‘Krypton’ Season 1, Episode 3 ‘The Rankless Initiative’ Recap: Everything’s Too Late [SPOILERS]

From a downhill slope in “The House of El,” SyFy’s “Krypton” becomes an abyss. We’re getting conflict from every part of the story. And, we see each character’s principles at its finest. But what are principles against an unstoppable and monstrous being that has set its eyes on Krypton?

In “The Rankless Initiative,” Seg and Adam try to hunt down Brainiac’s sentry in a goose chase. They keep trying to hold onto the hope of not being too late. But, every single time they find a piece of the puzzle, they keep losing more of that confidence. On top of that, the rankless are being pushed around once more to weed out the terrorist group Black Zero. There is a brewing war in and out of Krypton. And the Kryptonians still think they’re invincible.

Brainiac Goes Scouting

Seg (Cameron Cuffe) and Adam (Shaun Sipos) take the strange black object to Val-El (Ian McElhinney) in the Fortress. Val puts it under analysis, and they find out that it’s a shell for the real scout, Brainiac’s sentry. Val explains that once the sentry’s out of its shell, it takes a host. The sentry uses the host to gather information about the planet and its civilization which it sends back to its master. After that, it leaves the host for dead.

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Adam suggests opening it and deactivating the little bugger inside. Seg seconds the motion. However, all that attacked them was a newfound fear over an empty shell. Someone seems to have welcomed the sentry into Krypton before Seg, and the others had a chance to.

Several days before Kem (Rasmus Hardiker) and Adam discovered the shell, Seg and Kem’s friend Rhom (Alexis Raben) found a job as an outland salvager. On her first expedition, she sees the shell and whatever’s inside it.

Seg suggests deactivating the sentry once they find the host its taken. But, Val cannot give assurances to his grandson. It’s another one of the things that the council had stopped him from discovering when they stopped his research. Adam steps up for Seg and insists they still try. They retrace their steps, and Seg mentions that things found by salvage crews in the outlands only go to two places: the guild or the black market. Seg takes the guilds, and Adam goes for the black market.

Lyta Slams the Rankless Initiative

Seg talks to Nyssa (Wallis Day) as they enter the guild. Before they go their separate ways, Nyssa catches him off guard when she asks him to congratulate Lyta (Georgina Campbell) on her new promotion. Seg confronts Lyta about it. But, Lyta refuses to explain herself. But when Seg insists and falls short of directly calling her a murderer, Lyta fires back.

Lyta tells Seg that her decision was her effort to change how the Sagitarii treats the rankless. Seg reels back saying that he should be thanking her then. He then asks her to help him find anything strange sent up to the guilds. Down in the black market, Rhom takes an obviously unfair deal in her desperation to sell off the sentry.

Meanwhile, in Daron Vex’s (Elliot Cowan) office, the Voice of Rao graces Daron and Nyssa with a threat. If the Rankless Initiative fails, Daron is in danger of grave punishment. There’s nothing that spells fear like Daron’s face as the Voice of Rao delivers his pending verdict.

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Daron meets the Sagitarii for the briefing of the Rankless Initiative. Primus Jayna-Zod (Ann Ogbomo) explains the objective to target the leaders of Black Zero in Sector 9 of the rankless territory. Once again, Lyta tries to protect the rankless. She suggests collaborating with them instead of treating them like Black Zero without question. Her mother shuts her off before Lyta could continue her argument.

Outside the meeting room, Jayna chastises her daughter. But, Lyta reminds her mother that she killed a man for the right to open her mouth and speak her mind. The primus turns the argument back to Lyta’s new position as commander. She reminds Lyta that she bears the life of every single Sagitarii on her squad. For the nth time in “Krypton,” Jayna leaves with the last say.

Lyta goes into the locker room to find Dev-Em (Aaron Pierre) cleaning out Quex-Ul’s locker. She apologizes, but Dev clarifies that he understands why she did what she did. He comforts her about her doubts but reminds her never to show it in front of the squad. When Lyta starts voicing out her concerns about the Rankless Initiative, Dev sharply tells her that orders are orders. He further chastises Lyta as he says that he shouldn’t be saying that to a commander. For the second time, Lyta is left standing alone.

