Legend of the Seeker

LEGEND OF THE SEEKER
Season 01:06 - ELIXIR

REVIEW  ▪ SYNOPSIS ▪ CREDITS ▪ QUOTABLE QUOTES  ▪ LOG LINE
SCREENCAPTURES - ARTWORK - EPISODE STILLS

In a village where anyone can buy magic, Zedd faces off against a dangerous wizard who was once his student.

 

 

SYNOPSIS:

Richard, Kahlan and Zedd discover that peddlers are selling the villagers of Drundril elixirs, potions that temporarily give them magical powers. Searching for the makers of the potions, Zedd confronts a wizard who was once his student, but is now a dangerous and powerful rival.

REVIEW

"Elixir"
Reviewed by BlackDaemon

The teaser of this episode seems designed to remind us that Richard is a red-blooded well-built young man with manly thoughts. First, he's shown half-naked and sweaty - with more muscles than he had in the first episode of the series - working onZedd's Jedi mind tricks. In the next scene, Richard chances upon Kahlan bathing by the river and blatantly pines for her before she notices his presence - and points out that their horses are being stolen right behind Richard's back. So begins the next adventure - as long as the viewer understands that Richard is young, virile and in love.

Soon, the heroes find themselves mired in a situation that calls for the might and justice of the Seeker. An elixir-tainted pint of ale leads Richard to their thieving quarry, but not their horses. Their horse thief, a lovesick teenager, leads them to the elixir peddler whose business has taken over a small town, but soon Richard and company discover that the peddler is only a fence for a wizard,Jeziah,  who was once Zedd's student.

For once, Richard doesn't seem like he wants to be involved, but a townsman has too much hope and belief in him for Richard to deny his destiny. What follows is a series of events that leads toZedd's capture by his former student. Jeziah says that his goal in selling magical elixirs is to raise enough money to fund a militia against Darken Rahl, but his actions speak otherwise. When Zedd doesn't agree with Jeziah's methods or commerce, Jeziah decides instead to strip Zedd of his wizardly powers.

There are a few things about this episode that mark it as not-to-be-skipped. Richard has seen Kahlan use her powers as a Confessor before ("Destiny") and knows that she can exert her will over a resistant foe, but he's never seen the aftermath up close.Rymus, the elixir peddler who gets confessed by Kahlan early in the episode, wants only to please her and shows no sign of his previous personality. Rymus now loves Kahlan with his whole being, and is willing to do anything to prove it. Richard finally begins to understand just how powerful Kahlan is. Later in the episode, we see one of the reasons why it is that Kahlan won't let herself give in to her love for Richard.

This episode is also the first time we see a magic-inhibiting collar, which will become more important later, as well as one crucial unmentioned aspect of the Sword of Truth.

Richard and Kahlan have one of their trademark disagreements, this time about the proper ways to use magic. Richard is, of course, more inclined to bend the rules because he hasn't spent a lifetime adhering to them. In the end, Richard is forced to rely on his own wits and skills to findZedd, but on his new wizard-trained insights to save Zedd and return to him his stolen powers. And at the very end, Zedd once again tries to burst the bubble that is the unspoken love between Kahlan and Richard. While it's evident that Zedd knows a great deal more about the big picture than Richard, these revelations of Zedd's in the last moments before the credits - as was seen at the end of "Brennidon" - are repetitive and annoying.

The action in this episode is common to the series, though the slow motion cinematography in the fight scenes is far better than what was seen in early episodes of "Hercules" and "Xena". What's important about this episode isn't the town-saving or the ongoing sub-plot (the quest to killRahl is set aside for this adventure) but instead the between-action scenes about Kahlan's powers and Richard's methods of seeking justice.  Soon Richard will be truly tested, and these lessons he has learned along the way will have the power to save him if he heeds them - or destroy him if he doesn't.
 
 
"Sooner or later, we all eventually become who we pretend to be."
 

 
  CREDITS  *  LOG LINE * PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION NUMBER: 103

PRODUCTION INFO:

Directed by: Charlie Haskell
Written by: Mike Sussman

CREDITS:
CRAIG HORNER - Richard Cypher
BRIDGET REGAN - Kahlan Amnell
BRUCE SPENCE - Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander

CO-STARRING

JOSHUA FERNANDES - Jeziah
CALVIN TUTEAO - Rymus
BEN CROWDER - Gosfid
MARK MITCHINSON - Wilford
SYDNEY JACKSON  - Jack



LOG LINE:  In a village where anyone can buy magic, Zedd faces off against a dangerous wizard who was once his student.

RATINGS: 2.4 (Viewers: 3.6 million)

US AIRDATE: 29 November 2008
AUST AIRDATE:

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

 


  EPISODE MULTIMEDIA

EPISODE STILLS

SCREENCAPTURES