Legend of the Weeker: Torn

Plot Synopsis: In this week's episode we find the gang following the compass to the most romantic spot in the Midlands. Unfortunately they come along some corpses hanging after being tortured to death. They find a seal of Aydindril on a sign near them. Apparently some guy named Fyren has taken control of Aydindril and is ruling with an iron fist. A wizard steals an amulet from the crypt and uses it as he is killed. The amulet takes him to Kahlan.

They decide to split up with Kahlan and Zedd heading to Aydindril and Cara and Richard maintaining the search for the Stone of Tears. As they take the amulet, Kahlan splits up into two people. One remaining with Richard and the other heading to tend to her duties in Aydindril. To make matters easier I will refer to the one that stays with Richard as Passionate Kahlan and the one with Zedd as Dutiful Kahlan.

The Passionate Kahlan decides to go to Aydindril thinking that Zedd will be in trouble. Meanwhile, Dutiful Kahlan who is hanging out with Zedd immediately runs over to Prince Fyren and confesses him, rightfully taking the throne of Aydindril. Unfortunately the power of the Mother Confessor is only transferred to Dutiful Kahlan. Passionate Kahlan realizes that she has lost her power in the midst of battle. She is upset by the lack of her Confessor power.

Meanwhile Dutiful Kahlan is reviewing edicts. She is surprisingly harsh to the letter of the law. Zedd realizes that something is wrong but he maintains his loyalty. As Passionate Kahlan and Richard are spending the night, Passionate Kahlan suggests that they sleep together seeing as she doesn't have her powers. Surprisingly, Dutiful Kahlan has decided that Fyren will sire the next Confessor and sleeps with him. This gets PG-13.

About as PG-13 as this show gets.

As the sun rises, Passionate Kahlan becomes way too clingy. She starts talking about children and never leaving. Ugh! She also starts being all jealous when Cara takes a leaf out of Richard's hair. Richard has to stop a girl fight which causes Passionate Kahlan runs off all huffy. It becomes clear that Passionate Kahlan has all the emotions and Dutiful Kahlan has kept all the prudence. Richard comes to the same conclusion and they head off to Aydindril.

Dutiful Kahlan conflicts with Zedd over her taking a new mate. She also disbands the Council of the Midlands citing their incompetence. Zedd discuses this with a local wizard and is captured as the other wizard has already been confessed. Dutiful Kahlan sentences Zedd to hang for treason as Passionate Kahlan, Richard, and Cara run into the square. Everyone is confused.

Richard goes to see Dutiful Kahlan and asks to see Zedd. Zedd explains how the amulet split up Kahlan. Richard decides to debate Kahlan to try to get her back together. His general thesis rests oh the fact that Dutiful Kahlan lacks compassion. He then shows off Passionate Kahlan. Dutiful Kahlan is pretty snooty and Passionate Kahlan begins to fight with her. Neither wants to go back to being one person. A fight breaks out. Cara stops the wizard but Dutiful Kahlan manages to confess Passionate Kahlan.

Too bad for Dutiful Kahlan, Cara stops her and threatens to kill her. Before things are set right, both claim that they could be with child. JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! Zedd checks them out and neither are with child. Awkward. Zedd puts them back together again. Seeing that the other wizard is not confessed anymore they realize that the two people were in fact destroyed. The newly put together Kahlan has no memories of what happened. Although she wishes that remembered her tryst with Richard. She chooses to have her sister rule over Aydindril with the reinstated council as she will continue on the quest with Richard. Good times.

Commentary: Obscure references to tabloid talk shows from the nineties aside, Richard finally hooked up with Kahlan! Or rather with a version of Kahlan that has limited logic capabilities. Apparently, from the last five minutes, we are just going to ignore this. Since the Kahlan version that he slept with should have never existed, then in naturally follows that anything that she did was invalid. Seems kind of immoral to me of Richard. The obvious excuse is that he had no idea that this wasn't the actual Kahlan but the point seems moot. At the end of the day you slept with a girl and then had her killed. Awkward.

So I am going to go off on a bit of a nerd tangent and talk about the similarities between this episode and the episode of the original Star Trek called The Enemy Within. In it, Captain Kirk is split into a good and evil persona. While the good Kirk is compassionate he is completely unable to make hard decisions lacking the uncaring evil side. In our episode, the two parts of Kahlan were split in a similar way. Individually they are bad as a ruler and lover. Additionally, in a personal pet peeve that I already mentioned, the two parts of Kahlan, which were two distinct beings were destroyed at the end of the episode. Doesn't this trigger a moral alarm bell for anybody?

The split between the two parts of Kahlan wasn't completely clear to me either. Kahlan's dutiful side seemed to certainly have emotions, just lacked those emotions that she had for Richard. However the duties of the Mother Confessor seem to be about more than just ruling over Aydindril. There wasn't a clear split between the two Kahlans. Dutiful Kahlan was just a jerk, and Passionate Kahlan was a clingy wench. I couldn't think of a single clear split between them. Emotional and rational seemed to be natural, but both Kahlans had inclinations towards facets of the other. I guess the split could be between the Kahlan that wanted to be with Richard and the one that wants to go home and rule Aydindril but that seems illogical.

I love how this episode yet again shows off Richard's debating skill. Him and Kahlan should join up with the Midlands debate team. Like I mentioned before, it was a bit strange as to why Dutiful Kahlan was such a jerk. I get that she wanted to help the people of Aydindril but was enacting a bunch of archaic laws the best way to do so? She also seemed to delight in her position. That wasn't logical or rational at all. She was just annoying. Though it was fun to see this devious side of Kahlan. As always Cara proves to be an invaluable asset to the gang with her grabbing Dutiful Kahlan just in the nick of time.

Richard and Dutiful Kahlan Romance Index: 0 out of 10

Dutiful Kahlan wasn't having any of Richard. Unless you count impassioned pleas of debate, little romance to be had here. Plus she hooked up with Prince Fyren... many times.

Richard and Passionate Kahlan Romance Index: 10 out of 10.

She was everything he ever wanted. For a night. Then she saw Cara harmlessly cleaning a leaf out of his hair and got all controlling and needy. And he just wanted things to be cool. This is probably about as much romance as we're going to get out of these two. It was strange that Whole Kahlan wasn't more upset after the fact. "So let me get this straight... you slept with one half of me?"

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 10 out of 10.

If you saw the episode you know what I am going to say. Zedd apparently can moonlight as a gynecologist who can detect pregnancies. While staring straight ahead with a dead serious look on his face. If I was either of the two Kahlan's, I would definitely ask for a second opinion.

Notable Quotes:


Kahlan: "I wish I didn't have to go."

Dutiful Kahlan: "But Fyren and I have been intimate... many times."
Zedd: "Both of you are nothing but magical fragments. Conception under such circumstances would be impossible."

Kahlan: "Richard there are some things that you told me that I'm glad I don't remember. Some I wish I did."

Richard: "You know I'd understand if you did want to stay."
Kahlan: "I'll always be torn... But I can only be in one place at a time. And right now that place is with you."

Editor's Note: Have your own favorite quote from the episode? Did we forget to mention your favorite moment and now you're angry? Leave it in the comments and we'll update with the best of. Like the blog? Sign up to receive our Feed through Feedburner.