Five Torches (Out of Five)
Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the “Unbroken” episode of Legend of the Seeker.
You know what’s been missing in a high fantasy show like Legend of the Seeker? Alternate realities.
In the first part of Seeker’s season finale — and, most probably, series finale — we learn that Cara’s turn to the dark side wasn’t through your standard Mord’Sith brainwashing, but rather a heavy bit of black magic. Zedd works some serious mojo to undo the badness done to her, only to wind up in an alternate dimension where the events of last year’s season finale were altered slightly, in that Cara was not involved.
What ended up happening was the original plan succeeded, and Richard totally owned Darken Rahl using the powers of the Box of Orden. This brought about an era of piece in D’Hara in which Richard rules as a just Lord Rahl and married Kahlan. Yay! Happy ending! He even controls Darken Rahl and the Mord’Sith. Not bad, Mr. Cypher.
But of course that’s not to be. It turns out that the world really isn’t that much better off, because the Keeper, you see, exists outside space and time, and so is aware that the world has been changed.
I’m not sure if this is a plot cheat or not, because I’ve always been a little confused as to the extent of the Keeper’s power. But you know what? I’ll buy it, because the show hasn’t let me down yet.
The Keeper advises the Sisters of the Dark to murder Richard’s sister and use her blood to make them immune to the magic protecting the palace. They do, and remove the Box of Orden, stealing Richard’s power, and so he becomes helpless to Rahl’s rule.
Meanwhile, Zedd and Kahlan discover that the Cara in this reality is a kind, unassuming mother of two, who gets caught up in a brief, sweet love affair with none other than Leo, the one-time Seeker. But they decide the best thing to do is to try and reverse the spell, and so tie up this docile Cara against her will and begin the spell again. Unfortunately, the Mord’Sith tracked them there and kill Cara before the spell can be completed.
I’m seriously getting tired of seeing the gorgeous Tabrett Brethell get killed on screen.
This episode seems a fitting counterpart to last year’s season finale, which featured an alternate future in which Kahlan maried Darken Rahl. I like that the show can bend its formula for its season finales, shaking things up and putting the characters n new situations. Sure, it doesn’t have the heavy, intellectual gravitas of episodes like “Torn” and “Hunger,” but it does shed more light on its awesome mythology.
Even though we all know it wasn’t meant to last, it was so gratifying as a long-term fan to see that one moment of bed-oriented joy with Richard and Kahlan, especially when she tells him she’s pregnant. Even though it had only been days since they had consummated their relationship, Kahlan looks at him with a maternal glow, saying that a Confessor just knows. It was a beautiful moment, and it made my heart ache to think we may not see these two on screen together anymore.
All in all, this ep was a fantastic set-up for next week’s season finale. Cue the violins. This is one of my favorite shows on television right now, mostly because it’s so unique. If you have any more oopmh left, Save Our Seeker campaign, do it up. We here at the Torch have your back.
We’re all holding our breath for next week. This week was mostly set-up, which means that next week is going to be insane. I can’t wait.
Similar Posts:
- LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-19): Gearing Up for the Finale
- LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-8): They Have Invisibility Cloaks Now?
- LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Season Finale Review: Best Ending Ever!
- LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-1): Richard is Back (and Looking Much Shaggier!)!
- LEGEND OF THE SEEKER Episode Review (2-20): Holy S%$#!
@Drake- good point!!
overall I liked this episode. was it a let down after last week? yes. but then, almost anything would have been. since i am/was far more concerned w/ recovering the Cara we know and love, I was not amused that she got so little air time. It is tough having such a ridiculous bias.. b/c you cant just have The Legend of Cara show… or can you? I can’t help it… the formerly evil person trying to do good is my favorite archtype.
anywayyy… i’m not generally a fan of alt realities either as they present tooo many possibilities for plot holes. Isn’t it hard enough to keep the story threads consistent w/o altering time and space? But aside from the point Drake brings up, I thought they handled it decently. I’ll agree that it was kind of cool that they did the alt reality again based on last year’s finale and pulled it off w/o it seeming repetitive (like one of richard’s book speeches).
