[I noticed I had the wrong link to the screen capture of Richard & Kahlan kissing. That heinous error has been rectified.]
I have never read any of the “Sword of Truth” books by Terry Goodkind. I had never heard of the show until fellow Sci Fi Chick Suzanne told me about it. And while she seems to like the show, for me it’s must see tv. Yes, it has some flaws. Yes, it can be cheesy. But cheesiness is part of its charm, and it’s enormously entertaining.
Chemistry, that elusive dynamic, is alive and very well in New Zealand, where the show is filmed. The producers hit the mark in casting Craig Horner as Richard Cypher, the Seeker of title, and Bridget Regan as Kahlan, the Confessor sworn to protect him. These two characters are enormously attracted to each other; but there are serious (and permanent, as far as I can see) roadblocks to such a union. This concerns me so much, I’ve been meaning to ask Suzanne if Richard and Kahlan ever do get together, and if so, how.
So imagine my chagrin when I found out I’d missed the first new episode since the holiday hiatus, and in particular, this scene. Fortunately, I was casually flipping through the cable guide last night when I found WGN (not my usual Seeker station) was showing a new episode at 9:00 pm. It wasn’t in HD, but at this point I was willing to take anything.
This was indeed the episode featuring the long awaited kiss. But it was also the most disturbing episode to date.
Richard, Kahlan and their wizardly mentor Zedd (delightfully played by Bruce Spence) are attacked. Zedd is shot through the chest with an arrow and killed. In the ensuing melee, Kahlan has Richard up against a tree, but instead of trying to protect him, she stabs him. Of course, this is a dream. But whose?
[The catalyst for the dream is a sorceress' prophecy in "Identity," the previous episode, that the Seeker would be betrayed by "the one in white." For the newbies, "the one in white" refers to Kahlan, who frequently wears a white flowing robe-like garment over her more practical pants and boots.]
Richard wakes up a screaming Kahlan and tries to calm her. The closeness and comfort is too much to bear. And thus, the kiss. And while Kahlan breaks away momentarily, she quickly returns to Richard passionately before breaking away again.
Kahlan doesn’t want to betray Richard, and the forbidden kiss and her feelings are extra catalysts that push her to leave Richard and Zedd. She knows of a fellow Confessor who lives nearby and goes to see if she will take her place in aiding the Seeker.
It’s during her absence that Richard & Zedd are attacked by a Hot Chick in Red Leather. We already know the Hot Chick (named Denna, and part of some order of really evil leather-wearing magical she-bitches) works for the bad guys because she appeared at the beginning of the episode and was told by one particular bad guy to not kill the Seeker, but rather train him.
And by “train” we mean “torture.” This is not at all a pleasant thing to watch. Richard is tortured as much mentally as physically. I suppose the “saving grace” is that Craig Horner spends the bulk of this episode shirtless (and shoeless, for those with a foot fetish—oh, c’mon, I know you’re out there). But I am not a fan of the “super-ripped” (hear that, Jared Padalecki?), so even that doesn’t ease my mind.
But the episode is powerful, and underneath all the squeamishness, the underlying strength of Richard and Kahlan and their loyalty to each other is what makes the episode (and the series) so intriguing.
When Kahlan has ethical issues with Lara, her fellow Confessor with whom she was going to trade places, she returns to Zedd. At least Lara and her fellow villagers minions slaves join her. But Kahlan is not willing to send people into battle without their free will, so Kahlan tries to free Richard alone.
Guess what. It doesn’t work. But it does give us the best, most heart-wrenching scene to date. Richard is breaking and wants Kahlan to “confess” him (i.e., make him her slave), because he’s not sure he has enough strength to resist Denna. But Kahlan refuses. Distraught, Richard accuses her of betraying him, but Kahlan believes the betrayal was actually in abandoning him. (But is this really the betrayal, or just a red herring? Hmmm.)
In the end, with Kahlan’s life in the balance, Richard is able to fight against his enslavement. He tells Denna she’s the one who taught him to withstand the pain—just before killing her.
Of course, no continuing story is completely wrapped up. We’re left to wonder if Kahlan has indeed fulfilled the prophecy of betraying Richard (and if their mututal love can ever be requited). But the most terrifying plot hanger is the image of Denna being brought back to life by the “life force” breathed into her by one of her fellow leather-clad torturer sisters. Uh-oh.
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I’ve had a heck of a time keeping up with this show; I always forget when it’s on. Guess I’ll have to start downloading episodes to make sure I’m caught up. That said…
Wow, they introduced the Mord-Sith already? This is what I was referring to in my post, when I mentioned the story gets very, very dark. The “training” segment goes on for quite some time in the book. I had a hard time getting through it when I first read it. The Mord-Sith have a surprising part to play as the story continues; suffice to say, their loyalty is unquestionable once they give it. The “alternate Confessor” is news to me. Unless I’ve forgotten something, I thought Kahlan was supposed to be the last Confessor.
To answer your question, yes, Richard and Kahlan do eventually get together, after much angst and worry. And then they angst and worry some more about their relationship. Hee.
Sue, I was reading some reviews of the book at Amazon and they mentioned the torture scenes went on for an awfully long time and were hard to get through. Even the editorial reviews said that the “sado-eroticism might keep it out of some libraries. However, the Alexandria library does have it—I checked. But then Alexandria is a bastion of liberal thinking.
I’d also read that the series doesn’t completely follow the books. (Maybe it was you who said that!) So I could see if this was a bit of a departure from the book. It’s got to be hard to do a series based on a book, even if they’re a series of books. What the tv series outlasts the books? Where would they go from there? Ah, but I’ll wait and worry about that later.
Heh. You won’t have to worry about the series outlasting the books. With twelve books, each over 800 pages long, there’s a lot to cover, even if they do skip over and rearrange some stuff.
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