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!

Our heroes are following one of those little blue spirits that haven’t (if memory serves) been seen since the pilot episode. They’re in the Forest of the Night Wisps, and just to consolidate the Disney Princess vibes of this episode, Kahlan draws them out by singing.

Apparently Cara is still on thin ice, as when she expresses interest in the Night Wisps, Zed informs her that they only emerge for the sake of people they trust, taking the opportunity to throw a pretty significant side-eye her way. I’m actually glad they’re drawing this out, as the addition of a Mord Sith to the inner circle would take some getting used to.

Oh, and Flynn is also still here.

Kahlan asks the Night Wisps for help in looking for any Confessors still living, and at least one of them succeeds in finding a teenage girl played by Aimee Teegarden, who has been around for quite a few years now and was (at the time) best known for her role in Friday Night Lights. I last saw her getting murdered at the beginning of Scream 4, but otherwise have no further knowledge of her, though this might have been a mild case of Stunt Casting for the Legend of the Seeker crew.

In any case, here’s where the Rapunzel motifs really kick in. We first see Annabelle reading in bed, in what is clearly a locked room with a barred window in a high tower. Her father enters, seemingly just to tell her that her dreams of seeing the world and falling in love are never going to come true because she’s “safe” in her tower bedroom. It looks like we’re watching one of those standard overprotective fathers who need to learn to trust their daughters and let them go... but there are a few twists on the way, just in case you thought this was too Disney.

I’ll skip ahead to the explanation. Lord Callum was a powerful D’Haran commander who was put under the power of a Confessor called Josephine after he attacked a neighbouring village. This resulted in the breaking of his engagement to the woman he truly loved and the birth of his daughter Annabelle with Josephine. But after Josephine died in childbirth, Callum was released from the Confessor’s spell and realized all he had lost as a result.

In order to protect people from his daughter’s power, he had her locked in the tower from infancy – so it was not for Annabelle’s protection, but everyone else’s that she was put in seclusion. See? Good twist, and a backstory that draws on the mythos of the show in an interesting way. From Callum’s point-of-view, these aren’t unreasonable actions to take, and given that the Confessor’s touch results in a complete cessation of free will and identity, it’s not difficult to see his perspective.

But by the time Richard and Kahlan get there, Annabelle has already been spirited away by an opportunistic serving-woman who poisons Callum, tells his daughter it’s just a sleeping draught, and promises her an adventure. This is the second twist of the episode: that this woman has in fact killed Annabelle’s father and doesn’t have her best interests at heart – not by a long shot.

Our heroes have split up: Zed and Cara going on to Pamorah for reconnaissance to make sure it’s safe to approach, and Flynn with Richard and Kahlan for his own security. This was Richard’s idea, and despite Zed’s hints that it’s time to get rid of “extraneous cargo” (Flynn) and casting some supremely suspicious looks (at Cara) he agrees to the plan.

Kahlan and Richard hear Annabelle’s backstory from another serving-woman and begin the hunt for her. She, meanwhile, has been led into a cave and offered up to a creepy older man for a large sum of money, if her kidnappers can prove she’s what they say she is. Using a large glowing stone in a metal case (honestly, it looks like a smaller version of the Dark Crystal) the sorcerer magically distils something from her body, mixes it with some of his own blood, adds a few more ingredients and then stabs the serving-woman’s companion (boyfriend?) with a stylus dipped in the formula.

He's instantly confessed and at the sorcerer’s command turns on the serving-woman. This feels like a very easy way to master the power of the Confessors, and I’m left wondering why it wasn’t utilized by Giller or Darken Rahl in season one. Obviously they would have needed the stone to achieve this, but given what it can do surely there would have been massive search-parties hunting it down on pain of death.

There’s some rather awkward direction in these scenes, what with the enclosed setting and the bad fight choreography, and I cast one of Zed’s patented side-eyes at whoever decided Aimee Teegarden would have to run in slow-motion in a low-cut dress before falling over directly in front of the camera, but at least it gives Flynn (sitting in an overhead tree) a chance to save the day.

After knocking out her assailants he helps Annabelle to her feet, and naturally it’s love at first sight – definitely for her, and probably for him too. She’s so naïve but not too bright, and on tentatively raising her hand to touch his face, she ends up accidentally confessing him. (This might have worked better if she had seen an illustration in her book of a woman performing this gesture, as it comes across as a little random here – unless we’re meant to believe that Confessors instinctively know how to confess someone).

As it is, a confessed Flynn is another twist I didn’t see coming. I thought this storyline would involve Annabelle being thwarted in love and dealing with it by confessing Flynn deliberately, but instead she’s confused and frightened when Kahlan tries to explain the situation to her. It’s a lot to process: she’s a Confessor, her father is dead, and Flynn seems super-happy about the fact he’s totally enslaved to her will.

