Legend of the Seeker: Marked

And we’re back with the second season of Legend of the Seeker. This first aired in 2009, and I’ve never seen a single episode of it. Yes, I’ve been delaying watching it for over a decade because I enjoyed the first season so much that I simply didn’t want it to end. It’s therefore quite surreal to be embarking on a first-time watch, knowing it’s been out there in the world for so long and that the fandom literally died down years ago. Talk about late to the bandwagon.

But the time has come to see it through, which is exciting since I have very little idea of what to expect. In fact, here is a complete list of the things I do know happens this season:

·       Cara joins the team (and Tabrett Bethell becomes a regular cast member)

·       Richard now has facial hair

·       Charisma Carpenter, John Rhys Davies and Keisha Castle-Hughes have guest-starring roles at various points

·       Kahlan’s sister Dennee comes back in some capacity – but I think played by a different actress?

·       Jennsen returns as well

·       There’s an alt-world episode in which Richard and Kahlan get married and Rahl is a good guy

·       There’s a fairly important character called Nicci who is from the books, but I’ve no idea who she is or even if she’s even a good guy or a bad one

·       At some point a fight takes place in the desert between women wearing red veils (thanks Tumblr!)

·       Denna comes back for at least one more episode, though I’m pretty sure she gets killed off

·       One episode involves Cara getting a one-shot love interest, and another in which she goes undercover as a princess

·       There’s at least one more clip-show

Aaaand.... that’s it. That’s literally all I know, which obviously isn’t much. So this is going to be all new territory for me and that’s a great feeling.

First things first: last season I questioned the choice to create familial relationships between three of the main characters, specifically that Zed is Richard’s grandfather and Darken Rahl his brother – two revelations that went nowhere and meant nothing. Only with this season premiere, they do mean something, and are clearly going to be an important component of Richard’s arc going forward. So – I humbly eat my words.

While celebrating the defeat of Darken Rahl in a city town hall (or something) a garrison of D’Haran soldiers turn up and demand to see Richard. He orders them to stand down, but their commander tells him they’ve come to serve him as their next “Lord Rahl”. With that, we’re given the backstory that pulls together the plot-points seeded in the episodes Brennidon, Bloodlines and Fever, as told to us by eyewitness Commander Trimack.

Here’s the sitch: Trimack was born into the service of the unfortunately-named Panis Rahl, whose firstborn son Darken grew into a dark sorcerer and megalomaniac-in-waiting. Fearing for the future, Panis heeded the words of a prophesy that foretold he would sire a second son who would one day kill his older brother, and went in search of a bloodline as strong as his own to ensure it would come to pass. His choice settled on one Tarralyn Zorander, Zed’s daughter.

The episode glosses over the nasty implications of how Panis went about this: disguising himself with magic to look like a handsome young shepherd boy, he seduced Tarralyn who subsequently had his second-born son (no word on whether he was Jennsen’s father as well). For a show that’s usually so good at calling out issues of consent and free will, it’s a little odd that no one sees fit to point out that this is rape by deception, but perhaps it’ll be brought up in later episodes.

For some reason, Panis told Darken about what he’d done and is promptly killed by his own son, though Trimack orders one of the Mord Sith to revive him with the Breath of Life (then immediately kills her in order to keep the secret of his resurrection). Darken’s first order as Lord Rahl is to send assassins to kill all the newborns of Brennidon, though Trimack sends a message to Zed warning him of the impending massacre. There’s a nice little beat when Zed acknowledges that he never knew who sent that life-saving message, just as Trimack never knew if it was received.

Naturally all this is news to Richard (making it a fairly massive Internal Reveal that the audience has been let in on well before the characters) and having him find out that he killed his own brother after the fact is certainly a storytelling choice. Still, perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference since Richard isn’t remotely angsty about destroying Rahl... instead he’s more distracted by the fact that the throne of the D’Haran Empire has now fallen to him.

(Also, does this mean Panis Rahl is still out there somewhere?)

And yet, it would appear we’re not yet done with Darken Rahl, as Craig Parker wakes up naked and grovelling in an underworld that’s filled with writhing bodies and lit with green fire. Is this the underworld where everyone ends up or just the hellish one for the sinners? Unclear, but a disembodied voice assures him that he’s actually “succeeded” and that for the Seeker, “there’s no escape from death.”

