Krypton is under the firm control of General Zod, but still a resistance persists, numbering Nyssa-Vex, Val-El and Jax-Ur among its ranks. Meanwhile, Seg-El is trapped in the Phantom Zone, although not entirely alone.

At the end of its first season, Krypton set up plenty of stuff – the statue of Zod that Adam saw when he returned home, the implications of Nyssa’s true nature, the cape being restored but its crest changing to that of the House of Zod. This opener for season 2 wastes no time in getting stuck into the gritty stuff.

Picking up six months after the climactic events of that finale, Dru-Zod has now almost completely consolidated his power on Krypton, taking over the other cities, and engaged in a campaign of indoctrination of its populace through whatever means necessary. Standing beside him in all this is his mother Lyta, who apparently believes that her son has only the best intentions for his world. There are hints though, that perhaps she hasn’t quite drunk all the kool-aid just yet.

But of course, a resistance remains against Zod, though it’s not really his main focus – that would be the escaped and still missing Doomsday, which Zod intends using as a weapon. Not against the people of Krypton, but against any other planet which might resist his rule. Zod, it seems, is not content with simply ruling one world, but then did we ever believe he would be?

The resistance don’t get much to do here other than deliver some exposition to both a newly returned Adam Strange and also us the audience. They’re gathering strength on one of Krypton’s moons, preparing to strike at Zod and topple his regime. Led by Nyssa, Val and Jax, the one thing weighing them down is Nyssa’s search for answers regarding exactly who and what she is. That’s an obsession which may as well have a flashing red warning light hanging over it, but then fiction wouldn’t be entertaining if our heroes were all sensible. I will say that the fierceness of Nyssa seems to have been dulled a little by motherhood, and I hope that’s not an indicator of the character’s arc for this season because frankly I’d have expected the exact opposite. Still, she did relatively recently find out that most of her life was a lie, so maybe she’s just recalibrating – I certainly hope so as her character was always one of the best things about the show.

As to poor Seg, he’s stuck in the Phantom Zone which means we as an audience get to see into it for the first time. No spinning mirrors through space here – we are right in the mess and it’s really quite breathtakingly well done. It’s an odd realm of echoes and mirages, full of images of the past and the future with often no way of telling which is which. Seg’s opportunity at an escape drives him into a whole new conflict – one I’m fairly sure the show is trying to trick us about the resolution of even as the credits roll.

All things considered though, it’s a nice return for the show. The FX budget appears to have stepped up, though not so much as to distance the show from its previous season too much. There’s the return of all sorts of familiar faces, some more surprising than others. And there’s a sense that there could be any number of different arcs for the season to follow as it progresses.

Verdict: A solid opener for the second season of what was one of the better genre shows of last year. I look forward to seeing where they take this one. 9/10

Greg D. Smith