Annabelle decides: “I’ll go wherever [Flynn] goes,” and Richard and Kahlan shoot each other loaded glances. For a teenage girl, this scenario is overwhelming but also a dream come true: she essentially has a perfectly devoted boyfriend who exists entirely for her protection and gratification. It makes sense that she would immediately cleave herself to his declarations of love.

Over in the B-plot, Zed and Cara approach Pamorah to discover all the townsfolk are making a run for it. At a convent, a helpful Prioress recognizes the rune Zed has drawn on a piece of paper but tells them a person must have it on their hand if they’re to open the nearby tomb and retrieve the Stone of Tears. Before his death, Darken Rahl had his men try to forcibly open the tomb, but to no avail – and now those men are Banelings. They kill to extend their undead lives, and are waiting for the bearer of the rune to arrive...

Zed and Cara head to the tomb to find it surrounded by Banelings as reported. When Zed suggests killing them with fire, Cara is confused that he doesn’t just use his magic – and finally, the show remembers that Mord Sith can deflect other people’s magic! Zed is reluctant to do so because Richard and Kahlan aren’t around to back him up, but when the Banelings notice him anyway, he’s left with no choice.

Cara again proves herself by taking out some of the D’Harans by herself, and with the place clear of undead guards (at least for now) they decide to find the others and get Flynn to the tomb as soon as they can – though Zed is still not yet ready to explicitly trust her.

***

As Flynn helps Annabelle feed one of the horses, Kahlan marinates in misdirected guilt. Because Annabella is a Confessor, she’ll have to train at Aydindril, a place that Flynn cannot go. According to Kahlan, he’ll have to spend the rest of his life pining for someone he can never see again. For some reason, Kahlan has shared this information with Annabelle, who naturally doesn’t want to be parted from her attentive boyfriend (come on Kahlan, at least wait until Flynn has opened the tomb before springing this on them).

We then get the first of several pretty eye-opening speeches from Kahlan, explaining how the Confessors procreate. We’ve already seen much of this play out in previous episodes, from Vivienne and Kieran to Dennee and the father of her child, but this is the first time Kahlan lays it all out: in order to carry on their line, Confessors do have to chose a mate and bear children – but it can never involve genuine romantic feelings. Why not? Because even though a mate has to embody all sorts of noble qualities, if real love was involved, a Confessor could never bring herself to mentally enslave him (as you’ll recall, this is what inevitably happens whenever she sleeps with anyone).

Kahlan tries to frame not being with Richard as a sacrifice they both have to make due to Richard’s responsibilities as the Seeker; that he would be too distracted by all-consuming love for her to perform his duties properly, though the truth is even if he were just a normal man, Kahlan confessing him would be a horrific act of enslavement. That the Confessors apparently live by the creed “the men we love are too special to confess, the men we mate with are expendable and their autonomy is a necessary sacrifice to ensure the continuation of our line” is a pretty massive double-standard.

I mean yeesh, think about it: behind every Confessor child is a brainwashed father with no free will.

I’m giving the show the benefit of the doubt at this point: the powers of a Confessor have consistently been portrayed as scary and dangerous and to be used in life-or-death situations (well, most of the time). And obviously fiction is under no obligation to have all its magical systems work with rules that are fair and just and safe for everyone.

But hearing Kahlan lay down the Confessor mentality in such straightforward terms is pretty yikes, and I hope they delve into this a bit more in episodes to come.

Having gone to get wood for the campfire, Flynn rushes back with an arrow wound, shouting about how the sorcerer has returned with his men. Richard and Kahlan head into the forest to deal with them, and Flynn takes the opportunity to make his escape with Annabelle.

In what looks like a post-coital scene (given that Flynn is only half-dressed) the young lovers have a conversation about young-lover things, only for Flynn to come back to himself for a minute and express some consternation over the rune on his hand and the fact Richard needs it to find the Stone of Tears. But drunk on the high of freedom and love, Annabelle tries to pass it off as a potential lie, even though she’s also somewhat perturbed about the fact Flynn stabbed himself in the shoulder to make his ruse look real.  

We’ve reached the questioning phase of the conflict, though Annabelle is obviously still nowhere near ready to do the responsible thing, leaning into the love-versus-duty theme that has always been an important part of the show.

The two come across a pig roasting over a fire in the forest, but when Flynn attempts to steal a meal for them, they’re accosted by woodsmen. In this instance it’s easy to see where things are headed: Annabelle deliberately confesses one of them and orders him to deal with the rest. This is precisely what the sorcerer did to the serving-woman and her companion, an indication that Annabelle is not only a fast learner but a potentially amoral one too. This is clearly why Kahlan was so desperate to get her to Aydindril, ASAP.

