ABC Studios | 2009 | 946 mins. | PG-13
When Legend of the Seeker returned for a second a second season, the writers and producers faced a bit of a daunting task. The season one mission had been completed, and the main villain of the show, Darken Rahl (Craig Parker), was dead and defeated. This meant Richard Cypher (Craig Horner), and his friends needed a new quest and a new antagonist.
But alas, it’s revealed that Darken isn’t exactly dead. His body is gone, but since he was in the service of the Keeper of the Underworld, his spirit is still alive, and of use to his master. In fact, his death was all part of The Keeper’s plan. When he was killed, the magic released created a tear in the veil that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead, and the Keeper planned to use that tear to invade the land of the living and take over. However, first he must get the help of the Mord’Sith.
At the same time, Richard, Kahlan (Bridget Regan), and Zedd (Bruce Spence) find out about the tear and figure out the Keeper’s plan. In order to prevent the Keeper from succeeding, they must find the item that first sealed the veil between the world of the living and the world of the end, the Stone of Tears. Cara (Tabrett Bethell) joins them in their quest—even though she has been abandon by her people–as well as a number of allies along the way. Predictably, they also have to deal with their own share of enemies.
I thought Tabrett Bethell was one of the strongest actors on the series, and it was a good idea to move her character to full status for season two. She brought a real complexity to the series that felt like it was missing previously. There’s a bit of a culture clash—with her going from the Mord’Sith to being one of the good guys.
It should be td hat season w features some interesting guest stars: Charisma Carpenter, Jolene Blalock, Keisha Castle-Hughes, John Rhys-Davies, while the voice of The Keeper was provided by W. Morgan Sheppard, who played Blank Reg on Max Headroom.
While season two got off to a strong start, by the middle episodes things really started to drag. And I bet few will argue that the ending was downright corny, with Richard and Kahlan’s love solving all problems, but in the end it was fun show with interesting characters. I’ll miss it.
Filmed in widescreen, the series is presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Colors are appropriately saturated to match the scene, and there’s a decent amount of detail for a DVD with only a slight amount of grain.
The audio is a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English, with subtitles in French and Spanish. It’s a pretty dynamic track, when need be, and dialogue in softer scenes clean and precise. The rear speakers even get involved more than we usually see in a TV series.
All of the special features are found on disc five, starting with a 10-minute featurette on Cara / Tabrett Bethell and how the character / actress evolved over the season. Under the Underworld is a 9-minute look at the design for the world of the dead. Finally, there are six deleted / extended scenes with a total running time of ten minutes.
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