Krypton
“Will to Power” (Episode 203)
June 26, 2019

Last week on Krypton, Seg learned that Brainiac is inside him, trying to take over his body. The upside is that Seg currently has Brainiac-level skills including telepathy and telekinesis, all of which are useful in trying to keep Lobo from killing him and Adam. On Wegthor, The Resistance is gathering steam as Nyssa, now a spy for Zod, returned to them. Lyta is stressed over her pain and feelings for Seg, but tries to channel it to help Zod overcome the rebels on Wegthor. Jayna is on a mission out in the Outlands to rescue her daughter, Lyta, from Zod. You can catch up on all the action from last week with our deep dive recap and review here.

Now that you’re ready to dive back into the world of Krypton with me, read on for our recap of Episode 3 of Krypton, “Will to Power” … BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!!

Colu. Adam and Seg are running through the forest, trying to outrun Lobo who is back on his feet after his healing factor finished its work. Adam is out of breath and makes Seg stop. Seg’s eyes are Brainiac’d, as is his voice.  Seg as Brainiac, or Segiac thinks they need to avoid Lobo at all costs.

“As soon as Lobo regenerates, he will find and dismantle us.”

Adam is annoyed by “dismantle” and sputters back that “kill” would be a much better word choice. Segiac wants to keep putting distance between them and Lobo but Adam would rather have a planned destination and distance than just forever distance. Sound reasoning. Segiac thinks it’s illogical to stay put. Adam is losing his patience with this duality within his friend. Real talk, Adam tells Seg that he knows they won’t Zeta-Beam back to Krypton with Brainiac as an internal ride-along but, Adam says that he will not be the one to kill Seg. Which is when Segiac kinda zones out.

Seg’s Mind Palace. Brainiac and Seg have a battle of wills in Seg’s mind, which resembles a green cavern with the El family crest on the floor. Brainiac is impressed by Seg’s will and capacity for survival and just overall intrigued by this Son of Krypton. Seg calls Brainiac out for his weakness and says his invasion of Seg’s body is essentially a necessary chop shop for parts because of the damage Brainiac sustained in the Phantom Zone. Brainiac is pleased with his choice of bodily hosts (sounds very Catholic in here all of a sudden). He then gets uber creepy, way too close to Seg, and telling Seg to give in to him … it’ll grant Seg eternal life.

**Give in to him?! Even more Catholic sounding! Shudder and WTF!**

Brainiac tells Seg he can release him of the “heavy burdens” he carries and free of the pain of his past. Seg thinks “burdens build character.” Brainiac continues trying to pick at weak spots in Seg’s armor.

“We can achieve anything we want, you and I … As one.”
“Yes, yes we can.”

Oh, Seg.

Seg snaps back to reality on Colu and Adam’s poor heart can’t take this. He tries to discern if it’s Seg or Brainiac he’s talking to now and Seg says its really him. He explains about being inside his own head with Brainiac while also being inside Brainiac’s head at the same time.

Long story short, Brainiac needs Seg in order to survive, to strip him down for parts to make himself whole again. Seg is confident that Brainiac doesn’t control him unlike the Voice of Rao or Sentry situations where Brainiac was in the driver’s seat.

Well, not yet anyway. *sigh*

Seg is excited to tell Adam that while Brainiac has access to his own mind and memories, Seg also has access to Brainiac’s mind and memories. Which is the key to winning.

“I know what to do. I know how to beat Brainiac.”

Boom. This is a clever guy.

Opening credits.

Wegthor. Val is giving directives to the rebel recruits about how to handle the weapons in the crates in front of them. Nyssa is there too and people are just staring at her … the mistrust is palpable here.

Jax approaches Val, asking for a word. Inside the cave, she says she wants to question the Sagitari escorts that the rebels captured about what they know of Zod’s plans. Val cautions her to tread lightly with these captives, as many of them are conscripts and not considered full Sagitari. Jax jokes around that this activity is the one thing she gets to do that she enjoys and doesn’t want Val to kill her fun. Val thinks she might be able to sway a few of them to their cause and they’ve lost too many people already on both sides.

“Ah, this is a teaching moment, isn’t it?”

Val reminds her that Nyssa’s intel is the reason they have the captives in the first place. About that, Jax isn’t convinced it was legit. She thinks the timing of the solar flare providing a loophole in communication was a little too convenient, like the info from Nyssa was planned rather than a genuine offer.