I will also tip my hat to Tabrett Bethell that I didn’t see any of the Mord-Sith in her school teacher variation of Cara. Dopplegangers seem to be a fantasty tv standard, and you can always tell the best actors/actresses as they are the ones who can manage to totally look different even while physically looking the same. For example Sarah Michelle Gellar nails Faith during their body switch, while Elizah Dushku spent alot of season 1 of Dollhouse still reminding me of Faith. hellooo tangent. but she was so innocent. here was the cara who did not have her emotions beaten out of her. i could feel her terror when Zedd and Kahlan (strangers) tied her to a tree and started to perform crazy magics on her.
i loved when they performed the spell the first time too..for a different reason. when you have the potential deux ex machina that a wizard of the first order presents (in that way i am thankful the tv show never made richard the most powerful wizard in 3000 years that he was in the book)… it is good to have some complications. but most of all Richard doesn’t hesitate when he tells Zedd to do it. He says that Cara would do anything for him, so he is not giving up on her. It is a really nice homage to a scene in the books after Cara faces down Jagang’s magical “beast”. I will admit I cried over those couple of pages. The bond between Cara and Richard is so great. His fierce empathy for the mord-sith is probably my favorite thing about him…. perhaps tying w/ Craig Horner’s ridiculous abs… but they are a separate character unto themselves. I would have liked to have seen him w/ his full mord-sith retinue however. That is something I missed from the books. Plus it cuts out my favorite line… “I’m Lord Rahl’s favorite.”
Leo is so cute. I loved seeing him again. He was sweet and awesome. Wish he had not died. Why would Cara not being a mord sith matter so much. Couldnt Denna have led that assault last season and have been just as effective if not more. I would have loved to see Cara as an evil bizz a lot more.
Awesome episode.
Everyone keep on fighting for season 3!
Thank you for covering an episode of Legend of The Seeker.
For anyone on here that is not aware–there is a huge movement to save Legend Of the Seeker. Get involved!
Visit http://saveourseeker.com to learn more about the campaign we have in collaboration with Terry Goodkind, author of the series of books that this fantastic show is based on.
We have many projects for you to get involved in. We also have a campaign that involves contacting different TV stations in order to get a new home for Seeker to air on. We have made it easy–all contact info is listed for you!
this episode defentily did deserve 5 torches! it was EPIC to say the least…
This episode was good, except for the huge plot hole it presented. Cara, I’m sure, had nothing to do with Darken Rahl becoming the first Baneling as a child, and so how he survived under the power of Orden without killing every day is a mystery, because I’m sure that Richard would not have allowed him to kill even criminals to stay alive. And I was really upset at how Jennsen was so underused. As my favorite character, I was excited to see her, but ten minutes later she was dead. Oh well. I also would’ve liked to see Denna, who should still be alive seeing as Cara never killed her. And would it have killed them to throw Sister Nicci in to the episode? Maybe I’m just complaining so that I won’t be as upset when the show goes, but the differences to the books are really getting to me now. If only Jennsen had been in it more.
I was hoping for to see Nicci as well but at least shes in the 2nd part of the Season Finale. Not sure her reasons for being there are but still hoping for something along the lines of gives Richard his han back lol
The wedding and tender “afterglow” expressions from Richard and Kahlan made the show well worthwhile. A nice change from all the slaughter and violence. The entire show was fascinating. I am sad that I may not see my favorite tv couple for another season, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to see Darken Rahl being briefly subservient to his brother.
@ Necros- so agree with you!
I didn’t care much for the Richard/Kahlan wedding either. I just think they’ve gone a little too cheesy and tacky since season 1, which gets me annoyed sometimes when one of their little romantic settings is on again. But my smile was so big when I saw Leo and Cara back together. And it was so clever that they said almost exactly the same things as in episode 9/10.
And I also thought it was a nice touch that she was obviously thinking of Dahlia when Darken Rahl kissed her. You guys are probably gonna yell at me, but I was kind of mad when Kahlan confessed Dahlia. Don’t ask me why.
Great review for a Great episode!
I stand right there with you as far as LOTS being my fave show on TV right now. I’m not sure if it’s because the episodes are really, really good or if it’s because of the very real chance that the series is ending and I’m just enjoying every second of it while it’s here. Whatever the reason, for me, nothing is coming close to this show right now.
I thought it was nice to see Cara and Darken Rahl step so far out of character in this ep. They’re such “heavy” characters, it was good to see something different.
Thanks, Torchline, for supporting the fight. We DO appreciate it. You guys are the best!
The episode was just AMAZING! I cannot stop myself to watch it again and again, next week will be insane!!! Please do not let them to destroy this series! We will fight to the end!
>And as far as Cara getting killed, she died only twice.
She died in the future in the first episode she was in. But managed to jab Richard at the last moment going back in time.
Then again in Hunger, she had her throat slashed.
Now in this episode, she was shot by arrows, just like the first time.
>Darken Rahl died only once…I think.
