Legend of the Weeker: Perdition

Plot Synopsis: Richard is awoken by Sister Verna in the Palace of the Prophets. He believes that he has escaped and thinks this is a trick. Sister Verna leads him to Kahlan who introduces him to her daughter! Then her husband, Phillip, walks into the picture. She tells him that he has been gone seven years, there have been three Seekers named, and the underworld has taken over. Richard doesn't believe any of it. He goes to the Prelate, who tells him he is a full blown wizard and he is just confused.

Banelings break into the gate and Richard uses some wizard powers to stop them. He tries to inspire confidence, and we zoom out to see him wandering around a desert. The Prelate and Sister Verna see him wandering around and explain that he is trapped inside experiencing his worst fear. They refuse to help him. Instead they walk up to Sister Nicci who is held prisoner in the palace.

The rest of the gang, is following the compass to Richard and/or the Stone of Tears. Leo talks about birds with Cara in yet another awkward conversation. Nicci is being interrogated by the Prelate. She gives her the names of other Sisters of Dark. In the mean time, those sisters infuse a spider with magical powers and it frees Sister Nicci from her Radahan. She breaks free and meets up with the other Sisters of the Dark. They tell her of the new prophecy.

In the process of searching for Richard, Leo tells Kahlan a story about how hearing the stories of Richard's exploits helped him beat an enemy back. She seems to be warming to the idea of him as a Seeker. Meanwhile Richard is still struggling with the desert. In his dream he lets in all the banelings by believing that Cara was not one of them. They kill everyone, including Kahlan and her Seeker husband and daughter. Elsewhere, Zedd becomes slightly worried about Richard. Leo takes off his shirt by the fire. They... errm... "wrestle around" for a bit.

The next day he tries to talk to her about the night before. He also tries to give her a flower. Doesn't work. Kahlan tries to have a girl talk with her. They then reach the Palace of the Prophets. The Prelate lies to her and attempts to seal the palace. In his fantasy Richard meets with Darken Rahl who tells him that there is noone left to kill him, so now he has to wonder around a wasteland for the rest of his days. In the real world, Kahlan begins to sense that something isn't right with the Prelate. Cara confesses her feelings for Leo. Aww yeah!

Another Sister comes to deliver them food. Kahlan reads her and realizes that they have been had. They go yell at the Prelate to let them out. The Prelate stabs Zedd with her Dacra which can only be removed by a Sister of the Light. A bunch of Sisters arm themselves, as do Leo and Cara. Kahlan threatens to confess a sister. This Mexican standoff continues for a while until Sister Verna pulls out the Dacra. She is sick of listening to the Prelate and helps the gang escape and head out to meet Richard in Perdition.

Zedd goes to get them right as they are attacked by Nicci and the Sisters of the Dark. Zedd goes down by a blast from Nicci. Richard is still hanging out in his desert. He now sees a vision of Kahlan who tells him to take her hand and commit suicide to the underworld. Richard realizes that Kahlan is lying to him and realizes that the whole thing was an illusion. He snaps out of his dream and goes to help his friends.

As the fight continues, Cara stops one attack on Kahlan from Nicci. As she gears up a lightning attack, Leo jumps in the way of it. NOOOOOO LEO!!!!

RIP Leo. Just as things look grim for our gang of friends, Richard picks up the Sword of Truth in one of the more badass scenes I have seen in this show. He stops Nicci's attack with the Sword of Truth. As he is holding her back, Zedd blasts her with Wizard's Fire. Nicci and her sisters are defeated and Kahlan and Richard share a passionate kiss as Sister Verna and Zedd look on. Cara, meanwhile, is grieving over Leo's charred corpse. Poor Leo. They burn his body and Cara leaves the flower he gave her on his body and admits she had feelings for him. She gives Richard back his compass and they get back to their quest.

Commentary: First of all, let me say that this was one of the more exciting episodes of Legend of the Seeker this season. The fight at the end was pretty exhilarating and I guess I'm just a sucker for those "saved you at the nick of time" moments.

However I can't help but notice that we've had this plot line already. Richard gets trapped in a world and the gang has to work to get him out. Sounds a lot like the episode Home. Any time anything weird happens to Richard he should automatically assume that it is a ruse. Also I was curious about Richard's Han now that Sister Nicci was killed. Does the Han revert back to him? If not, can he ever get that back? It seems that being the most powerful wizard of all time would be kind of helpful when fighting everyone.