Kandor, Zod’s pad. Zod and Lyta are meeting, sharing updates on the rebellion on Wegthor. She doesn’t think his plan to continue to engage the rebels in the mines is a wise course of action. Their casualties are mounting. Zod tells Lyta he hates to lose one Kryptonian life but he’s seen the alternative and so believes this is the right course of action.

“I saw our world disappear from the cosmos … Because no one was willing to do what was required.”

He continues that Lyta was the one who taught him about calculated risks and sacrifices. He credits her as the reason he survived and was able to return triumphantly to Krypton. Lyta is all, “you’re talking about shit I have no idea about, haven’t experienced yet, so bitch, please, let me get in the fight.” (this is a paraphrase of what Lyta said).

Lyta, again, asks to go to Wegthor so she can talk to Val and broker a surrender; prevent the loss of any more Kryptonian lives. Lyta looks Zod in the eye and tells him to let her become the trusted person he keeps referring to.

The Outlands. Jayna and Dev are cleaning up from their encounter with the Sagitari in the Outlands Bar, literally cleaning up the floor. Dev turns hostile to Jayna and she realizes that the Sagitari weren’t looking for her … they were looking for him. Why?

“I’m done with the Sagitari, Kandor, all of it.”

Dev asks why Jayna bothered coming back when everyone thought she was dead? She tells him she has a plan to save Lyta and kill Dru-Zod. Dev informs her that Lyta doesn’t need her saving, rather, she’s been made Zod’s Primus, his right hand. Jayna doesn’t believe this is by choice but Dev is way over all of this.

“Everything I believe in, everything I worked for, in memory of my family, it’s all shit. It’s all a lie.”

Dev would like pretend like they never saw each other.

Commercials.

Colu. Adam and Seg are continuing away from Lobo, hoping they’ve lost him. Adam asks Seg if he’s talking to Brainiac the same time he’s talking to Adam. Seg tells Adam he can feel when Brainiac tries to take control of him.

“There’s a struggle within me.”

Adam thinks the “struggle” is the bad berries they ate and they squabble over who said they were good to eat.

These two, Rom Com Movie coming in 2020!

Seg tells Adam they have to go to the natal chamber where Brainiac was birthed by the ancient Coluans. Adam is confused by birthed. Birthed? Seg is confused as to why Adam is confused. He tells Adam birthed, like brought into being, now sentient. Brainiac, I know you’re in there! Use smaller words! Adam gets it.

“It sounds like the planet shit him out.”

FYI, I’m laughing out loud over here.

Seg tells Adam that he saw this process happen in Brainiac’s mind and he’s confident that if he connects to the dormant chamber, it will detect Brainiac inside him and anchor him in place.

**I’m hoping the chamber is smart enough to recognize that Seg needs to not be anchored in place seeing as how they’re cohabitating at the moment.**

Adam is optimistic that once this anchoring event takes place that he’ll be able to activate the Zeta-Beam and skedaddle back to Krypton leaving Lobo to finish off Brainiac. Sounds like a great plan, what could go wrong?

Wegthor. Jax has finished her interview with their POWs and catches Val up on what she’s learned. Zod is planning to move his forces from their current position to the Elevator Base Station. Val understands this is be prep for a major offensive. Jax thinks there’s only one route they could use for that and they could capitalize on if their timing is right. If they controlled the Space Elevator, they’d be able to cut off Zod’s forces and cut off supply lines.

Val comes to visit Nyssa, asking if she wants company. Nyssa nods to the guard, saying she’s got company but he’s not much of a talker. Val acknowledges being here is hard for Nyssa with Zod having Cor-Vex. She starts to get emotional, telling Val she just wants to hold her baby. She adds that she wishes Seg could see him.

Val tries to reassure her that they’ll get Seg back, too. Val thinks Seg would be grateful for all she is doing both for their son and for Krypton. Nyssa is skeptical, thinking all people see when they see her is her father and all that disappointment. Val tells her Seg saw something else in her and she softens, replying that Seg saw things in her she never saw. She saddens, remembering how much has changed for her and she’s unsure of who she is again.

Val tells her it was her who influenced the Rebellion today with her information and that has given them hope that they’re making progress. Nyssa remarks that Val sounds just like Seg.

“Thank you. Though I’m older than Seg, so he sounds like me.”

He tries to bolster her by saying she sounds nothing like Daron. He acknowledges that her visit to him was unsuccessful and she was left with more questions than answers. But that shouldn’t get her down.

“It’s not the past that defines you.”

Val needs to choose how to live to move forward. She scoffs that’s pretty hard to do in lockdown. Val’s turn to soften. He doesn’t see the need to keep her under constant monitoring now that her intel proved true. He never stopped trusting her the way Jax did. He tells the guard to “give her some space.”