That doesn’t bode well, and it would seem that a Bigger Bad is at work here – one that’s addressed as “the Keeper”, which I’m sure won’t cause any confusion whatsoever given the similarity of that title with the word “Seeker”. Seriously, there’s no way I’m not going to get them both mixed up at some point.

***

I’ve skipped ahead from the actual beginning of this episode, a scene in which two familiar faces watch as a massive statue of Darken Rahl gets torn down – it’s Martha and little Rachel from Puppeteer! Continuity!

We get some brief exposition in the assorted dialogue at a celebratory feast that night: it’s a week later, Richard wants to get back on the road, Kahlan plans to go to Aydindril to take her place as Mother Confessor, and she and Richard can’t be together, not ever, due to her duties and her powers. Though, hang on – Aydindril is apparently the home of the Confessors, but aren’t they all dead? Who exactly is Kahlan the Mother Confessor to at this point?

That’s a question for another time, as the festivities are interrupted by what looks like a Zombified Gollum, who kills at least one person before Richard guides it away and tricks it into plummeting off a cliffside.

But the creature survives and he tracks it to a massive crack in the earth that’s filled with the same green glow of the fires we saw with Darken Rahl in the underworld. According to Zed, the creature is a screeling that has escaped through the veil which separates the living from the dead, which has undoubtedly been rent due to the destruction of the Boxes of Orden, the only thing powerful enough to damage the boundary between worlds.

Unfortunately for them, the Keeper of the Underworld is a malevolent force who wages war on life, and to close the cracks in the earth and prevent more chaos from leaking out, our heroes must find something called the Stone of Tears, which the Creator used to seal the underworld at the beginning of time. Okay, so this is a lot of generic fantasy mumbo-jumbo, but you know what? I got the gist. Keeper bad, Creator good, MacGuffin required to seal your standard otherworldly rift. None of us are here for the intricate world-building.

With all that exposition out of the way, the season arc is laid out before us: to find the Stone of Tears and reseal the veil, no doubt having to deal with more cracks appearing and more monsters emerging along the way.

Our heroes formulate a plan: Zed will travel to Aydindril to get more information on the Keeper, Kahlan will fortify the township and protect the people, and Richard will go after the screeling. At this point, he sees the advantage of having a D’Haran army at his command and plans to take command at the People’s Palace, though Trimack tells him they’re the only garrison which knows the secret of Richard’s parentage. There will be pushback when he tries to claim power, so Trimack advises him to execute the Third Battalion (which I guess is the one he thinks will make the most trouble?) in order to instil fear in all the others. Naturally, this isn’t something Richard is prepared to do.

While hunting down the screeling in the forest, Richard and the D’Harans not only discover the corpses that it’s left behind, but are attacked by the Resistance, who believe they’re responsible for the slaughter. Though Richard is recognized as the Seeker and both sides are told to stand down, there is naturally no small degree of consternation when the Resistance hears Richard being called “Lord Rahl” by the D’Harans. Richard tries to get them on board with working together to kill the screeling, but no one has forgotten the carnage that the D’Harans have wrought on their homes and families.

***

Now it’s time to check in on those stanch allies of the D’Harans – specifically the previous Lord Rahl: the Mord Sith. We’re reintroduced to them in the baths, where they’re washing and massaging each other. Sure, why not. It’s one of the more gratuitous scenes of female nudity in the entire show, but water does have a thematic purpose throughout this episode, which I’ll discuss later.

And hey, it’s Charisma Carpenter! She plays Triana, who made a very odd sort of Early Bird Cameo in the Bad Future of last season’s time travelling finale, in which she appeared as a skeleton that Cara sadly acknowledged, and which was implied to be her impetus in teaming up with Richard to overthrow Nicolas Rahl.

Now alive and well, Triana wants to go to the People’s Palace and assume control of the gaping power vacuum that’s been left in the wake of Rahl’s demise. According to her logic, someone of the Rahl bloodline is still out there, as without one, their agiels would have lost their power (which clearly isn’t the case). Cara demonstrates big dick energy when she emerges from the bath stark naked to confront Triana and throw her into the water, nearly drowning her in a demonstration of her authority.

