Article first published as TV Review: KRYPTON on Seat42F.
Are you tired of all the superhero
television shows out right now? If you aren’t, SyFy has a new entry in
the genre called KRYPTON. And if you are tired of them, KRYPTON might be
something a bit different, since it takes place on the alien world two
centuries before the birth of Superman. Hence, it’s not a bunch of
people with powers running around. If tonally it didn’t feel so similar
to other SyFy programming, I would say this is a very unique take on
what has become a saturated market, giving it a hook to allow it to
break through. As it is, it’s still pretty good.
As only a casual Superman fan (with
basic knowledge primarily from movies and TV, not the comics), KRYPTON
is a completely new story, full of things I’d never heard of, so I don’t
know if it follows established mythology or is something original.
Either would be a valid choice for a show to make, but I don’t know if
it’s a very loose reimagining, like Gotham, or if it sticks close to
previously established backstory. A cursory internet search seems to
indicate the latter, with some liberties taken.
KRYPTON begins with Seg-El (Cameron
Cuffe, The Halcyon) watching his grandfather (Ian McElhinney, Game of
Thrones) executed and his family stripped of their title. The House of
El is no more, and Seg and his parents are forced to live with the
un-titled down in the ghettos of the city. Years later, Seg is coming of
age and, despite family grudges, saves the life of Daron-Vex (Elliot
Cowan, Da Vinci’s Demons), the chief magistrate who executed Seg’s
grandfather. Daron offers Seg the chance to join the House of Vex and
bind with his daughter, Nyssa (Wallis Day, Hollyoaks), the youngest of
five, who otherwise probably wouldn’t marry anyway. This might be an
opportunity for Seg to climb back up the social ladder, or it could be
Daron’s chance to fully conquer the Els once and for all.
If that doesn’t sound complicated
enough, don’t worry, it gets even more twisty within the first hour.
See, Seg may be making a child with Nyssa (which does not involve sex),
but is sleeping with Lyta Zod (Georgina Campbell, Broadchurch), a
soldier. And Seg’s parents, Ter (Rupert Graves, Sherlock) and Charys
(Paula Malcomson, Caprica), are secretly continuing Seg’s grandfather’s
work to try to save their race. Also, Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos, The
Vampire Diaries) arrives from the future to warn of Brainiac’s (Blake
Ritson, Da Vinci’s Demons) impending coming, the villain intending to
destroy Krypton
before Superman can even be born. So there’s a LOT packed into this
series opener, and I haven’t even mentioned all the series leads.
It takes some time to get into KRYPTON.
Not only is there a dense story, but the society is so much different
than ours. The caste system feels very outdated, even while the planet
is futuristic. Procreation without physical intercourse and babies
raised in bubbles cared for by machines feel cold and impersonal, which
matches much of the rest of the culture we’re seeing. Except in the
lower class, which still parties and fights and loves at will. Is this a
cautionary tale or a commentary? The refusal of some to listen to
science and fact hits a little too close to home in the current
political climate.
All of this is very interesting, and I
found myself more and more drawn in as it played out. Where my
hesitation lives is that most of the central characters are good
looking, very young adults, an overdone television trope, and the tone
of the program is not as weighty as it could be with the material. I
hope it finds its legs, but I fear it will be a ‘typical’ Syfy show lost
in the crowd.
KRYPTON airs Wednesdays on SyFy.
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