CURSED – Containing the Beast Within on LEGEND OF THE SEEKER « multipleverses.com

CURSED – Containing the Beast Within on LEGEND OF THE SEEKER By Erika Blake This week’s episode of LEGEND OF THE SEEKER was a very tightly written, non-mythology episode that ended with a big hint of what’s to come for the final 3 episodes of the season. The dark episode begins on a light note, Richard and Kahlan are screaming and running through the woods and landing right in their campsite. Were they being chased by D’Haran soldiers? No, they were pursued by an angry swarm of bees seeking justice on Richard who dared to steal their honey. Our two ill-fated lovebirds then begin to squabble over who gets to eat the honey soaked piece of bread only to have it snatched away by the always hungry Zedd who immediately devoured it without the slightest concern on how they got it. Zedd then proceeds in informing Richard and Kahlan that they have a mission to assist a powerful ally to the Resistance whose realm borders on D’Hara. When the trio reach King Gregor’s castle they find out that the king whose land had been overrun by D’Haran soldiers took drastic measures to get rid of them and made a pact with his neighbor the sorceress Shota and asks her to make him powerful enough to protect his land against invasion. Shota’s solution was to transform King Gregor each night into a Cathrope, a mythical creature feared by D’Haran children and people who ravages anyone who comes in its path. At nightfall the King transformed into a hideous beast and succeeded at chasing out the D’Haran soldiers after many were slaughtered. However, once the soldiers were gone, the King tried to get Shota to lift the curse so that he wouldn’t harm his own people and she refused. The cursed King began harming any of his own citizens who happened to come in his path, including, unfortunately his wife the Queen. King Gregor asked for Richard’s help because the only thing that can kill a Cathrope is the Sword of Truth. Richard is of course uneasy with this request and his discomfort is only heightened when they meet Gregor’s daughter Corah who is filled with vengeful bloodlust against the creature that killed her mother. Zedd heads off to Shota’s to ask her to lift the curse. We discover that the Wizard and Sorceress have a rocky past and that he had left her many years ago after she had shown him a vision that if they were to have joined together they and their children could have ruled over everyone for many generations. When Zedd tried to plead Gregor’s case, Shota went to her vision water bowl and showed Zedd that without the fear of the Cathrope there to protect the land that the D’Harans would over run the kingdom and take it over. We learned in IDENTITY that Shota who also fears Darken Rahl so keeping the adjoining realm safe helps her as much as it does them. Meanwhile back in the castle, Zedd has put some magic on the shackles that they used to lock up King Gregor at night in hopes of being able to contain the Cathrope. The King pleads w/ Richard to agree that if it comes down to it and if Zedd fails in his mission that he’ll chose his own life over the cursed man’s. Richard agrees. Night falls and the King transforms into the beast. The creature’s rage breaks through the rocks that held the magical chains in place; he knocked out Richard and headed for the forest. Unknown to the King and Richard Corah and Kahlan are out there trying to help the family of one of Corah’s ladies in waiting whose wagon needed a new horse hitched. The roar of the beast frightens everyone and it invades the camp. Wanting nothing more than to protect the Princess, Kahlan challenges the beast but is thrown aside. Corah tries fighting it and Richard arrives in time before it can harm her. When the beast even bests Richard and he loses his sword, Kahlan sees that the beast is about to slaughter the Seeker and she is overcome by the Con Dar, her blood rage. She attacks the beast and gives Richard just enough time to arm himself again. The creature throws off Kahlan and goes to attack Richard again and The Seeker slays the beast. Corah, unaware of Kahlan’s state goes to see if she’s ok and in her rage, Kahlan grabs the Princess’s throat and begins to squeeze. Richard races to her side and manages to get through to Kahlan and she releases her hold and comes out of the Con Dar. This is the set up for the remainder of the episode where we get to see both Kahlan and Corah coming to terms with dark secrets. For Kahlan the beast inside of herself is one that she fears and has no idea how to control it. She’s so petrified by the Con Dar that she places a Rada‘Han on her neck to suppress her magic. Corah faces the fact that her father had been the horrible creature and tries to understand how both of her parents could be taken from her as quickly as she ascends the throne. The episode was action packed and yet it managed to provide more character depth to Kahlan as she continues to struggle w/ her inner demons. Meanwhile Zedd and Shota reconnect at least on a professional level to do what they can to help Richard and Kahlan to keep the D’Harans out of Queen Corah’s realm. During the episode both Shota and Richard were the two characters who believed the most in the possibility of magic while those around them feared it. Richard as always acted as Kahlan’s conscience reminding her that she cannot fear those things that she has been given as gifts and that she just needs to be patient. Shota understood the burden that she placed on Gregor but also knew that the consequences of him not being cursed would’ve been most dire. The cinematography in the episode was utterly breathtaking at times. The sequences that took place when the characters were out in the forest in mid-afternoon were particularly stunning w/ the light shimmering through the trees. And the golden beauty of Ageden Reach where Shota resided was stunning. Although you could tell that most of it was green screened, it gave a very surreal look to the scenes that gave it a great fantasy feel. The creature FX were convincing also with a nice blend of CGI meets giant guy in a creature suit. Overall the story was tightly written with lots of twists and turns in it and left me guessing until the end, and as a standalone, non-mythology episode, it’s probably one of my favorites because it was dark and sophisticated with its storytelling. The secondary characters were also likeable and memorable. Other than Shota channeling her inner Galadriel when she showed visions of the future to Zedd, there were very few other genre references in the episode. The series finally has come into its own without having to rely on overused story and plot devices to tell an episode. It was fabulous to see Shota again who is turning into a rather sympathetic character – a scorned woman who’s methods might be questionable but the things that she does, she does for the good of the world. Also, I can’t help but finding myself rooting a bit for her and Zedd to pair up, they have great chemistry on screen together. Bruce Spence provided just the right touch of sorrow to his performance when he explained to Shota why he left her long ago, his delivery was tinted w/ unfulfilled longing. At the end of the episode Kahlan finally decided to trust that in time she could teach herself to control the Con Dar. Zedd comes to them with a new vision from Shota, that there is a copy of The Book of Counted Shadows and that soon Darken Rahl will know of its existence. Will our trio get to it before he does? For that answer, you’ll have to wait and watch this weekend’s all new episode SANCTUARY. This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 11:02 am and is filed under Legend of the Seeker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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