Legend of the Weeker: Bloodline

Synopsis: The episode opens with Zedd leaving the Box of Orden in the Plains of Morrow. Darken Rahl sends his troops to retreat it but it is protected by the magic of Zedd and the remains of wizards that lie dead there. Zedd then meets up with Kahlan and Richard who are playfighting. He explains that the box is a trap for Rahl that they plan to spring.

Darken Rahl has been torturing Denna for letting the Seeker escape. He sends Denna after it but first she must capture a girl named Jennsen. She grabs Jennsen's mother and makes Jennsen grab the box. Apparently magic has absolutely no effect on the girl. When Denna touches the box, it sets off an alarm and Zedd, Richard and Kahlan see it. They take off after it and find everyone after Jennsen throws the box away.

They find out the girl is Pristinely Ungifted and she can't use magic. A fight breaks out and while they rescue Jennsen and the box, Denna gets away with Jennsen's mother. Turns out the girl is Richard's sister. And Zedd is Richard's grandfather. We already knew that. Richard is mad and he takes off after Denna to get his mom. Zedd tries to stop him but can't because of Jennsen. They all go together to get Denna.

Richard comes up with a plan to give Denna the box but have Denna help them steal the other two Boxes of Orden. Denna goes and kills the mother and threatens them that she will not revive her unless she gets the box before sunrise. Jennsen sneaks into the palace and steals the boxes from right under Rahl's nose. She is immune to magic so all his protection is worthless. She gets the boxes back to the crew and they are ambushed by Denna and a bunch of soldiers.

Richard tricks Denna and uses the power of Orden on himself. He now commands everyone. Unfortunately when Denna killed the mother she knew that she would not be able to revive her. He has Kahlan kill Denna slowly with her bare hands. He also has the soldiers kill each other. Zedd tries to talk him out of it but is unsuccessful. Jennsen then breaks up the boxes and Richard loses the power of Orden. Denna is told to run away. They split up again with Zedd going to hide one box and Jennsen taking care of other two with the resistance. Richard and Kahlan go to spy on Rahl's movements. Rahl understandably freaks out when all the boxes are gone. He plans a rampage one village at a time.

Commentary: This was another exciting episode. We saw the return of Denna who apparently has been getting tortured by Rahl. This whole theme of torture is pretty dark for what is otherwise a pretty light show. I like that despite her getting run through with the Sword of Truth, Darken Rahl was still furious enough to torture Denna for a while. I was kind of happy to see Denna not killed at the end. She is definitely a three dimensional character which are pretty lacking in the show.

They did a good job presenting Jennsen as kind of simple. You can tell she was raised as a sheltered child without much social interaction. I guess losing Richard really affected her mother. Richard and Jennsen's mother met kind of a sad end without much resolution. There are still plenty of questions to be answered with the remainder of Richard's family.

This was another one of these "All in the family" episodes where it turns out everyone is related. It will be interesting to see how Zedd's relationship with Richard changes now that it is in the open that he is his grandfather. We got a preview of that with the beginning of Zedd's story about Richard's mother. Also how will this affect Kahlan and Richard's relationship?

Darken Rahl is not going to gain much pathos from the people after ordering this rampage. If the resistance was getting strong before, there will surely be even more volunteers now. Also how stretched out is the D'haran army going to be after this? They clearly had trouble with maintaining the outposts in Westland and now they plan to raze villages. It begs the question of whether the army can keep this up.

Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 3 out of 10.

Richard and Kahlan did not have much interaction in this episode. I am giving two points for that incredibly flirtatious fight in the beginning of the episode. The other point is for Kahlan calming Richard down after he left the power of Orden. Even after he came to, she kept her hands on his face.

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 5 out of 10.

Zedd is back. He is creepy. He constantly goes back and forth between being able to sacrifice his daughter and then trying to be a great relative. I'm not sure I would want to be related to him. On the other hand he did have that over-the-top throw of the final Box of Orden to Richard. Way to be cool, gramps.

Notable Quotes:

Richard: "That's easy for you to say. She's not your mother."
Zedd: "No. She's my daughter."

Richard: "Over the past few months I've been attacked by flying monsters, tracked by bounty hunters, tortured by Denna, and beaten bloody by Darken Rahl himself. I'm still here. All in one piece. I think."

Richard: "Kill her. Slowly."

Richard: "Can I call you gramps?"
Zedd: "Not if you value your life."

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