Legend of the Seeker: Tears

And so we come to it, the season finale of Legend of the Seeker, which ended up being its Grand Finale as well. For those that have been following along with my reviews since the beginning, you’ll recall me saying that I didn’t watch this season back when it first aired on television, simply because I didn’t want it to finish. I wanted these episodes in reserve!

And yet all things must come to an end, and finally I’ve reached the conclusion of this one: fourteen years after its original air-date and four years since I started my rewatch of season one.

With all my grumbling about how shows are always getting cancelled, it’s timely reminder that this is hardly a new phenomenon. Legend of the Seeker was unceremoniously cut down in its prime, when the writers clearly had plenty more steam in their engines, and there were plenty of narrative seeds sown throughout these episodes that were clearly meant to have payoff in a third season.

Though in saying that, we get forty-four episodes in total. These days cancellation at the end of a second season would probably leave you with only sixteen episodes, if you were lucky.

Let’s get to it then: the very last episode of Legend of the Seeker. I am bereft!

Legend of the Seeker: Unbroken

Back to it. I am determined to have this season (and the show in its entirety) finished before the New Year. And here we are at the penultimate episode, with the Boxes of Orden and Jennsen appearing in the “previously on” segment. Ooh. And hey, this episode is directed by Michael Hurst!

If the finale of season one dealt with time travel, in which Richard was thrown forward through time and into a Bad Future, then the second season finale side-steps into alternative timelines, in which a spell is cast that changes a single element of the past, which subsequently has a butterfly effect on the present day.

Legend of the Seeker: Eternity

I’m currently on leave for two weeks, so let’s get this DONE.

We’re three episodes out from the season’s final episode (which ended up being the final episode of the show in its entirety) and there are a lot of moving parts on the board: a resurrected Darken Rahl, the Sisters of the Dark running around, and our heroes – now with an understanding of what they need to do with the Stone of Tears – using the compass to finally get where they want to go. No more detours, it’s go-time.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, this is a Cara-centric episode. It brings her season-long arc full circle, what with her being recaptured by her former friends/allies, subjected to Mord Sith “training” (that is, torture and brainwashing) and withstanding the mental and physical pain long enough to secure her own escape. The writers, and actress Tabrett Bethell, have put in the work to make this storyline satisfying, the character having convincingly won the trust of Richard, Kahlan and Zed over the course of the season, and worked through the multitude of Capital-I Issues when it comes to the psychological turmoil she’s undergone since childhood.

In many ways, this episode is the culmination of her journey.

Legend of the Seeker: Extinction

First of all, I have to express my excitement that Renn reappears in this episode! This came as a total surprise to me, as years ago on a message board I was informed he was never seen again after his first appearance in “Listener” right at the start of season one, and so I had assumed the character (like so many others) was a one-and-done.

I’ve no idea if the person who told me this was lying on purpose or just misremembering the show in its entirety, but it made for an unexpected treat when he returned – even though he was an awful brat the first time around. Still, I love reappearances from previously-established characters, even more so when it comes as a surprise (or at least it would have been to greater effect if the “previously on” segment hadn’t given the game away).

Legend of the Seeker: Walter

Well, this episode was an odd little detour, and I’m not even sure how to describe it. For a while it almost felt like a Slice of Life episode for a character we’ve never seen before: Darken Rahl’s body double, a lookalike called Walter.

With our usual quartet of Richard, Kahlan, Cara and Zed only appearing in the first five minutes and the final act of the episode, most of the runtime is taken up with the narrative of a D’Haran captain called Malray, who spins the tale of Walter as a comedic yarn in a public house, only for the whole thing to end with some rather disturbing implications, in which Rahl once again takes advantage of circumstances and claws his way back to the land of the living.

It provides a fun showcase for Craig Parker, who naturally gets to play a very different type of character this time around. Walter is everything Rahl is not (sans an ability to seize opportunities when they arise) and makes for a fun And Now For Someone Completely Different protagonist for the duration of this particular episode.

