‘Krypton’ Season 2, Episode 6 ‘In Zod We Trust’ Recap: Where Devastation Leads

After last week’s shocking climax, “In Zod We Trust” is the perfect response. It keeps the emotions afloat in Krypton while helping the narrative smoothly overcome this transition. In addition to that, this week’s episode of Krypton saw a multitude of great performances from the show’s actors. Ann Ogbomo, Cameron Cuffe, Colin Salmon, Ian McElhinney – every single one of them may have just given their best performance yet. And fortunately, we blissfully still have 4 more episodes to go and a lot more to expect before another long wait.

Last week’s loss quite literally pulled the trigger for Krypton. And now, hell is on the verge of breaking loose. Despite this, Seg (Cameron Cuffe) and the others are trying to recoup and find reason again to fight. And it is more crucial now that General Zod (Colin Salmon) has lost all restraint and has become a revenge-seeking, dangerous murderer. On the other hand, the rebellion has also changed pace. After Jax’s (Hannah Waddingham) rash decision, she was outcasted. And now, it lies on Val (Ian McElhinney) to make the hard choices.

Civil Strife

Lyta’s loss weighed heavily on everyone even Zod. While his officer was reporting about Doomsday’s whereabouts in the Outlands, all Zod could care about was if Lyta’s public execution was still being broadcasted all throughout Kandor. Sadly, all the lad could tell Zod was that the rebels still held control of the broadcast system. In his anger, Zod just straight up throws the man out of the tower.

Meanwhile, in Wegthor, the rebels were just as appalled with Jax’ actions. And she tries to earn back their confidence through streamlining with a speech of victory. But, this time, Val no longer keeps his silence. As one of McElhinney’s best moments, Val nails a powerful monologue reminding the rebels what they’re really fighting for which sends them turning against Jax.

After putting Jax in custody, Val takes charge of the rebellion. And a few moments after, Zod gives him a call demanding he hand over Jax-Ur. This time, Zod makes it clear that it isn’t a negotiation. The rebels either hand Jax over or everyone on Wegthor, rebel or not, faces merciless execution.

Another person taking the chances with Zod is Nyssa (Wallis Day). But, unlike the rebels, she has something over Zod – the codex. And it seems that Zod is keen enough to get it that he allows the deal to exchange the codex for Cor-Vex to push through. In addition to that, Nyssa has threatened to destroy it without any mind to its contents. So, Zod doesn’t really have a choice.

Unforgiven

Apart from Zod, Seg, Jayna (Ann Ogbomo), and Dev (Aaron Pierre) are also reeling from Lyta’s death. Dev particularly shouldered a huge amount of guilt for giving up on Lyta (Georgina Campbell) when she chose to blindly follow General Zod. And he couldn’t forgive himself for it. In the midst of all the grief, Brainiac (Blake Ritson) chooses the opportune moment to lecture Seg about putting logic before emotion. When he couldn’t take it any longer, Seg screams for him to shut up surprising Jayna and Dev. Luckily, Seg manages to segway telling Dev not to blame himself and urging them to move on and push forward. Suddenly, Dev hears about Nyssa’s arrival from the Sagitarii com.

Upon landing on Krypton, Nyssa is escorted by two Sagitarii. But, somewhere along the way, they lead her to a more isolated path. And it turns out, they were never planning to deliver the codex to Zod with her. Fortunately, Nyssa’s badass fighting skills allow her to kill the Sagitarii before they kill her. On her escape, she bumps into Seg and the others.

As they regroup, Nyssa tells them everything. It turns out, Val knew about Nyssa’s deal with Zod. And he put a fail-safe on the codex that would it shut it down if any attempts to weaponize it was made. It was obvious that Nyssa had a slim chance of getting out alive of the deal. But, she is adamant on doing whatever she can to save her son. Jayna wouldn’t allow her facing Zod alone. But, Seg has other things in mind. And like Nyssa, he’s dead set on keeping people he loves away from any more harm.

Temporary Solutions

While Nyssa and the others are hatching their plan in Krypton, Val, Kem (Rasmus Hardiker), and Adam (Shaun Sipos) are facing the dilemma of Zod’s request. Adam sees no point to handing Jax over since Zod would still hunt them all down. And Val agrees. But, he agrees to hand Jax over to buy them more time.

