Legend of the Seeker review: Elixir
Mar. 11th, 2012 11:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meridian_roseFor the legendland review challenge. In which I glare at the writers for their treatment of magic.
'Elixir' turns up the volume on the archetypes with a scene very similar to 'Star Wars' where Zedd tries to teach Richard to use his Seeker powers while blindfolded. Even Buffy had to do this under Giles's tutelage so it's as much a rite of passage as it is learning a useful skill. Also, potential foreshadowing for Richard being blinded later in season two? I doubt it, but still...
We meet another wizard, Jeziah, which ought to be awesome. He's also a person of colour, a relatively rare thing for someone with a large part to play in an episode, outside of Chase. Jeziah is also revealed to be, if not evil, incredibly misguided. For me, his taking of Zedd's magic via the Quillion crosses the line. This is disappointing. The next wizard we see is Giller—also evil. I'll come back to this in a moment.
There's an attempt made in this episode to discuss magic as being natural or unnatural, a curse or a blessing. "Magic isn't good or bad," Richard concludes. "It's complicated." That I can accept.
That said, I disliked much of the elixir plotline for it's portrayal of magic:
Magic as a metaphor for drug use. This is always a problematic trope for me, since magic is for me spiritual in nature and insisting it's illicit, dangerous, and/or addictive, like cocaine or some such is rather offensive. It's especially disturbing given our cultures current insistence that abstinence treatments are the only option and what that means for those 'addicted' to magic. When Zedd tells Jeziah he'll "never have the powers of a wizard again" it's clearly meant as a punishment as much as it is a means of preventing Jeziah from causing further mischief.
Magic as only for the Chosen Few.
"I was born with this power," Kahlan huffs, "I didn't buy it in a tavern." Her Confessor powers and Richard's Seeker abilities are mostly okay because they're born with it and it's not a choice.
There's meta I want to write prompted by an article I read entitled 'When Did Magic Become Elitist'. At the crux it points out that rather than people choosing to study magic, increasingly fiction has magical abilities being innate eg 'The Secret Circle', 'The Vampire Diaires', 'Merlin', 'Harry Potter'. Some of this can, admittedly, be attributed to magic being a metaphor for sexuality, especially gay/lesbian sexuality. This ties into the 'not a choice' narrative.
Willow from 'Buffy' is an example of someone who trained in magic while her girlfriend Tara is an example of the latter (and Whedon's treatment of magic could be an essay in itself) but in 'Legend of the Seeker' magic is something you are born with, like Zedd, Shota, and Darken. The only way to use magic if you don't have it in your blood is to 'ingest' it via elixirs, or from a stored Han in a Quillion or similar. People using magic this way are seen both here and, given Nicci's later actions, to be largely reckless and irresponsible. In fact, most people are seen be reckless with magic, all except Zedd of course.
What I did like about this episode? Zedd. In the absence of so much as a glimpse of Darken since 'Destiny', Zedd was still my major reason to keep watching, and this episode didn't disappoint on that front. And Jeziah until he crossed the line. Since Jeziah didn't die, there's no reason he couldn't have returned later—maybe Nicci could have found a way to remove his Rad'a'Han. I also liked the 'Star Wars' scene and Zedd's commentary along with Richard's assertion that Zedd is just making up the Wizard's Rules.
Rating: 2.5
'Elixir' turns up the volume on the archetypes with a scene very similar to 'Star Wars' where Zedd tries to teach Richard to use his Seeker powers while blindfolded. Even Buffy had to do this under Giles's tutelage so it's as much a rite of passage as it is learning a useful skill. Also, potential foreshadowing for Richard being blinded later in season two? I doubt it, but still...
We meet another wizard, Jeziah, which ought to be awesome. He's also a person of colour, a relatively rare thing for someone with a large part to play in an episode, outside of Chase. Jeziah is also revealed to be, if not evil, incredibly misguided. For me, his taking of Zedd's magic via the Quillion crosses the line. This is disappointing. The next wizard we see is Giller—also evil. I'll come back to this in a moment.