Oh Leo. You only made it through two episodes before being fried like a burger at the Fourth of July. At least he went out like a hero for Kahlan. She didn't even have to confess him. Speaking of that, Kahlan is a bit like a black widow. How many guys die, immediately after being confessed by her? With all the confessing she has done, I think I can count on one hand the confessed people who survived. Back to Leo, his relationship with Cara was just getting off the ground. They hooked up after hanging out in the rain. I'm sure all that leather and rainwater is a bad combination. It will be interesting to see how's Cara demeanor changes. Will we see her picking flowers and playing with chipmunks? Unlikely.

You can add the Prelate to the list of worthless characters in the Legend of the Seeker universe. Her prophecies have to be some of the most useless things. They appear every couple of thousand years. And then they are incredibly specific to the current cause-du-jour. I mean if they were waiting a thousand years for that Mother Confessor prophecy, how long are they gonna have to wait for the next one? And nothing important happened in between prophecies? They couldn't have gotten a prophecy to like stop a famine sometime in the last millennium. Lastly her solutions to her problems always seem asinine. Seems like her plan is always some kind of nuclear option that involves a bunch of people dying. You would figure that a leader of a group of deeply spiritual people would have more humane plans.

Speaking of the Sisters of the Light, their spirituality was never really explained. In Richard's dream world, their beliefs caused them to commit mass suicide. The whole idea of the Creator as a balance to the Keeper seems strange. Is this world analogous to ancient Greece where everyone went to the Underworld? Or are some people allowed into a Legend of the Seeker heaven? Seems like the former is true, but I am not sure. I also loved how the dresses that Sisters of the Light wear reflect how attractive they are. The more attractive ones have low cut dresses. The homelier ones have are completely covered up, Amish style. It also would have been nice to get any sort of explanation as to why Kahlan changed her dress. Is she ever going to go back to the Confessor's white? I feel like this part of the story was just cut out and they never went back to explain it.

Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 7 out of 10.

Richard's love for Kahlan is what breaks Richard out of the Valley of Perdition. That has to be some love. His first action as soon as he gets out is to pick up the Sword of Truth from a smoldering Leo and then block a shot of magic lightning directed at Kahlan. After Sister Nicci is defeated, Richard grabs Kahlan and shows her how much he has missed her. As Zedd and Sister Verna watch... Which leads us to:

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 7 out of 10.

His weird smile while watching Kahlan and Richard make out? What the hell was that? You couldn't turn away and go see about that Seeker-pro-tempore that you had named just a few weeks ago? That's his freshly charred corpse over there. His interaction with the Prelate were also pretty awesome. I love it when Zedd threatens other senior citizens.

Notable Quotes:

Sister Verna: "She's gone."

Prelate: "And she's taken Richard's magic with her. The most powerful Han the world has ever known."

Leo: "A rider arrived, with news that the Seeker had driven back the D'harans at the Battle of Rising Ridge. It was one man against hundreds. It inspired us.. to break through the D'haran line."

Kahlan: "I hope you get a chance to tell him that story."

Leo: "I will."

Leo: "Where I come from the man does that."

Cara: "Then what are you waiting for?"

Zedd: "You better hope your magic is faster than wizard's fire."

Richard: "You don't know how happy I am to see 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.

Inside Zedd's Robes: Yes We Still Do This Edition

Blog News: Unfortunately it appears that I have a conflict on Mondays this spring that will prevent me from getting Legend of the Weeker posts out on Monday. It also has been taking me longer to get the posts up lately, so I am going to go for Wednesday. I will try to get the reviews up on Tuesday but that seems hopeful. Hopefully you all can log in on Wednesdays.

Despite my slow posting our blog is attracting more and more readership with about 500 hits per day. Not too bad for the self-appointed third best Legend of the Seeker blog. We have also link-partnered with Factpile. This is a site that compares how heroes from various universes would match up against one another. They have a lot of Legend of the Seeker content there, so check it out if you ever wanted to know who would win in a fight between Richard and Link from the Legend of Zelda. Good stuff. A link has been permanently parked in the Links section.