By the time Richard and Kahlan catch up to them (during a thunderstorm for added ambiance) it’s apparent that Annabella has confessed all the woodsmen, and sics them on her pursuers as she and Flynn make a run for it. Sadly, both the characters and the writers take the easy way out by having Richard and Kahlan use lethal force on the confessed men, but they got me again when Flynn hesitates at the horses and I assumed he was reluctant about the impending deaths of his kinda-friends.

But nope, he just tells Annabelle that the two of them will never stop the hunt, giving her the idea to sneak up behind Richard... and confess him.

Yup, they did it. He’s confessed, no take-backsies. After a Big No from Kahlan, Richard looks to Annabelle and does the whole: “how can I serve you?” spiel.

My mind immediately goes to the fact that in order to get Richard out of this conundrum, Annabelle has to die. And Kahlan barely hesitates before she’s throwing daggers at Annabelle with this exact intent.

Richard is quick enough to deflect the attack, but we’re left with an insurmountable problem: the world-saving Seeker is now obsessively in love with a teenage girl. It’s a premise that could almost be sustained over several episodes given the centrality of the love-versus-duty theme and how intrinsically it’s been knitted into the power of the Confessors, but it turns out to be a one-time event in this episode.

(That said, Annabella is shocked to learn that a Confessor’s power is only removed from an individual once the Confessor dies. That’s not something Kahlan clued her in on earlier? It’s a pretty crucial part of the lore).

Kahlan stands down, but you can tell it’s only because she’s realized it’ll be wiser to bide her time... and sure enough, she grabs Flynn as he goes by and holds a dagger to his throat, threatening to kill him if Annabelle doesn’t order both men to go with her to the tomb at Pamorah. Richard vouches for her honesty, and the next thing we know, they’ve reunited with Zed and Cara.

It's a little disappointing that we miss Kahlan breaking the news to them, as that could have led to some interesting reactions. Unsurprisingly, both are on board with the bigger picture and are down to cold-bloodedly murder Annabelle to get Richard back, so Zed throws up a magical shield as Kahlan grabs Annabelle and prepares to do the deed (I’m a little bummed that in the wake of Kahlan’s obvious reluctance to kill a young girl, Cara doesn’t just shrug and casually offer to do it herself).

Richard twists the (proverbial) knife by shouting that he loves Annabelle as much as he ever loved Kahlan (ouch, way harsh Richard) and comes up with another idea: to use the sorcerer’s stone to drain Annabelle of all her powers. That might be enough to release Flynn and Richard from her control.

Cara does volunteer to kill Annabelle in light of her searing skepticism that this will work, but Kahlan reminds her that Richard once went to great lengths to save her life, and that if it comes down to it, Kahlan will do the deed herself. That was a short but good scene between them, with Cara defending Richard’s life and free will, and Kahlan defending his integrity and temporarily-misplaced free will, which would always choose to save a life over taking it. Nicely done.

But first... the tomb.

Turns out that Flynn opening this thing up by raising his hand is astoundingly easy, and in hindsight, they definitely all should have gone there first before tracking down Annabelle. Could have prevented this entire plot from happening! Inside is a skeleton wearing another locket, but they don’t want to open it just yet – Richard should be the one to do it, and he’s too unpredictable.

There’s another great Kahlan/Cara moment in which Zed says: “Richard can’t be relied upon right now,” and Kahlan silently turns to look at Cara: the one they implicitly can rely upon.

This calls for a team-up! Cara and Kahlan return to the cave, the latter pulling off the Wounded Gazelle Gambit while Cara tells the sorcerer that she’s come to exchange the Confessor for money. As soon as he gets close, Kahlan confesses him and orders him to call his men off and give her the stone.

We cut back to Annabelle and Kahlan sitting together, ready to leech Annabelle’s powers away. Hilariously, Annabelle tries to thank her for sparing her life, and Kahlan says: “you can thank me if this works” (the implication being that if it doesn’t, Annabelle will die pretty damn quickly).

Realizing that Kahlan is soon to be the very last Confessor, at least until she has a daughter of her own, Annabelle comes up with a truly batshit idea. Since Kahlan loves Richard, and since carrying on the Confessor line is imperative, and since Richard is currently confessed to Annabelle, why not order him to sleep with Kahlan in order to father a child? Everyone will get what they want without getting hurt, before draining Annabelle’s power and restoring Richard to his true self.

Putting aside the fact they could just as easily have Annabelle sleep with Flynn to achieve the same results (which yes, is gross considering her age, not to mention too complicated since they need Richard un-confessed ASAP) this definitely qualifies as a form of rape. If he’s mind-controlled and in thrall to another person’s will who then orders him to have sex with someone else, we’re in all kinds of creepy territory.

