Krypton: The Complete Second Season review
**Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of this Blu-Ray I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.**
Last season, Krypton started getting into bad habits of relying on established Superman villains to provide drama. Those characters are much more formidable than unpowered Kryptonians making for an imbalanced dynamic. This season, Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) and his allies have to contend with a Krypton under rule of General Zod (Colin Salmon, Arrow), Brainiac (Blake Ritson), Lobo (Emmett J. Scanlan) and Doomsday.
Krypton’s biggest problem is Seg-El is a terrible hero. Not a reluctant one or an uninspired one, he’s just incapable of dealing with threats, thinking strategically or exuding a leading man charisma. This feels like more a result of the writing than on Cuffe’s performance.
Cuffe has the look, but he’s just a decent actor who gets overshadowed in scenes with Salmon and Ritson. It’s no surprise then that Seg-El needs the upgrade from Braniac to be a worthwhile hero.
It doesn’t help that Zod makes for a far more interesting main character thanks to Salmon’s commanding presence. He has a real agenda and acts upon it whereas Seg-El just randomly hops from task to task. Zod’s mother and Seg-El’s lover, Lyta-Zod (Georgina Campbell), is caught in the middle and her actions this season prove to be one of the biggest surprises.
Season 2 finds its strongest arc with the Resistance led by Jax-Ur (Hannah Waddingham, Game of Thrones) and Val-El (Ian McElhinney). The two allies start on the same page, but eventually clash over the best approach on handling the war. Another strong subplot involves former soldiers Jayna-Zod (Ann Ogbomo) and Dev-Em (Aaron Pierre) uniting to take out Zod.
MORE:
- McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Superman figure review
- DC Comics reviews for 1/8/20 – Batman #86, Hawkman #20
- The Witcher Season 1 review – worthy of a watch
- Lyles Movie Files Top 10 Films of 2019
This season gets off to a rocky start thanks to some highly questionable character choices.
Nyssa-Vex (Wallis Day) gets news about her father and for some idiotic reason takes her baby with her instead of leaving him with her friends. Naturally, she runs into a trap and is forced to become a pawn for Zod. Nyssa then remembers she’s bisexual and sleeps with a Resistance member to steal some plans to help Zod’s camp.
Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) doesn’t make for a great comedic relief character. The writers think he’s funnier than they write him and he comes off like a goof. Sipos also tends to act as if Strange has a crush on Seg-El, putting a different twist on their friendship.
Lobo is treated more like a comedy character who snaps into bloodthirsty mode. I can see why SyFy was intrigued enough by the character to consider green-lighting a spin-off series.
Krypton Season 2 had a bigger budget with vastly improved production values. Every episode doesn’t feature the same narrow alley and has some high quality sets. The costume designs are incredible. It’s hard to see movie versions of Braniac and Lobo looking any better. Krypton’s Doomsday looks much better than the version shown in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Just like the first season, the writers seem fascinated with having characters dropping the s-bomb as often as possible. It’s silly that the characters are so foul-mouthed for no reason.
Overall, the season evolves into an entertaining enough endeavor that it’s a shame it got cancelled before a third season could further expand the series.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Video/Audio
The 1080p Full HD Video transfer came out crisp with visible skin textures and fabrics, strong blacks and a good amount of detail. The Master Audio 5.1 channel is also solid
Episode Breakdown:
- Light Years From Home
- Ghost in the Fire
- Will to Power
- Danger Close
- A Better Yesterday
- In Zod We Trust
- Zods and Monsters
- Mercy
- Blood Moon
- The Alpha and the Omega
Special Features
It doesn’t make a lot of sense to toss in a lot of extras for a cancelled series so the meager offerings aren’t shocking.
The Fate of Superman features series writer David S. Goyer breaking down Superman’s lineage from Seg-El and his adventures in Season 2.
The second feature is Villains: Modes of Persuasion, the same feature we’ve seen in Gotham and Arrowverse season sets. It’s a quality bonus, but it focuses more on Batman’s Rogues than Superman’s enemies.
Own Krypton: The Complete Second and Final Season on Digital and Blu-Ray and DVD now.