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.

It’s the Darkest Hour for our heroes, having lost both Cara and the Stone of Tears to the dark side, and they’re back to following the direction of the compass in pursuit – though Zed points out that Rahl and his Mord Sith (plus their Sisters of the Dark allies) are travelling away from the Pillars of Creation. Whatever he’s got in mind, it’s apparently not saving the world.

In a nice visual, the assorted bad guys approach the nearest Rift and poor Craig Parker does his best to deliver some raw exposition concealed as Evil Gloating. He’s going to hand the Stone over to the Keeper, the world of the living will be destroyed forever, yadda yadda yadda. What he’s actually trying to achieve is for the Sisters to kneel down in supplication, at which point they’re promptly executed by the Mord Sith.

Marianna and the others are flung headfirst into the green fires of the Rift, so I guess we should thank Rahl for doing at least one decent thing in his life. The Sisters certainly look cool in their flowing red robes, but by this stage they’ve more than worn out their welcome. Marianna in particular has got to be this show’s most boring villain.

See? Nice visual.

Cara offers to stay behind and prevent Richard from following them, telling her new/old master that his compassion will be his downfall. She and Richard were friends, and therefore he won’t be able to kill her. Rahl and Dahlia get suitably smirky-smirk at this, though Rahl reminds her that Kahlan’s touch is deadly to Mord Sith. Hmm, mentioning this so overtly means it’ll soon be relevant.

Then Rahl kisses Cara while she watches Dahlia out the corner of her eye. Damn, these people are messed up.

Cara, Dahlia and some other Mord Sith backtrack to confront Richard in the forest, and we get the expected appeal to Cara about how she’s still in there and this isn’t really her. It doesn’t work (too soon in the episode for that). Zed disappears, knowing any offensive magic is useless against Mord Sith, Richard can’t bring himself to kill Cara and so opens himself up to the destruction of the compass, and Kahlan manages to get the upper-hand over Dahlia, thereby killing her with Confession.

This turns out to be Cara’s weak spot, as Dahlia’s plight distracts her long enough for Richard to knock her out, while in the moments before she dies, the confessed Dahlia tells Kahlan that she doesn’t know where Rahl is taking the Stone of Tears. It’s actually quite a sad scene, as Dahlia is crying as she dies – whether from the effect of the Confession, or because she’s finally free of Rahl’s thrall, only to perish in someone else’s.

Without the compass, there’s no way of knowing where Rahl is taking the Stone, and their only recourse seems to be Confessing Cara as well. Reluctant to do this, Richard ties her up instead, and Zed proclaims that she’s under a powerful spell of dark magic. Wait, that’s a bit of a cheat. Why can’t they just go with brainwashing, something that the heroes can only combat by attempting to persuade her back around to their side? A magic spell is so much less interesting.

Zed suggests the Spell of Undoing, something we’ve conveniently never heard of before, which can apparently erase dark magic. But... how would this magic work on a Mord Sith? Don’t they repel all forms of magic? Or is this ability removed because Cara’s hands are tied?

Zed warns Richard that the spell is incredibly unpredictable (also convenient, as now it can do anything the writers want it to do) but he gives the go-ahead for Cara’s sake. Some loud chanting, thunderstorms, and psychedelic special-effects later, and Zed finds himself somewhere else entirely...

He’s at the People’s Palace, surrounded by people. A golden filter seems to have been placed over all the cameras. Richard and Kahlan are in fancy clothes, and hey! Jennsen is here too, telling “Grandfather” that he needs to supply the ring. They’re in the middle of Richard and Kahlan’s wedding, and everyone is bewildered at Zed’s confusion.

Zed finds the ring in his sleeve and hands it over. And okay, can we take a moment to laugh at the hilarity of Richard and Kahlan’s vows. They’re so extra – it’s all “I bind my soul to you” and “you are joined as husband and wife for all eternity.” (That’s a whopping commitment. No “till death do us part” here, thanks very much).

And none other but Darken Rahl is officiating the ceremony. The world has definitely changed.

(As an aside, was this really the best they could do for Kahlan’s wedding dress?)

As soon as the ceremony is over, Zed tries to fill them in. He gets an update on this alternate timeline, which seems to have originated from the last season’s finale. Rather than Rahl accidentally destroying the Boxes of Orden, the original plan for Richard to use them is what actually occurred – with Kahlan’s Confession tempering the corruptive hold they have on anyone who wields their power, and the power of Orden allowing Richard and Kahlan to be together without her accidentally confessing him.