Not knowing that the last remaining member of the Rahl family is Richard himself, it’s no surprise that Cara is leery about anything to do with Darken Rahl. She essentially helped Richard kill her master in order to save her sisters, a choice that was inevitably going to bite her in the ass sooner or later. That’s the poignant irony at the heart of Cara’s character going forward: that she truly loves her sisters, and risked her life in betraying Darken in order to protect them, but due to her (and their) training she can never express this love in any kind of healthy, meaningful way.

There is no gentleness or softness among these women, only power plays. Even moments of intimacy can only be filtered through displays of dominance and submission, and Cara’s heartbroken whisper of: “Triana” to her skeleton last season certainly bears no resemblance how they treat each other in this episode. After Cara asserts her dominance, Triana is next seen scrubbing floors at Cara’s command, and though there’s a kiss between them, it’s certainly not a romantic moment by any stretch of the imagination.

On seeing a vision of Darken Rahl’s spirit appearing from the steam and water of the baths, Triana doesn’t hesitate in following his orders after learning what part Cara played in destroying him. At the first available opportunity she takes control of the Mord Sith and attacks Cara. After a vicious beating, she’s left to the mercy of the screeling – and they even cut off her braid for good measure. (Shades of Prince Zuko there!)

Meanwhile, Kahlan has secured the township has best she can, but when the attack comes it’s not from the screeling at all, but Triana and the other Mord Sith. Still following Darken Rahl’s from-beyond-the-grave orders, they round up the little girls and drag them away as new recruits. This explains why of all the available characters, it was Rachel who ended up the episode’s guest-star.

When Richard returns and finds out what’s happened, the plan changes. He naturally wants to mount a rescue mission, and gets a rude awakening when the D’Harans try to argue that the kidnapping of little girls to train as Mord Sith is standard procedure that results in valuable assets. When he’s challenged on this due to his “soft-heartedness”, Richard (much like Cara) has to assert his authority physically and hits one of the soldiers around the face with his sword, much to the consternation of Kahlan. He’s already starting to compromise himself.

On the way to the Mord Sith citadel, Cara is found and brought before Richard, and (hilariously) Kahlan doesn’t waste a second before trying to confess her. But Richard remembers what they’ve been through together, what Cara sacrificed, and now – what she’s apparently suffered at the hands of her sisters. Tension arises between Seeker and Confessor, and though Richard’s judgment call regarding Cara’s trustworthiness is obviously correct, I always hate it when characters say things like: “I’m not telling you to trust her. I’m telling you to trust me.”

It's like telling people not to trust their own instincts or experiences, and comes across as a mild form of gaslighting. Kahlan has perfectly understandable reasons not to trust Cara, and even though time is of the essence here, Kahlan deserved just a tad more justification from Richard than: “just go with it.”

In any case, I have a very deep interest in the Kahlan/Cara relationship as it develops, and I love the unequal footing they’ve started on. Cara has never met Kahlan, but knows that she was Richard’s entire motivation during the time-travelling adventure that they shared, which included him turning down her sexual advances and culminating in her gazing with an unreadable expression at Kahlan’s effigy atop her crypt. Now she’s face-to-face with the woman in the flesh, and there’s a strange lopsided history there that Kahlan is completely unaware of.

As for Kahlan, the Mord Sith are the foils and archenemies of the Confessors, and despite Cara’s obvious injuries, there’s really no reason whatsoever for Kahlan to trust anyone from that sect.

So Kahlan and Cara see each other for the first time, one as a living, breathing Confessor, the other as a battered, beaten Mord Sith. It’s a great moment, but I really wish they’d given this moment more space and time. (I know they’ve got a lot of stuff to squeeze into this episode, but come on!)

***

In what’s known as the Drowning Cave (because it easily floods and uncooperative trainees are left there to perish before a storm) Rachel proves her future hero credentials by comforting the other girls and taking the heat when Triana demands that they stop talking. Before any punishment can ensue, another D’Haran general turns up and Triana shares intel with him: that a treasonous squadron is escorting the Seeker to the People’s Palace to become the new Lord Rahl.

Meanwhile, Cara is sharing her intel with Richard and Kahlan in order to formulate a rescue mission. The only way into the caves is through a narrow canyon (outside of which the Third Battalion is encamped) though there is an aquifer that empties out into the marshlands. Richard decides that his D’Harans will go through the canyon to draw out the Mord Sith while Kahlan and Cara squeeze through the aquifer to reach the girls, after which Richard and the Resistance will attack the enemy D’Harans who enter the canyon to assist the Mord Sith.