Cool Stuff on the Interwebs: Jolene Blaylock who plays Sister Nicci is pretty popular from her leading role on Star Trek Enterprise. Here she gives an interview on what it was like to be on Legend of the Seeker and all about the show:

Upcoming Events: After this week's episode we have a week off. After that the episode will be Torn. In an interview with E! Online Bridget mentions that some fun times might be ahead:

But according to Bridget, there is some good news for Richard-Kahlan fans in this scenario: "I'm shooting a love scene on Tuesday with Craig. It's nerve-racking. I have to work on not blushing all day. The grips and lighting guys are like your brothers, and I just don't look at them in the eye all day."

Read the whole interview. It's good stuff.

Roles in Bruce Spence's Career: Did you know that Bruce Spence was in a rock and roll road movie. I bet you didn't.

Oh you could have taken that guy Mr. Spence. Definitely.

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Legend of the Weeker: Dark

Plot Synopsis: In this episode we find Richard and Sister Verna approaching the Palace of the Prophets. Richard is still having headaches which will apparently be healed by the palace. Inside the sisters are singing hymns. Fun. Richard meets the Prelate who is the leader of the Sisters. One of the sisters dies by bleeding out the eyes. Annalina the Prelate covers it up by telling everyone she had a heart attack. When Richard discovers that she has been killed by poison, the Prelate tells him that she took her own life.

Some annoying sister runs into them, and as Sister Verna is distracted another sister, Sister Nicci, runs up and tells him to trust noone. He later meets her after hours where she tells him that time passes slower in the palace. For every day that goes by in the palace, ten days pass outside. Apparently the Prelate ordered the Sisters not to tell anyone of this. She then senses the Han inside Richard. Apparently Richard is the most powerful wizard ever. Nice. Nicci tells him that she believes the Prelate wants to train Richard for personal gains. Richard accosts Verna with this information. Sister Verna shows him the prophecy that he will obtain the Stone of Tears and then give it over to his enemies.

Meanwhile, Kahlan is upset over Richard's Sword, missing him. Cara tells him not to worry. Zedd visits a creek to ask Shota who he should name as the new Seeker. After a month of searching for him they find this guy:

Zedd names him as the new Seeker. Awesome. The compass begins to work once again and they head off to search for the Stone of Tears. He also tries to hit on Cara. Just then they are attacked by banelings. They defeat them with ease. The new Seeker kind of freaks out.

Meanwhile Richard is learning elementary wizarding lessons. Sister Nicci sneaks him a Radahan that he can use to contain his headaches. Richard attempts to escape but is stopped by Sister Verna. (Who stabs him?) He awakes to the Prelate and a few Sisters. The Prelate then shows Richard that half the sisters are actually Sisters of the Dark. She also mentions that he is needed to fight an enemy after the Keeper is defeated. Sister Nicci tries to convince Richard that she is actually not evil. He gullibly accepts this as truth. Of course Sister Nicci is evil. She plans to absorb his Han. To gain power she absorbs the Han of another Sister of the Dark that she kills.

Cara and Leo the new Seeker have a weird awkward conversation. He apparently is fantastic with the ladies. He asks he if she can train a chipmunk. She laughs. It's awkward. Later she walks up on him training and goes to spar with him, but ends up saving his life from a Sister of the Dark. Before Kahlan can confess her, she kills herself. The gang splits up with Kahlan and Cara going to help Richard and Zedd and Leo going to find the Stone of Tears.

Richard tells Sister Verna that he has agreed to give his Han to a Sister of the Dark and escape. He's a smart guy. He also steals Verna's knife. Richard also busts out the Wizard's Second Rule to convince Sister Verna to help him. He goes to give his Han over to Nicci. Just as he does so, Sister Verna places a Radahan on Nicci. Richard escapes the gang of Sisters with Nicci remaining a prisoner. As he walks out, a new prophecy replaces the one about him being doomed to fail. It tells that as long as the Mother Confessor is alive, the Keeper cannot win. Leo's compass yields him and Zedd to Kahlan and Cara. They head off to find Richard.

Commentary: Well it didn't take too long to train Richard to be a wizard. He solved that problem by giving away all his Han. This seems kind of sketchy. I mean how can he just give away all of his powers. Though I am sure that this is not the last time that we have heard from Sister Nicci. She was definitely an interesting character but she could not have been more obvious when trying to convince Richard about her true intentions. It did however look like he was buying it for a while. Of course in the end Richard shows off why he is the Seeker of Truth. Though I guess without wizard powers now.

