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.

Picking up from the end of the last episode, the Sister of the Dark (later identified as Sister Mariana) summons Darken Rahl from the flames of the campfire, telling him that she’s successfully retrieved the scroll from Richard, the seal still unbroken. He doesn’t want it destroyed, but orders her to take it to the Mord Sith, his most trusted soldiers.

Our heroes are tracking her through the forest (nod to Richard’s rather latent abilities in this regard) but Zed can apparently smell a tavern and announces that: “no one has eaten in days.” Er, really? They’re moving pretty fast for people who should be extremely low on energy.

At the tavern they pick up a free meal and receive a toast “to the Seeker!” exiting stage-left and remaining off-screen for at least two ad-breaks. At least one patron isn’t happy with the toast, stating that before the Seeker killed Darken Rahl, there was order in the land, no Banelings, and plenty of prosperity. What’s a little oppression when there’s food on the table?

Someone in the corner agrees, a man called Malray who was once a captain in the D’Haran army, and he launches into the tale of how he very nearly brought Lord Rahl back from the dead. The thinly-disguised kiwi accents in this scene are very amusing.

Malray’s story starts in a village called Sheephaven, where a Darken Rahl lookalike is making a living by letting people throw tomatoes at him for a fee. Naturally, this new character is played by Craig Parker with a prosthetic nose, fair hair, an American accent and a height difference. Aside from these noticeable differences, he’s a perfect match for Rahl, and his potential as a decoy is noticed by Malray, who forcibly escorts him to the palace.

Rahl is not impressed by Malray’s discovery, but a familiar face advocates for his idea. It’s Lord Egremont! He appeared in seven episodes across season one, so it’s a nice bit of continuity to see him pop up again.

All Walter needs are some “improvements,” which involve stretching him on the rack, dying his hair, and punching his nose into a more acceptable shape. Weirdly enough, most of this is played for laughs. Dark laughs, but laughs.

In any case, the finished product is acceptable enough to serve as a stand-in for public appearances while Rahl is off dealing with more important matters. He’s in a dangerous position, but also a rather cushy one.

At least, while it lasts. As soon as Rahl gets defeated, the palace is stormed by an angry mob. Walter barely escapes with his life, Malray having saved him just before he’s torn apart by the looters. Because I guess a little torture shouldn’t get in the way of a blossoming friendship. Back in the tavern, Malray is telling his new drinking buddy that this is only the beginning of the story, thereby setting us up for the commercial break. Remember those? Remember how they used to break up a forty-five-minute episode into four parts? Remember how you could use them to dash to the loo or grab a snack or take a breather if you were watching something particularly intense. I never thought I’d feel nostalgic for commercial breaks.

After the fade-to-black, the episode reopens on Malray confiding in his companion that he tracked Walter down to this very tavern, only for him to be once again recognized by an angry mob, and once again rescued by Malray. The pair make their escape, and Malray shares his brilliant plan with Walter: for them to retrieve Darken Rahl’s cache of treasure by making the Mord Sith who guard it believe that Walter is the real Rahl.

Using his mastery (or at least passable imitation) of Rahl’s gestures and speech patterns, Walter manages to fool the Mord Sith surprisingly easily – specifically their leader Garren, as played by Katrina Law. That’s really her name? Garren??

In any case, Walter is quite happy to just grab the goods and get out of there fast, but Malray wants to take advantage of Mord Sith hospitality. Cut directly to one of their patented communal baths (do these women do anything but torture prisoners and take luxurious hot baths?)

Walter is uncomfortable, especially on noticing a young slave girl get mistreated, but wrangles things so that Malray at least can enjoy the “courtesy” of the Mord Sith for the night. Thankfully his experiences are left to the imagination, though Malray is very enthusiastic about sharing this part of the story with his friend in the tavern, and the following day the men are escorted to the fortune that’s been in Mord Sith keeping. It’s pretty impressive.

Everything is going smoothly: the treasure is piled on wagons and the Mord Sith agree to provide Walter and Malray with an escort to the harbour... but it turns out that Garren has contacted Lord Egremont, anticipating that Rahl will want to be reunited with one of his highest-ranking generals. Realizing that he’s going to see through the ruse instantly, Malray thinks fast and orders the Mord Sith to attack, telling them that Egremont is a traitor.