In other words, he’s the distraction while the women do all the work, which I obviously love. Kahlan and Cara make their way up the crawlspace of the aquifer, and there’s a moment in which Kahlan reaches for Cara’s hand and has to trust her to pull her up safely – though she immediately turns it into another physical power play by grabbing Cara’s throat Confessor-style and saying: “I don’t know exactly what you did to make Richard trust you, but if this is some sort of trick, I will kill you.”

Once in the caves, and after a not-very-convincing feint by Cara who announces to her sisters that she’s brought them a Confessor, the two of them attack the Mord Sith and free the girls – though Cara is much more interested in getting outside and killing Triana so she can get her agiel back. As with a lot of the Cara scenes in this episode, it’s over far too quickly and perfunctorily.

Richard having convinced his loyal D’Harans and the Resistance members to fight together, the Mord Sith and Third Battalion are defeated and the girls are returned to their families.

***

While all this is going on, Zed (to the sounds of an electric guitar) gallops across the New Zealand countryside in search of more information regarding the Stone of Tears. When he stops by a river, he’s joined by none other than Shota in a massive mink coat. To save him some time, she’s got a new prophesy for him: that they can rely on the Seeker... but not Richard. He’s destined to fail in his quest to stop the Keeper, something that can only be avoided if Zed names a new Seeker.

Once again, the sheer lack of explanatory world-building that surrounds the whole concept of the Seeker makes this difficult to understand. The premiere of this show introduced the Seeker as a unique individual who was the subject of a prophesy, and that said Seeker was Richard. Later we find out that there’s been a long line of Seekers, all of whom have been partnered with a Confessor. Now we’re told that a Seeker’s identity can be changed? And that Zed has the ability to do this? For goodness sake, how do these rules work?

In any case, Shota gives Zed three portends to prove her case: that Richard will deny that which gives him power, that he’ll embrace the one in red, and that he’ll bear the mark of the one who will destroy all life. And I was surprised by how quickly all this came to pass: Richard decides not to claim the throne of D’Hara, he accepts Cara’s offer of ongoing assistance, and he has a visitation from Darken Rahl in a dream that ends with him getting branded with his brother’s fiery handprint.

Shota laid down these three signs as proof that what says will some day come to pass, but it’s still unclear what it actually means for Richard... though it’s presumably not a good thing judging by Zed’s face.

The episode ends with Richard, Kahlan, Zed and Cara reaching Aydindril, but Kahlan deciding that she’ll remain with Richard on his quest to find the Stone of Tears. Despite saying that her role as Mother Confessor can wait, she’s clearly motivated by Cara’s presence, who she looks at directly before informing Richard of her choice. Mercifully, this does not come across as any kind of romantic jealousy, but rather concern that Cara isn’t entirely trustworthy – and our new team of heroes sets off! Slow-motion horseback riding for all!

Miscellaneous Observations:

This episode had a lot to squeeze in: the aftermath of the previous season, the narrative arc of this season, the reintroduction of the characters and the initiation of Cara into the core group – and it more or less pulled it all off, though I wish that some of the Cara stuff had been given more room to breathe.

As mentioned, she has by far the most interesting setup of the show: a woman raised in a horrifically abusive environment decided to betray her liege lord and throw in her lot with her sworn enemy in order to save her sisters... and is promptly betrayed by them in return. She saved what she loved, and then killed what she loved. That’s a huge mind-screw, and seeing how it affects her arc going forward is what I’m most looking forward to. She can’t even grieve or process properly, because she has absolutely no understanding of normal human responses.

But scenes like Triana and the Mord Sith leaving Cara for dead needed more time to really sink in, as did the fact that Cara’s immediate reaction is vengeance (she dispatches several Mord Sith in the Drowning Cave without missing a beat) and her final decision to join permanently with Richard. Her rationalization here is that she serves “Lord Rahl”, though given her choices regarding the original Rahl, it’s obvious that this is just an excuse. Her real motivation is having nowhere else to go, though there’s also a chance that with her entire world pulled out from under her, all she wants now is to do what she’s used to and obey someone else’s orders.