We added a significant plotline with the Sisters of the Light and Dark. It would have been nice to get some exposition as to how this whole deal occurred. A little bit of explanation would have gone a long way. Though I suppose that would require Richard to be separated from the gang for a little too long. In any case it seems that the Sisters will be a pretty important group of characters. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole spirituality thing of the Sisters. They seem to have a deep spiritual connection with the creator. It isn't clear if this Creator is tangible like the Keeper is. Will he (or she?) be able to help Richard in his time of need?

Back in the Midlands, the gang took a month to find the new Seeker. He wears leather and immediately struck up the fancy of Cara. They took some time to spar. The chipmunk conversation was incredibly wince-inducing. However it was great to see Cara open up a bit. Kahlan's tongue-in-cheek comment about how she has never heard Cara laugh was pretty funny. Meanwhile Zedd was hanging around to provide strange references and name Leo the new Seeker. Does anyone seriously see any way out for Leo except death? Is he just going to give back the Sword of Truth to Richard? And what is going to happen with Cara's feelings towards him?

On a closing note it was interesting to see the prophecy work itself out. Which kind of begs the question of what was the point of the prophecy. If the future is predetermined, how can Richard do anything to change it? For that matter what exactly did Richard do to change the prophecy. Just ignore the Sisters and give his Han away. It may be that him giving away the power of the wizard will be what changes the prophecy. In any case it seems that protecting Kahlan will now be at the top of Richard's to-do list. I am sure he doesn't have a problem with that. Lastly there was a throwaway line that Richard will have to fight a war with an even more powerful enemy after the Keeper is defeated.

Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 2 out of 10.

The only thing that occurred between them was Kahlan crying over the Sword of Truth and Richard looking wistfully at her dagger. Hopefully he will be able to get back to her soon.

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 5 out of 10.

He had a creepy reunion with Shota. Their relationship is pretty incredibly weird. He also kind of gives Leo some pointers on being a new Seeker and also how to hit on Cara. Lesson: Don't try. I like how he just uses whatever power he feels like. When fighting banelings, wouldn't it make sense to use wizard's fire and not the weird air push thing he does.

Notable Quotes:

Kahlan: "Don't you feel anything?"
Cara: "The Mord Sith believe emotions must be governed. Sadness, remorse, love.. these feelings make you weak."

Zedd: "Though the forces of evil are sworn to bring about your death, still will you go on?"
Leo: "I will."

Zedd: "Trying to show chivalry to a Mord Sith is like dancing with a bear. It doesn't work and someone is likely to have their head bitten off."

Richard: "Either way I'm getting free. In one instance the Sisters will be safe. ND in the other they will probably be slaughtered."

Sister Verna: "As long as the Mother Confessor's pure heart beats... the Keeper is doomed to fail."

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Legend of the Weeker: Light

Plot Synopsis: The episode opens with Denna breaking in on a sewing circle. The gang catches up to her. They're chasing Denna since she stole the compass. Denna hurts a few of the nuns and then escapes with Richard and the ladies on her trail. Turns out she did the old switcheroo and Denna ends up capturing Zedd. She gets him to cover their tracks, which he does but still leaves flower breadcrumbs. Unfortunately, Richard has been getting debilitating headaches. A few slightly creepy nuns approach and tell them that he is becoming a wizard. Apparently there is something called Han that flows through wizards and it will kill Richard if he doesn't fix it. They are Sisters of the Light and want to take him to the Palace of the Prophets where they will train him to become a wizard.

One of the sisters takes his pain away and dies from it. Kahlan convinces him to go to cure himself and they have a heart to heart about leaving. Cara unsuccessfully tries to come with. Leaving, Richard argues with Verna about wizard stuff and visiting the old world. Zedd continues to be harrassed by Denna and realizes that she picked the flowers that he was leaving out. Cara and Kahlan continue to track him but are attacked by a group of D'haran soldiers. They dispatch them but Kahlan is dinged up. She confesses one of the soldiers who tells her where to find Denna.

As Richard and two of the Sisters are walking along they are attacked by a creature called a Mriswith, which is cloaked and takes one of the Sisters. Richard wants to search for it but the leader Sister does not want to. She takes Richard to a friendly village. The leader tells him that the road is swarming with Mriswith. They apparently were a group of wizards who transformed themselves to win a battle. Nice dedication to the cause. The village leader offers to sacrifice some political prisoners to distract the Mriswith but Richard is having none of it. Meanwhile Zedd turns two corpses that Denna kills into his and Denna's duplicates, but gets her to leave the compass to the Stone of Tears.