Unfortunately, in the ensuing battle, one of Egremont’s men shoots a Mord Sith dead and Malray knows the jig is up. As he explains to his audience (their discussion having now stretched into the night) the Mord Sith will tell the real Darken Rahl there’s an impersonator trying to abscond with his treasure as soon as she’s confronted with him in the underworld.

“I fought bravely at Walter’s side,” Malray tells his companion as he crawls away in terror from the battle. Heh. Egremont manages to get the upper hand by announcing that Rahl is undeniably, incontrovertibly dead, and despite his best efforts at a bluff, Walter is stumped by the security question that’s asked of him. Garren is about to finish him off, when Rahl appears in a cloud of smoke, straight from the underworld. He demands that Walter be spared, suspecting that he might still be of use to him.

And here, at the exact halfway point of the episode, is where Malray’s story ends. The last he saw of Walter, he was being taken to the dungeons of the Mord Sith temple. With that, we segue back to our heroes...

They’re trying to catch up with the Sister of the Dark and the scroll, but are suddenly ambushed by a whole fleet of them. Between the thunderstorm, the flowing red veils, and the artful slow-motion, it’s a pretty neat action sequence, but it ends with Zed getting a dacre in the back, reminding us that no one but a Sister can remove it from a person without killing them.

It would seem that the Sisters have leverage, but then, a moment later, so does the Seeker. In a rare example of a woman being confessed, Kahlan manages to grab the Sister who injured Zed and puts her under her control.

Now, the lore surrounding Confessors and their confessed is that the latter lose all free will once they “fall in love” with the former. That description has always been a little iffy, as being in love is a very different thing from being magically brainwashed into obeying someone else’s orders, and there’s no real demonstration of excessive romantic devotion from this woman (called Tyra) towards Kahlan as we’ve seen from confessed men in the past.

I wonder if the showrunners were a little leery about showing a woman in the thrall of another woman, as I know the difference in dynamic here can’t be an aversion to same-sex relationships given what we’ve already seen (and are about to see) between the Mord Sith. Granted, Tyra’s involvement here is more plot-point than deep exploration to Kahlan’s powers, but... I dunno, I wanted maybe a little attention given to how Kahlan and the confessed might feel about each other when it’s a woman/woman situation.

Kahlan questions her, but Tyra knows nothing about a scroll, only that Sister Mariana took off and ordered the others to attack the Seeker and slow them all down. She can give them a direction though, and off they go.

It’s at this point things get complicated. Sister Mariana has made it to the Mord Sith temple, where present-day Garren takes her to Lord Egremont. Mariana announces she’s got the scroll, and summons Rahl in the flames of the nearby fireplace. Egremont tells the specter that Walter has been looked after (in a manner of speaking) and Rahl is pleased – now it’s time for his long-gestating plan to be put into action...

He conveniently comments that this involves Walter’s death, something that has to be overheard by the slave girl that Walter defended while he was impersonating Rahl. Suddenly instilled with vast quantities of bravery and cunning for a girl that’s presumably been mistreated and belittled all her life, the girl (going by the unlikely name of Mika) pulls the old “hey, I brought you a refreshing drink on this cold night!” on the guards outside Walter’s cell door, who naturally fall unconscious seconds after swilling back the beverages. How many times have we seen this one over the years?

She unlocks the cell and provides Walter with the supplies they both need to make an escape.

All the assorted characters are about to converge in the forest surrounding the temple: Walter and Mika are scurrying through the trees, Richard, Kahlan, Zed, Cara and Tyra are approaching the temple on foot, and Egremont has sent out a garrison of mounted soldiers to retrieve the runaway prisoner. It’s so convenient that they’re all going to happen upon each other at exactly the right time and place, but we’re setting up for one of the show’s patented “everyone has a unique and complicated power-set, requiring us to work really carefully to make sure things proceed in a way that doesn’t disregard any of the world-building we’ve done and ensure that everyone intelligently utilizes the abilities at their disposal without forgetting what anyone else can do” scenarios. I really don’t envy them this task.

In short, here’s how it all pans out: Zed realizes that Rahl has a lookalike, a Sister of the Dark, and a Mord Sith, which comprise all the ingredients he needs to resurrect himself. He says they can’t turn Walter loose, even though getting him gone ASAP is probably their safest option. Meanwhile, Richard is concerned with retrieving the scroll from the otherwise unassailable temple, though they also have to burn the bodies of the dead D’Haran soldiers they’ve just killed before they return as Banelings.

