Perdition
When last we left Richard, we saw him escaping from the Prelate and her Sisters of the Light who wanted to keep him there and prevent him from giving the Stone of Tears to the Keeper. Meanwhile, Kahlan, Leo (Matthew Le Nevez), and the gang are following the compass, which is leading them back to the Sisters of the Light.
This week, we find Richard is mysteriously back at the temple again, confused as to if what was happening was real. Of course, the events of last week were in fact real, and Richard is just having an intense hallucination as the result of his wandering into an old trap made by the old wizards to protect the temple. It's a common TV plot device, where our hero, captured by the enemy, is forced to live out some type of false reality in order to keep him out of action or get information out of him. Here, the wizards force the victims to live out there worst fears until they eventually die themselves.
It seems though that Richard has multiple different fears in his life. First and foremost is the obvious thought that the Keeper is able to destroy the land of the living, killing everyone and everything, but that is not the only fear Richard has. His other big fear is that during his time away from Kahlan, she will fall in love with someone else. For a long time, Richard has abided by the thought that he and Kahlan cannot be together. His greatest fear though, is that Kahlan will find a way to get around her confessor powers (in this case, having them stolen), and then she will still end up with someone else anyways (in his mind, Phillip the new seeker).
His final fear though is his actions (letting Cara inside) directly provide the final victory for the Keeper, whose army wipes out the last of the living. Of course, we the viewers get a small tease of Kahlan and Cara fighting to the death as a distraught Richard looks over Kahlan's dying moments reaching out to her husband.
Back in reality, Sister Nicci (Jolene Blalock of Star Trek Enterprise), still holds all of Richard's magic, and manages to escape with the aid of the Keeper. This of course leads to a final battle between our heros and her Sisters of the Dark (probably the most uncreative name ever), which results in the mutual death of Nicci and Leo the Seeker.
I guess I should have seen Leo's death coming. With the return of Richard, there is no reason to have two seekers, and there was plenty of play between Cara and Leo, an obvious lead in to a tragic ending for someone. I guess I'll miss Leo though, as he was a lot less whiny than Richard was and much more charming, as evidenced by his ability to get a smile out of Cara.
Overall, while being a pretty good episode, I'm glad we are out of this current side story with Richard's wizard training, which got absolutely nowhere it seems. I look forward to the continuation of the regular storyline where our adventurers look for the Stone of Tears and stops the Keeper.
Interesting Observations
- Time passes slower in the old world than it does in the regular world. How much time has passed while they've been inside, and how much more power has the Keeper gained since?
- The Prelate is a pretty obnoxious jerk it seems, blinded by her own faith towards prophecy, that can even change on it's own!
- In lieu of the standard Richard shirtless scene, we get a Leo shirtless scene.
- While Leo and Cara are together, how does Kahlan and Zed not notice? Weren't they just on the other side of the cave?
- You can break though the trap by sheer will of mind and not accepting it as reality? Would Richard have been so fortunate if he wasn't the last person alive, with no one to kill him?
- Cara's ability to reflect magic includes the Sisters of the Dark's (and probably Light's) magic.
- Why didn't Cara reflect the fire ball as well? Why did Leo have to take it?
- With Nicci seemingly destroyed, what happened to all of Richard's magic? Is it destroyed as well?
Resurrection
After a short break, Legend of the Seeker returns with another story of our band of adventurers. In one of the slower paced episodes so far this season, most of the action is contained to the opening scene where we find Richard and company ambushed by another squadron of Dalaran soldiers. After another quick confession by Kahlan, we find that the generals of Rahl's army have started to fight amongst themselves in an attempt to seize the thrown on their own, despite recognizing that Richard is the true heir. Killing Richard would obviously make it easier to assume the throne, whether they believe he is the next heir or not.
It seems that we might not be seeing any more legions swearing loyalty to Richard anytime soon. I had hoped that some of the commanders would have been more willing to pledge allegiance, or at least become tired of fighting a pointless battle. So far, it seems they have shown only two officers with any sense of humanity, and only one of which would actually follow Richard. I'm not sure what their motivation is for killing civilians and the like, but one would think there would be more defections by now.
Richard and Cara track Geneal Gricks back to a local brothel run by non other than Denna, the Mord'Sith who nearly broke Richard last season. In the time since Richard let her go last season, it seems Denna has taken up residence as the mistress of the house, training the local women and providing services to the nearby army. I'm not sure if it was Jessica Marais's real hair (which I doubt), but when it's not tied up it is quite a sight to see. Richard, along with the viewers, was obviously nervous to see her again. Of all of his foes, she was the closest to defeating him.
Of course Richard sends Cara off alone, and he ends up getting captured again. In fact, Denna actually kills Richard...again. Using dark magics, she places the soul of the "trained" General Gricks into Richard's body and now has a completely obedient "Richard Rahl" to command the armies. For a hero, Richard sure seems to get himself captured, mind-controled, or flat out killed fairly often.
Before sticking the General's soul into Richard, Denna puts Dennee, Kahlan's sister, into the body of a poor young mother Lucinda who was trying to escape the house. As the resurrected confessor Dennee, she naturally goes after Cara, nearly killing her before Kahlan stop's her.
Of course to get Richard back, they have to capture him, kill him, and stick is soul back into his body. This is one of the few episodes where instead of trying to get them together though some convoluted way, the writers have Kahlan sticking her knifes in Richard (not a euphemism). After one last bit of magic, Richard is to his old self again.
Overall, it was just an ok episode, but it does setup a lot of story arcs for the future.
Interesting Observations
- Richard goes off with Cara again, though there wasn't much action in the Team Cara vs Team Kahlan battle
- Denna has the compass now, though she can't use it.
- Seems everyone ends up in the soul pit of the underworld. No Elysian Fields it seems.
- With Dennee's resurrection, we have another way to have new confessors for future story arcs.
- The war may be over, but there are still several generals out there, and most of the armies so far have standing orders to kill Richard.
- We get yet another batch of shirtless Richard scenes, but there's no jumping overhead downward strike move this time. There are a couple of in air sideward slashes.
- Kahlan's living confessed count is now up to two.
- Cara still feels that Richard should claim the throne...a possible point of betrayal down the line?
- Cara trusts Kahlan as a woman of honor.