This week, Krypton gives us their own spin on Doomsday’s origin story and it is really darn close to his comics origins. We always knew Doomsday was created by scientists on Krypton. We just didn’t really know which scientists were involved in creating the one being powerful enough to kill the Man of Steel. However, it shouldn’t be too surprising that two of Krypton’s most powerful houses were involved.
Let’s dive right in and unpack this episode. Believe me, there’s a lot to discuss.
Monsters aren’t born, they’re made
Doomday’s origins haven’t exactly been firmly established since his debut in 1992’s “Death of Superman”. In comic book canon, he’s a failed science experiment from Krypton. In other mediums, he’s been engineered by Lex Luthor, himself.
This series has decided to go the more traditional route with the character. He was a science experiment on Krypton. And the experiment was obviously a failure. However, the scientists who created the monster that would one day kill Superman belonged to none other than House El and House Zod.
Yes, you read that correctly. Superman’s ancestors played a part in creating the one thing that could kill him. How’s that for irony?
What’s interesting about this reveal was that Doomday started out a man. He was married and he was a good person. He only volunteered for this experiment because civil war had broken out on Krypton between Argo City and Kandor. He’d been led to believe that he was being turned into a superhero. Sadly, the exact opposite is what ended up happening. It’s actually a really tragic backstory.
I never expected that I could one day feel sorry for the one villain that actually killed my favorite superhero of all time. But, here we are.
What exactly is Zod trying to accomplish?
At first, it seemed that Zod wanted to weaponize the codex. Then it looked like he wanted to weaponize Doomsday. Now, it just seems like he sympathizes with Doomsday. Will he still try to use the beast knowing what he knows now? What exactly is he playing at? Why is it that anytime I think I have a reading on Zod and I think of him as a sadistic son of a bitch, this show decides to show me some of his humanity?
I know Zod is a bad guy. I’m not questioning that. I just wonder if he really is as irredeemable as we’ve been led to believe. I think the biggest plot twist this show can pull is actually redeeming Zod. But I’m not entirely sure that’s a direction the show wants to go. At least not right now.
All hail Kem, Team Leader!
Adam’s reaction to Kem being a really good leader and pretty darn resourceful in the field, was totally me. Kem was just Seg’s friend from the Rankless who owned a bar. And as Adam put it, it wasn’t a very good bar. To watch him saving Zod’s Sagitari (who were basically Rankless prisoners like himself) and getting back to camp with zero casualties was pretty darn impressive.
We love Kem. He’s such a breath of fresh air sometimes. I’m going to need him to stay genuine, pure and alive.
Nyssa + Seg
I told you before that last week’s episode was the beginning of these two. I was right because this week I was ALL IN. After Nyssa got Seg and their son to the Fortress, they were able to remove the last bit of Brainiac from Seg’s body under the guidance of Val’s hologram.
Seg had so much trust in Nyssa as she dug into his neck to remove an alien parasite. I love watching these two bond. Their relationship has evolved so organically this season and that’s just really refreshing.
Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because now that Brainiac is out of Seg’s body, he was left free to take over the Fortress of Solitude and I am 99.9% sure that is a bad thing.
A popular fan theory is finally confirmed
When Cor-Vex was first introduced, a lot fans thought he might actually be Jor-El. I wasn’t against the theory. In fact, it actually made a lot of sense. I was just worried about how they would go about changing his name. Honestly, I couldn’t have come up with anything better.
Nyssa tells Seg that she does not want their son to carry the Vex name because it is tainted. In her defense, it really is. She wants their son to be an El. Val’s hologram tells Seg that it is tradition in the House of El to name the first born son after an ancestor.
And with that, Jor-El is finally given his iconic name.
The words “my son” do fall from Seg’s lips during his grand speech as he names the baby. This is an Easter Egg every Superman fan will likely recognize from the 1978 Donner film. Jor-El starts a similar speech with those same two words in a message left for his son, Kal-El. All this is happening with the iconic Superman theme faintly playing in the background.
This was just an overall great moment that left the Superman fan in me really giddy.
Unfortunately, the family’s happiness is short lived because as soon as Brainiac is able to take control of the Fortress he kidnaps the newly named Jor-El and disappears, leaving Nyssa and Seg to mourn the loss of their son.
Highlights
- If you thought the top of my list would be anything other than the scene where Jor-El was given his name, then you don’t know me at all. I loved that they played a piece of the original Superman theme during this scene but I especially loved that it was also the first time Seg was able to wear his family’s crest on his chest since childhood.
- I like the fact that this episode showed the House of El has a dark side. We know so little about Superman’s ancestors and it’s hard to believe they were always good people. I know there was bound to be some dark sheep in that long family line. I just find it ironic that someone from House El played a significant role in creating the one thing that could kill Superman.
- Zod showed a very human side when he sympathized with Doomsday and I liked that.
- Kem and Adam are precious and must be protected at all costs. But I have trust issues and part of me is wondering if Kem is really himself and he just got that good at soldiering all of a sudden or if he’s been conditioned and he’s working undercover from inside the Resistance. See? Trust issues.
- Brainiac continues to be a son of a bitch and the villain of this story. So much for my hopes of seeing Brainiac 5 emerge out of this season.
Krypton airs Wednesdays at 10PM on Syfy.
