LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-2): So It's Going to be one of THOSE Seasons, Is it?

Subscribe via: RSS EMAIL

Categorized | Latest

Tags : Bridget Regan, Craig Horner, episode reviews, Legend of the Seeker, television

LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-2): So It’s Going to be one of THOSE Seasons, Is it?

Posted on 16 November 2009 by Brent Hartinger, Editor

Four Torches (Out of Five)

Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the “Baneling” episode of Legend of the Seeker.

So it’s going to be one of those seasons of Legend of the Seeker, is it?

By that I mean: really, really dark! Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, of course.

In “Baneling,” we learn that Darken Rahl, in association with the Keeper (the god of the Underworld), is making a deal with newly killed souls: they can return to the world of the living through gap that’s opened — but only as long as they agree to kill more people while alive.

Problem is, it’s not just the D’Haran soldiers who are taking the deal and willing to become what are called “banelings.” There are plenty of other folks who are opting in — and they’re not necessarily the people you’d think would be sent to the Underworld in the first place.

It’s a good set-up, and a nice obstacle standing between Richard and Kahlan and the Stone of Tears.

And they managed to use to the premise to great effect in two very good twists — the mother of the locksmith turning out to be a baneling and, of course, the sensationally chilling ending of the episode where her son William (of course!) turns out to be one too.

Like I said, it’s gonna be a dark season!

But while watching this episode, something occurred to me that has given me some cause for concern:

For me, Richard is the least interesting character on this show.

On one hand, I think it’s great that he’s got such strong, unbending morals. But it’s a little annoying to me that, unlike life, he’s rarely put in a position where he has to make a truly difficult choice — having to decide between two very bad options.

Yes, there were one or two moments last season where that came up, but for the most part, his inherent “Boy Scout” has remained intact. He doesn’t seem to have lost any of his idealism (and — let’s face it — naivete), which is actually starting to seem unrealistic.

Anyway, for me, the character just isn’t that interesting.

It was the same with Hercules versus Xena: I was riveted by Xena’s moral struggles (although they too were sometimes a little too easy), but always found Hercules to be a crashing bore.

Maybe the ending of this episode — where young William turns out to be a bloodthirsty killer — was setting us for a more difficult moral choice that lies ahead for Richard. After all, William’s true identity was revealed right after Richard gave yet another pious speech about how good will always triumph over evil. Ironic?

I hope so. Because the show definitely needs something.

Similar Posts:

JM G says:

November 16, 2009 at 6:08 AM

So at the rate of losing half a torch a week this show has 8 weeks left!

Reply
Dave says:

November 16, 2009 at 6:46 AM

Always love reviews by people who haven’t read the books. Of course the character is that way now. That’s exactly as he is intended to be in the beginning and he will slowly have to begin making harder and harder choices. Like in “baneling” this week…He had to make the choice to allow the abbot to kill someone to get the information he needed, granted it didn’t work out, but in the beginning his character wouldn’t have even considered it. You start removing the identity of a character to make it true to your idealistic perfect hero and you get the same cookie cutter boring show that no one will want to watch.

Reply
- Brent Hartinger, Editor says:
  
  November 16, 2009 at 10:53 AM
  
  Oh, that’s really interesting to know (I read the first two books, but it was AGES ago).
  
  Frankly, though, it taps into what I think doesn’t work about a TV adaptation of a book series: in a book series, this sort of slow character develpment can work, but in a TV series, a character can’t be boring for a whole season. And last season, he was…
  
  My other big beef is the eternal nature of Darken Rahl. If the whole last season was about killing him, and he isn’t really dead, why should I take future “defeats” seriously? I suspect this has to do with the books too, but it doesn’t lend itself to TV. (Callisto was “killed” too, but that was usually an episode conclusion, not a series one…)
  
  Reply
Canne says:

November 16, 2009 at 4:26 PM

Any one who has read the books would have problems with this tv show. So much is not right with this show beginning with What the people look like. And I could go on and on. I understand changes for the benefit of a Tv show but they could have made some better choices in simple areas. Read the books they are far better. If you don’t want to I can see you would enjoy this show not knowing what was written. And what is in the books is far far more magical.

Reply
De says:

November 18, 2009 at 1:30 AM

I’ve never read any of the Sword of Truth books. I’m wondering if it would change my opinion of the series if I did. Somehow I don’t think so. I like what I like, and if this episode or that one is rather weak, that’s ok. It comes with the territory of “weekly series”. Not every episode of ANY series can rate 5-stars. That’s just the way that is. Besides, I watch it to be entertained, not to pick it apart and analyze it.

Reply
JM G says:

November 19, 2009 at 4:26 AM

First ep got 2.5 million (3.4 with time shift and repeat), that doesnt seem very high to me.

Reply
Aradia says:

November 22, 2009 at 4:12 AM

I’m just working my way through the books now but i have to say though there are differences the show still gives enough nods to th book fans to keep them happy.

I’m loving the darker turn the series is taking, Seeker is as much a character piece as it is a straight forward adventure. Personely I think any show that does not give the actors time to explore the darker sides of their character definately loses its audience early. I hope they keep on this run it’s perfect and you can see Richard physically bending under the responsibilities being piled upon him.

Reply
pivot shower doors says:

November 23, 2009 at 10:02 PM

I love the way you sound so passionate about what you are writing. Keep up the great work!

Reply
Agent 86 says:

November 29, 2009 at 3:31 PM

Another great episode. It was also good to see Darken Rahl again after his infrequent appearances in season 1, it definitely helps to “see” the threat on-screen (or at least one half of the threat, since he is actually working for the unseen Keeper).

It was also another dark episode, which is both surprising and welcome. The mother and son being revealed to be killers was a cool little twist, although the way the script goes out of its way to introduce characters who you know are going to be important sometimes gives these things away. Or perhaps it comes down to the direction. The camera focused on the mother and Flynn far too much in their opening scenes. I was surprised they just didn’t super-impose giant red arrows pointing to the characters marked: “Important for plot developments”.

I have no interest in the character of Flynn and he seems to have been particularly badly written. There seemed to be a slight moment of character development where he talked about all the tortures he had been through and how he hadn’t broken, but I didn’t get the impression that any of that had actually happened to him. It could be false bravado or just bad acting, but I don’t really enjoy the character. He has none of the charm of Autolycus (from Xena) and none of the sweetness of Joxer (again, from Xena) even though he appears to have been designed as the love-child of those two characters. Hopefully his character will get the development which wasn’t provided to his Xena counterparts.

Reply