A chance encounter with a runaway member of the Voice of Rao’s attendants gives the gang a plan to try to take him down, but to do so they need the assistance of Black Zero. Kem worries about Ona, and Adam tries his best to fulfil the mission he came to Krypton for.

Starting with a flashback that gives us a bit more insight into exactly where Adam Strange got his time travelling device from, this episode then launches into some serious meat, and there’s plenty to address.

Let’s start with Adam – we saw last week that he has a new-found determination to stop Zod and allow Kandor to be destroyed (thus setting off the chain of events that will eventually lead to the destruction of Krypton itself and the creation of Superman). What he really needs is some facetime with Seg to try to talk him around, but whether he can get it is another matter. Taking things into his own hands in a surprising way indeed, the character gets a little deeper still. At this point it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know who to root for here, and this is helped by the portrayal of Strange’s character.

Elsewhere, the gang have a plan that relies heavily on garnering the support of Black Zero and recovering Dev from where Lyta left him last time out after shooting his arm off. This results in a delightfully tense skimmer journey with Seg living out the nightmare scenario of being cramped in a small place between his lover and his intended, and enduring all the discomfort that brings. It’s a nice moment of levity and boy is it need, because this show is getting darker by the episode.

And then there’s Ona. It seems that she’s the favourite of the thing occupying the Voice of Rao’s body, which is sparing her from the treatment of others, but Kem is worried about her all the same, and desperate to get her away from him and out of danger. Tipper Seifert-Cleveland has done a superb job of realising this diminutive recurring character, and nowhere more so than in this instalment – expect great things from her in future.

I think above all else, what I’m admiring about this show the most is how it keeps you on your toes. There are no clear cut answers here, nothing that can be taken for granted, no black and white notions of good guys and bad guys. We know (because of the nature of the show as a prequel) that Dru Zod is a bad man, but at the same time, there’s an element there of understanding why he might want to save his home world. This episode does start to allow a little more of his ruthless side to show, but it’s by no means clear yet that he won’t take Seg and everyone else along with him, and you wouldn’t blame them either. For a show about a far away alien planet in the distant past, it feels incredibly human.

Verdict: Going from strength to strength, this series continues to impress. Characters do not simply behave as you might expect, and the writers make some bold decisions, some of which are calculated to shock. I don’t mind admitting, I’m hooked. 9/10

Greg D. Smith