Which means that I told a lie way back when I did my review for “Denna,” stating that hers was the only episode named after a specific character – though Walter is about as far removed from Denna and the Mord Sith as you can imagine.

Also, KATRINA LAW! Despite never having watched this season before, I knew going in that there were going to be several familiar faces: Charisma Carpenter, Keisha Castle-Hughes, John Rhys Davies... but I honestly had no idea Katrina Law would turn up. And as a Mord Sith! Whew! This was before her star-making roles in Spartacus and Arrow, so this show is allowed to take credit for spotting her talent early. Damn, she’s gorgeous.

Legend of the Seeker: Vengeance

Back to it! I’ll admit I’ve been a little distracted by my Buffy the Vampire Slayer rewatch over on Tumblr, but I always planned to return to Legend of the Seeker, especially since we’re so close to the finish line.

Legend of the Seeker: Desecrated

We start with another of those patented camping scenes in which the characters are ribbing each other over the fire (it’s a staple of this show by now) when Kahlan emerges from the forest and announces that gars are attacking a nearby village. They all race off to lend their assistance... only for it to turn out to be a surprise party for Richard’s birthday.

Aww. But also – enjoy it while it lasts.

Legend of the Seeker: Creator

Ah, it’s a good old clip show episode. This should be an easy one.

With the advent of short-form television, in which a season gets approximately eight to ten episodes at most, the use of the Clip Show has pretty much disappeared. Their purpose back in the days of twenty-two-episode seasons were obviously to fill in a bit of time and save a bit of money by showcasing footage of the show that had already been shot, usually under the guise of catching the audience up on events, or demonstrating how much a character has grown.

For my money, the best justification for a clip show was “Past Imperfect” from Xena Warrior Princess, in which the story involves Gabrielle literally revisiting her memories leading up to a particular life-altering choice, with a twist on what was actually occurring in that moment.

In this case, Legend of the Seeker goes for more of a Courtroom Drama, where our characters are forced to defend Richard’s integrity as a hero to a mysterious figure who confronts him with the prophecy that he’ll end up helping the Keeper by giving him the Stone of Tears.

Legend of the Seeker: Bound

It’s taken me this long to notice that Legend of the Seeker doesn’t have any opening credits, just a quick montage of the main characters set to Zed’s voiceover (and the clip they chose for Cara is just awful). Does anyone else miss the art of the opening credits? With a tableau of clips and cast credits played to a proper theme song that set the tone? Nobody does that anymore.

In any case, this episode starts with the Sisters of the Dark standing in their trademark circle and engaging in a little chanting. They do that a lot, though it never seems to do them much good. A mutiny against Nicci is a-brewing (even though they brought her back from the dead only last week) as well as some backstabbing when the ringleaders enhance their own power (or Han) by stealing energy from others as part of a predetermined plan.

Now they have the strength to take on Nicci, though – still in possession of Richard’s Han – she disappears before they can kill her with their increased odds, and clocks in some facetime with Rahl through a campfire to get advice on what to do next. To redeem herself, she must find the Stone of Tears (I’ve totally forgotten what this does by now) and bring it to the Keeper, though she points out the compass that leads to it only works in the hands of the Seeker.

Therefore, she must find a way to control the Seeker. The exposition is a little clunky, but it neatly lays out Nicci’s objectives for this episode: control the Seeker, find the Stone, and kill the Mother Confessor (as you’ll recall, there’s a prophecy that states the Keeper is doomed to fail while Kahlan’s “pure heart” still beats). And that’s this week’s set-up!

Legend of the Seeker: Princess

I’ve known this one has been coming up for a while (and been looking forward to it) because there are so many GIF-sets out there depicting Cara in her fancy regalia. I’m under the impression that this is a fan-favourite episode as well, though – like the last episode – it has some odd tonal shifts, with the resurrection of Nicci and the threat she poses set alongside some whacky hijinks at the court of a lecherous margrave.

And as is the way in serialized television, there’s no mention or worry about the Banelings in this episode, even though the zombie apocalypse should be in full-swing by now.

