The Sisters of the Light kept me guessing this week. Were they evil, good, overzealous? For a while they kept Richard guessing too. I enjoyed seeing Richard’s gift for ferreting out the truth highlighted in this episode. He observes little details, puts the pieces together, figures out what Sister Nicci’s game is, and outwits both the Sisters of the Light and the Dark. That’s why they call him the Seeker!
What did you think of Jolene Blalock‘s guest role as Sister Nicci? I’ve finally borrowed Stone of Tears and am just starting on it, so I don’t have any preconceived notions about the character. From my perspective I think Blalock did an adequate job, though I wasn’t blown away.
When Nicci feigns vulnerability and pretends to be afraid for her life, I found her kind of annoying. I thought, Come on, there’s no way Richard’s falling for that! When she’s just being her evil self, she’s more interesting, at times even reminding me of some of Angelina Jolie’s roles. I think her best moment was her physical portrayal of dark ecstasy after Nicci absorbs Richard’s power.
Another new character was introduced this week. That is, of course, the newly appointed Seeker, Leo. Although he’s no Richard Cypher, I love Leo’s scenes with Cara — especially their conversation about the chipmunks. It was so cute to see him coax a giggle out of the immovable Mord-Sith, and even cuter to see her smile secretly to herself. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next week. Do you think the flirtation is going anywhere? I’m curious to know what you guys think of Leo. I want Richard back as the Seeker ASAP, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Leo if it means more character growth for Cara.
Overall, I liked this episode, though it was not one of the best of Season 2. (The truth is, I’ve never disliked an episode of Legend of the Seeker.) Visually, every episode looks as good as a movie, and “Dark” was no exception. I missed seeing Richard wield the Sword of Truth — that was the biggest downer for me. Hopefully, next week will remedy that.
What did you think of “Dark?” Share your thoughts in the comments.
Clacked by Ruby T.
on Jan 24, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
Jolene Blalock sucked as Sister Nicci. Way, way too old for the part. The new Seeker was crap. I was especially mad that Cara was all giggly and whimsical over the guy after having just met him. I love LoTS, but “Dark” was a crap episode from beginning to end. Nicki Paluga and Garth Maxwell should be ashamed of themselves for this episode.
I disagree with everything you said. But that’s ok. I love this last show. Perfect.
It was a really fun episode. I didn’t see the time difference between the sisters of light’s castle and the outside world coming, and it made the story more compelling. I’ve never seen anything with Jolene Blalock before, I cringed at the same part where she was talking about the prelate going after the cook or something, but her earlier and later scenes were ok. I don’t really watch this show for the guest stars though, I think the principal cast is terrific.
Book readers will have hated what they did with this episode. I didn’t hate it- I’ve accepted that the books and the show will always differ, but the chipmunk thing shouldn’t have been done here because in the books it was all Richard. He used feeding chipmunks as punishment for the Mord’Sith, trying to tame them. It was something really special in the books and I hated that they gave that to Leo. Also, if you’ve read the books you will know that Nicci is supposed to have luscious blonde hair and blue eyes and always wears a black dress, it’s just part of her character so no one who’s read them was happy with her casting. I would say this was like that whole Twilight thing where people hated the choice for Edward (I can’t believe I just referenced Twilight) but in this case the writers didn’t try at all to bring Nicci to life. She could have dyed her hair blonde and worn a black dress, that’s all that was needed to at least give us the impression that this WAS Nicci. Nicci was really REALLY important in the books so I think they should’ve handled her character with more care.
Also the fact that she took Richard’s Han? They definitely need to reverse that because Richard’s gift is EXTREMELY central in the books. I’m sure the writers have a plan in mind but I really hope it doesn’t involve killing Nicci off because she’s important in the book series and I’m hoping she’s important in the tv version as well.
Anyway sorry for the rant. I liked this episode- not one of their strongest but like you I’ve never really disliked an episode. However I wish some more things that happened in the second book were incorporated-like Richard’s speech when he first arrived at the Palace of the Prophets, etc. because those scenes were pretty important in the books. I thought the new prophecy was interesting- Richard’s doomed to fail if Kahlan lives? Also the new Seeker is good, I just don’t like the idea of *a* new seeker because Richard is the one *true* Seeker but I guess it makes sense since Richard wasn’t able to continue his quest. I also like the Cara-Leo pairing, it was heartwarming that she smiles secretly about him, she really likes him so I hope he doesn’t get killed off or anything.
