Ricky Church reviews the fifth episode of Krypton…
Building off recent events in Krypton with Lyta’s imprisonment and Seg’s escape from Black Zero, ‘House of Zod’ was a well developed continuation of ‘The Word of Rao‘. It also served as a good examination of the title House and what would make them eventually become enemies to the House of El, specifically to Superman himself.
As much as ‘House of Zod’ focused on Seg’s predicament with Black Zero and another mysterious group, Ann Ogbomo’s performance as Jayna-Zod was the highlight, as was the flashback’s to Jayna’s training during her childhood. These insights into her past certainly explained why she is the way she is and the harsh training Zods put their families through. Ogbomo displayed the clear conflict within Jayna very well as she chose whether to follow her honour or allow the love for her daughter to win out. She gave the strongest performance with just a few facial expressions that spoke much more about her than her lines did.
Cameron Cuffe gave another impressive performance as Seg’s situation just got worse and worse, leading him to a near-death experience in Krypton’s harsh climate. Dramatic and humourous moments were well balanced with him. His meeting a strange group that seemingly save him only to capture him upon hearing his name is El, and his subsequent reaction, were fairly funny. His fight to survive out in the harsh wildlands of Krypton, though, brought out some of Cuffe’s best acting yet. His goodbye message to Lyta was well-written and emotional thanks to both Cuffe’s delivery and Georgina Campbell’s acting as she listened to the message.
The various story threads were also handled well with equal time given to Seg’s plot and Lyta’s upcoming execution. Her plot actually had much more moving parts since it revolved around Jayna and the machinations of Daron and Nyssa-Vex. It left Kem and Adam Strange were left to the sidelines for much of the episode, though they do have one fairly funny moment where Kem is confused over a rather crude Earth expression. Despite their lack of screentime, the story was well balanced and the focus was where it should be. Anymore time left with Kem and Adam or picking up with the cliffhanger involving the Voice of Rao would have just distracted from the major events in ‘House of Zod’.
In fact, due to the story’s events, this felt much more like a penultimate episode to a season as the two main characters were on the cusp of death. We also go some interesting reveals or questions raised for both Seg and Lyta. The mysterious group of Kryptonians seem to have a past linked to the House of El, one that wasn’t a positive relationship and seems like there’s more to the House of El’s history and rise to power than we’ve been led to believe. Lyta, however, met Colin Salmon’s Black Zero leader and was thrown for a loop with his identity, possibly introducing a famous Superman adversary to the show.
‘House of Zod’ delivered another entertaining episode filled with impressive performances, most notably from Ogbomo, and a story that bounced back and forth between the various characters and threads in a sufficient manner. The insight into the House of Zod’s history brought a new level of understanding to Jayna’s character and her complicated relationship with Lyta while greatly progressing the overall story. This has arguably been the best episode of Krypton thus far.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church
