As the Nova Ceremony begins, the Voice of Rao demands Vex find a suitable figure to take public responsibility for the failures of the Rankless Initiative. Meanwhile, Rhom grows weaker and Seg and Kem must face up to telling her daughter the truth about her condition.

Wow. Krypton has gone from a thudding bore of a cheap sci-fi Game of Thrones wannabe to a genuinely compelling piece of genre television in the space of a mere handful of episodes. I for one would not have predicted this.

And the complexity is genuine – by the end of this instalment, there really are all sorts of balls up in the air, various different factions vying for control and it’s honestly difficult to pick any side to root for.

Like last week, the show makes the positive step of focusing on giving other (dare I say it, more interesting) characters in the show equal time and attention as Seg. This means we get to learn a little more about Kem’s background, a lot more about the relationship (such as it is) between Lyta Zod and her mother, and get a first proper glimpse into the inner circles of both the Voice of Rao and Black Zero.

And the Game of Thrones comparison bears making as well – we have a host of characters who while bad, are still bad in differing proportions to one another. We have schemers who are clearly not to be trusted, but whose plans may incidentally help our protagonists along the way. We have religious zealots who rule with an iron fist but also offer hope. We have terrorists who are fighting for things which may well, in and of themselves, be worthy but involve a lot of other, bad things being done on the way, and we have individuals ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their honour.

Of course we also have Adam Strange standing around doing very little but quip occasionally (including a ‘meta’ comic book reference which isn’t as clever as it thinks it is) and the Fortress of Solitude with Val El’s hologram/ghost/AI/thing wandering around looking worried and dispensing the occasional bit of jargon, but if you sort of ignore those (as the show largely does) and focus on the politicking and the story of betrayal, plots, double and treble crosses, honour and family, then you’ll enjoy it all the more.

Verdict: It’s still not perfect, hampered as it is by certain elements, but this is turning into rollicking good fun. Well worth watching as long as the writers continue to remember to give the interesting stuff more screen time. 8/10.

Greg D. Smith