He died as a baby from fever and was revived by a Mord Sith.
He then killed himself to have a conversation with the keeper.
He then killed himself again by stabbing Orden.
He died twice in the Season 1 finale…once, as you say, when he stabbed Orden (that was the “real” timeline), and again in the alternate timeline, at the order of his own confessor son.
> She died in the future in the first episode she was in. But managed to jab Richard at the last moment going back in time.
I knew that was gonna be brought up. I didn’t count that one because she was shot, but didn’t collapse and die on-screen.
And I forgot about Darken Rahl dying in the alternate reality and as a baby. I wasn’t sure to count the off-screen death when he wanted more power and made the deal with the keeper.
No worries! You brought up some moments I did’t remember myself. It’s good that we all keep each other “honest”. lol
excellent ep!!!!
I liked the AU storyline, didn’t care about R&K, loved seeing Cara and Leo together again and it had a fast pace, so I could say it was great.
But I just can’t… I expected a lot more from this episode because of the setup in Eternity. I like that Cara wasn’t broken, I was hoping for that but they wasted this storyline. Because I doubt they’ll spend much time on bringing Cara back in the finale, they’ll do it in the first few minutes and then they’ll go and finish the quest.
So now I’m not getting my hopes up about the finale, I just hope there will be a decent amount of screen time for Cara and she will have a big enough role and I’ll enjoy the rest.
I hope we can get a third season because I’ll miss seeing Cara every week, she is such a fantastic character and Tabrett Bethell is amazing. If it was up to me, I’d nominate her for an Emmy and a Golden Globe, she deserves it.
Just my two cents…
Gonna be sad to see the show go. I wasn’t thrilled by this episode, but it was entertaining and good. Nice how they brought back the people from season 2. Though I thought Nicci and/or Shota might be brought back after seeing Leo and the Dragon Corps commander make an appearance.
And as far as Cara getting killed, she died only twice. But then she’s been broken twice too. Anyone else keeping a death track? If memory serves me correctly at this hour….
Richard died twice by Denna in both seasons.
Zedd died twice, though one was the puppet and the other an alternate timeline. I’m not counting the supposed off-screen death in that episode where Richard was in the Valley of Perdition.
Kahlan died four times, though technically two of those deaths came from the episode Torn. One was fake when Richard was in the Valley of Perdition. And the last one was in an alternate timeline (season one finale).
Darken Rahl died only once…I think. I’m not counting Walter’s death.
And poor Sister Mariana died twice. Getting thrown into a rift and being slashed in the face…though does anyone really die from what looked like just a gash on the cheek?
The show’s writers aren’t afraid to kill off their heroes, even if it’s an alternate timeline/reality. Richard and Cara were the only heroes to die in the real timeline.
I’m gonna miss this show for sure. Now what am I supposed to watch after next week? Merlin?… I guess I should go hunt for the books. And at least Trueblood’s back next month.
I loved this episode so much I think it is my new favorite even though it was AU. Richard and Kahlan married and expecting what could be better?? I just wish it would happen for real which is why we need season three. Thanks for your support of the Save our Seeker campain it means a lot to the fandom. :D
Thanks for the review. I agree that Seeker is getting really good at pulling off the alternate reality at just the right time as to not make it annoying or a broken gimmick like it became in others shows like Heroes.
Incidentally I’d watch out for the agiels of the beautiful Miss Bethell if she catches her name misspelled. :)
Thank you for such a wonderful review! Can’t wait for next week either, but am so saddened too!
Great write-up. Next week will be insane, indeed. I will miss you Seeker. So very, very, very much.
Hey Tim,
Yes, we do have “more oopmh left”. Terry Goodkind in person is signing season 1 DVDs for anyone that donates $100 to the Save Our Seeker campaign. That’s huge!
We’re not done fighting. It’s my favorite show too! http://www.saveourseeker.com
“We here at the Torch have your back.” I really love you for that ;)
Loved the review as usual! I hope next week is not the last week. This show is just too good to go away.
The season finale is going to be amazing but still hoping and praying there will be a season afterwards.
freakin’ violins are making me cry!
great review as always! thanks for supporting Legend of the Seeker!
i have to say that this episode blew me away. the whole richard and kahlan are married and pregnant, cara being a mother of two and ends up finding leo, darken rahl a slave to richard, plus both cara and jensen are died was just amazing! i was so excited that i was practically virberating thoughtout the entire show. and the way the episode ended, i have no idea was is going to happen next week rather is the show going to end in that universe or the other…and most importantlly. is kahlan going to have the baby!! i cant wait!!