Obviously Kahlan isn’t going to go through with it, despite Zed encouraging her (ew, dude, no one wants your opinion on this!) and viewers have the chance to see the two of them to get half-naked and roll around on the ground for a bit. Still, it’s interesting to see a gender-reversed sex-related Test of Character, since it’s usually the dude who gets the opportunity to sleep with a beautiful woman only to nobly decline, and you can’t deny at this stage that Kahlan really, really, really wants to have sex with Richard. It’s her desire that’s being tempted here.

But of course she puts a stop to it, though interestingly it’s framed less as respecting Richard’s free will, and more as Kahlan being uncomfortable with the fact that Annabelle has ordered him to do this. I actually like that it’s her pride that stops her; the fact that Richard is thinking about someone else. She’s allowed to be a little self-centred, especially in a scenario such as this one.

In the scene with Annabelle that follows, Kahlan says it also has to do with the fact Richard would never use magic to force someone to do something against their will, a statement that completely ignores the fact that Confessors have been doing precisely this in order to beget children for however long they’ve been around. When Annabelle points out this hypocrisy, Kahlan answers: “that’s why we don’t take men we love as mates.”

Apparently it’s only okay to mentally enslave and have non-consensual sex with men they don’t love.

Also, were Zed, Cara and Annabelle just sort of waiting in the next forest clearing for Richard and Kahlan to be done? Awkward.

You’ll be unsurprised to learn that using the stone on Annabelle works like a charm: her powers are diminished and Flynn and Richard are released from her control. It’s a bittersweet ending all around: Kahlan is now the last Confessor, Richard admits that he kinda wished they had gone through with consummating their love, and Flynn gets a happy ending that he doesn’t necessarily deserve: riding off into the sunset with an incredibly naïve and vulnerable teenage girl who has no other family or friends.

Okay, I’m being overly cynical. He was an annoying git but he wasn’t a bad guy, and this is a nice way to say farewell.

Finally, Richard opens the locket (in front of a rather overt – possibly accidental? – Traitor Shot courtesy of Cara) only to find a glowing compass, pointing the way north (isn’t that the direction most compasses point?) The MacGuffin quest continues...

Seriously, this is a total bad guy shot...

Miscellaneous Observations:

When Kahlan sends out the Night Wisps to track down the last Confessor, she says: “may the spirits protect you.” Er, aren’t they the spirits?

In a surprisingly heart-warming moment, Flynn describes Richard and Kahlan to Annabelle as “good people”, He doesn’t like them much, but when he’s confessed, he’s compelled to tell the truth about them. (That said, I’m not sorry we’ve reached the end of his involvement in this story).

Two older woman provided exposition in this episode: the serving-woman at the D’Haran tower, and the Prioress with the type of giant headpiece you always see on fictional prioresses. The latter in particular was a good character: she had presence and a “take no shit” attitude. I hope we see her again, though I doubt it.

Richard’s tracking skills once again come to the rescue when Flynn splits up the horses to slow them down. I knew he would point out that one set of hoofprints were deeper, thereby indicating two riders on horseback.

Interestingly, Annabelle confessed Richard from behind. I thought they had to look in a person’s eyes in order for it to work.

It was pretty sweet when Richard is de-confessed and doesn’t have to say anything. He and Kahlan understand his state of mind with just a look.

Recently I got a PM from a reader who answered a question I had from this season’s first episode: whether or not Richard and Jennsen shared a father. Turns out that after the massacre at Brennidon and Panis Rahl’s resurrection at the hands of a Mord Sith, he did return to Tarralyn and father Jennsen (though where he went afterwards remains a mystery). Still, this deleted scene (or rather, extended scene) confirms it:

In all, a pretty good episode. I love the stories that focus on Confessors and their unique power-set, and though a lot of what they get up to is extremely dodgy, I’m hoping that it’s all setup so that the writers can start interrogating it later. Because come on, the way in which Confessor babies are born is pretty horrific.

Aimee Teegarden was a good enough actress to elevate the inherent (but understandable) brattiness of Annabelle, and the way in which she weaponized her abilities to get what she wanted made perfect sense for a girl who had been sequestered from the world her entire life.

Plus, she took Flynn with her when she left, so that’s a bonus. Hopefully she’ll quickly come to realize that there are more fish in the sea.

Amusingly, the main plot of finding the Stone of Tears took second place to the Confessor-related drama, which was a good choice: it was far more interesting than finding the next MacGuffin and not only provided several of the show’s trademark moral conundrums (would you kill an innocent to free an important person from her control? Would you take advantage of someone in a mind-altered state to save your species?) but gave us more insight into how the Confessors operate – which doesn’t exactly shine a positive light on them. For the record, I don't mind that it's fraught with complexities, that's what leads to a decent story... but hopefully we'll get the chance to explore them in greater detail later. Surely for Richard and Kahlan to be together, they're going to have to find a loophole at some point.