the full scope of the events, as well as meeting her future grandson, didn’t feel forced or an out of the blue development. It was a funny moment, though, for Seg and Lyta to learn from Kem just how much they missed in Kandor these past couple episodes since they’ve been out of the city. It’s almost easy to forget just how much has happened in such a short amount of time, but it emphasizes how well Krypton has done with its story by making every episode an important chapter rather than some filler material between the big events.
It was also nice that we got some good development for Adam Strange. After learning in ‘Civil Wars’ that Strange wasn’t exactly sent by Superman to the past, and had also not even heard the full warning of the threat posed, Strange’s credibility was called into question. Shaun Sipos gave a good and relatable performance as he revealed to Val-El that he was regarded as a D-lister at best in the Justice League (our first confirmation that the League exists at this time) and had hoped to impress Superman and the other heroes with his bravery by foiling Brainiac’s plan. His dawning realization that he could still be a hero by doing the right thing instead of just trying to improve his standing was also a nice development, though one that also puts him at odds with Seg since, order for the future to remain the same, they will probably have to let Brainiac take Kandor.
Krypton has really picked up steam with its string of episodes by blending all the varying stories and characters together in a nuanced and organic manner. This is just the latest example of how the show has taken the time with its characters and story to build the tension with the cast working well off each other. For a prequel series with a supposed set outcome, Krypton succeeds in making you unsure as to what will happen next.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church