Sister Verna tries to get Richard to sacrifice the prisoners. Richard continues to reject this idea. He instead convinces her to free the prisoners. The leader of the prisoners, a woman named Du'Chaillu tells Richard that they were tricked into coming to the village. They escape and are apprehended by the villagers. However the Mriswith attack and Richard says that they are going to fight them. In the Midlands, Kahlan gets her wound infected. Cara seals the wound with her agiel causing Kahlan to pass out. They then come upon Zedd's and Cara's fake corpses.

While Denna and Zedd hang out eating food. He tries to talk her out of training him. She tries to force him to eat but he spills his drink on it. This causes a cloud to come up. Kahlan correctly relaizes that it is a tracer cloud over Zedd. Richard and his new friends reach the Mudflats where he can see the footsteps of the Mriswirth. The leader of the prisoners is captured. Richard enters the Mriswirth lair kills one and it turns out that it was the other Sister. The Mriswith have been transforming people that they capture into their own kind.

Denna keeps harassing Zedd. He then tells her that she has no friends. BURN! Zedd also tells her that her attempts to gain power will attract Richard's attention. Just as she is about to change her ways. Cara kills her. Zedd laments about this for a second, but then forgets about it and asks about Richard. Richard frees Du'Chaillu who is being held in a larva sack. She tells him about other prisoners and Richard frees one and then the leader of the villagers is already turned and promptly dispatched. The villagers and their enemies decide to work together to kill the Mriswith. Zedd and Kahlan decide to name a new Seeker. The episode closes with Richard talking to Sister Verna about loved ones and being apart from them.

Commentary: So the gang splits up yet again. This time it looks like it will go on for a long story arc unless wizard training takes like a day. I still think the show works best when everyone is together. However it might be nice for a break in the pace. The plot lines were getting a bit stale before this. It will be also be interesting because Richard has never been separated from the gang. He will be all on his own with the slightly creepy Sisters of the Light. In the meantime the rest of the gang has to press on to try to find the Stone of Tears and to seal the veil.

Starting off with Richard, how does his becoming a wizard affect his Seeking? He will obviously gain new powers. Along with the Sword of Truth, will be this too much power for Richard? We know that Zedd is already worried about him gaining too much power like his ancestors. Gaining a brand new set of wizard powers will not do much to alleviate those fears. I also question Richard and Kahlan's judgement sending Richard off with these creepy sisters. They are a bit too similar to those people in the park that you get your kids to stay away from.

The other half of the gang heads off to find the Stone of Tears. To do this they are going to have to name a new Seeker in the interim. I take it this new Seeker is going to conveniently die as soon as Richard gets back. Though Zedd also named himself Seeker in the Wizard episode and then Richard got the name back when he came around. I guess the Seeker-pro-tempore rules are not very well explained. Best of luck to this new Seeker. May you die acceptably.

With Richard off in Wizard school (Hogwarts?) the interactions between Kahlan and Cara are now in central focus. I actually thought that these were a bit forced this episode. The whole Cara being tired but too proud to admit it and projecting on Kahlan seemed trite. Kahlan passing out after having her wound sealed was a bit sitcomish. There were some good moments and since the focus will now be centered on this relationship, it will probably get worked out. Speaking of Kahlan, what was with her dress and boots? First of all, shouldn't she actually wear the Confessor's white dress? Probably not since she looks fantastic and a half. Not sure about the makeup though.

Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 7 out of 10.

It is really hard to gauge this index. They love each other. They can't have sex. In this episode, they have a passionate goodbye kiss. Good times. I will have to think of some other index. Let me know in the comments if you have any good ideas.

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 6 out of 10.

This metric will never go anywhere. Hanging out with Denna he whined and refused dinner. He then finally gets through to Denna with the incredibly jerky comment that he has more friends with her. She actually gets upset by this and reconsiders her ways just long enough to get shot by Cara in the back. Zedd wistfully watches her fall down a cliff and then proceeds to get over it in about 10 minutes.

Notable Quotes:

Kahlan: "I can't live in a world without you."
Richard: "Kahlan..."
Kahlan: "Richard, if you love me. You'll do this."