There's an attempt made in this episode to discuss magic as being natural or unnatural, a curse or a blessing. "Magic isn't good or bad," Richard concludes. "It's complicated." That I can accept.
That said, I disliked much of the elixir plotline for it's portrayal of magic:
Magic as a metaphor for drug use. This is always a problematic trope for me, since magic is for me spiritual in nature and insisting it's illicit, dangerous, and/or addictive, like cocaine or some such is rather offensive. It's especially disturbing given our cultures current insistence that abstinence treatments are the only option and what that means for those 'addicted' to magic. When Zedd tells Jeziah he'll "never have the powers of a wizard again" it's clearly meant as a punishment as much as it is a means of preventing Jeziah from causing further mischief.
Magic as only for the Chosen Few.
"I was born with this power," Kahlan huffs, "I didn't buy it in a tavern." Her Confessor powers and Richard's Seeker abilities are mostly okay because they're born with it and it's not a choice.
There's meta I want to write prompted by an article I read entitled 'When Did Magic Become Elitist'. At the crux it points out that rather than people choosing to study magic, increasingly fiction has magical abilities being innate eg 'The Secret Circle', 'The Vampire Diaires', 'Merlin', 'Harry Potter'. Some of this can, admittedly, be attributed to magic being a metaphor for sexuality, especially gay/lesbian sexuality. This ties into the 'not a choice' narrative.
Willow from 'Buffy' is an example of someone who trained in magic while her girlfriend Tara is an example of the latter (and Whedon's treatment of magic could be an essay in itself) but in 'Legend of the Seeker' magic is something you are born with, like Zedd, Shota, and Darken. The only way to use magic if you don't have it in your blood is to 'ingest' it via elixirs, or from a stored Han in a Quillion or similar. People using magic this way are seen both here and, given Nicci's later actions, to be largely reckless and irresponsible. In fact, most people are seen be reckless with magic, all except Zedd of course.
What I did like about this episode? Zedd. In the absence of so much as a glimpse of Darken since 'Destiny', Zedd was still my major reason to keep watching, and this episode didn't disappoint on that front. And Jeziah until he crossed the line. Since Jeziah didn't die, there's no reason he couldn't have returned later—maybe Nicci could have found a way to remove his Rad'a'Han. I also liked the 'Star Wars' scene and Zedd's commentary along with Richard's assertion that Zedd is just making up the Wizard's Rules.
Rating: 2.5
no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 03:05 pm (UTC)When Zedd tells Jeziah he'll "never have the powers of a wizard again" it's clearly meant as a punishment as much as it is a means of preventing Jeziah from causing further mischief. And I don't see how he can know it's true; what's to stop Jeziah from ending up with the key to the Rada'Han later? Also, the idea that taking away someone's magic means they are then utterly helpless strikes me as a dangerous assumption, even though from what we've seen in LotS it does seem broadly true - the Sisters of the Light and Dark in particular seem to depend on their powers for everything.
Magic as elitist - I was reminded of Giles versus Miss Calendar while rewatching Elixir, actually. The quarrel they have about knowledge, where Jenny thinks it should be free and available to everyone while Giles insists that the getting of knowledge should be difficult (and smelly), not something undertaken lightly. Although they both make good points, I'm really on Jenny's side when she calls him a snob, and I think some of his attitude is reflected by Zedd and Kahlan. After all, they are part of the chosen few - how can they possibly understand what it's like to be an ordinary person?
And, of course, just because Kahlan was born with the power doesn't mean that it is 'natural,' or what she would probably think of as 'given to her by the Creator.' We know Confessors were created by wizards.
Still, that doesn't mean she's wrong about the elixirs being a problem. It really is a conundrum, which they don't fully explore in the episode.