Oh, Val. You sweet, old fool.

Colu. Adam and Seg arrive at a place that Seg says is Brainiac’s natal chamber. It’s a triangular, dark hole in the earth that, to be honest, looks very suggestive. Adam is really reluctant to go in there; it’s dark, it looks dangerous. He’d rather Seg checked a map to be sure rather than rely on Brainiac’s directions. Seg starts his descent …

“I’ll see you down there, Earth man.”

Commercials.

We come back from break with Adam and Seg arriving into a pristine white chamber. There is a chaise lounge-type chair and slithering cables above. Seg says, kind of in awe, that this is where it all began. Adam wants to know the plan and Seg tells him he has to be connected and the pod will take care of it. Adam asks for an elaboration but Seg doesn’t really have time to fully understand or explain everything.

“I don’t know, Adam. I haven’t found occasion to explore each of the 12 levels of intellect I currently possess. I do apologize.”
“Well, you don’t have to be a dick about it.”

New development. Lobo has found them and is hollering from outside the cave. Unfortunately, this is exactly when Brainiac calls Seg in for a mind chat.

Seg’s Mind Palace. Seg and Brainiac are having another power struggle for control of Seg. They each accuse the other of hiding something from the other.  Seg asks what it would be like for Brainiac, who has been around for millennia to stop being or worse, stop evolving. Brainiac thinks Seg is just trying to distract him and has misunderstood his motivations.

“I’m not distracting you. I’m enduring you.”

Brainiac is intrigued by Seg, seeing in Seg’s mind that he thinks he will beat Brainiac. Brainiac presses as to what Seg is hiding from him and tries a different tactic. He asks what Seg desires and morphs into Nyssa, pondering if it’s to see the mother of his child? Then he morphs into Kem (Rasmus Hardiker), asking if his desire is share a drink with his closest friend.

Seg continues to resist him, but he’s growing tired and Brainiac sees this.

Brainiac forces Seg to the ground. Seg says Brainiac is less than him because he doesn’t understand emotion and its power.

“Just because I’m not governed by emotion doesn’t mean I’m ignorant of the concept. I know how to analyze it, and I know how to exploit it.”

Touche, Brainiac.

And then a soft, “I love you,” in a woman’s voice is heard. Brainiac has what he was looking for, what Seg was hiding from him. Brainiac morphs into Lyta.

Kandor, Zod’s pad. Zod has decided that Lyta will go to Wegthor, after all, to shut down the rebellion once and for all. He tells her that she is his best chance for winning the war, adding it is a calculated risk to send her and it’s a decision he should have made before.

Zod tells Lyta his motivations for keeping her away from the fighting were selfish. He’d watched her die once before and didn’t want to endure that again. Lyta asks how she died in his future?

Kind of a morbid question. I don’t think I’d want to know.

Zod looks so sad as he tells her she dies when she “gave up.” Because of all she had lost in her life. Zod’s mother of the future was unable to let go of her past and unable to forgive and move on. She’d lost the love her life as well as the Sagitari and Kandor. She became withdrawn and worn down by her pain and unable to take risks or make hard choices.

Zod swore an oath to protect Krypton and will not let his fear of losing her again get in the way of that, so up to Wegthor she goes. Lyta approaches him and gives him a hug.

“Thank you, son.”

Commercials.

Colu. Adam gets Seg positioned on the pod table but has no idea how to actually get the slithery tentacles to connect to Seg. Adam kicks the pod and the tentacles spring into motion, much to Adam’s surprise. Seg is unaware of what’s happening because he’s still in his Mind Palace with Brainiac.

The tentacles connect as Seg cries out in pain but then slumps back down into his unconsciousness. Adam is distracted from Seg by the arrival of Lobo. Lobo charges at them in the natal chamber and he winds up bouncing off a force field. His right arm is ripped off and lands inside the natal chamber with Seg and Adam. Lobo whines that Adam just cut off his favorite limb.

Lobo is not amused by Adam’s gloating.

“I’m so gonna go in there and make you pay.”

Adam’s gloating continues as he wonders how Lobo will accomplish that without his arm? Lobo points to the amputated arm and Adam looks over to see it giving him the finger.

LMAO. Classic Lobo!

The arm them points back to Lobo on the other side of the protective field. Adam looks back as Lobo pulls out one of his big guns, telling Adam that he hopes he’s not squeamish. Lobo blows his own head off his shoulders.  It’s quite disgusting. Headless Lobo gives Adam a salute as he falls to the floor.

