Krypton season 2, episode 6 review: In Zod We Trust

In the aftermath of Lyta’s shocking death, Krypton’s would-be heroes keep getting asked, “Are you willing to do what is necessary?”

Some of you no doubt watched the previous episode of Krypton and said to yourself, “Oh, come on! There’s no way they’d kill off Lyta-Zod (Georgina Campbell). It’s such an obvious fake-out. Besides, it’s a comic book TV series. And in comic books, people come back to life all the time.” In comics, yes, but not necessarily television series based off comics. So sorry, viewers. As it stands, Lyta, the love of Seg-El’s (Cameron Cuffe) life, is officially, unquestionably, and definitively dead.

To drive this point home, we see Lyta’s gruesome murder at the hands of Jax-Ur (Hannah Waddingham) not once but twice; first in the “previously on Krypton” recap, then once again when “In Zod We Trust” opens. Before the opening credits, we even see a close-up of Lyta’s lifeless face before she covered up in canvas. It’s as though the series is well aware there are skeptical viewers watching.

Naturally, Seg is overcome by grief, walking around numbly before collapsing to his knees and screaming, all shot in slow motion, without dialogue, and a sorrowful score that seems right out of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Dev-Em (Aaron Pierre) feels guilty, especially once Seg tells him that Lyta was reconditioned. Jayna-Zod (Ann Ogbomo), having lost her only child, has essentially given up hope.

As for Seg and Lyta’s son, General Zod (Colin Salmon), does what any tyrannical maniac would do. When a courier informs Zod that his mother’s death is still being broadcast, Zod coldly says, “Maybe you should go down and check on that” and throws the poor guy out the window. Because my goodness, we need some levity on this show. Which bring us to Lyta’s murderer and the rebels…

“We’re not terrorists, we’re freedom fighters!”

As you might expect, Superman’s great-grandad, Val-El (Ian McElhinney), isn’t happy that his protegee murdered Lyta in cold blood. Jax, naturally, is unapologetic, believing she exposed Zod as weak, while proving just how committed the rebels are. Val, however, points out the obvious. All Jax did was throw away the rebellion’s moral authority and prove that she’s just as much of a tyrant as Zod. Hence why he says the hair-splitting cliché up above, and why he has her imprisoned on the spot.

And thus this particular subplot turns into a prolonged ethics debate about leadership during a time of war. It’s the same old thing you’ve likely seen play out dozens of times before in countless political dramas, only involving far more difficult choices than what’s involved here. Val believes they must conduct themselves better than their enemies. Jax takes the stance of “I’m willing to do what’s necessary,” even if it means being condemned for it. She even makes the argument that she does what she does because Val refuses to make the “hard choices.”

So when Zod demands Val turn over Jax or else he’ll destroy Wegthor, Jax escapes and plants “Gravity Bombs” on the space elevator platform, threatening to blow it up. Or rather, she wants Val to blow it up and prove her wrong. Doing this, we’re told, will result will potentially kill innocent workers along with the leftover Sagitari troops. Kem (Rasmus Hardiker) tries persuading Val not to do it; Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos)–who does nothing this entire episode–just stands about looking confused.

In the end, the episode tries having it both ways. Val blows up the elevator, thus showing Zod he doesn’t bargain with tyrants and thus completely validating Jax’s argument. He also sends Jax into exile, telling her never to return until she redeems herself. Which means Jax just literally walks out off the show, I guess? If so, talk about a weak resolution for her character arc this season.

Nyssa-Vex: Kryptonian mama bear

The doing whatever it takes the theme of “In Zod We Trust” also applies towards Nyssa-Vex (Wallis Day), still determined to get back her son from Zod. It’s also an opportunity for Krypton to prove that she’s can be just as tough and savvy as Lyta. After all, somebody has to be the new female lead of the series.  Hence why, despite a lack of military training, we see she’s able to kill two Sagitari escorts when they try taking Krypton’s Codex from her while taking it to Zod.

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In fact, Nyssa manages to outwit and unsettle the supposed “greatest military mind Krypton has ever produced” at every opportunity. Perhaps it’s because Zod is so desperate to retrieve the Codex since has all of Krypton’s DNA. Perhaps it’s because Zod, in trying to control his emotions after his mother’s death, is off his game. Or perhaps, most likely, she’s Lyta’s obvious replacement. Even Zod’s so surprised and impressed by her that, at one point, he offers her a place of power in his regime. Which she rejects, of course.

Not that she doesn’t have any help. Helping her rescue Cor-Vex are Seg, Dem, Jayna and, by proxy, Val. Apparently, after Nyssa told Val about Jax’ Codex bomb, Val wrote in a security program to prevent it from being weaponized. Doing so would shut the Codex down. And surely Zod isn’t crazy enough to mess with the very thing used for incubating future Kryptonian babies like him, right?

In the end, Nyssa gives Zod the Codex for her son. Then she makes a dramatic dive out the window–the same one Zod pushed the poor courier out of, by the way–where Seg awaits with a skimmer for their escape. Guess Zod should’ve known better than anyone than to mess with a mother and her infant son, huh?

Strange partnerships

And what about Seg? Aside from grieving over Lyta, he’s also coping with the fact that Brainiac (Blake Riston) is still in his mind and becoming more persuasive. On the upside, Seg can now do lightning-fast calculations, such as when he saves the skimmer he, Nyssa, and their son are in from crashing. On the downside, he’s literally talking to himself and, thanks to the occasional outburst, totally looks like a crazy person.

We also learn what Brainiac wants in exchange for his help against Zod. If Seg promises to download him back into his ship, he’ll leave Krypton for good. Naturally, Seg doesn’t trust him, but he has no other choice. At least he confides in Nyssa about Brainiac because “she’s the only person [he] can trust.” (Way to throw Adam under the bus and make him more useless, Seg.) Suffice to say, the team-up between Seg and Brainiac continues being the best subplot of Krypton’s sophomore season, particularly in their dialogue exchanges about reason vs. emotion.

Zod’s also attempting an alliance, of sorts. Turns out he needed the Codex to create… an oversized gun?! That’s what Zod’s been risking the future of Krypton for?  And just why does he need an oversized gun? Because Zod decides to go out and capture Doomsday. Oh yeah, we almost forgot about Krypton’s living, unstoppable WMD and future slayer of Superman, didn’t we? And looks like next week, we’ll finally be getting Doomsday’s long-awaited origin story, too.