Lower Decks

Legend of the Seeker
“Cursed”
Originally Broadcast the Weekend of Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

Well, it wasn’t better than “Mirror” but “Cursed was still a good episode. That makes six in a row that I’ve enjoyed, I think. It was a dark episode, with family betraying family, family killing family and witches cursing kings. Also, a terrible beast, a blood rage, an enchanted scepter and the return of a mysterious book…

Richard, Kahlan and Zedd are asked to meet with King Gregor to help him with a grave matter confronting his kingdom, which is one of the few to stand up to Darken Rahl. Something is killing his people. A beast known as a Calthrop (one of the few things D’Haran children are taught to fear). They’re shocked to learn that King Gregor is in fact the Calthrop. He’s been cursed by the witch Shota. Technically, he asked her to help him protect his kingdom and the curse was her way of complying with his request.

Unfortunately, each and every night King Gregor turns into the Calthrop and kills indiscriminately. He kills his own wife, the queen. Zedd puts together some magic chains to bind King Gregor and then goes off to try to talk with Shota. Richard and Kahlan stay to watch over King Gregor. Kahlan and the king’s daughter (whose name I can’t remember) ride off to help some stranded people and King Gregor turns into the Calthrop and busts out of the chains. Richard chases after him.

During the ensuing fight the king is killed, Kahlan is taken by the throes of the Con Dar (the blood rage) and almost kills Richard, and the princess learns that her father was the Calthrop. She ascends to the throne. When Zedd returns he reveals that the Calthrop was the only thing keeping the D’Haran’s at bay. They decide to cook up a fake Calthrop to trick the D’Haran’s but the king’s brother, a traitor, has other plans.

The princess, who is now the queen, inherits her father’s curse and also becomes a Calthrop. But a magic choker is able to keep the beast at bay (the king’s brother had unlocked it, allowing the Calthrop to get lose). The D’Haran’s are stopped and once again believe the kingdom to be home to a Calthrop. Richard wants Kahlan to try to harness the power of the Con Dar but even Zedd can’t help her with that. Oh, and Shota has told Zedd that a second Book of Counted Shadows exists.

The Calthrop was nasty, I’ll admit. I wasn’t thrilled that the brother turned out to be a traitor. That was cliched. I was surprised when the princess-turned-queen turned into a Calthrop (the king’s scepter was cursed; whoever wields it becomes a Calthrop). Kahlan’s continued struggle with the Con Dar, first introduced in “Conversion,” was a nice bit of continuity. I hope to see more of that in future episodes. If she can find a way to control it, she’ll be even more powerful.

It was also nice to see Shota again. Recurring characters help flesh out the series. We first met her in “Identity” but in this episode she’s quite a bit more helpful and works alongside with Zedd. It wasn’t a funny episode like “Mirror” but it was another fun episode and that’s enough for me.