Adam looks very confused.

Wegthor.  Nyssa comes upon the woman that gave her the stink eye earlier. She turns to Nyssa telling her she was wondering how long she would take to find her? Nyssa addresses her as Araame (Kae Alexander) and tells her it’s nice to see her. Araame looks equally pleased to see  Nyssa. She’s curious to know how Nyssa managed to shake her guard and if the combat training she taught Nyssa finally came in handy?

What is even happening right now?!?

Nyssa tells her that training came in handy many times but that the guard was called off by Val. Nyssa is surprised that Araame has come to work with the Rebels because of her prior position with the Military Guard? Araame tells her Jax believed in her (much like Jax believed in Nyssa … anyone else smelling a cat fight brewing …?). Araame prefers this life. She tells Nyssa that she’s thought about her. Nyssa approaches, backing Araame upon against the wall. Nyssa’s standing very close to Araame now, sexy close, saying they had nice times.

Nyssa caresses Araame’s neck. Araame said their paths back then were on different trajectories and apologies if she’d hurt Nyssa.

“You can make it up to me … Now.”

They embrace and Nyssa grabs Araame’s hand. Sexy time, ladies!

Colu. Adam is standing over Seg, begging his friend to keep breathing.

Seg’s Mind Palace. Lyta BrainLyta appears in Seg’s mind, reminding him of the first time they met and how gallant and charming he was. Seg fights back, aware that this isn’t really her. BrainLyta tells him she wanted him from the moment she first saw him and she’s only ever wanted for them to be together. Seg is torn by knowing this isn’t really her and missing her for so long. They embrace in a hug as the music of doom swirls.

Back in the reality of the natal chamber, Adam is murmuring to his friend that he’s doing great. Lobo, ever so sincere, says it doesn’t look like he’s doing much of anything. Adam is confused because Lobo blew his own head off moments ago.

“Down low, dipshit. Boo!”

A new Lobo head is there, grown off of the amputated arm. Adam is a little freaked out, as you could imagine.  Lobo makes clear that if the mother fragger won’t come to him, he’ll come to the mother fragger. Fair enough.

Wegthor.  Post Coital Nyssa and Araame are spent. Nyssa wakes up (thank you Krypton producers director and hair stylists for giving a short haired woman ‘bedhead!’ These images go a long way to show a glimpse of reality) and syncs sleeping Araame’s arm with her own.

Nyssa climbs out of bed and heads to a terminal where a schematic of a chamber-like thing pops up. Nyssa starts flipping through the schematic, looking very conflicted the whole time. She’s distracted when Araame stirs but her lover doesn’t wake up. Back to the hologram schematic, Nyssa enlarges one screen, it resembles some sort of DNA strand – looking thing. Whatever it is, Nyssa is visibly disturbed by what she sees.

Colu.  Lobo is amused that this is where the “Coluan chuckleheads shat out that green turd.” Adam tells Lobo that’s what Seg is trying to do as well, to shit Brainiac out. Adam asks Lobo to be patient and let the pod do its magic. Lobo’s like, ‘nah, not gonna happen, mate.’ Lobo yanks a chain (Literally! Get your mind out of the gutters!) and Adam is knocked on his ass. Lobo gets up on his hands and walks over to Adam. It’s straight out of a modern horror movie.

Seg’s Mind Palace.  Seg and BrainLyta break away from their hug, tears streaming down Seg’s face. When BrainLyta says she loves Seg, he tells her to stop because they’re out of time. When BrainLyta says they have forever and there will be no more pain, Seg stops her again.

“That’s the difference between you and me. I understand that my pain is not a problem to be solved.”

Seg mocks Brainiac, telling him that what Brainiac is experience now is fear. Fear of losing control.  BrainLyta starts to twitch as Brainiac struggles to hold on to the Lyta illusion. BrainLyta charges at Seg but Seg is fully in control now.  He raises a hand and freezes Brainiac in place.

“Welcome home, asshole.”

Seg snaps back to consciousness in the natal chamber and finds Lobo on top of Adam telling him how soft he is. Seg, still attached to the chair, sends Lobo’s torso flying up to the ceiling and across the pod. He still has Brainiac’s power it seems. Adam pulls Seg up from the chair as the tentacles making a squishy sucking noise detaching from Seg. As Seg separates from the tentacles, Brainiac appears lying on the pod where Seg was a second ago.

“You shat him out.”

Seg tells Adam they have to go ASAP.  Lobo is up and coming for another charge. The boys flip Lobo the bird as Adam bids him farewell.