From that episode forward, Darken Rahl (along with the Mord Sith and the Third Battalion) have been effectively brainwashed into accepting Richard’s rule as the new Lord Rahl, and exist completely under his thrall, with the three conjoined Boxes kept in the People’s Palace.

But as you’ll recall, in the original timeline Cara interrupted the ritual, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Boxes and the death of Lord Rahl (and subsequently, the opening of the Rift). Now nobody has even heard of Cara, and Zed deduces that this timeline is how events would have panned out had she never become a Mord Sith in the first place.

Her presence made a profound difference in the way things panned out, as without her Darken Rahl’s forces were unable to find Richard in time, thereby giving him a few precious extra seconds to gain the power of Orden.

Again, this is all a bit random, even with Zed having carefully set up the fact that the Spell of Undoing is extremely unpredictable, but hey – we’ll go with it. All of which begs the question: where is Cara now?

Having hypothesized that she might well be living out the life she would have had had she never even become a Mord Sith in the first place, Richard asks Rahl to seek her out. Um... why? Seriously, why do they need to find her? Zed is obviously a little hesitant about involving Rahl in their plans, but gives him the necessary intel: that a woman about twenty-six years old called Cara Mason could be living in her hometown of Stonecroft.

Richard defends his decision to keep Rahl nearby and closely allied to him (even though Zed gets a classic “you should have killed him as the prophecy foretold” declaration) pointing out that it’s important the new D’Haran ruler should be shown giving mercy to his former enemies. Zed broods a bit in the left-of-centre foreground, though another amusing detail is that at this point, Richard and Kahlan clearly want to get down to the business of being married. Who cares about some former Mord Sith when there’s a party to enjoy??

We cut to a familiar-looking building by night, and yup – it’s the Palace of the Prophets And oh great, it’s Sister Marianna. Hooray. The voice of the Keeper wakes her from her slumber and tells her that a victory has been stolen from him. Because he exists outside of time, he knows full-well that the proper chronology of things has been changed, and orders Marianna to go in search of Jennsen, whose pristinely ungifted power will give her the edge in this Orden-ruled world. Apparently her blood is the key to (re)tearing the veil. Uh, sure. They’re making up a lot of magical rules that makes only the barest semblance of storytelling sense in this episode.

And wait a second, why is the Keeper communicating with Marianna and not Jolene Blalock’s Nicci? Wasn’t she the leader of the Dark Sisters before her death?

Three days after the wedding, Richard and Kahlan wake up in post-coital bliss for a So Happy Together moment that pretty much ensures disaster is on the way. Especially when Kahlan announces she’s already pregnant. Guys, you’re too happy. Stop it!

The honeymoon period ends in record time when there’s a knock on the door. It’s a tearful Jennsen, telling them that one of her friends has passed away, with a last request that his daughter be taken care of. She wants permission to fetch this child and bring her back to the palace.

(Also, Richard carries on this entire conversation with his sister butt naked sans for a blanket tied around his waist. It’s... a little weird).

Later on, Richard is going through paperwork wearing this outfit:

Guess he’s really taken to those D’Haran fashions. Zed is still fretting, and Richard is still pish-poshing his concerns. He argues that since he has the power of Orden, maybe he fixed things, put them back the way they were meant to be, as opposed to Zed’s assumption that everything has been disrupted. We know better.

Rahl approaches to announce that Cara Mason has been found: she’s a schoolteacher and a widow, living with two young children in Stonecroft. Again, Richard points out that (despite her dead husband) she’s living a better life in this world.

We cut to Cara herself, looking disconcertingly glamourous for a country school teacher. Despite her simple dress, she still has coiffed hair, perfect makeup and is walking around looking like a supermodel.

Does this look like a woman who lives in squalor?

She also has two kids playing in the backyard, and I have to admit, I hate it when alternate-reality episodes introduce children that don’t exist in the “real” world. I mean, messing with things at this point only consigns these children to oblivion. Did they ever exist at all? Are then even real? Does anyone in the writers’ room consider the horrifying implications of this?

Nope, as the little girl doesn’t even get a name. Instead, who should appear but Leo, looking for some work in exchange for a meal. Remember that guy? He was the Seeker for about twenty seconds before being burned to a crisp, and seeing him again... is actually quite sad. This entire episode is about giving Cara some happiness and then ripping it away from her again.

Jennsen is on her way to her deceased friend (or so she thinks) when the Sisters of the Dark attack and nab her. Because getting kidnapped is what Jennsen does best. Seriously, she’s been in three episodes total, and I’m pretty sure she’s kidnapped in all of them.

