SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the Krypton episode “The Word of Rao.” Proceed with caution.
If you watched Krypton tonight, you may have recognized the man who kidnapped Seg-El. The formidable “commander”, as he called himself, was played by none other than actor Colin Salmon. During Arrow Season 1, Salmon played Walter Steele, Moira Queen’s new husband and the CEO of Queen Consolidated. Salmon essentially helped launch the Arrowverse, alongside Stephen Amell, Susanna Thompson, and Willa Holland.
Salmon is a much welcomed addition to Krypton, both for his experience in the Arrowverse and the threat that his character poses to Seg. The episode clearly showed how brutal the commander can be and also how valuable be might be in stopping Brainiac. Let’s jump into some of the top moments from “The Word of Rao.”
Lyta, Wrongfully Accused
The focus of this episode was all about Rao, the religious leader of Krypton. After the death of the rankless on last week’s episode, Rao decided to visit the people, to give them a sense of calm. After visiting the rankless, the Voice of Rao then accused Lyta-Zod of working with Black Zero, the group of anti-Rao terrorists .
Lyta was then arrested and imprisoned, with the implication that she would be executed for her crimes. Lyta’s mother, Jayna-Zod, knew that she was innocent, as did Seg. So, Seg appealed to Nyssa for help. Up to this point, Nyssa has been a presumed antagonist, but upon Seg’s request, she agreed to help prove Lyta’s innocence. Her ulterior motives were revealed however, that she plans to help her father stage a coup against Rao and assume control of Kandor.
Meet the Commander
While Seg was on his way to clear Lyta’s name, he was kidnapped by Black Zero. He was then tortured, or what seemed to be like torture. What Black Zero was really doing was testing to see if Seg had been compromised by Brainiac. When his torturer unmasked himself, he revealed himself to be the commander (Colin Salmon).
The commander knew about Brainiac, he knew about the probe and he knew that the probe had infected Seg’s friend Rhom. Seg was intent on defending Rhom from the commander’s torture, but the commander was certain that she wasn’t safe from Brainiac’s powers yet.
The commander then revealed that he wasn’t really a member of Black Zero, but that he was using Black Zero to protect Krypton from Brainiac. What the commander didn’t reveal was how he knew so much about the mysterious alien foe. The commander continued to torture Seg for information until the pair struck a bargain. Seg would give up Rhom’s location if the commander broke Lyta out of Fort Rozz.
The Death of Rao
The commander’s fears were soon realized when Rhom’s daughter gave the Voice of Rao a toy figurine. The girl presented it to Rao as a gift of worship, what she didn’t know was that it was infected with a Brainiac sentry. During the final scene of the episode, the sentry broke out of the figure and attached itself to the Voice of Rao.
That is not going to turn out well. Brainiac now has a direct line of communication to Krypton and has control over the most powerful voice in Kandor. Surely the Voice of Rao has access to more of the city than anyone else, except maybe Daron-Vex. Perhaps it’s a good thing that Nyssa and her father are planning to overthrow Rao. It may help save Krypton, in the long run.
Krypton airs on SyFy, Wednesdays at 10PM.