And again, no Darken :(
no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 03:45 pm (UTC)Yes, Jeziah could easily have gotten free - but I suppose I should just be grateful he didn't end up dead like most other people who so much as look at our heroes the wrong way :P
I think I'll need to rewatch that episode :D I'm certain I'm on Jenny's side too though. She wasn't a witch but did call herself pagan - techno pagan if I recall :D - which was interesting. The treatment of the Wicca group pissed me off because although they were somewhat 'fluffy' I think there's absolutely room for all kinds of practices within paganism and it's not all about magic.
LOL, Kahlan's 'I was born with these powers' is almost hypocritical when you consider the source. Like the Slayers, she only has these powers due to the tampering of male magical users.
This entire first season could have much improved by having Darken onscreen more :D
no subject
Date: 2012-03-12 12:07 am (UTC)You're absolutely right about the confusing nature of her Wicca-ness, too - she doesn't seem to be pagan, really, and yet she does call on goddesses...religion in BtVS is a little inconsistent.
I love Jenny Calendar :D It's so tragic when she dies - that's one of the hardest episodes for me to watch, especially in the early seasons.
Wow, that turned into just a BtVS discussion...I am also very interested in Kahlan's issues with her powers. I doubt she thinks of wizards being the source, but there's a lot of buried sexism there, I think - possibly a relic of the books.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-12 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 05:16 pm (UTC)I hated the way they treated Willow's storyline in Season 6 of BtVS - forcing her to go "cold-turkey" on her use of magic, and then punishing her when she "transgressed" - it was insulting to her gift and to her very sense of self. Then they totally reversed themselves in Season 7, which was very strange.
I adore Joss Whedon, so it was doubly disappointing that he took such a wrong direction with Willow that season - I always hold him to a higher standard, I guess.
Magic in Seeker is used in a very elitist way, which always bothered me. Unless you are the Seeker of Truth, if you don't have magic, you are somehow considered as a lesser being in that universe. It's not expressed in such blatant terms, but the message is clear. Chase Brandstone is a refreshing exception, but we don't get to see him enough.
Jeziah was an interesting character and I wish we would have seen more of him later in the series. He would have been an interesting counter-balance - especially once Darken comes back in season 2 without magic. I also wish we had been told more about Zedd and Jeziah's shared past, since they obviously were friends at one time.
Since he's repeatedly referred to in the first season as the greatest evil that ever lived, it never made sense to me that Darken was not in every episode. For heaven's sake, he's the hero's main antagonist. It really diminished the impact of the Seeker's destiny, IMO, because you really never see what he's up against, and when you finally do meet Darken, he comes across much more human than Zedd has been describing him for 8 episodes.
In my head!canon, I think Zedd carries a lot of guilt about Darken - not just that he helped with bring Darken into being, but also that in a sense, Zedd abandoned him and might have made a difference in how Darken turned out.
The only thing I can figure out re: Darken's absence in most of the episodes is that the producers couldn't afford to pay the salary for another leading character, and by regulating Craig Parker to "recurring character" status, made it impossible for his character to appear in more than a certain number of episodes. I think that held true in Season 2, also.
Since the energy level, as well as the sense of urgency, picked up once Darken started appearing more frequently toward the end of both seasons, I think it was a very poor choice by TPTB.
Zedd - I can never figure out if I love him or hate him - maybe it's a little of both. He is always entertaining to watch, but he is such a hypocrite sometimes I just want to slap him.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-11 06:52 pm (UTC)Some backstory about Jeziah would have been nice; maybe we could have seen Zedd worrying about Darken and his part in how he turned out, and being harder on Jeziah to compensate.
I agree it was a huge mistake to keep the Big Bad out of the picture for so long. Maybe Richard would have been overwhelmed if he'd had to deal with Darken earlier :P He spends so much time in these early episodes vacillating while deciding what being the Seeker is, and the rest of it ogling Kahlan as a precursor to the Epic Love. I'm interested to see if I can discover which is the episode where I finally loved Richard but I have a feeling it doesn't happen for several episodes yet.
I like Zedd when he's the wise mentor, snarky commentator, and genial grandfather. I like him less when he's being blatantly hypocritical or elitist.