The surprising thing is even though Val betrayed Jax, she still holds this massive respect for her old mentor. And she’s still willing to do the dirty bits just for the sake of making Val and her vision come true. Using a hairpin from Araame (Kae Alexander), Jax digs out her com device from her arm. Then, she somehow uses it to incapacitate their guard and escape.

Meanwhile, Zod is sparing no time developing his weaponry. Specifically, he’s on the cusp of developing a weapon that can incinerate even the strongest of bunkers with the use of the codex. When Nyssa arrives with the very thing, Zod calms down the very slightest. What he didn’t expect is that Nyssa upped the codex’ protection programming it to only unlock at her voice command. Surprisingly, this impresses Zod. And he offers her an opportunity to work by his side with the promise of a position as governor of one of Krypton’s colonies in the future. This doesn’t entice Nyssa one bit.

When Zod brings out Cor, Nyssa hands over the codex. And only after Zod commands the guards to leave does she unlock it. As Zod marvels at his new prize, Nyssa walks over to the tower’s window. While keeping Zod distracted, she closes down the invisible barrier. Then, with her son in her arms, she jumps. Zod realizes Nyssa’s plan too late. And when he gets to the window, Nyssa’s already in the skimmer Seg had waiting all along. Zod does, however, get a few blasts to the skimmer as it flies away.

Tough Choices

On their way to their hideout in the Outlands, Seg’s skimmer starts malfunctioning as an effect of one of Zod’s hits. And it threatens to end their lives in a horrendous crash. Brainiac speaks up just at the right moment, purring in Seg’s head, convincing him to let him help. Though this means allowing him to take control even for a tiny little bit,  Seg allows it. And Brainiac cooks up a solution just in time.

Arriving at the outpost, Nyssa faces Jayna first and foremost. But unlike hours ago, the Jayna she sees is more defeated and hopeless. Though Seg tries to lift their spirits into a fighting mood, it seems that Lyta’s loss has only started to settle in Jayna’s bones. And the pain is starting to drain the fight from her.

Meanwhile, Val and the others discover Jax’ escape and the huge amounts of bombs missing from their arsenals. They immediately set out to follow Jax. And they intercept her just in time after she and Araame have planted bombs all over the elevator base station. Seeing she has no way out, Jax hands Val the detonator. She leaves the tough choice to him to set the bombs off and cut Zod’s forces from supplies and reinforcements.  And Val sees her point. They don’t have the numbers to take control of both the base station and their base. Their best chances were what Jax has given them.

The next time Zod calls, Val refuses to bow down anymore. Then, he presses the button blowing up the elevator base station possibly killing handfuls of innocents along with it. As for Jax, Val exiles her.

Conundrum

Back in Krypton, Jayna isolates herself in her grief. But, Dev makes sure that she’s not alone. Just like when they first met again, one keeps the other close as they pour their hearts out in tears. It’s just this time, the tables have turned and it’s Jayna leaning on Dev. Similarly, Seg is also keeping his grief and frustrations to himself. Unluckily for him, he has Brainiac puckering his lips at every thought and emotion passing his brain.

As Seg simmers in his frustrations, Brainiac assures him that he can’t beat his own son. He has absolutely zero possibilities unless he teams up with Brainiac. The only thing Brainiac needs is his ship and his quantum consciousness. Then, he can give Seg everything he needs to beat Zod. As expected, Seg doesn’t want to do it in the slightest. But, one glance at Nyssa and Cor has him thinking otherwise. When Brainiac gives him his word to leave Krypton alone afterward, Seg finally caves. He tells Nyssa the truth about him and Brainiac. And he asks her to accompany him on his plan.

On the other hand, Zod has now turned all his attention to his new weapon. With the codex in hand, it is complete. However, Val’s fail-safe is still in place. Though his team has tried to lift it, the weapon still needs to be tested to make sure the codex works. And Zod has no patience for that. So, he takes it into his own hands to test it in the field. Taking a skimmer alone to the Outlands, he heads into the cave where Doomsday was last headed. Once he’s in its depths, the monster steps forward to face him.

Krypton continues next Wednesday, July 24th, with “Zods and Monsters” at 10/9c on SyFy.