Perhaps there’s also a little bit of contrition and/or projecting going on here? I mean, will she continue to refer to Richard as “Lord Rahl”? Does she honestly want to serve him specifically, or just the title? And... are all the Mord Sith dead now? Having gone to such lengths to defend them, how does Cara feel about killing so many? Was her vengeance motivated by fury that they were insufficiently grateful for her sacrifice or that they stabbed her in the back afterwards?

(What might have been useful is a scene exploring the immediate ramifications of Darken Rahl’s death. Did Cara ever explain to the Mord Sith present why she sided with the Seeker? Alina in particular reacted to what happened and expressed shock that Cara would do something like that. At the very least, one would assume rumours would have been swirling about Cara’s involvement in Darken’s death, and yet when Triana is informed of what happened by the man himself, it comes as brand-new information).

It’s also an odd note that Cara’s rapport with Triana in this episode had no real continuity to the way she mournfully spoke her name in last season’s finale, clearly grieving for her on finding her skeleton. The complete lack of remorse or hesitation she shows here in killing Triana is rather shocking in light of that, so it’s either a retcon or something that the writers will (hopefully) explore more in coming episodes.

Another character arc is set up here with Richard, and it’s one of duality and choice. Is he Lord Rahl or the Seeker? The son of George Cypher or Panis Rahl? Does he go to the People’s Palace to seize power or the Cloister of Ulrich to find out more about the Stone of Tears? For now he obviously choses the latter options, and his acceptance of Cara and focus on saving civilians is obviously the Richard we know and love – though they’re definitely sowing the seeds for a corruption arc here.

Kahlan seemed a little perturbed at some of the violence he demonstrates throughout this episode, and Zed certainly had a point when he told Richard that claiming the throne of D’Hara would allow him to utilize more resources in the search for the Stone of Tears. Richard cites in-fighting and time-wasting political intrigue as reasons for not wanting to go to D’Hara... but maybe he’ll change his mind later down the track. As Zed says: “war is easy, it’s peace that will break your heart,” which felt very portentous.

I forgot to mention that Richard does end up killing that screeling, but it’s in such a way that connects it with the motif of water that’s woven through this episode. Cara subdues Triana by throwing her in the bath and holding her under the water. Kahlan takes Cara by the throat and threatens her while they’re climbing through an aquifer, with running water gushing around them. Finally, Richard defeats the screeling in a fountain that Zed handily freezes over, allowing Richard to cut the thing’s head off.

That’s a lot of water. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, or even just an excuse to get very attractive people wet, but that three violent “power plays” took place in or around water feels deliberate.

Likewise, Darken Rahl appears to Triana in the steam of the bathwater, then later to Richard in the flames of the campfire... leaving him with a brand on his chest just for good measure. The scene isn’t hugely original – this is the first interaction these characters have had with each other knowing what their true relationship is, and Darken is more interested in making trite taunts... but this line of dialogue at least gestures towards the aforementioned corruption arc for Richard: “You believe you are fighting for peace, for freedom. But how many have you killed in this fruitless quest already? How many will you kill tomorrow?”

This show has always been pretty deft at getting across exposition quickly and easily – in this case Zed makes a popsicle for Rachel (setting up his ability to turn the screeling into ice) and Triana electrocutes the bathwater with her agiel (nicely demonstrating that weapon’s power and the Mord Sith’s propensity for torture).

As nice as it was to see Charisma Carpenter, her performance... wasn’t great? I mean, it was good enough that Triana was clearly very far removed from Cordelia Chase, but I didn’t get a sense of Triana’s personality at all. She didn’t come across as particularly cunning, or sadistic, or seductive, or much of anything really. Even as a one-shot character, this was a bit disappointing. Perhaps I’m just missing Denna.

In a nice continuity nod, Martha is seen holding that hideous doll Zed made for Rachel back in Puppeteer. But didn’t she tell Rachel that she had children of her own that she could come and live with? Where were they?

An interesting note is that Kahlan finds it difficult to read Cara (ie, she knows the Mord Sith are good liars) but that she can apparently confess her if need be. I thought the Mord Sith could repel all magic used against them. Does confession not count?

And so we’re off! That was episode one of season two. Twenty-one left to go!