For a recap of the last episode, “Savage Night,” click here

This post contains major spoilers for episode 1×09 of Krypton, “Hope.”

After the events of last week and the apparent death of the voice of Rao, Kandor City is in chaos without it’s top leaders. Seg is sad over the loss of his former friend, Adam, and he sends Kem away to Kryptonopolis to protect him. Lyta comforts Seg which leads to a romantic moment between the two.

After the moment with Lyta, in a dream sequence, Seg boards Braniac’s ship and is killed by Braniac. As he wakes up, he realizes that Lyta is not beside him and that she must have gone off with her son, Dru-Zod. Seg then meets up with Jayna & Nyssa who find out Dru-Zod’s plan.

Lyta finds out from Dru-Zod that he’s off to set Doomsday free upon the world to kill Braniac. Lyta doesn’t understand how they will control Doomsday after they set him free but Dru-Zod convinces her it’s the only way. Lyta and Dru-Zod finally reach the chamber to free Doomsday but Seg, Jayna, and Nyssa arrive right at the exact moment Dru-Zod is going to set it free. Seg informs Dru that he needs blood from an El to open the chamber door, but then we find out from Dru that he is in fact part El as he is the son of Lyta and Seg. Dru cuts his hand on top of the El/Zod crest and the door opens but we find out Doomsday was moved, Seg won’t tell him where it is.

The containment shield holding Doomsday however is failing and they only have hours to fix it before he is released. Seg calls over to Val-El for help with the situation. Val gives Seg a family history lesson on what the emblem of the house of El really means. He tells him that it stands for “Hope,” and that as long as there’s an El on Krypton, there will always be hope.

Daron-Vex is held up in a cell by the leader of Black Zero, Jax-Ur, and is branded with some type of technology near his ear. Jax-Ur uses this technology to get answers from Daron and tortures him over his betrayal and previous treatment of her when she was in the science guild.

Later, Daron tries to bribe a guard into freeing him, telling him he can make him one of the richest men in Kandor. The man doesn’t give in, but Daron somehow steals a knife from him that allows him to escape. Daron then finds a man with a skimmer fast enough to allow him to get out of the city and offers to make him one of the richest men in Kandor. They take off. As they reach the outlands, Jax-Ur presses a button that shocks Daron, sending him and the ship into the ground.

With the information from Daron, Jax-Ur goes to the science guild only to find out that Daron had been cloning members of the elite for some time.

Jayna and Zod are on opposing sides of how to rebuild Kandor. Tired of waiting, Zod challenges his grandmother to a Kandorian battle. With Lyta present, the two do battle until Jayna has Zod in a choke hold he cannot break free from. Before Jayna can choke Zod out and kill him, Lyta shoots her mom and frees Zod, however, he is angry at his daughter for doing this, as he has lost his “honor.”Jayna, wounded from the shot, can barely walk and eventually is picked up by a mysterious man cloaked in a hoodie, assumed to be Jayna’s brother who’m she killed way back in episode 5, “House Zod.”

Seg & Nyssa go to Val to figure out Braniac’s next move. With the Genesis Chamber being shut down, Braniac needs to find a new source. They realize that Braniac is using Kandor’s power grid to power his ship. They also come up with a plan to combine the Saggitari and Black Zero, although there enemies, to defeat Braniac. Seg meets with the leader of Black Zero and convinces Jax-Ur to give him some soldiers while Nyssa meets with the Saggitari to do the same. Eventually they both agree, but only to save Kandor.

Zod & Lyta have no hope of finding Doomsday now but Zod knows of someone who can help them defeat Braniac, Val-El. Lyta believes him to be dead but obviously Zod know’s of the Fortress.

Seg and his army of Saggitari and Black Zero go to find Braniac to finish him, and he is exactly where they thought he would be. While it was already tough for the two opposing soldiers to get along, Braniac takes no time in turning them against each other using mind control. As the leader of the Saggitari shoots a member of Black Zero, they all fire at each other, while Seg is the only one who survives the attack.

The Voice of Rao/ Braniac realizes that Seg is still alive and uses some form of telekinesis to try grab Seg and throw him off the edge, like they did to him last episode. As Seg is hanging over the side waiting to be dropped, Nyssa stabs the voice of Rao/Braniac with the key to the fortress. Seg is saved and the share a big kiss. In the moment however, the force field starts breaking down around them and the power beam shuts down. Braniac’s true form finally appears as Seg & Nyssa escape.

Thoughts:

The penultimate episode of the season, “Hope,” paves the way for the final battle between Braniac and our Kandorian compatriots. Before getting there though, Krypton gave us the usual twist and turns we come to expect from the show. First off, like most expected, Dru-Zod is the child of Lyta and Seg, which make’s Zod, Superman’s uncle. The reveal is definitely interesting because it gives Krypton it’s own sand box to play around with this idea. Also, Zod has some anger issues around being an El, which barring his death in the finale, hopefully well see more of come Season 2.

The other reveal in this episode, is definitely one I did not see coming. With Jayna barely able to walk due to Lyta shooting her in the abdomen, a strange man comes to her rescue. While not completely revealed, i’m going to presume that this man is Jayna’s brother, who’m we thought she left for dead. While its a bit of a stretch to have her brother, Vidar-Zod, show up at the exact time of need, the seed was planted in 1×05 and with the kandorian battle that happened in the middle of the episode. If it is in fact Vidar, the Kandorian’s could definitely use another soldier in theh hunt to take down Braniac.

There was no Adam this week, but we can expect him back next week with everything on the line. With Adam gone, the show gave us some more answers about the Seg, Lyta & Nyssa love triangle. While i’m not usually a fan of love triangles (it’s cliche’ and overdone) I think Krypton has handled it very well. While it definitely took some time for Nyssa to grow and trust Seg, in the final scene, we see them passionately kiss, a moment I didn’t think we would see for a while. It’s definitely confusing but with the reveal of Dru-Zod as Lyta & Seg’s son, does this make Nyssa & Seg’s sons Jor-El and Zor-El? Hopefully we’ll find out soon.

With the final episode airing Wednesday, SYFY announced that Krypton has been renewed for Season 2!!! Check back again next week as Krypton’s first season comes to a close.