TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Krypton Season 2 Episode 4: Danger Close

While definitely lighter on action due to the loss of Lobo and other key things, “Danger Close” provided us with a deep political thriller that even had me (a veteran of TV superhero shows as hopefully you all know by now) surprised by what I was seeing. Because this episode could’ve EASILY devolved into “trope city”. But instead, it was something much more.

The tagline for Season 2 of Krypton is, “It’s a bad day to be a hero”, and this episode definitely showed that. As in the last 10 minutes or so, just about every hero we had found themselves in either a compromising situation or at the end of a critical loss/defeat. That’s great storytelling, especially when it ends on a cliffhanger that has you begging for next week to come soon.

The big takeaway from this episode is that Zod is not only a ruthless man, but he’s willing to go to just about any length to make sure that his future does not come to pass in the way he saw it. Including brainwashing Lyta in order to ensure she was on his side. The writers did a great job of showing the reconditioning procedure before while not hinting that Lyta was another of its victims. That’s hard to do, yet it really worked here. In fact, when Lyta didn’t remember Seg’s memory of their first meeting, I thought something was wrong with Seg and not Lyta.

Hearing that Lyta was brainwashed changes everything, and adds a new dynamic to many character arcs so far. Because Lyta isn’t fully brainwashed, but rather conditioned to certain instincts, or as Zod put it, he took certain parts of her away that would hinder his progress. Including certain memories of Seg apparently.

Meanwhile, the Resistance celebrated a victory, but one that soon became a key defeat, as Zod’s plan to manipulate them came to fruition in devastating fashion. But Zod wasn’t the only one with a dark plan, as Jax-Ur (living up to her comic/cartoon counterpart) did her own strategy to try and win the war…via a DNA bomb. Nyssa ratted her out, and now she has the Codex thanks to Val…which is exactly what Zod wanted. Dang, he’s good.

Oh, and as if ALL OF THAT wasn’t enough…Brainiac is still alive in Seg’s head. Which is why he survived the reconditioning process. While some may call this cheap, it was never a guarantee that Brainiac would be fully extracted from Seg after that chair process. And as comic book fans know…Brainiac is freaking hard to kill.

Also, on a side know, seeing Kem back in action was nice, and his pairing with Adam is the new comedy duo of the century. lol.

Finally, while I didn’t like it last week, I did appreciate hearing more about what happened to Dev, and it added some emotional connections to him. And now we know that Jayna’s mission to save Lyta isn’t in vain, which is good, because it was grating before tonight.

In the end, “Danger Close” was a compelling episode that proved that dialogue can help make an episode just as much as action pieces. Things will no doubt heat up next episode though, so let’s get ready to rumble!