Richard: "Once you've found Zedd and the compass, you may have to name a new Seeker to find the Stone of Tears."
Kahlan: "Richard..."
Richard: "The quest is bigger than one man. Take it."

Richard: "I love you... and I will be back."

Cara: "Looks like he was able stab her. Before she killed him with the agiel."

Richard: "You said these cloaks draw their power from Wizard's blood right? Then we'll see if you're right about me."

Richard: "How can you bear to be away from your loved ones for so long."
Sister Verna: "As long as you keep them in your heart you take them wherever you go."

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Legend of the Weeker: Resurrection

Plot Synopsis: To open the episode we find our friends fighting a large group of D'haran soldiers. Kahlan confesses one of them and he tells that a General Griggs is trying to take the throne. We later find the good general commanding to destroy a village with a whisper, the WMD from episode Deception. He is then invited by a naked lady to an unknown event. The gang catches up on the camp and splits up with Zedd and Kahlan going to stop the whisper from going off and Cara and Richard going after the general. Kahlan and Zedd run up to the village about to be destroyed. Zedd casts a deafness spell protecting the village.

Richard and Cara catch up to the General who is visiting a brothel. The brothel is run by none other than Denna, the Mord Sith who trained Richard. She tells them that the general is gone. However he is being trained by Denna who is building some sort of weapon. Tricky one that one. Richard sends Cara to meet Kahlan and Zedd. Before she has a chance to leave, Denna tries to get her to switch sides. Meanwhile Richard is being seduced by a prostitute. She feeds him a story about a son. Sounds kind of fishy. She tells him that the General has never left and there is some meeting of D'haran commanders.

Just as she is about to tell Richard everything, Denna barges in. She tries to seduce Richard, his woman is being captured outside. Richard tries to help her but is drugged by a dart. Denna takes Lucinda prisoner, has her slaughtered, and puts the spirit of another Mord Sith into her body, so she can stop Kahlan, Cara and Zedd from rescuing Richard. Richard is captured and Denna tells him that she needs a claim to the actual throne of D'hara.

As Cara is waiting for Zedd and Richard, she is attacked by Lucinda. Kahlan stops her. Just then Lucinda tells them that she is Dennee, Kahlan's sister. While Richard is captured by Denna, she has the general kill himself. She then kills Richard. Kahlan has a debate with her sister about Cara. Just then Cara realizes that her agiels are not working, which signifies the death of Richard. He's busy hanging out in the underworld with Darken Rahl. Darken Rahl tells him that Denna plans to put the soul of General Griggs into Richard's body.

The general's soul is transferred into Richard's body and he is brought back to life by Denna. He assumes the title of Lord Rahl in Richard's body. Richard takes command of the armies of D'hara in a pretty badass way.

New Dennee and Zedd go to find the sorcerer at the palace. New Dennee manages to confess the sorcerer but he tells that he can only bring back either the Seeker or the Lucinda. Kahlan and Cara break in. Kahlan kills Richard and just then the soldiers run in. They are about to kill the ladies, but the confessed guard from earlier runs in with a whisper, threatening to kill everyone. Seeing their Lord Rahl dead, and not wanting to hear the shadow people, the soldiers withdraw leaving Denna alone with Kahlan, Cara and Richard's body. Kahlan and Cara leave with dead Richard.

As they prepare the ceremony to return alive old Richard, Cara apologizes to New Dennee. The sorcerer brings back Richard's soul and Cara brings him back with the Breath of Life. He kisses Kahlan and is overjoyed to see everyone. They leave New Dennee with Lucinda's family and the confessed soldier. They then leave to find Denna who stole the compass pointing to the Stone of Tears. What a jerk!

Commentary: Uh... what just happened? There was so much going on in this episode I had to keep rewinding back and figuring out who was who. We saw the return of Denna, as well as the semi return of Dennee. Man you just can't keep that girl down. She has now come back from the dead twice, after extended periods of time where everyone thought she was dead. Hopefully she can stay out of trouble for a while. As for Denna it is always interesting to see her. She is a pretty well developed multifaceted character who is constantly causing trouble for Richard.

