The "Krypton" tv series: As Heavy as Kryptonite

In Superman's first appearance (Action Comics #1, 1938), we first heard that the Man of Steel left from the planet Krypton (named after an element on the Periodic Table) justbefore it blew up.

Through the years of the Golden and Silver Age, we learned a few more details, and occasionally visited, but not often.   Krypton remained a shadowy, mysterious place, where extremely muscular people in capes lived in stark white crystal palaces under a red sky, and were named after the Hebrew word for God.  It was a dream world.  It was Heaven.

The new tv series Krypton (2018-) is set in Heaven.

Except it's a horrifying dystopian society.  No crystal palaces, no capes. And it stars Superman's grandfather.

Huh?

Actually, it starts with Superman's great-great grandfather Val-El, who is executed for treason under Magistrate Daron-Vex.  His son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe, top photo) are banished.  Later Daron-Vex decides to marry off his daughter to Seg-El, which will allow him to return to the ranks of the aristocrats.





Meanwhile Seg-El meets Adam Strange  (Shaun Sipos, left), a time-traveler from Earth, who tells him to find the Fortress. He means Superman's Fortress of Solitude  (wait -- wasn't that on Earth), where Seg-El finds his grandfather's research indicating that an alien from the future will threaten the planet.

At ths point I'd be looking askance at Adam, but Grandpa means another alien, Braniac (Blake Ritson, below).

The High Council also wants to know about this research, and interrogates Seg-El's parents about it.  They are killed,leaving Seg-El and Adam on the run from the law.  Fortunately, Seg-El's buddy, comic-relief bartender Kem (Rasmus Hardiker) is willing to hide them.

Whew.  And that's just the first episode.

It gets murkier and murkier.  Seg-El and his Scoobies (including his girlfriend Lyta and a hologram of his grandfather) work on finding Braniac (who is wandering around Krypton inhabiting people) and form an alliance with future villain General Zod, who happens to be Seg's son from the future (not Jor-El). Meanwhile the Black Zero Terrorists, the Vox Conspiracy, and who knows what else have problems of their own.

The end game is making sure that Seg marries the right woman and gives birth to Jor-El, who will give birth to Superman, who will save Krypton...um, I mean go to another world after Krypton is destroyed.

I just got through one episode.   There is a nice Seg-Adam gay subtext, and according to Shaun Sipos, Episode #6  contains a hint that Adam is bisexual in order to "ruffle some feathers," 

In 2018, do you really need to hint around?  And why will a bisexual character upset people?  We've had plenty of gay ones.

I'm not waiting around to find out.  The mythology is too hefty to bear.

C-.