We’ve finally made it to our big “flashback” episode for this season of Krypton, where we find out the origin of Doomsday and how it relates to Zod’s vision for his future. In general, this episode moved the plot along while developing more relationships between characters, especially that of Kem and Adam Strange. Let’s dive into some specifics.
1. Zods and Monsters = Best Episode Title Ever
First off, this allusion to “Gods and Monsters”, an alternate reality Justice League animated movie where Superman is Zod’s son, is a wonderful reference that is pretty meta when you think about it (given that Krypton is a show about potential to create alternate timelines). Not much more to say on this one, except that if you haven’t seen this movie, go check it out!
2. The Sad, Sad History of Doomsday
The most impactful part of this episode was understanding the events that brought Doomsday “to life” (pun intended). But in all seriousness, what a sad, painful backstory we have here. At first, I was somewhat put off by them giving this iconic character an in-depth backstory; after all, Doomsday is a killing machine that was bred for the purpose of destruction. But after thinking about it, the writers of Kryptondid this in a way that keeps true to the origin of the character while adding a whole other dimension to the show. In all of Doomsday’s various origin stories, one of the mainstay characteristics is that Doomsday is some form of reanimated Kryptonian DNA. Therefore, it makes sense to take this to the Nth degree by having the poor Kryptonian who volunteered to become Doomsday die hundreds of times in every single gruesome and painful way imaginable. Add the fact that he’s doing it all for his people (not to mention his family) and you have one heart-wrenching origin story.
3. Jor-El Is Born!
We finally get another connection to Superman in the form meeting Jor-El! I was surprised that they went this route, although it makes a lot of sense. I wonder how they are going to treat the character at this point, as there isn’t much you can do with him as an infant. Perhaps we’ll see some sort of time-jump in the seasons to come as a way to keep things moving? Or maybe this is just wishful thinking in actually wanting to see Kal-El in the show some day. Who knows; we’ll just have to wait and see.
4. Zod Time-Travel Logic
One more issue comes to mind concerning the time-travel rules Krypton has set up: if Zod is from the future and has seen Superman and what he can do, why is not doing more to procure yellow-sun energy? And shouldn’t he have powers comparable to Superman? Unless I’m grossly misunderstanding something, this would seem to be a much better way to exert his control over Krypton and become victorious with little struggle. Still, I’m not forgetting about the yellow-sun reference from the first episode; I still have a feeling that they’re going to pay that off later in the season.
5. Poor Nyssa
After Brainiac takes Jor-El at the end of the episode, Nyssa is absolutely devastated. Wallis Day, the actress portraying her, does an excellent job showing this, as I could really feel her pain while watching this last scene. And what an awful turn of events it is for her, after everything she’s gone through to try and protect her baby. It was a cruel but effective way of ending the episode. Now we’ll have to wait and see what Brainiac’s next move is.