But hey, two Cara episodes in a row! That’s compensation for keeping her on the fringes for so long.

Legend of the Seeker: Hunger

Welcome to the most tonally dissonant episode of the season thus far! It’s also something of a minor Continuity Cavalcade, what with two prior guest stars returning from separate episodes in season one: Ted Raimi as Sebastian and Jon Brazier as Thaddicus. You know, Zed’s brother? It’s okay if you don’t, as I kinda forgot about this guy too, and initially wasn’t even sure if they’d brought back the same actor (they did). Given the content of this episode, I half expected the con-artists from “Mirror” to return as well.

And remember the Banelings? How they were introduced as a pretty big deal in the first handful of episodes? They’re back too, and the horror of what’s required of them to maintain their existence sits extremely uncomfortably next to the hijinks of Sebastian and Thaddicus, two greedy rascals who deliberately water down a cure for the undead so they can make more money. A fair portion of this is played for laughs, and they’ve gone right back to selling snake oil in the final scene. Hah... hah?  

And that’s not even touching on what Cara goes through in this episode. Holy tonal shifts, Batman!

Legend of the Seeker: Torn

And with this episode, I am halfway through the season! (Though well over halfway through the year, which is an annoyance since I was hoping to get this project wrapped up before 2024).

If the last episode provided a minor character study on Richard, then this is Kahlan’s turn to step into the spotlight. This entire story is devoted to exploring the duality of her character, by using that favourite fantasy trope: splitting the individual into two halves. That is, their personality is split between two separate (and identical) bodies, which TV Tropes calls a Literal Split Personality.

You’ve seen it in early episodes of Charmed and Farscape (though there Prue and Crichton were divided into three parts) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (where it was Xander, making use of the convenient fact that actor Nicholas Brendon is a twin). I also recall a Star Trek episode where two separate people are merged into one, and then refuse to be turned back since he doesn’t want to die, a storyline that’s somewhat relevant to this episode of Legend of the Seeker.

And those examples are just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are thousands more out there.

It makes for a fairly interesting look at what makes Kahlan tick, though it’s rather on-the-nose compared to the last episode’s more veiled depiction of Richard’s fears and how they pertain to his self-image. This is essentially just knocking Kahlan’s fundamental personality out of kilter and demonstrating that the two sides of a person need to work in harmony – which is true, but true of anyone, not just Kahlan.

Legend of the Seeker: Perdition

Back to it! I’m hoping that I can get through this season before the end of the year, but I’m not even halfway through these episodes and life isn’t getting any less busy. Plus, I don’t want to rush it. Once this season is over, that’s it. Show’s over.

This episode starts with Verna waking up Richard, who is very confused to find himself back at the Palace of the Prophets. Naturally there’s some weird shit going on, and though Verna has an easy explanation about what’s happening (his wizard powers are messing with his head) Richard isn’t remotely convinced that this is reality.

Neither is the audience, who has seen this scenario play out in countless television shows: Xena, Buffy, Angel, Charmed... they’ve all done a “trapped in a false reality” episode. Heck, I’ve just watched one on The Wheel of Time with Nynaeve!

Thankfully the show doesn’t insult our intelligence by trying to make us believe any of this is really happening. In fact, they reveal Richard’s true circumstances before the first ad-break, and instead chose to use the illusion as a chance to delve into his psyche and explore what he fears the most.

So, let’s have a run-through of what exactly that is...

Legend of the Seeker: Dark

I’m back! No, I hadn’t forgotten about this show, I’ve just been swamped with other stuff – but in saying that, these reviews will probably go on hiatus for a while, as I really want to get to the third and final season of His Dark Materials.

But let’s have a quick catch-up first. When we last saw our heroes, they’d been forced to part ways, with Richard accompanying several Sisters of the Light (essentially kung fu nuns with magical powers and ninja-stars) to the Palace of the Prophets in the Old World (no context is given for either of these things, save that they’re shot through a gold filter to differentiate them from the New World) while Zed, Kahlan and Cara go in search of a replacement Seeker.

