Journey to KRYPTON

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.

Pick Some FLOWERS

Article first published as FLOWERS Review on Seat42F.

Premiering stateside on May 5^th is the British sitcom FLOWERS. A very dark, very off-beat comedy show about a messed up, three-generation family, it will make you both uncomfortable and amused, though the balance between the two may vary moment to moment. It’s an original work that is hard to compare to any existing show, despite the familiar family format, and while I don’t yet know if I should recommend it or not, two episodes into the six episode run, it is certainly something worth taking note of.

The patriarch is Maurice Flowers (Julian Barratt, The Might Boosh), a children’s author who tries to kill himself in the opening moments of the show. This in of itself is a startling beginning, with the strange verses of his literature serving as voiceover to the events. And while we’re told Maurice is a successful writer, the content of the stories we hear seems questionable and certainly speaking to much deeper levels than most works geared towards kids.

Maurice’s wife, Deborah (Olivia Colman, Broadchurch, The Night Manager), is completely oblivious to what her husband is up to, but she willfully goes that way through life. It looks like she’d rather be happy than knowledgeable, and in dealing with her family and friends, looks at the bright side rather than the honest one. Her attitude is obviously a façade, clearly failing to convince even herself of her rosy perspective, and there is always the sense she is barely a few seconds away from losing it.

Around this couple, who are celebrating an anniversary, revolve their grown-but-still-living-at-home twin children, egotistical inventor Donald (Daniel Rigby, Flyboys) and musical lesbian Amy (Sophia Di Martino, Casualty). Donald and Amy both happen to be interested in the same girl, Abigail (Georgina Campbell, After Hours), whose plastic surgeon father, George (Angus Wright, Maleficent), will not stop his inappropriate flirting. Plus, there’s Maurice’s senile mother, Hattie (Leila Hoffman, How Not to Live Your Life), Maurice’s almost-servant-like assistant, Shun (creator Will Sharpe), and a handful of other bizarre personalities that flit in and out of the story.

If this sounds like a lot, trust me, it is. Watching FLOWERS makes it feel like even more, the constant fast pace and dense plotlines making your forget each installment is a mere twenty-three minutes in length. It’s like walking into a crowded room where everyone is talking loudly and trying to sort out exactly what is going on and who everyone is.

And yet, the more I watched, the more I liked it. Behind all the weirdness is a group of complex human beings with rich emotional layers, and they are all hurting in their own ways. Each is doing their best to get along in life, or end it, with little idea of how to do so. They (mostly) keep chugging along anyway, despite constant setbacks. The FLOWERS family, while not exactly likeable, become very sympathetic in a short amount of time.

Mixed with this is zany, madcap comedy, often of misunderstandings and errors, which makes their existence seem like hyper-reality despite the grounding. This is what happens when various mental illnesses collide, often more disturbing than funny, even though the situations themselves are humorous. This structure makes it hard to process or binge watch FLOWERS, and yet, also makes it so unique that I am drawn to continue viewing, if only to reward the huge risk making a show like this is.

Well, that and I would watch the excellent Colman in anything. This is off-type for her, and it’s rewarding to see her rise to the occasion.

FLOWERS will be available on Seeso (NBC’s new streaming comedy channel, available through Roku and Amazon) in the United States beginning Thursday, May 5^th.