The Sagitarii Goes Hunting

Adam wanders into Krypton’s black market in search of the sentry. Adam spots the sentry but, the seller offers it to him in a mindblowing price that’s a hundred times more than what Rhom sold him for it. Adam pulls the classic haggling statement ‘he said yours are fake.’ When the seller turns his back to look at the other sellers, Adam quickly scampers off.

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Meanwhile, Lyta briefs her squad about the Rankless Initiative. Like a real commander, she firmly asserts that the mission is to be done with honor and respect. Not one shot is to be fired towards innocent life.

Back in Kem’s bar, Adam slides behind the counter to hide. He answers Seg and Kem’s dumbfounded looks with the sentry in his hand. Adam tries to get a fist bump from Kem but, the later stares at it and orders him out from the bar. Adam flips him the finger. Kem frustratingly calls out “I don’t understand you!” but fist bumps Seg before he leaves.

As they walk the streets, Seg suggests using the sentry to see how far Brainiac is through some reverse engineering. Their way back to the Fortress is cut short however by the arrival of the Sagitarii. Commotion immediately starts. Seg orders Adam to go ahead and take the sentry to Val. Seg makes a beeline towards Lyta and angrily confronts her and questions her way of changing things. Lyta tries to explain but ends up telling Seg to go away.

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Back in the Fortress, Adam shows Val his Zeta beam. He admits that it hasn’t been working lately. His predicament is short lived however as the analysis of the sentry flashes red. Adam and Val call Seg and tell him that the sentry has already found a host.

In the midst of the Sagitarii operation, Kem finds Ona and a sickly looking Rhom. Rhom falls and three Sagitarii separate Kem and Ona from her. As she stands back up, her eyes open to reveal pitch black darkness. With enormous strength, she throws the three Sagitarii around like rags and walks away.

Kem takes Ona back to his bar where Seg meets them. Seg reassures Ona that what her mother did was not her fault. As Kem and Seg privately discuss it, Seg couldn’t assure that they could save Rhom. He leaves Ona in Kem’s care as he looks for Rhom.

Meanwhile, the Sagitarii continue their operation. Kol-Da (Andrea Vasiliou), one of the Sagitarii, turns more aggressive towards one of the rankless captives. Another rankless prisoner in line tries to stop the brutality towards his comrade. As he steps forward towards Kol-Da, she shoots him.

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Lyta arrives just in time to stop an all-out war between the rankless and the Sagitarii. Kol-Da explains to her commander that she shot in self-defense against a man protecting a probable Black Zero member. Lyta immediately pinpoints to Kol-Da’s inconclusiveness and puts her under arrest for the murder of an innocent.

Brainiac Sets His Eyes to Krypton’s End

Adam tells Seg that Rhom might be headed towards a communication center. As he continues, Adam indirectly forces Seg to choose between his friend and the whole of Krypton. Rhom is Brainiac’s agent now.

Seg asks Lyta for help. Though she’s only figured out part of the whole picture, she trusts Seg and gives him the device that he’s asking for. She also holds back her squad from infiltrating the breached communications hub against the orders of her mother.

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In the communications hub, Seg finds Rhom’s back connected to wires and tubes. He tries to speak to her but, the sentry in her talks back to him as it throws Seg to the wall. As computer wires strangle him, Seg reaches out to Rhom and tells her to fight for Ona. For a split second, Rhom seems to have resisted enough for her control over the wires strangling Seg to loosen up. Seg manages to grab the electronics disabler and successfully shuts down the sentry along with a whole section of the guilds. Dev-Em and a couple of Sagitarii enter the hub a few minutes later to find the room empty.

Lyta finds Seg and Rhom in an abandoned street. Upon seeing Rhom’s condition, Lyta realizes there’s more to what’s happening than Seg’s telling her. Seg admits that his grandfather was right. There is something out there that’s gotten Rhom and is planning to take Krypton. Lyta wants to tell the council, but Seg refuses. He prioritizes Rhom’s life first.

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Seg takes Rhom to Val. Val can’t answer if she’s going to live or not, but he tells Seg that whatever Brainiac did to her, it’s keeping her alive. Reversing the process might kill her. Adam tries to see the positive side that Rhom didn’t get to a transmitter to send information to Brainiac. However, Val reveals that she is the transmitter.  Not only that, the data has already been sent. Brainiac has all he needs to take over Krypton.

“Krypton” continues next Wednesday, April 11th, with “The Word of Rao” at 10/9c on SyFy.