The head sister is called Verna, who has apparently been searching for Richard for the last twenty-four years (so if nothing else, we know they’re really bad at finding things) and has the solution to his debilitating headaches: to get the proper training that will allow him to balance out the potent magic of both his bloodlines. Richard wants to get there, learn what he has to, and leave again ASAP, though it’s obvious that Verna has other plans...

Legend of the Seeker: Light

It’s been extremely quiet on this blog lately, so let’s get back to Legend of the Seeker.

This was very much a Sequel Episode to its immediate predecessor, picking up right where Resurrection left off, but it also tries to pack a lot into its runtime: splitting Richard up from the rest of the group, introducing a large number of new characters, allowing Kahlan and Cara to do some bonding, and giving one of the show’s most important guest stars a bittersweet send-off.

Legend of the Seeker: Resurrection

We're about one-third of the way through his season, so the filler episodes have been put aside in order to get into the grist of the overarching story. We open smackdab in the middle of a fight scene, and have I gushed over the glorious absurdity of Kahlan’s fighting technique lately? She essentially spins around really fast, her hair and long sleeves flying, with two long knives in each hand, and just sort of aggressively rotates her enemies to death.

It doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense, but looks so awesome and is so intrinsic to her character that I wouldn’t cut a single swirl.  

Anyway, the fight draws to a close and she manages to confess one of the D’Haran soldiers, who promptly tells her they’re trying to kill the Seeker due to other claimants vying for Lord Rahl’s throne. 

The one this garrison serves (or served) is General Grix who is then promptly introduced plotting to kill all his rivals’ families just let us know how bad he is.

Also, Grix? I spent the entire episode thinking his name was “Bricks”.

In any case, an attractive woman arrives at his encampment with a message, and promptly drops her robe to reveal writing across her naked body. Someone has been reading up on Cleopatra’s methods, and though we don’t find out until a bit later, she’s just delivered an invitation to a local brothel, run by a familiar face...

Legend of the Seeker: Fury

My original plan to write up one review per week isn’t exactly working out for me, but I’ll continue to press on whenever I get the opportunity. Rest assured, I’m still enjoying this season and I’m going to see this little project through.

If last week’s episode was important filler, then this one is just plain filler, wrapped up in a Very Special Message about the cycle of violence. This is going to be a quick one.

Legend of the Seeker: Wizard

Not all filler episodes are created equal. Some are completely superfluous, but enjoyable. Some are a complete drag, but contain a few nuggets of essential information or development. Others you can safely skip during any binge-watching session because absolutely nothing of consequence happens.

And some – like this one – are filler episodes that are perhaps better described as “reminder episodes”. Remember Shota’s prophecy from the first episode? Remember how she and Zed once had a thing together? Remember how the Keeper is using Rahl to make deals with the recently deceased?

This episode is here to remind you of all these things without doing anything permanent with them.

It’s filler, but it’s helpful filler.

Legend of the Seeker: Touched

A teenage girl is trapped in a high tower by an overbearing parent who forbids her from ever leaving. After seizing an opportunity to finally escape, she finds herself in an overwhelming world she’s never experienced before, coveted by various evil forces for her inherent magical gifts, and forced to rely on a not-particularly trustworthy young man called Flynn.

Incredibly, I’m not talking about Disney’s Tangled, which wasn’t released until a year after this episode of Legend of the Seeker first aired, but both share the same plot synopsis as summarized above.

After a brief hiatus so I could write up my review of The Adventures of Maid Marian, I return to the next episode of Legend of the Seeker, which picks up on the plot-thread of Kahlan learning she’s soon to be the last Confessor in existence. Back to it!

Legend of the Seeker: Broken

It’s the “Cara reckons with the trauma of her past” episode, which we all knew was coming, and is unsurprisingly built around the typical tropes of a Courtroom Episode. We learn more about her past, she learns more about her past, Kahlan deals with her own feelings regarding a Mord Sith in their midst, and it’s all wrapped in the trappings of a legal procedural.