TV Review: Legend of the Seeker

I have been directed to this new Fantasy series by a friend, both as a warning and as a recommendation.  I also heard that it was written by novelist Terry Goodkind (Sword of Truth series) – and I see his books quite often each time I stumble upon the bookstore.  Eternally curious at what makes fiction tick, I gave it a go.

Come on, who doesn't feel a tingle of their inner fantasy geekness in seeing this poster?

Legend of the Seeker has visuals I’ve previously thought impossible in TV however, sporting graphics that can immediately make you relate it to the fantasy masterpiece Lord of the Rings.  Kahlan Amnell, a ‘confessor’ (a band of holy women dedicated to pursue truth wherever they saw it) is charmingly played by the beautiful Bridget Regan, who was, according to fans of the novel,portrays her as true to the book as possible.  And in the pilot, she was the only one worth watching.  Honestly!  Richard Cypher, who begins the series as a ordinary woodsman… but with abs of steel ( I kid you not!  The starting sequence made me feel icky, like I was watching a fangirl’s dream) soon becomes revealed to be the ‘chosen one’  – the one called The  Seeker destined to defeat the evil sorcerer-tyrant Darken Rahl.

Meh. Cliche.

In searching for a metaphor to describe the feeling of watching the first episode of Legend of the Seeker was hard in coming, because it was quite a different experience.  But it’s like this.  Have you ever received a gift during your birthday, whereit was wrapped beautifully with gold and crimson, and it just made you hungry to possess whatever was inside?  Then after you open it, you find it to be nothing but a cheap silly gift – that’s wrapped wonderfully in glitter, but inside is a bit … hollow.  That’s how I felt watching the pilot.

Honestly, I stopped watching the pilot due to its sheer cliche and romantic cheesiness within 10 minutes.  But the friend who sugegsted it to me, told me that he liked the series better than Dollhouse.  And if this cheese factory can outdo Whedon scriptwriting, then I knew I had to give it a second chance.

What happens is something odd.  I found myself watching episode per episode, looking forward to the next episode and the next.  And now, watching way up to the 17th episode, I am eagerly waiting for the next one coming this weekend.  So what changed?

One, the characters were GROWING.  They werent cardboard cutouts after all, as I thought at first – they actually grow and learn, and become corrupted like any other person.  Every episode also reveals a little tidbit about the character I did not know before, so it kept even the flimsiest viewer kept at hook.  Especially since I haven’t read the Sword of Truth novels, discovering tiny tidbits (no matter how cheesy) cans till feel rewarding and a good stress reliever.

Two,  FILLER episodes are the best episodes of all, where I just sit down and relax and not worry who’s gonna die next in Lost.   Sometimes Seeker has a-ohkay episodes… average episodes… but then there are great episodes.  Episdoes such as ‘The Listener’ and ‘Identity’ are good episodes that show the characters in a great light that it actually makes you forget such wrong and BAD (really bad) episodes like ‘The Revenant’.  And then there are the exceptional episodes… like Zedd Zoolander (lol yes, I use that spelling to remember the gimmicky name)  Wizard of the First order, posing as a Master Puppeteer… Watching his excellent chemistry with the young slave girl was a breathe of fresh air, liek something straight from a faerie tale.  If only they had more of those…  I’d add this as a favorite.  But alas…

And finally, I realized that EXPECTATIONS can kill a series like this.  And I initially watched Legend of the Seeker, drawn by the LOTR-ish scenes, and fully expecting something as deep and compelling.  If that’s what you expect in this series, better not start at all, because this is NOT Lord of the Rings.  The visuals may be similar, but this one is more targeted to closet romantics and fantasy buffs, than Tolkien fans. As such, I found that you should watch Legend of the Seeker with a specific kind of mindset and expectations to actually appreciate it fully.  It was made by the same creators of XENA Warrior Princess and HERCULES, so expect similar storytelling techniques.  It was based from an over the top romantically cheesy novel, so expect much the same.  It was based on a plot that concentrated on its fantasy instead of realism, so expect such tropes as One against Many and Chosen One fulfills Destiny.  If you expect all these, I guarantee the series would be much better than your initial watch.

It may not be the best tv series out there… but compared to other more dismal ‘fantasy-based’ tv series (like the BBC Merlin and Krog Mandoon), I’d say this is well worth the watch.