On the topic of people not staying dead, how many times will Richard visit the underworld this season. I'm betting on five visits and about twelve interactions with Darken Rahl. By the way how ticked off do you think Darken Rahl is getting? For that matter the Keeper must be furious with him. It's not really clear why the Keeper keeps him around as a right hand man. He may have been the cat's pajamas in the world of the living but he is completely incompetent in the world of the dead. So far he has managed to close the gates really really slowly when Zedd and Richard were almost trapped and burn Richard while he was in the underworld. That's the best you can come up with? Fail!

You know who was awesome in this episode? Cara. I really appreciated her presence in this episode. She is like the red devil on Richard's shoulder telling him to take control of D'hara and rule it with an iron fist. However, she defers to Richard on her decisions for various reasons, not the least of which is that he saved her life on several occasions. You can definitely tell from the conversation that she has with Denna that she would like nothing more than Richard claiming the throne of D'hara. By the way, how useful is her Breath of Life thing? It's like a video game if one of them dies, they can just call her over and revive them. Good times.

It will be interesting to see what happens now that Richard can see that the majority of the D'haran army will be willing to follow him if he truly wants to. While taking the throne has been something that Richard was too busy for, he is definitely not above taking it should the need arise. If the Keeper's army actually approaches, he will need the D'haran to fight them off. Of course that will play into the Keeper's bring the dead people back strength. All crazy things that Richard has to consider. At least he didn't get another bombshell dropped on him this episode. I swear the next person he runs into is going to tell him some absurd technicality that he has to abide by. Like only being able to fight with one hand.

Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 7 out of 10.

First thing that Richard does when getting back from being roasted with weird green fire by Darken Rahl is to start a makeout session with Kahlan in front of all their friends. Way to be awkward. We haven't had any so close but so far away moments between Richard and Kahlan. I feel like one may be in the pipeline.

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 4 out of 10.

His deafening spell was pretty quick thinking. Then he begins to talk about the various woodlands creatures that probably survived. Thanks Zedd. I like the plan to send New Dennee in to confront the sorcerer and then stopping him at the last minute. Needless danger! YES!!!

Notable Quotes:

Denna: "Tonight... It seems the pleasure is all night."
Richard: "Denna?"

Denna: "Safe journey Cara. I'll take good care of Richard."
Cara: "If he has so much as a scratch when I get back... You'll be sorry."

Cara: "If the bond has been severed, it can only mean one thing... Richard is dead."

Darken Rahl: "How wonderful to see you again my brother. Welcome to the Underworld."

Richard: "I didn't think I was going to see you again... Any of you."

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Legend of the Weeker: Fury

Plot Synopsis: The episode opens with Richard and Cara tracking a deer. Richard tries to teach her how to track with minimum success. They hear a scream and stop a few barbarians slave hunting a group of people called the Minders. They're a bunch of peaceaholics who refuse to fight even against some bandits that stole their village and have been kidnapping them into slavery. The Minders refuse Richard's help. As he walks away his compass points back to the Minders' camp. Just then the elder's son runs up and asks for Richard's help to train them to fight.

After a Braveheart-esque speech on the benefits of fighting, half the camp decides to join Richard. As he tries to teach them to fight, all the Minders pass out with their eyes glazed over. Apparently they were hit by a binding spell, which reins in powerful emotions such as anger, lust, or revenge. Zedd offers to remove the spell but is hesitant to do so. Richard says to risk it. After the villagers get healed they ask to fight again. Back to training montage.

Cara hunts down some fawns for Zedd and the villagers. They are also vegetarians too. Bunch of hippies. As they're picking berries they are attacked and Cara fends the bandits off. While training one of the guys challenges Richard. He strikes Richard's face and Richard gets furious and disarms him holding him at the point of a sword before Kahlan stops him. He angrily tells her to leave him be. Side effects of the spell perhaps? Kahlan dutifully reports to Zedd.

Apparently the sword was glowing which signifies Richard's anger. Zedd runs off to talk to Richard but before he has a chance, Richard leads a raiding party to steal weapons from the bandits. One of the villagers manages to kill a bandit to prevent the alarm being raised. Richard then antagonizes the villagers further to take back the village. They raid the village slaughtering the bandits.

The rest of the gang as well as the Minders elder go to the village to see Richard's path of destruction. Kahlan and Cara run off to get Richard who plans to burn the village to the ground. They try to stop him and Richard knocks Cara out with the Sword of Truth. Kahlan disarms him causing him to return to normal. Richard convinces the Minders elder to heal Cara. Zedd tells him a story that there was madman who led the people of this village in a bloodthirsty campaign. The wizard who defeated him, cast a binding spell causing the Minders to become so peaceloving.

