Krypton S01E03 Review: Brainiac is Coming

Krypton, Season 1, Episode 3: The Rankless Initiative

I would enjoy Krypton a lot more if they actually didn't try to resort to exposition in every second line of dialogue. This episode is somewhat better than the previous two episodes in that we aren't stuck in 100% exposition mode, and the episode has a far more solid story than the previous two, but it's still not the most impressive or fun superhero show out there. 

While the show has mostly stumbled in trying to portray Brainiac as this world-ending threat (and part of it is reusing the same two or three shots of CGI Brainiac which just feels ridiculous), this is the first episode that really works in doing so, because the plot of the episode revolves around Seg-El, Adam Strange and Kem trying to hunt down the mysterious Brainiac Probe that's already been taken by someone among the populace, and this is Kem and Seyg's fellow Rankless buddy, Rhom, who's been working salvage outside of the city to make ends meet.

Of course, Team Seyg's attempts to hunt down the Brainiac probe ends up complicated thanks to the titular Rankless Initiative, where Lyta-Zod is forced to lead her Sagittari to crush the Rankless quadrants that Seyg lives in in order to root out the Black Order terrorist group. And while Lyta tries her best to be fair (arresting a Sagittari that shot a defenseless Rankless), police brutality and the beatdown of the Rankless still happens, which is portrayed pretty competently by the show. Oh, and there's the whole bit with Rhom mutating into a techno-organic cyborg monster, killing a bunch of Sagittari and causing Seyg to ask Lyta to lend him the Kryptonian equivalent of an EMP grenade and fry Rhom's circuits. Lyta is sort of brought into the loop of alien invaders, and the happenings there can be placed at the hands of Black Order terrorists, but the episode ends in a rather somber note as Rhom is still trapped as a Brainiac drone, Lyta's career is seen in an unfavourable light and Daron-Vex has to face the Voice of Rao for his failure. 

Again, the Rankless Initiative is a very interesting setup for a storyline and setting, and probably the highlight of the episode. It's a shame that the episode itself end up feeling so dull for long stretches of time, and not helping is the pretty contradictory bits in the series about Brainiac's nature. Last episode establishes that they can't get a reading in space for an anomaly because Brainiac is already here... but this episode immediately handwaves it, because Brainiac is still in space, it's just the probe that's here. And the probe, supposed to gather information about what planet it's on, just... hangs around in Rhom's body (seemingly pretty quickly too, in a matter of days) before going all alien-invader and trying to transmit its information back to Brainiac, noting that Krypton is worthy of collection. 

Overall, though, it's still a pretty strong outing for Krypton. it's a shame that the editing and repetitive expository dialogue makes this a slog. Thankfully, Seyg-El, Adam Strange and Lyta-Zod are starting to really feel more like people, so there's definitely that. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The leader of the Black Order is identified as Jax-Ur, a Kryptonian criminal imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, who, ironically, in his original incarnation actually fought the Black Zero (there an alien force instead of a group of Kryptonian terrorists). In most continuities Jax-Ur tended to be a minion of the iconic General Zod, other than Superman: The Animated Series where Jax-Ur ended up standing in for Zod as the Kryptonian military leader released from the Phantom Zone. 
• While not part of his standard modus operandi, Brainiac has been known to transform humans into his drones and agents, most notably Lex Luthor's daughter Lena in the "Our Worlds At War" arc.
• Among the objects that Adam Strange is offered by the random trader is a Daxamite blade, which is a reference to Daxam, Krypton's more warlike sister planet and where Supergirl's Mon-El hails from.
• Another thing that the trader notes is 'Gem City', which isn't a reference to a specific location (as far as I can tell -- it does sound very Golden Age-y) but DC's Central City and Keystone City are often collectively referred to as the Gem Cities. 
• The design of the grenade that Seyg takes from Lyta is a visual homage to the Omegahedron, the plot device from the 1984 Supergirl movie that barely anyone remembers.