House of El: Season 1, Episode 2

WARNING: If you don't want to know what happened in this episode, don't read this photo recap!

When we last left Seg, Adam had just given him the Superman cape, and he was debating whether or not he was going to follow along with this hare-brained plan. Well, no matter how persuasive Adam tries to be, he just can't seem to make this hunk crack. Seg doesn't believe the whole Brainiac story.

The Sagitari are preparing a raid on the rankless, looking to smoke out the terrorist group known as Black Zero. It's going to be a heavy-duty affair on people who really don't deserve to get the sh*t beaten out of them. What else is new? Needless to say, Lyta is not about it. She wants a more diplomatic approach.

Seg pays soon-to-be daddy-in-law Daron-Vex a visit requesting to give his parents a proper burial. Daron says no way, not for traitors. Then Daron volunteers a bunch of information about Seg's grandfather, about how the old codger built a supercomputer he claimed could detect a far-off life form collecting worlds. Seg realizes this is Brainiac, but everyone else is too dumb or too in denial to believe it. Long story short: Seg finagles his way into a job in the science guild.

After being admitted into the science guild, Seg is also given a sweet tablet with a boatload of information on it. He gives it to Adam, who says he can use it to find proof of Brainiac's imminent arrival/destruction of everything. Well, now's his chance. And if he can't? Then Seg is just going to start up and killing people to avenge his parents' deaths.

Lyta challenges her commander to a duel. If she wins, she will assume his role as a superior officer, and have some bargaining power to reschedule, or even cancel, the raid on the rankless.

Seg slips a knife into his shirt sleeve, and storms into the guild looking for Daron. He finds his betrothed, Nyssa, who, in a sympathetic turn, gives him his parents' ashes. Aww.

Kem and Adam continue to hack the guild tablet for clues, and find that there was a meteorological anomoly out in the outlands of Krypton three days ago. To investigate, they're going to need to hitchhike with the salvage crew. And to do that, they're going to need cash... or a Detroit Lions hat.

And Seg returns to the Fortress of Solitude — because, he wants to be alone! While snooping around his grandfather's hobby-horse stable, he dusts off an altar with the Superman logo engraved on it, and the message "We will be forever bound by the blood of House El." It's written in Kryptonese. So Seg uses the knife he was going to kill Daron with, and slices open his hand (not by accident).

The blood starts up a program that initiates a projection of Val. Before he died, Val whipped this nifty hologram up so that it could guide Seg on his eventual journey. That journey began a few hours ago…

Adam trades some of his authentic Earth goods on the black market for a ride to the outlands. Damn, that was a sweet hat. Worth it?

Not really. Considering that hologram-Val tells Seg everything he wanted to know about Brainiac and the apocalypse. Seg is already on board with stopping it and all.

Meanwhile, that fight that Lyta challenged her officer to? Well, it went on for a really long time, but in the end… she took home the cake. And by cake we mean her commander's head. And by took home, we mean she snapped it.

Seg suprises both betrothed and father-in-law-to-be by refusing to wear another house's sygil (coat of arms). So, in what is a tailor's nightmare, Seg cuts off the Vex sygil, and throws it on the floor.

Just as Daron is about to punish Seg, Rao comes on in and permits Seg to wear the sygil of the science guild. Strange bedfellows being made right here.

And in the outlands, Adam and Kem find a suspicious rock formation in the ground. Could be from a ship. Or aliens. But then again, isn't everyone on Krypton an alien?

Back in Kandor City, Jayna is appointing her daughter, the victor, commander of a troupe of forces. It's kind of a big deal.

And that thing Adam picked up in the outlands? It's called a sentry. Brainiac ships them out to planets he intends to lay waste to. Looks like the brainy fellow already walks amongst them.