Adventure shows are rarely blessed with gifted actors, though it only stands to reason. The real stars of programs like Legend of the Seeker are the magic McGuffins and TV-quality effects. The only requirements for most of our heroes are a smirk, some muscles and the ability to pull off a decent reaction shot. To that end, Seeker doesn't really stand out among all the other sword-and-sorcery shows in TV history, except when it comes to Bruce Spence. It doesn't take a lot of digging to see that Zedd is a favorite character for a lot of Terry Goodkind's readers, so it's nice that Sam Raimi and company sprung for a strong character actor to fill the role. Still, it isn't until "Brennidon" that Bruce Spence really gets to do more than give sage quips and pretend to shoot fire out of his hand.

The main plot of "Brennidon" finds Richard sneaking off to the titular town, his birthplace, in the middle of a hunting expedition with some friendly locals. It takes him all of five minutes to reveal himself as the Seeker and get an entire detachment of enemy soldiers on his tail. The only thing that keeps him from being skewered right then and there is a woman claiming to be his mother (who actually isn't). The rest of this plot is fairly predictable but well-staged. At this point in the series (and many future episodes) I've come to the conclusion that Richard's role in this story is to get into trouble, have surprisingly good sword fights and look longingly at Kahlan. That's just fine with me, at least for a first season.

The truly interesting part about this episode is a B-plot involving Zedd and his history with a local woman. After getting "reacquainted" in her tent, the woman trots out a teenager and says he's Zedd's son. Finally given some tonal wiggle room, Spence rolls out a nice mix of flabbergasted anger and comic desperation that, so far, is the best acting I've seen on Seeker. He really nails funny lines like, "I took precautions... magical precautions!"

What I like most about this B-plot is that it's not some inconsequential filler designed to artificially extend Richard's adventures in Brennidon. Zedd's need for Kahlan's Confessor powers actually serves the larger plot when he's forced to reveal that, while he did indeed use some magical birth control with his old flame, he hasn't always been so careful. A long time ago, a young Zeddicus Z'ul Zorander had a daughter, and she grew up to give birth to our central protagonist. Zedd being Richard's grandfather gives a much-needed depth to their relationship, even if Richard isn't aware of it yet.

I wrote last week that "Brennidon" is when Legend of the Seeker starts to hit its stride. The key to achieving a sustainable balance on a show like this is figuring out what each of the characters do best, in the narrative sense. As previously mentioned, Richard is here to generate problems and swing a sword around, which is vital for an adventure show. Zedd is the show's excuse for special effects and lingering backstory. Kahlan's job is to be pretty, deeply serious and madly, passionately, desperately in love with Richard. I'm not saying that I don't hope the show shakes things up, especially next season, but for now the status quo is functional.