Thanks for reviewing, can’t wait for the next episode!
I know what you mean. They did the same thing with Darken Rahl. He was supposed to have golden hair and always wear white. But in the TV version, he has dark hair and always dresses in red. And Denna was supposed to have auburn hair, right? But in the TV version, she’s blonde. So it should come as no surprise that Sister Nicci doesn’t look anything like the character in the book.
I neglected to mention it in the review, but I completely agree with you about Richard’s Han. His power as a wizard seems central to his character, and it’s a great new development for the show. I hope he gets it back next week, because that seems like an unnecessary change. But then, Richard was supposed to become Lord Rahl, and in the TV version, he rejects that path – so I guess these changes are to be expected.
I do agree with you about Darken Rahl, except people loved Craig Parker so much that they were much more willing to accept the change. I actually didn’t even start reading the books until I saw the series and found out it was based on them, so that’s why I’m not angry at most of the changes- I’m actually really grateful because the show introduced me to the books. So I saw Darken Rahl and all the other season 1 characters before ever reading the books. With Nicci though, I always pictured Olivia Wilde in these pictures:
https://www.hollywood-celebrity-pictures.com/Celebrities/Olivia-Wilde/Olivia-Wilde-14.JPG
https://www.beyondhollywood.com/gallery/olivia-wilde-gives-great-eyes/?Qwd=./olivia-wilde-070125&Qif=olivia-wilde-14.jpg&Qiv=thumbs&Qis=M&Qtmp=FS#qdig
I saw the first picture somewhere before reading and when I read it the description fit her so I couldn’t picture anyone else. I’m not trying to bash Jolene Blalock but the description in the book was so unique to Nicci, with the black dress and piercing eyes that I wish it was highlighted in the series.
Now I know they’re not going to cast Olivia Wilde, I’m just saying that’s why it was a little more disappointing to me than the other changes, because I was introduced to book-Nicci before tv-Nicci, and I guess I kind of understand book lovers who bash the show although I don’t encourage it. It’s totally ok with me though, I don’t run the show and like I said I’m accepting as something new and different.
(And the Lord Rahl thing killed me too… I’m still holding out hope that he’ll accept the throne later on. I mean, the way he did in the books contradicts his reasons for not accepting the throne now on the show so I hope later on the writers can make it happen, because Richard is the Lord Rahl for pretty much the rest of the series starting with the second one, or even the end of the first one if I’m not mistaken.)
Over the years I’ve come to accept that TV Series and movies will always fall short of the books where they come from. But this is ridiculous.
When I watch the series I get the impression the producer looked at the back of the novel to get a general idea of what it is about. Then made up a xena like story line and once in a while the took one of the books and opened it at random and used the page they saw in the script. Just so they could say its based on Sword of Truth and benefit from the success of the books.
I do not think the show is bad, but I really believe it is NOT anywhere near sword of Truth.
If you keep in mind its not the Novels from Terry Goodkind the show is good, not great but good.
I was glad that the Sisters of the Light made an apperance but I was disappointed that the Palace of the Phropets didn’t look more impressive and in the entire episode.
In the previous episode, they introduced Richard’s being a wizard and I really liked it, so I’m very very disappointed that their solution was so fast. It really bugged me and I missed having other wizards at the palace and I missed my old grumpy phrophet.
It was an ok episode but their choices were a bit too simplistic.
PS: Book Nicci and TV Nicci don’t have ANYTHING in common. They did a better job with Rahl, even though they changed some things about his character, he was still a good villian but Nicci is a different story. She was horrible.
Nicci and Cara are my favorite characters from The Sword of Truth series. At first, I didn’t like how they introduced her last season, but this season I think she’s been pretty good. And so, with that in mind, I am waiting and hoping that they make Nicci’s character much better too.
I just am trying to remember that the tv series is not the books. I wish they followed the books, but they aren’t bad for what they are.
This was simply… horrible. I have long accepted that the TV series is not the book. I can even deal with a teenage simplistic Richard, the lame Orden boxes and a lot of other things. I believe they will recover from seemingly unsolvable plot deviations, they’ve done so before.
But Nicci without the blond hair, blue eyes and black dress? This is simply unforgivable – she’s an iconic character of the series and her appearance carries too much meaning to be ignored so casually.
I have to stick to what I said last week: Jolene is not right for the portrayal of Nicci.
