Krypton—both the planet andthe Syfy series—has a bit of a problem.
By now, youknowthe planet’s problem. Thanks to a combination of internal pressure, scientific hubris, and the factRussell Croweis the smartest scientist they have, Krypton eventually exploded, leaving one single baby with a hell of a chin cleft to escape and eventually save Earth a thousand times over. It’s a story you know if you’re evena littletangentially aware of Superman, quite possibly the most familiar superhero origin story of all time.
And that’s also exactly what’s been holding back Syfy’sKrypton—fromBatman v. SupermanwriterDavid S. Goyer—which starsCameron Cuffeas Superman’s grandfather Seg-El, and set decades before the Man of Steel is even born. With the apocalypse set in stone,Kryptonhas struggled in the early going with justifying its own existence as a TV series. Right now, the show’s tag line might as well be “if you like Superman andGame of Thrones, here’s something that will probably remind you of all that,” plus then a pair of hands gesturing vaguely. The show has noidentity. It’s gotten by on some flimsy political plot bolstered by empty references to IP you know and love: Brainiac; Zod; a major character from the Superman canon frozen in ice for characters to gawk at for a hot second before being shoved back into storage. WatchingKryptonis like walking through the world’s dustiest Superman museum where you can certainly look at the displays from a distance, but you’re not allowed to feel anything. Which begs the question: If you’re going to make a Superman show without Superman, using mostly references to Superman, why not just make a Superman show?
Let’s take a little Zeta Beam trip through time to 2014, a year when people were asking a very similar question about Fox’sGotham.
WhenGothampremiered,Bruno Heller’s Batman prequel about a baby Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) living in a pre-Rogues Gotham City guarded mostly by a mustache-less Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) shared atonof issues with early-daysKrypton. Selina Kyle couldn’t make it through a single scene without holding a milk jug, Ivy Pepper’s sole character trait was “plants," and Oswald Cobblepot’s archnemesis was literally named Fish because penguins eat fish, you see. Season 1 ofGothamwas one long, extended nudge in your ribs, like a personal hell spent sitting next to the guy who catches every Easter egg inReady Player Onefor eternity.
Then, somewhere between its first and second season,Gothamchanged, and by changed I do mean lost its goddamn mind. And not to sympathize too much with Gotham City’s resident homicidal clown, but the madness is just much, much more fun.Gothamwent from a series bogged down in all that classic Batman heaviness to the type of show whereJames Purefoygets blown up with a bazooka. The latest season of this show has been atrip, man, to the point that I’m halfway convinced Fox told the writers this is the final stretch, and started paying everyone exclusively in MDMA. Anoperatic pig-themed serial killerwas the Big Bad for a few episodes and nothing has ever felt more on-brand. Recently, the top hat-wearing, low-key incestual Mad Hatterdropped a wrecking ballon to some newlyweds for reasons that arenever quite explained. This show killed its “Joker”—played with gleeful energy byShamelessstarCameron Monaghan—brought him back to life, and then killed himagainso they could turn his twin brother into the actual Joker.
Gothamis wild.Gothamis a lot. But most importantlyGothamfound an identity for itself—a no-rules, over-the-top identity—completely outside of the future it’s leading up to. It stopped being about a nonexistent Batman, and started asking what kind of out-of-control insanity would create a need for something as bonkers as the Batman in the first place.
What I amnotsaying is that the fix for every struggling series is to hop in a car to coo-coo-ville and start (sometimes literally) throwing shit at the walls. If that were true, we’d still be singing the praises of ten-time Emmy winnerTrue DetectiveSeason 2. The lessonKryptonneeds to take fromGothamis one of individuality, of finding something to say and a style with which to say it that does not depend entirely on a character we will never see. The best superhero stories use the highest of heightened realities to tell us something about ourselves.EspeciallyBatman and Superman, two characters so rooted in the divide between who they are during the day and what they do at night.Kryptonhas all the tools to do just that, with its charming-as-hell cast and an entire planets-worth of original ideas to explore. ButKryptonis never going to be able to tell us anything interesting aboutusunless it figures that out for itself.
Stories with a fixed ending can still be worth telling. I’m pretty sure we all knew the Titanic was going to eventually hit that iceberg and that movie still made ten billion dollars. But if I’m taking a trip on a boat, or bus, or plane, or planet I know is doomed, you better give me a hell of a reason not to hop off while I still can.
Kryptonairs Wednesday nights on Syfy;Gothamairs Thursday nights on Fox.
