550
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Directed by: Marc Roskin
Written by: David Kob
Starring: Cameron Cuffe, Ann Ogbomo, Georgina Campbell, Shaun Sipos, Blake Ritson, Colin Salmon, Aaron Pierre, Rasmus Kardiker
Summary
Brainiac promises Daron-Vex he will leave Krypton once his mission is complete and Daron can have all the power he wants. Lyta, Seg and Nyssa find Dev-Em and take him to the fortress while General Zod and Jayna seek out Black Zero for help.
Kem and Adam Strange look for Ona, but when they find her she decides to remain with The Voice of Rao. Strange decides it’s time to go to Daron-Vex alone.
Jayna learns more about General Zod and how he survives the impending destruction of Krypton. Seg and the others reunite with General Zod and Jayna and together they launch their assault against Brainiac’s sentry.
Positives
This episode really took each of the supporting characters to the next level. Kem’s concern for Ona was emotional and heartfelt, while Jayna Zod showed her analytical mind about General Zod. In fact, I think the best part of this episode was Jayna. The scenes she had with General Zod were very important in her understanding who she was dealing with and realizing that despite him being a Zod, he may very well be a threat. And then there was Jayna in battle. She proved how skillful she was and showed the audience why she was in charge since the beginning.
Adam Strange had a nice easter egg when he had a brief conversation with Sardath and Alanna. This scene shows the audience that the planet Rann does exist in this universe. For those that don’t know those characters, in the comics, Sardath is the one that created the Zeta beam and Alanna is Strange’s love interest and future wife, both of which are from the planet Rann.
Negatives
The only negative I have about this episode is the same issue I’ve had for the entire series: not enough understanding of Brainiac to have the audience understand the kind of threat he really is, unless they know the comics. The cast simply talk about all the horrible things Brainiac can and will do. But the audience should be shown, at least once, Brainiac collecting a different planet to show how real the threat is.
The sentry taking over The Voice of Rao’s body was a nice step but it wasn’t enough. I understand a full on attack on a planet by Brainiac can be expensive if it’s all CGI, especially for television, but there are creative ways that they can show that the threat of Brainiac is real.
Verdict
Another excellent episode in a surprisingly great series. Knowing that if Brainiac achieves his goal it will destroy Krypton, but is also the only path that leads to the birth of Superman makes rooting for the good guys difficult. But I say that in the best way because it makes the story that much more compelling. We want Seg and the others to win, but we also want Superman to be born, but we can’t have both. I can’t wait to see how they solve that in the next 2 episodes.
