LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-5): The Dark Zeddicus Saga

Subscribe via: RSS EMAIL

Categorized | Latest

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

LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-5): Know What? All the Men on This Show are Kinda Dull

Posted on 06 December 2009 by Tim O'Leary, Associate Editor

Three Torches (Out of Five)

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

Did you ever want to see Zeddicus played by a young James Spader (or someone who looks a lot like him)? Well, wish granted.

The episode starts with Zed eating an ensorceled (I love that word) fruit which makes him lose his memory. When he starts forgetting things, he says he must be older than he realized. Cue Boy Scout Richard with this sweet-as-can-be response: “I’d be lucky to be half as sharp as you when I’m your age.”

We’ve said before how Richard is the least interesting character on the show, and I just realized how to make him infinitely better. Wouldn’t it be great if Richard was kind of a jerk? Not full-out cruel, but the kind of guy who takes the piss out of his friends every now and then.

If instead of the nice guy answer, he could have said something like, “You didn’t realize how old you are? Man, you’re losing it. Better throw in the towel now, Gramps. Seriously.” Or maybe just go on and on about how he’s traveling with two hot chicks but never gets any action. I know that would make me like him a whole lot more. As it is, he’s treading dangerously close to Kevin Sorbo territory.

But I digress. Zed ditches the group and stumbles upon a house of ill repute, and falls for a prostitute who laughably looks like she just stepped out of an Old West saloon. Cara appears suddenly to take Zed back to Richard and Khalan.

Cara is swiftly becoming my favorite character, which possibly says something about me. Free of her Mord-Sith sisters, she’s now also free of her constricting corset and walks around in her leathers with a generous helping of cleavage. She doesn’t seem to particularly like the others except for Richard, and she gets great bitchy one-liners like “Why is it when that whenever I’m hunting down a man I never have to look farther than the first brothel past the city gates?” She’s awesome.

But Zeddicus disappears, and we soon learn it was that saucy vixen Shota who bewitched Zed, due to some cockamamie belief that Richard isn’t the true Seeker. Come on, Shota, did you see the first season?

Shota restores his youth and knowledge of spells, but it turns out that Young Zed is a walking cautionary tale of how power corrupts. He freezes her, skedaddles, picks up the hooker he met earlier, and transforms her into his queen. He then names himself the new Seeker, and heads into the Underworld to smack down the Keeper, pursued by Richard. After a brief run-in with Darken Rahl, Richard grabs him and pulls him out, only after they’re both turned into old men.

All is restored, Richard is rejuvenated by Zed, and Shota is allowed to leave. There’s a brief exchange between Richard and Zed about the fleeting nature of youth, and they head off into the sunset.

This episode was okay, but nowhere near as entertaining as the previous batch, for a very simple reason. Zed and Richard, who respectively embody the archetypes of the wise old man and the hero, are little more than the stock characters they inhabit, and thus pale in comparison to the women of the group, who are fascinating: a former killer who has lost her way and now seeks to protect Richard while bloodying up anyone in her path, and a virtuous young warrior who’s in love with a man she can never touch.

The past few eps heavily featured Cara and Kahlan, and thus were more enjoyable. So the choice is either always feature those two characters, or spruce Richard up a bit. I’m making a plea right now - make Richard a jerk. Trust me on this one. It’ll be awesome.