Richard is just as concerned with retrieving the scroll from the otherwise unassailable temple, but they also have to burn the bodies of the dead D’Haran soldiers before Rahl sends them back as Banelings.

Rahl ends up using the pyre as a way to contact his half-brother, telling the group to kill Walter and allow Tyra to perform the same soul-exchanging spell we saw back in “Resurrection.” Then, all it takes is for Cara’s Kiss of Life to bring Darken Rahl back to full health.

Obviously, no one is very keen on this, but without getting their hands on the scroll currently in Rahl’s possession, they’ll never be able to heal the veil. And Rahl has a legitimate reason for helping Richard defeat the Keeper: he wants to live again in a healthy world. It’s a deal Richard can’t refuse, especially since Rahl can simply appear to Sister Mariana and have her burn the scroll at any moment. There’s no way they can storm the temple before it’s ashes.

By the time night falls, they’re all still arguing about it. Richard the humanist can’t bring himself to just kill a person (though Cara’s face tells him she’s got no problem with it) though Zed comes up with an alternative solution.

On ascertaining that Walter isn’t particularly attached to his own body – in fact, he hates the fact he looks like Lord Rahl, Zed asks him if he’d like to chose another one. They can perform the soul transference on him, and that at least takes murder off the table. In a nice (albeit weird, given the circumstances) touch, Walter lets Mika decide what dead body among the slaughtered D’Harans she finds most appealing.

But then how can they trust Rahl to give back the scroll once he’s in his new body? Cara suggests Kahlan just confess him, which would be an end to all their problems, but apparently his soul is immune to confession. Er, is it? That’s new. Maybe it has something to do with those anti-confessing potions that were being made in season one, though this doesn’t sound like the same thing. But Kahlan has another idea...

They prep Walter for his death and resurrection, and just as Richard is gearing himself up for a fatal stab wound, Cara does the deed for him. The look on his face is pretty funny. 

Tyra transfers Walter’s soul to the recently-departed D’Haran soldier, and Cara administers the Kiss of Life.

Another incantation from Tyra, another kiss from Cara, and Rahl wakes up in Walter’s body... after which they promptly stab him with the dacre, which explains why Zed was similarly injured earlier in the episode. It seemed pointless at the time, but in hindsight was clearly done to remind us of the rules surrounding a dacre injury. Whew, still with me? Now the gang has leverage over Rahl, and he has to bring them the scroll safely, or else live with a dacre blade inside him (or die in the process of trying to remove it).

This is a good shot, as you can tell Tyra is clearly waiting for Kahlan’s cue:

Now it’s Rahl’s turn to show some cunning, since Lord Egremont is clearly full of suspicion at his freshly resurrected appearance back at the temple. How did he come back from the dead without Sister Mariana’s help? How did he get into Walter’s body before Egremont’s men returned with him? But Rahl is nothing if not a master manipulator and a smooth liar: he tells them that Tyra, who has accompanied him to the temple, found and killed Walter before performing the ceremony. As for the Kiss of Life, she had the foresight to kill a Mord Sith and steal her han, which imbued her with the ability to resurrect the dead.

It's still all a bit sus though, and so Egremont asks another of his security password questions, which Rahl passes with flying colours. Mariana hands over the scroll, and Rahl has a read of it before announcing his departure – with his treasure of course.

As soon as the others leave the room, Mariana express her displeasure that he’s going off-plan. Kahlan said nothing about any treasure. But Rahl threatens her with the destruction of the scroll, and as they prepare to leave, he tells Egremont to meet him at Ravensburg. It’s a secret code of course, one that Egremont interprets to Garren as Rahl being in danger, as that was the location of a previous ambush.

Rahl returns to Richard and the others, but just in case the gang were preparing to have Tyra release the poison in her dacre after he’s handed it over, he informs them that should he die, he’ll immediately tell the Keeper what’s written on it, thereby giving away their next destination. Whew, this guy thinks of everything.

Also, for some reason Walter and Mika are still here. Why? They should have made a run for it hours ago.

Richard concedes and Rahl hands over the scroll. Unfortunately, Egremont and Garren are watching this transaction from the trees, and believe that Rahl is under Richard’s control somehow. Garren orders that Tyra be killed, and she’s shot dead by a Mord Sith before retrieving her dacre from Rahl’s side.

