Legend of the Seeker: Princess

It's been a while since we last had a full-blown farce episode of Legend of the Seeker and I have to say that the series has much improved on its comedic edge since last season. "Princess" was a cut above the goofy thief stories that made up the majority of Season 1's joke episodes. It utilized the strengths of the main cast and undercut its own hammy jokes at every opportunity. To be honest, I groaned a bit when I learned this week's premise and even more so when I found out that its central conceit involved rhyming couplets, but the final product was actually very enjoyable.

"Princess" opens with the Sisters of Dark performing a ritual to raise Nicci from the dead. Maybe I wasn't as observant at the end of "Perdition" as I should have been, but it didn't really look like Nicci died at the end of that fight, just that she magically teleported away. Regardless, the character (if not actress Jolene Blalock) is still a part of the series. She now occupies the same category as Denna. One way or another, she'll be appearing in another episode, just not regularly.

With Nicci resurrected, the SoD strike a deal with one of the post-Rahl world's self-styled tyrants to kidnap Kahlan and exchange her life for protection from the Keeper's attempted xenocide. So, while Kahlan spends most of the episode lecturing a fellow prisoner in the principles of feminism, the rest of our heroes assume the identities of some random royals to take advantage of the tyrant's search for a new wife. The catch is that the tyrant's castle is a strict no-magic zone, so all of the disguises have to be old school. Long story short, Bruce Spence spends the entire episode in drag. For the newcomers among you readers, this is a good thing.

"Princess" is the second episode in a row to give Tabrett Bethell a chance to expand her character, this time for comedy. Watching her clomp around in frilly clothes looking supremely uncomfortable lended some much-needed physical humor to the episode. It also helps that she can play moments like when Cara cuts out and eats the liver of a monster with some amount of believability.

Aside from the especially violent battle at the end of the episode, "Princess" was light and mostly inconsequential. We didn't get much plot beyond the return of Nicci, but considering how dark and heavy most of Season 2 has been, I'm glad we got a farce episode that embraced its silliness for maximum entertainment value.

Best Moment: Cara's sonnet about torture. Most of the formal rhyming stuff got grating very, very quickly, so that bit was a breath of fresh air.

Notes: I wish the tyrant's adviser had been given a little victory at the end. He didn't seem evil, just trapped in a terrible profession.

Episode Rating: 4.5/5- Again, the rhyming was a little annoying and maybe the episode shouldn't have gone for an easy fat joke, but otherwise "Princess" was a pleasant distraction. No new episode for a few weeks. Legend of the Seeker will air again in the United States on the weekend of March 20th.