I started watching this ep a few days ago & got about 15-20 minutes in before I shut it off because I didn’t like it. I just now finished it & still don’t like it. They changed a lot from the books.
My main gripes are the actress for Nicci, the explanation for the Palace of the Prophet’s aging spell, & this new Seeker bit.
As someone said above, I saw the series first & then read the books, so some of the characters I saw on the show first. In fact, when I read the book, every time Kahlan was mentioned Bridget Regan was who I envisioned. Craig is what i started out as thinking Richard looked like, but that changed as the books progressed. That kid just doesn’t fit Richard’s portrayal in the book, but I don’t mind. Zed I always saw as Bruce. I always saw Cara as beautiful & Tabbret is doing a damn good job as her. Now NIcci… sorry but they shouldn’t have changed her at all. She’s an important character & her appearance & ways comes in to play quite a few times in the book. For her, I actually have a friend who fits the description perfectly!
As for the time spell on the palace? They should have left it alone. It’s much better when trying to show how long it takes to train a wizard when they say time passes the same, you just age A LOT slower at the palace than the way they said it here. In the books it’s said that it takes hundreds of years to train a wizard, whereas in the show, even if it seems like hundreds of years on the outside, by their logic, it’d still only be a few decades long in the palace. That’s not the same!
The new Seeker guy? Please kill him & give Richard back his Han.
Anyway, yeah this episode kind of sucked to me. Sorry if this post is a bit jumbled.
Actually, just so people who haven’t read the books understand what we’re talking about:
On the conscious side Nicci carries black dress because she feels guilty for her appearance. Her blond hair and blue ayes make her a stunning beauty, but she thinks this is a curse because it makes other people feel bad – her gift for magic makes it even worse. So she tries to downplay her beauty as much as possible not to offend other people and thus wears black. Subconsciously she also mourns her father who she can’t admit she loved because she is taught he was evil by the same twisted ideals that teach beauty and skill are a curse.
In short, Nicci would never wear red.
Also, she would never lie or feign vulnerability. Actually Nicci is completely incapable of faking vulnerability or fear because she is not emotionally mature enough – she doesn’t really understand emotions, only duty. The whole reason she joined the dark sisters is because she believes there’s nothing else to life except suffering and the best way to help people is to kill them. So she lets the Keeper use her to achieve this noble goal.
In short, Nicci is an immature but charming character who believes she is destined to be used. Think Irulan from the Children of Dune movie but 100 times more tragic. Trying to portray her as a manipulator using others is not just flawed, it’s the exact opposite.
I would have preferred they had left this character out of the show if they can’t portray her right. As character depth goes she was the strongest SoT character – it’s even worse to see her like this than it was to swallow Richard’s immaturity.
As a show-only fan, it’s amusing to hear so much griping about a supporting character’s hair, eye, and dress color. I thought the actress performed well for the role as it was written on the show, which may have little to do with the character in the books.
The only thing I was unsure about was why Cara responded positively to Leo’s teasing, when he seemed to be channeling much the same roguish charm in that scene as the last Seeker pro tem, to whom she never warmed.
Re Cara, it’s probably because Leo is new, and she doesn’t feel that she has a reputation to keep up when she’s with him. When she’s with Richard, she has to be the big, bad Mord-Sith because that’s how he knows her. I think it’s believable because 1) I’ve had an instant crush before, and I know how it made me giggly when I’m normally serious; 2) when I’m with people who don’t know me well, I can be whoever I want to be; in contrast, when I’m with people who know me well, I behave the way they expect me to behave. So I imagine it’s the same thing with Cara.
Sorry, I was being using flowery language instead of clear. By Seeker pro tempore, I was referring not to Richard, but to Flynn, who also flirted with Cara and whom she seemed to enjoy abusing. Leo reminded me a lot of him in that scene.
Ok look, Jolene Blalock
Has beautiful long blond hair not brown dull hair extentions!! She also wore a black dress not some arab bright orange serong, a.k.a Deaths Mistress dose anyone else remember that?! And yes way to damn old…
So what are they goin to do now, “she is going to get hit by a lightning bolt go all rouge on are ass, and poof blond and poof bye bye wrinkels… i dont think so!
I think they should be ashamed of them selves for such a fooling mistake!!
Im pissed!
oops Nicki has blond hair, you know what im saying just trying to get out some pent up anger.