“So long, bitch.”

The Zeta Beam Device activates and Seg and Adam are gone. Lobo is disappointed until he sees Brainiac lying there.

“Well, well, well, looks like the Craptown Boys delivered on the goods after all.”

Lobo swings his chain at Brainiac and we head to commercial as a bit of splatter hits the screen.

Commercials.

The Outlands. Jayna finds Dev laying out in the snow. She brings him inside and gets him warm again.

Wegthor. The rebels are in mobilization mode. Val finds Jax and confirms that she’s decided to move forward on the plan they discussed earlier (based on the intel she got from the POWs). Jax confirms that the Sagitari are mobilizing and where they’re headed will be the perfect choke point. She revels in saying this will be a massacre. Val tempers her statement by asking Rao for mercy.

The Sagitari Wegthor Base. Kem is back! He’s one of the new “Sagitari” guards. His partner tells him they’ve got new order to move to the Elevator Base Station. Kem is thrilled they’ve been taken off the front line and feels this is a good change. Hmmm, I dunno, friend.

The Outlands. Dev wakes up from his bout with hypothermia. Jayna is next to him. She didn’t abandon him despite the awful things he said. He is full of remorse and starts to cry. She takes him in close and hugs him hard. It’s a sweet scene with no dialogue.

Krypton. Adam and Seg are launched out of the Zeta Beam Device and crash land back on Krypton. Adam is thrilled it worked but his joy turns to ash when he realizes that Seg is unresponsive, lying on the ground. He panics and tries to resuscitate Seg, finally thumping on Seg’s chest.

Seg abruptly regains consciousness; he tells Adam he feels weird, like he’d been dead or something. Adam is mock incredulous for Seg, joking that the Zeta-Beam isn’t for the weak-hearted. Seg knows Adam is covering something and asks for serious, if he was dead?

“Maybe just a little bit! But I un-deaded you!”

Adam reassures Seg that they were back on Krypton and not far from Kandor. Seg is recovering from the news he was a little dead.

** I’m hearing Miracle Max from the Princess Bride in my head: he is only mostly dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. Sorry, I digress**

Adam jokes that he’s “dead tired” of hearing Seg talk about it. Adam reminds Seg that they still have work to do to “defeat a tyrant and free a planet” because that’s what superheroes do.

The episode ends with Seg and Adam looking off to the horizon where a large beam, the Elevator, is moving up to the moon of Wegthor.

End scene.

***

Thoughts.

The relationship between Zod and Lyta is evolving perfectly. He’s opening up to her much more like a confidante. And he has emotions! Lyta is thrilled he’s trusting in her and her abilities. She’s a brave woman to ask him how things end for her, but what a powerful moment between them! When she hugs him, Zod’s emotion-packed sigh got me in the feels. Zod is so larger than life, to see such a tender display of affection and vulnerability is welcome and necessary to evolve his character. I can’t help but wonder what the impact is of having her grown son in her life, at a time before Zod was even born.

I’m an ’80s kid, so Back to the Future resonates strongly with me.

Zod tells Lyta about her future self, but is she still that same Lyta now that the future Zod has somewhat altered what his Lyta became? Lyta seems to have two futures now: the one Zod remembers without the prior interference on his part and the Lyta that adult Zod has interacted with. Will she be the same person Zod remembers if she has intimate knowledge of her future?

Can we talk about for a minute? What is a great character. He’s wholly inappropriate and it’s just hilarious. The concept of his regeneration is convenient and how he’s able to manipulate his body spatially was an interesting plot twist. And hilarious.

Brainiac. I really like how Seg transforms into Brainiac. Everything changes from Seg into Brainiac. His height, his body language all morph into someone else.

Nyssa, Nyssa, Nyssa. I dunno what to make of you girl. Are you on anyone’s side but your own to get your son back? I get that is her motivation, but I’m trying to find out who she thinks is going to be her best shot at getting him back: Val and the Resistance or Zod himself. There’s too little interaction on this deeper subject so I’m left wanting more of an explanation or at least an inkling as to where she’s going. And, a relationship with your Military Guard Instructor?!?! Tsk tsk, girl. Now, did you actually learn the combat skills needed or were you pushed through because you were a good lay? Enquiring minds want to know!

Dev, we need to dive deeper with you. These little nuggets and pearls make me want to know more about your twistedness. And Jayna’s anguish over her daughter needs some advancement towards resolution. I feel like her pain is out there, languishing in the cold snow of the Outlands.

Krypton airs on SYFY on Wednesday nights at 10pm (ET/PT).

***

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