and we're back! in today's chapter, jor-el commits grand theft skull! yay!
so, we start right where we left off. no, i don't think you understand: the chapter literally starts with 'tor-an carried out zod's orders'. this dude really doesn't trust us with figuring out that time has passed, does he? anyway, they strip jor-el of his cape and shit before they lead him off to wherever they're taking everyone.
jor-el looks back to see zod in the throne room, not looking all happy like he thought he would, and thinks about how much of a shame it is that the war zod's starting is for nothing. you know, i really do like this relationship they've set up between zod and jor. it's suitably sad and heartfelt, even if it is a rip-off of grindelwald and dumbledore. i don't think i've mentioned it here, but one thing chris nolan movies are always lacking is platonic relationships, especially between two dudes. cox did this in the tdkr novelization too, adding in the connection between nameless dude #1 and bane during the plane scene. i'm sure this relationship is in the movie, but i doubt it's seen this in depth. good move, mr. cox.
the moment is kind of ruined by a line reminding us that jor-el has 'plans', though. sigh
everything has gone to shit now, and there's a huge battle raging outside. zod's dudes are cut off in the hallway by jor-el's one robot, kelex, and jor-el is able to make his escape when kelex fucking blinds everyone. as badass as that is, this is such a dues ex machina; we don't find out that kelex was there until he shows up in the tunnel. this could have been avoided with a single line in the last chapter, so that's big points off, man.
as jor is running away from zod's dudes before they can get back up, he skypes lara and tells her what's up. there's a nice moment when he's too busy thinking and she's like 'behind you!'. that was cool. however, that's ruined by the part where the author mentions lara's 'flawlessly rendered' lips as she starts to argue with jor-el about the baby ship. i shit you not, this is the point where i officially threw out any headcanon i had of her and she just became liv tyler as arwen. what the fuck dude? she's just some kryptonian lady, not a model or a doll or something. jesus, i'm dreading what he'll do when we reach lois lane.
now, having said how much i like the relationship between jor and zod, i hate his relationship with his wife. like, yeah it's obvious that they love each other, but they're so boring. and it's the fault of the author, because he paints lara as two dimensional and plain. she's basically edward cullen with bella's lack of conviction and personality. jor-el isn't much better, but at least we have a sense of history about him.
this next section begins the numerous mentions of the color of the sky, all of which are unnecesary, as he said it last chapter and that was enough. it wasn't like it was changing or anything. another dues ex machina happens, saving jor-el from a crashing ship that was headed towards him when he exited the tunnels. lovely. somehow this guy finds a way to remind us that superman is a boy while reminding us that jor-el has 'plans'. how would we forget that??? man is in the title - we know the gender of the child dude!
jor-el is still standing on the terrace above the shitstorm when he calls on his animal-airship thing, which is called h'raka and i literally cannot envision in my mind's eye. she's not described well enough - he doesn't even mention how many legs she has - for me to come up with anything. think of you're favorite non-avian flying type pokemon and imagine that instead, i guess. i know this is adapted from the screenplay, but i have such a hard time believing this is in the movie. it feels so out there, even for an alien planet like krypton. it really takes me out of the story. also, why wasn't she mentioned before? see, this is what happens when you ***. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS.
but anyway, he flies her over the battle toward this building called the genesis chambers, giving us some time to see the carnage up close. there's a lot of the unnecessary paragraph breaks here and it's annoying as hell. like, i know the method of breaking for poignancy, i've done it before too, but when you do it more than once on the same damn page the effect is lost.
we get another *** (there was one right after he spoke to lara) and homie is at the genesis chamber, which is basically the literal tree of life. the place is unguarded because of the war going on, which is lampshaded by jor, and dude lands and dives right in. literally. the tree is filled with fetuses and their robot nurses floating around in amniotic fluid, which is kind of cool but mostly gross. jor's looking for the codex, which is another thing i don't really get and isn't explained well, even though i read ahead a chapter. there's a fun moment before this when kelex tells jor where the codex is, and starts to warn him of the legal action that'll be taken if he breaks in, and jor is like 'no one cares anymore, kelex, the world is ending.' i'm there dude.
in this part we also learn that krypton has, apparently abandoned the 'recklessness' of sexual reproduction for the much more controlled method of test tube babies in a tree. so superman isn't the first baby born on krypton in ages - he's the first baby born out of a vagina in ages! he gets more and more special by the minute! if it turns out that he's never going to age once he gets to earth he really will be the new renesmee!
after almost getting caught because he accidentally kicked one of the baby bubbles (i'd say that'd have a lasting effect, but the world is ending), jor gets to the codex, which is a fossil covered in writing hanging right above the pool he came out of. he doesn't even have to get out of the baby juice to grab it! how nice! getting the skull sets off the alarms, so jor has to get out of dodge while the nurse bots chase after him and bite his ankles. he's not hurt though, because he's wearing an advanced skinsuit to protect himself - so, basically, under armor. i hope you all didn't think he was running around naked, or in his underroos! oddly, this is the only thing that avoids being a dues ex, but it's so much easier to mention these things as the story demands instead of establishing they exist prior.
one of the robots manages to get him as he's getting out of the water and he loses the codex for a moment, but it was already established that these robots weren't built for fighting, so he's able to kick it off and get it before it rolls off of the branch. he came out through the wrong one in his haste, so dude takes the most literal leap of faith ever and is, thankfully, caught by h'raka before he falls to the ground. the chapter ends with him directing her home.
this chapter is full of imaginary stakes. things happen that should hinder jor significantly - zod's men, the falling ship, the codex rolling toward the edge - but they don't because of course they don't. there aren't any real stakes outside of the world ending in a week and the civil war happening. i feel like i just read a padding chapter, and the retrieval of the codex is hella important. it doesn't help that we have no idea what the codex even is yet, and i feel like we won't learn until much later in the book. we get over-explanations of everything else, but we can't get a small hint at what this is? i smell a mcguffin, everyone.
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