Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Legend of the Seeker through the current episode, “Sacrifice” originally broadcast the weekend of January 24th, 2009.

The news that Legend of the Seeker has been renewed for a second season didn’t exactly surprise me.  I wouldn’t have been surprised had it been cancelled either, though.  The good news is that after two terrible episodes back-to-back, this past weekend’s episode was actually quite good.  “Sacrifice” saw the return of the Mord’Sith (first seen in “Deena”), although technically it wasn’t a real Mord’Sith at all.  Read on to learn more.

As “Sacrifice” began, Richard, Kahlan and Zedd are lost in the woods.  Suddenly, out of the trees come a group of Kahlan’s fellow Confessors.  Among them is the Mother Confessor herself.  Kahlan is shocked to learn that this small group — three, to be exact — are all that are left of the Confessors.  They fought a brave fight against the forces of Darken Rahl but there were just too many D’Haran soldiers.  One of the Confessors lost an arm in the fight.

Suddenly, out of the trees comes a man (my goodness, aren’t there were a lot of people in the woods these days) who heard there were Confessors nearby and came looking for his mistress Dennee.  Kahlan is shocked.  Richard is shocked.  Even Zedd is a little shocked.  For you see, Dennee (Kahlan’s sister) is dead.  And when a Confessor dies, anyone they’ve confessed regains their free will.  So, if this man is still confessed that means Dennee is still alive.

Dennee is soon found at a D’Haran prison.  Interesting how everyone just happened to come together very close to this particular prison.  Zedd uses his magic to turn Kahlan into a Mord’Sith, complete with an uncomfortably tight looking red leather outfit, and she brings Richard to the prison, pretending to have captured the Seeker.  Because of the fear the Mord’Sith instill in even the feared D’Haran’s, Kahlan is able to get inside the prison and confesses the warden.  Soon they’ve escaped with Dennee, who is pregnant.  Or, as all the women in the show keep saying, with child.

The baby is born but not after a bit of a scare when it’s facing the wrong way (Richard uses the skills he learned growing up on a farm to turn the baby around).  Unfortunately, it’s a boy.  And boy Confessors are killed at birth because when they grow up they are unable to control their abilities and turn to the dark side and all that jazz.  Richard is disgusted and outraged and eventually steals the baby with Kahlan.

The Mother Confessor and Zedd chase after the two and the Mother Confessor confesses Zedd and uses him to combat Richard.  Finally, Zedd is useful.  This forces Kahlan to hand over the child rather than risk Richard being harmed.  All the while they’re being chased by the D’Haran’s, who want the boy Confessor to give to Darken Rahl.  For a while, when the Mother Confessor was telling everyone about her own baby boy, I was expecting to learn that Darken Rahl is a boy Confessor that someone let live out of love.  That would have been brilliant.

Eventually, the baby is allowed to live after Richard and Kahlan and the other Confessors pick a fight with the D’Haran’s and use them to attack the Mother Confessor and Zedd, who are about to drown the baby in the ocean.  The Mother Confessor is killed and Kahlan is voted the next Mother Confessor.  It’s not exactly American Idol.  The remaining Confessors take the baby and set off on the ocean to some secret island where they’ll be safe and will be able to raise the boy without the influence of evil.  Everyone is happy.

I wasn’t a fan of the baby storyline, which admittedly was a big part of the episode.  I loved Kahlan’s impersonation of a Mord’Sith, although I worry that poor Bridget Regan was in a fair amount of pain from the outfit she was in. She got to smack around a D’Haran, though, so that’s something. Unlike last week’s episode, “Sacrifice” had little for Zedd to do, which is always a plus. And there were no annoying kids, just Richard. The baby itself was fine.