One of the men escorting Jennsen (he’s credited as Commander Trimack, and I’m pretty sure he was also in the season premiere – the guy who tells Richard he’s the next Lord Rahl) survives the battle and takes one of the Sisters prisoner. Dragging her before Richard, he uses the power of Orden to compel her to tell him where Jennsen is being taken and why. She’s going to the Caves of Andros, but for what purpose, the Sister has no idea.

Zed deducts that the Keeper – who exists outside of time – is aware of the changes made to the timeline and is now trying to reestablish what should be happening. That should be an indication that this reality is the better of the two options, though nobody points it out. Instead, Kahlan helpfully says: “this could be a trap.” COULD be? Honey, the trap has already been sprung.

A plan is put in place: Richard, Rahl and some Mord Sith (who are able to combat the Sisters of the Dark) will go after Jennsen, while Zed stays in the palace and looks after Kahlan – who is with child.

In the Caves of Andros, Jennsen is being bled against her will, and is told that her blood – the blood of the pristinely ungifted – will make the Sisters immune to all forms of magic, including the magical barriers that surround the palace. Okay, in an episode that’s made some pretty wild leaps with its magical laws of the universe, this at least makes some logical sense.

The price for this is the magic of their individual han, but Marianna is nothing if not committed. She even brought an impractically ceremonial chalice to drink from.

The plan is that one group will fetch the Boxes of Orden (and the Sword of Truth for good measure), while the others lay in wait for Richard and attack as soon as Orden’s power has left him. By nightfall, Richard and his allies have reached the caves, but only to find that Jennsen has already died, too long ago for anyone to successfully administer the Breath of Life.

It seems a shame that they brought back Brooke Williams for all of one episode, one that doesn’t even fit into the “real” timeline of the show, just to kill her off.  

Meanwhile, Marianna and the other Sisters are preparing to infiltrate the People’s Palace... in their bright red veils. Apart from their flair, they really are rather useless, aren’t they. But the guards are even more useless, as they’re quickly dispatched with dacres, and the Sisters’ veils are dramatically flung off as they separate the Boxes from each other.

They literally put these things back on
JUST so they could dramatically fling them off again.

These things seriously weren’t under lock and key?

Back at the caves, Richard is attacked by the remaining Sisters of the Dark, while a member of the Third Battalion (who remained loyal to Darken Rahl before Richard used the power of Orden on them) tries to assassinate Kahlan. All hell breaks loose once everyone realizes they’re no longer under Richard’s control... including Rahl and the Mord Sith. He’s promptly subdued under Rahl’s sword and an array of agiels.

Rahl is smart enough to realize it wasn’t a coincidence that the Sisters were lying in wait, but working with whoever has just managed to separate the Boxes. One of the Sisters is left alive, and he begins to torture her for answers. We cut immediately to a meeting between Marianna and Rahl in the forest, the latter now wielding the Sword of Truth and in full understanding of what the former’s plan is. They want the Sword so they can destroy the Boxes, thereby creating the Rift and allowing the Keeper to send his minions into the world of the living (wow, that’s a lot of capitalized nouns).

But Rahl isn’t interested in destroying the world – only ruling it. With the Sword and his own magical powers, he makes quick work of the Sisters. So that’s twice in one episode that Marianna has been ignominiously killed. He puts the three Boxes together, and obtains the power of Orden for himself.

Now Rahl is in charge, Richard is under his control, and there’s no Jennsen to stop him.

Back at the People’s Palace, Trimack informs Kahlan that the Third Battalion are attacking, and she makes her escape with Zed in order to find Richard. Cut immediately to: the two of them seeing Richard obediently following Rahl through the forest the next day, with the Sword and the Boxes in Rahl’s possession. 

Mad scrambling ensures, and the pair decide their only course of action is to find Cara, reverse the Spell of Undoing, and put everything back to normal. Of course, in that world the Keeper is still on the brink of victory, but there’s still a shred of hope... even if it means Kahlan will no longer be pregnant.

It's a tough call, but they weigh up the odds and head for Stonecroft. 

Meanwhile, Rahl is making himself comfortable on the throne of the People’s Palace, flanked by Mord Sith and with Richard as his mindless slave. 

Zed and Kahlan are nowhere to be found, but Rahl is now aware that Zed believes they’re occupying an alternate timeline, and recalls his interest in one Cara Mason. Putting the pieces together, he realizes Zed is trying to undo the world-altering spell on Cara and so sends a message via journey-book to Dahlia, instructing her to travel to Stonecroft and kill the school teacher she finds there before anyone else can get to her.

