Ricky Church reviews the season 2 finale of Krypton…
With the recent news that SyFy has cancelled Krypton, what was its second season finale has now become its series finale (unless it finds another home for a third season). After the exciting episode that was ‘Blood Moon’ with Doomsday’s massacre, ‘The Alpha and The Omega’ saw Seg-El and his allies take the fight directly to Zod in a last ditch effort to free Krypton. While it was not as tense as ‘Blood Moon’, the finale still delivered some good action scenes and nice character moments that led to a bittersweet cliffhanger.
The story moved along at a fairly nice pace as the final battle loomed. The slow burn of the opening allowed both the characters and audience to mourn the loss of Kem due to his sacrifice to destroy Doomsday. The gravity of the situation really set in for Seg and the other rebels and the wake they had for Kem held some strong performances from the cast, particularly Cameron Cuffe. Given the amount of time he shared with Rasmus Hardiker throughout the series, he displayed Seg’s sorrow quite well. It wasn’t long after that the finale kicked into high gear as Zod made his move against the last remnants of the rebellion.
One curious element to the finale was the abrupt end to Lyta’s growing resistance of soldiers in Zod’s army. Given the significance of her scene with the Sagitari in the previous episode, it seemed like it would lead to a bit of a revolt against Zod, but it was actually dealt with pretty quickly as Zod found one of the traitors and got the information he needed before executing him. It was a bit of a waste from a story beat that held potential, but it did lead to a tense scene as the rebels scrambled to come up with a plan against Zod’s incoming forces. Seg again stepped up and displayed how much of a leader he is, both in front of the rebels and then in front of Kandor, exemplifying the best qualities of the House of El. Cuffe again impressed during these sequences, especially when he directly referenced Superman II with his very Superman-like delivery of “Care to step outside?” to Zod.
The big action piece of the finale was the no-holds-barred threeway fight between Seg, Lyta and Zod. Though Zod tried to act honourable and authoritative in front of his troops and citizens, Colin Salmon really let the rage within the dictator loose during the fight. While it was great to see these three finally duke it out, the fight itself was somewhat lackluster. The editing was fairly choppy and the choreography wasn’t quite as impressive as some of the series’ other fights. Though the action between Seg, Zod and Lyta didn’t quite live up to its potential, the battle between the rebels and the Sagitari was pretty good as they tried to beat back such an overwhelming force. Just about every character, including Val-El and Adam, got a moment to shine during the attack with Jayna getting the biggest one as she charged a cannon. It was such a contrast to the threeway fight and it’s a shame since this comes after the very Zack Snyder-esque sequence with Nyssa in ‘Blood Moon’ where the choreography was really well done. The trio’s fight was still entertaining, but just could have been displayed in a way that was easier to follow with clearer movements between the combatants.
‘The Alpha and The Omega’ served to tie up most of the loose ends this season presented. Zod received a pretty appropriate comeuppance while the rebels celebrated. It was a good moment to see Adam Strange gain his comic accurate suit, complete with his jetpack, though it’s interesting they didn’t introduce it earlier in the episode so he could have taken more part in the battle. The biggest developments in the closing minutes were obvious set-ups for a third season as Dev and Jayna discovered Doomsday’s potential (more like assured) survival, where Nyssa went after stealing Adam’s Zeta Beam and Brainiac’s new plan. It was too bad Nyssa couldn’t take part in more of the episode’s events as she took off to rescue Jor-El on her own, but the fact the she potentially traveled to Thaanagar and saw Darkseid’s Omega symbol was a neat hook to end her story on. However, the biggest one came from Brainiac’s decision to take Jor-El to Earth, apparently with the plan to turn Jor-El into a god under his influence. That twist holds a lot of promise for a third season, especially as Lobo returned and forced a team-up with Seg to find Brainiac and rescue Jor. It’s some compelling teases to end on and makes it even more intriguing since Superman may still be erased from the future with these developments.
Though some of the action didn’t quite hold up to the series’ previous offerings, Krypton‘s finale still delivered an exciting climax with great performances from the cast. Cuffe really showed off his capabilities as Seg and how comfortable he’s become with the role. Hopefully Krypton will return for a third season as the teases for what was to come were intriguing enough, but with the strength of the show’s cast and how well written the show was, it’s sad to see Krypton go. If this is the end, though, ‘The Alpha and The Omega’ was a worthy enough conclusion to this series, but we can still hope for that better tomorrow Seg and the Els believe in.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
