WARNING: If you don't want to know what happened in this episode, don't watch this photo recap!
Well, everyone knows the story of how Kal-El (AKA Superman) was sent from Krypton to survive its imminent destruction. But what do we know about the ways, mores, and people of Krypton? Practically nothing. Until now. (Thanks to a voiceover from Superman's grandfather, Seg.)
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200 years before Kal-El's birth, his great-great-grandfather Val-El was tried for treason by a dictatorial new power. He refused to pledge allegiance to the Voice of Rao (the masked figure with the three heads), because he, a great scientific mind, knew that Krypton was not alone in the universe, and that they could be invaded any day.
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Val-El was convicted of sedition, and the high-ranking official Daron-Vex has the entire El house stripped of their rank, Seg included. They were basically made into Kryptonian riff raff.
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And Val was forced to walk the plank…into an icy abyss.
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Fast forward about a decade. Seg gets the shakedown at a bar by two loan sharks. He can somewhat hold his own, but ultimately pulls his punches because...
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His inside man and bookie has Seg hold out until he hits good odds, and they can make out like bandits.
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Seg is doing whatever he can to raise money for his family, because they live so modestly. This hovel is done up in something called underground chic. When Seg's dad forgets his medicine before leaving for work, Seg ventures into Krypton to return it to him.
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Speaking of Krypton, the equivalent of the national guard, the Sagitari, are training. It looks like this. The threat to national security is always present and always dangerous, and a Sagitari is taught to never give up. This one did. She's Lyta-Zod, and that's her mother, Jayna-Zod, holding the knife. Looks like Freudian analysis holds true on Kyrpton too.
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When Seg arrives at the Guild to give his father the medicine, he sees a man preparing to interrupt a treason trial (there are a lot of those, apparently) with a bomb hidden in his arm. Seg springs into action and tackles the offender, after which a guard is able to blow the arm right off.
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To reward his heroism, Daron-Vex decides to reinstate Seg's rank in the science guild, give him a new surname (his own), and marry him off to his daughter (the woman on the right).
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Outside the Guild in the slums, Seg is wakling home when he sees a Sagitari give a homeless man a tough time. Never to let injustice go unanswered, Seg starts to whip the Sagitari's ass.
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Seg is ultimately detained by Lyta. She is going to MESS HIM UP!
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Or just mess up his hair. Because these two are no strangers.
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On his way home, Seg is intercepted by this guy: Adam Strange. Adam is from Earth. He traveled many light years to get to Krypton to warn Seg that someone from the future is coming to Krypton to change the course of history so that Superman is never born.
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Before he runs out of time, Adam gives Seg this thingamajig with the Superman insignia (logo) on it, and tells him he "must find the Fortress."
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After a late night smooch-session with Lyta Seg is walking home when he's roughed up by some Sagitari. Before they can pinch his Superman sandstone, he busts their heads and flees.
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Before Seg gets taken captive, his mom shows up in a really awesome whip. She tells him to hop in shotgun.
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Seg and his mom aren't in the Fortress long before Sagitari descend on it, having tracked the vehicle Seg's mom stole and parked nearby. She's hidden Seg in a secret compartment, and sacrifices herself so that he can continue the journey.
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Well, it wouldn't be a regular day in Krypton if there wasn't a treason trial. This time it's Seg's mom. The council is not satisfied with her testimony: the biotracker in the ship picked up two life forms. She says she was alone in it.
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Seg's father (falsely) confesses that he was the other life form in the ship, draws a firearm, and is, in turn, fatally blasted.
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Seg's mom attempts to avenge her husband's death by shooting the executioner, but is also laid low. By whom?
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Jayna! She and Charys knew each other, and all about their children's liason dangereuse. She promised Charys a painless death, free of torture.
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Well, to quote Oscar Wilde, to lose one parent is a misfortune. To lose two is carelessness. And Seg isn't taking the misplacement easily. He vents his anger out on Lyta, because, after all, it was her mother who pulled the trigger (he knows nothing of the mercy killings). They've got to break up. It was meant to happen sometime, Lyta is betrothed to someone else.
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Feeling pretty solitary, Seg returns to the Fortress of Solitude, where he's met by Adam again. This time, Strange has brought a cape: it's meant to signal to them how much time they have left before they run out of time to save Superman.
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When that happens, there will be nothing to stop Brainiac from consuming Krypton…and every other planet in the UNIVERSE!
