Synopsis: The episode opens with a woman putting on red leather armor. Demmin Nas comes in and addresses her as Denna. He tells her that Darken Rahl needs her to train the Seeker.
The gang are walking through the woods when they are attacked. Zedd is put down with arrows and Kahlan stabs Richard. Of course it is a dream. Richard wakes Kahlan up from her nightmare and they talk. They end up kissing admitting their feelings for one another. Before they have a chance to roll around, Kahlan stops herself. In the morning Kahlan decides to leave. Richard and Zedd try to talk her out of it but end up failing. Walking away arguing Zedd and Richard are attacked by Denna and another Mord Sith. Zedd disappears and Richard is captured by Denna.
Richard is then tortured in Denna's tower. She tortures him a bit and explains that she plans to train him to do her bidding. Kahlan goes to find another Confessor for the Seeker. She meets up with Lara, another confessor. Richard is trapped in the dungeon with some guy who explains how his daughter was kidnapped and will turn into a Mord Sith. Richard plans to help the old guy escape. Meanwhile, Kahlan figures out that Lara has confessed all the villagers around her.
As Richard tries to help the trapped dude escape, Denna stops him explaining that the trapped dude has been trained and will do anything she says. Zedd, Kahlan and Lara decide that they will attack with the confessed villagers. During torture, Denna kills Richard and then brings him back to life with the Breath of LIfe, a power that the Mord Sith somehow have. She continues to torture him, goading him into telling her about Kahlan. She then tells him that Kahlan can never be with Richard because her power would be unleashed when they were... you know... doing stuff.
Denna tells him that Constance, another Mord Sith will be training him. Afterwords she explains to Richard that the Agiel hurts her just as much as it hurts Richard. Kahlan decides to go in to try to rescue Richard alone to prevent people from being slaughtered. While this is happening Richard tries to get Constance to train him so that Denna won't be hurt using the Agiel. Denna is touched by this. Kahlan tries to convince Denna to surrender but when she won't, Kahlan attacks. She is stopped by Richard who uses the Agiel on her.
Richard is put in the dungeon next to Kahlan. He tries to get Kahlan to confess him but she refuses. As the others are planning the attack outside, Lara is killed and the confession spell on the villagers is broken. Denna brings Kahlan into a room with Richard and tells him to kill Kahlan. As he is about to, he looks into Kahlan's eyes and realizes he loves her. A fight breaks out. As Kahlan is fighting with Denna she is about to be killed with the Agiel. Richard picks up the Sword of Truth and stabs Denna with it despite the pain it causes him. He explains that she taught him how to withstand pain.
Standing in the moonlight, Kahlan and Richard talk about their feelings for one another. She admits to requiting his feelings for her but also warns that they can never act on them. Richard reluctantly agrees with her. In Denna's tower, Constance runs up to Denna's dead body and performs the Breath of Life to revive her.
Commentary: This review has been a long time coming. I absolutely love this episode. The episode gives Craig Horner a lot of room to work and really relies on his ability to put his best acting forward. This role demanded a lot of him, and a lesser actor would not have been able to pull it off. The earlier episodes don't give Craig a lot to work with so his performance in this episode was a pleasant surprise. All in all, this show has brought the two lead actors into another level of acting by demanding so much from them.
This is the first time that this show really shows of the dark side of the source material. The central story arc is Richard being tortured and literally losing his mind. Even Richard's feelings for Kahlan take a dark turn as they are used against him and betray him. The show really fires on all cylinders when it is dark and really puts the main characters through some tough times. This makes their quest that much more high stakes. My only complaint is that Zedd had pretty much nothing to do in this episode. I mean he might as well not have been there.
On a second viewing of this episode, I wasn't sure how I feel about Denna. First of all, I feel almost dirty watching her "train" Richard. Her flipping back and forth between yelling at him and seductively whispering into his ear was a little distracting. I loved the trapped dude that she ends up kicking back into his dungeon, as well as the back and forth with Richard about the Agiel. She looks at him, then looks at the Agiel, then him again, then the Agiel, etc. However, the whole extended torture scene was almost like a bad porn. Kinda weird and surprising that Disney would be on board with this. Though it is good to see that they will give a bit of slack to the show to really allow the directors and writers room.
I love how much Kahlan flips out about Shota's prophecy. Clearly ends up actually fulfilling the prophecy by abandoning Richard. I thought that it wasn't exactly clear how she would have helped the situation by being there. Her initial response is to abandon Richard and then she runs to find Lara, who has gone mad with power. She first wants her to help Richard on his quest, but then realizes that in the end it might be someone that cares a ton about him, that would be best for the Seeker.
Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 8 out of 10. The episode begins with Richard and Kahlan making out after her bad dream. Though she claims not to have feelings for Richard, it is pretty clear that it is absolute bullcrap.
Kahlan is the reason that Richard makes it through the torture. He at first uses his mind to escape to a serene scene with Kahlan. Later when he is told to kill her, he manages to refuse after looking into Kahlan's eyes. At the end of the day they admit their feelings for one another but decide that it would be best to keep the feelings down inside.
I guess this actually works as a pretty effective motivational technique. "Kill this one dude, and then we will figure out a way to get it on."
Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 4 out of 10.
He just yells and whines a lot. Oh what are we going to do about Kahlan? Oh what to do about Denna? Oh what to do to rescue Richard? You're the First Wizard. Figure out a plan. Geez.
Notable Quotes:
Richard: "Kahlan, I know we haven't known each other long but in my whole life there is noone that I've trusted more.. cared about more... Kahlan... I..."
Kahlan: "You what?"
Denna: "You may call me Mistress Denna."
Denna: "She didn't tell you."
Richard: "Tell me what?"
Denna: "If you and Kahlan were to be together. Even once. Her power would be unleashed. It would overwhelm you and destroy your soul. You would be her slave forever."
Denna: "How did you?.."
Richard: "You taught me how to withstand pain."
Richard: "Well why would you care if my feelings changed? You told me you didn't share them."
Kahlan: "Well like you said, I'm not a very good liar."
Richard: "Well, if there's one thing I learned from Denna, it's how to suffer in silence."