Interestingly, Dahlia recalls Cara from their shared childhood, though this mild regret doesn’t stop her from accepting Rahl’s orders.

Leo and Cara are getting along swimmingly, and tip-toeing around the possibility that Leo might stay. He presents her with a bouquet of flowers... which strikes me as an odd creative choice. Why not go with the single red flower that the alt-world Cara put on his pyre? That would have had far more visual resonance.

Despite being more sweetness-and-light in this timeline, Cara is still rather standoffish and blunt, which is a nice detail. Her original demeanour wasn’t all to do with brainwashing. They kiss just as Zed arrives, freezing them with his magic. He marvels that love has brought them together again in this world, which makes for a strange sentimental moment considering he knows full-well that he’s about to rip them apart again.

Kahlan points this out, clearly having second thoughts about this whole thing. And she’s right to, as the scene that closes the episode is pretty fraught. While still under Zed’s spell, Cara is tied to a tree as the necessarily magical runes are drawn in front of her. When she comes to, she immediately starts begging for her life and those of her children, completely terrified at what’s about to occur.

Then, before the spell can be completed, Cara is shot dead by Dahlia and the rest of the Mord Sith.

The episode closes on a “to be continued,” and as far as I can remember, this is the first time an episode has been left unresolved since the two-part premiere.

***

This ended up being a Zed-centric episode, just as last week’s focused on Cara. That makes for a nice lead-up to the final episode, which will presumably focus on Richard and Kahlan, having given everyone in the main cast an episode to shine.

The whole thing was also a fun way of exploring a “what might have been” scenario, given that the initial plan in the first season finale was an interesting one (to have Richard and Kahlan’s combined powers negate the corruptive influence of the Boxes) that was only upset by Cara as the spanner in the works. Now we get the chance to see how things would have panned out if they’d been successful.

In many ways things were better in the alternative timeline: the Rift never opened and Richard was able to establish peace. But of course, it doesn’t last... because when things seem too good to be true, it’s because they usually are.

Miscellaneous Observations:

The most interesting thing about this from a filming perspective is that there are two sequences that depict what happened in the climactic moments of the first season’s final episode. Firstly, straightforward flashbacks to what actually happened, but secondly, a series of “fake” scenes demonstrating how the new timeline went down.

This is notable because it’s brand-new footage that must have either been shot back when the first sequence of events was filmed (the writers anticipating where the second season was going) OR reshot to look exactly as everything did a year ago – including Richard’s shorter hair and the presence of Tandi Wright, an actress who played a Mord Sith in a couple of episodes, and is part of the new footage depicted here (namely that she kneels next to Rahl at Richard’s command in the new timeline).

If they went to all that trouble of bringing her back just for that miniscule scene, then wow – that’s commitment to detail!

Though speaking of Tandi Wright, it’s a wonder that they didn’t just reuse her character this season, maybe in place of Garen. That said, we wouldn’t have gotten the chance to see Katrina Law, so maybe it’s just as well.

It would have been nice to see some more familiar faces at Richard and Kahlan’s wedding. Where was Thaddicus and Dennee, Renn and Shota, Flynn and Annabelle, Martha and Rachel, Chase and Queen Corah? Okay, I know, it would have been totally unfeasible to bring everyone back for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. But still.

Why is Richard so orange throughout this episode?

This entire season has been haunted by the prophecy that Richard will hand over the Stone of Tears to the Enemy of the Light, though we haven’t heard about it for a while. I’m assuming it will come into play in the next, final episode.

The Spell of Undoing is a total convenience, but at least it was staged in such a way that demonstrated it was the biggest magical incantation we’ve ever seen performed on-screen.

Marianna might have been as dull as dishwater, but Michael Hurst shot her beautifully. I love this monochromatic shot of her:

Cara’s sister gets a brief mention, she having taken the kids to her house for the day. Man, this episode really rubs in everything that Cara lost.

It’s somewhat amusing to note that this episode erased not one but two timelines from Cara’s head, as the real Cara still remembered everything that she and Richard experienced in the Bad Future.

Have we seen the People’s Palace before? It’s been mentioned so many times, but like Casterly Rock over on Game of Thrones, I don’t think it’s ever been seen on-screen.

Where was Leo while Zed’s spell was being cast on Cara at the end of the episode? Frozen and off-screen somewhere?

Finally, this episode is called “Unbroken,” which on reflection is clearly meant to mirror the episode “Broken” from the start of this season, the one in which Cara is put on trial for her crimes as a Mord Sith. In other words, this is what Cara would have been like as her unbroken self. Now they’ve forced her back into her initial broken state. That’s a bit of a gut punch.