This ends up being a plot-hole. Rahl runs off with the dacre still stuck in his side, though it’s gone by the very next episode. Heck, it doesn’t even seem to be there in the last scene of this episode. Did I miss something? Is there a deleted scene in which Mariana takes it out for him?

Oh, and NOW Walter and Mika make their escape, though they do so on board the wagon stacked up with treasure. Zed blasts Egremont with a fireball, and that’s goodbye to a fairly regular supporting character. Garren, who has been a pretty hefty liability to her own side this whole time, makes her retreat. The fighting abates, and Richard decides not to follow either Walter or Rahl, instead unfurling the scroll... only to learn that the instructions on how to use the Stone of Tears can only be read by the light of a night-wisp.

You remember, those little blue fairy-creatures? Kahlan had one of them in a glass vial in the very first episode. Because OF COURSE. Let’s throw yet ANOTHER obstacle into this never-ending quest.

So it’s off to the forest of the night-wisps, though as Kahlan points out, Rahl knows that’s where they’ll be heading.

As a final coda, we wrap up on Walter. He tracks down Malray at their tavern, gets a stink-eye from the bartender thanks to his D’Haran uniform, and divulges his true identity to his old “friend.” No hard feelings for all the torture, I suppose, as the bros plan to fulfil their original plan of heading to the balmy south with a fortune and the right woman.

It’s a happy ending for the pair of them, but the episode ends in its entirety on a more sombre note: a cloaked figure heads through a marketplace, taking note of an attractive woman and savouring a bite from an apple – it’s Darken Rahl, having successfully returned to the land of the living. As he said earlier: “I miss the taste of a crisp apple. The warm press of a woman’s flesh against my own...”

All things considered, it’s an interestingly structured episode, mostly comprised of a long stretch of flashbacks framed by Malray’s narrative, and then a fairly huge shake-up when it comes to Rahl’s resurrection into Walter’s body. But unlike other resurrections where a character has ended up in a completely different body, like Nikki and Denee, the show clearly wanted to keep using Craig Parker as Darken Rahl, and so came up with the idea of an identical lookalike in order to justify his return. I can’t say I blame them.

It's a definite shift in tone, but somehow the lighter antics of Walter and Malray segue nicely into the more ominous lead-up to Rahl’s return. Like putting a pinch of salt in the cake mix to accentuate the flavour.

Miscellaneous Observations:

You’d think in all this time our heroes would have heard some talk of a Rahl lookalike running around – or more accurately, rumours that Rahl himself was still alive.

Walter calls the Mord Sith’s agiels “torture sticks.” Heh.

I found the actress playing Mika to be distractingly familiar, and yet nothing on her IMBD page rang a bell. Perhaps she just looks like someone else. Maybe Chani from Farscape, sans the alien makeup? Or a mash-up of a young Helena Bonham Carter and Kristen Stewart?

Speaking of her, the episode missed a trick when it came to her burgeoning relationship with Walter. Surely it would have made more sense for the two of them to have gotten to know each other while he was imprisoned in the temple; striking up a rapport through the bars of his cell. There could have been some indication they’d spoken to each other during his captivity at least. Instead they went for a rather flimsy Love at First Sight and Because You Were Kind to Me based relationship, which were definite shortcuts in lieu of actual development.

Granted, they had to get through a lot of material this episode, but Mika in particular felt underserved. Like I said, for a brutalized slave girl who claims no one had ever been kind to her, she suddenly demonstrates a huge amount of gumption in arranging Walter’s escape (especially since she barely knew the guy). It also ends up being so easy I’ve no idea why she stuck around for so long. She could have busted him out of there weeks ago! And where was she getting her eyeliner?

Did anyone else think that Walter’s new body looked was the splitting image of Jonas Armstrong? (The BBC’s Robin Hood?)

I had to smile at Lord Egremont’s password security questions to Rahl, as we’re constantly having to ask similar things at work when someone forgets their library card, but it was a cute way of getting some Continuity Nods into the dialogue. In this case, mentions of Princess Violet and Jennsen.

Kudos to Sister Mariana for doing a completely unnecessary dramatic veil lift when she meets Lord Egremont. Why have an accessory like that if you can’t make the most of it?

As ever, I’d hate to be the continuity person who is in charge of keeping track of all the magical rules and requirements that the writers have set for themselves, but they’re doing a good job at remaining consistent about it all. But we're on the countdown to the season finale now, and all the pieces are being put in place...