The madman was an ancestor of Richard so that's why everyone was listening to him. WHOA! Zedd explains with an elementary school experiment that now the people, Richard, and his Sword are bound together. Zedd suggests that there was something he needed to do or learn here as nothing happens by accident. Just then, the bandits approach. Hesitant to use the Sword of Truth and with a hobbled Cara and Zedd, Richard gathers everyone to stand off against the bandits.

The bandits seeing that they are outnumbered reconsider fighting. Just before their leader is about to order the attack, a man who was healed by the Minders elder speaks up that she is honest and trustworthy. The bandits decide to leave. Richard tries out using the Sword again with the villagers restrained. Zedd eggs him on telling him to bring out all of the things that make him angry. He ends the lesson directing his anger at Zedd nearly killing him in the process. The compass beings to point east and the gang heads off in search of the Stone of Tears. Kahlan and Zedd have a discussion worrying about the Rahl ancestry in Richard and the effect that it might have on him in the future.

Commentary: Yet another episode of Legend of the Seeker borrowing heavily from the Star Wars series. This time we find out that Richard is not as good at controlling his emotions as he seems. Since the Sword of Truth draws from his rage, something about those Minders did not let him control his anger. Did anyone else not fully understand the explanation that Zedd gave with the vinegar and baking soda? Why exactly is it that these three things combined caused Richard to go off the deep end? I can understand why the people freak out, but why him?

Richard once again has something working strongly against him. Now he can't lose control of his emotions or else this group of people will freak out. It seems pretty weird. Richard did get to work out some of his latent anger issues. He came out as against his father and brother being killed. He also was not happy about Darken Rahl, not being able to be with Kahlan, or that Zedd dragged him into this thing being the Seeker and all. I guess we all now know about what Richard is thinking the whole time.

I did love the differences between Kahlan and Cara. Kahlan was really understanding of the Minders situation. On the other hand Cara was all about teaching them how to be violent. It was great to see Cara's reaction to all the peaceniks and their ways. It was interesting to see that the power of the Sword of Truth is enough to overcome Cara's power of the Mord Sith. Though this makes sense since Richard learned this power through his training with Denna.

Lastly, I was not sure what the point of the Minders was. There is a pretty terrible movie called Never Back Down. The theme of the movie is that violence is not the answer. In the end, the main protagonist has to resort to violence to solve his conflict. Here there was the same theme but backwards. Richard is teaching everyone that violence is the answer to their problems. That violence ends up harming everyone and cunning and nonviolence carries the day in the end. Though they kept the trained soldiers in the village and also Richard needed to teach them to fight to fulfill his quest. Paradox!

Richard and Kahlan Romance Index: 7 out of 10.

When reciting all the things that keep Richard up at night, he names not being able to be with the woman he loves. Zedd kind of tells him to get over it. Thanks grandpa. There was also that look that Kahlan gives him when he talks about fighting. They may not be able to get together but what they feel for one another can't be stopped with simple magic.

Zedd's Creepiness Factor: 6 out of 10.

Zedd your healing abilities were a bit creepy. Lastly his therapy session with Richard was pretty creepy. Actually I wouldn't mind Zedd yelling things at me that I was concerned with. Then he could cavalierly dismiss things that was concerned about until I actually insulted him. That would be sweet.

Notable Quotes:

Richard: "I don't like leaving those people by themselves."
Kahlan: "They have a right to follow their own beliefs."

Zedd: "Cara! If Richard is truly out of control, then maybe only Mord Sith magic can stop him from using the sword."

Richard: "We're going to burn them while they sleep."

Zedd: "Lots of people can't be with the ones they love. Some of us have even lost their children. You don't see us flying into rages. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?!?"

Kahlan: "Richard learned to control the sword. He mastered the rage."
Zedd: "Yes. He controlled the Sword today. What about tomorrow?"

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.

Midlands Bulletin: Blog Schedule

Hey all. Apologies but I am still behind on my blogging. Look for the Legend of the Weeker about Fury tomorrow. The one about the following episode will be upcoming at the end of the week. Then we should be back on a regular schedule. I also hope to get a few guest posters to provide some more content but we shall see how that goes. Thanks for your patience.