Episode Recap: A Better Yesterday

In an inverted retelling of the Oedipus myth, Seg breaks out of the brain-scrambling chamber, confronts Zod, beats him around a bit with the butt of his gun, and gets him to the ground. Of course, Seg's victory comes at some expense: Brainiac is asserting his hold over Seg's mind more and more. But it's OK in the short term.   

On Wegthor, Nyssa is picked up by some Sagitari and escorted back to Kandor. She's informed of the tainted oxygenators (news to her), and takes credit for the plot. They treat her like a hero. Some hero she is.  

In the Outlands, Jayna and Dev are trying to recruit some untouchables into their cadre to assassinate General Zod. It ain't easy.  But they might not need to. Because Seg has taken General Zod to a communications room, and ordered him to call off the onslaught on Wegthor, upon pain of death. Zod says he can't: the solar flare has shut down all the comms. Seg tells him find a way.  

Jax is still miffed that Val pulled the plug on her whole blow-up-everyone-with-a-codex-bomb plot. But he tells her that if he can get Seg to talk to Lyta, maybe she'll come to her senses, and then expose Zod for what he really is: a terrible person. 

Meanwhile, Dev and Jayna failed to pick up any stragglers, and so they make their way back to Kandor alone. Lyta makes an offer to the rebels: unconditional surrender, and they won't all be eliminated wholesale. Val is surprised when he learns that Seg already contacted Lyta, and that his charms couldn't penetrate her brainwashed noggin. That's all he's got. But Jax has another plan. She uses that cyclopean eye of hers to shoot out lasers, fell the Sagitari, and take Lyta hostage. Things are getting hot in here. 

Jax transmits a hologram to Zod of her holding Lyta hostage. When Seg sees this, he loses his wits, giving Zod the opportunity to take the gun and turn it on him. Jax gives Zod one hour to make a decision: either he recalls his troops from Wegthor, or Lyta dies. When Val opposes Jax's rash plan to kill Lyta if Zod doesn't comply, she gives the order to have him arrested.  Zod phones in to tell Jax that he's going to start retreating his army. She's going to hold him to that.  When that's over, Zod knocks out Seg, and the Oedipus myth is back to normal. 

Adam and Kem are taken prisoner, and their guard is directed to kill them if the hostage, Lyta, is also executed. Their guard is fiddling with the Zeta Beam, when Nyssa enters, shoots him and sets the guys free.    

Brainiac comes to Seg in a vision, and tells him to GTF up off the floor. He does, and interrupts the transmission between Zod and Lyta. Then he and Zod fight with fisticuffs. A nice long fight with choking and flashbacks. That's when Jayna and Dev enter, having passed through all the checkpoints undercover. It's a standoff. Zod throws a knife to try and hit Jayna. Dev catches it. Zod drops Seg and escapes, and Jayna follows him. They've all got to book it now, or become Sagitari prey. While making their escape, Seg shows off some sexy marksmanship. It's kind of cheating, though, considering that Brainiac is directing his moves. But it gets the job done.

Jax is having a conniption when Zod's comms go down. Lyta's not going anywhere until they can verify the retreat of his forces. In a turn of events, Jax finds out that rather than retreating, Zod amassed his forces in an underground mine and sent disguised rebels up into the freight elevator as a decoy. That's the last straw, and she slits Lyta's throat on camera for all of Kandor to see.