In “Vengeance,” John Rhys-Davies delivered a strong and often tender performance as Richard’s father and Zedd’s former bestie, Panis Rahl.
Panis Rahl? Yes, apparently in this version of the story, he is actually a decent guy who’s big mistake was not killing his infant son, Darken Rahl, after a witch prophesied that little Darken would be the worst son ever. And who could blame the doting dad for that? I mean, Richard would never kill a baby, no matter what prophecies Shota might spout. Come on — you don’t kill anyone (and certainly not an infant) for crimes that they haven’t committed yet. I suppose it’s like debating whether it would be okay to kill Hitler when he was a baby, before he had done anything wrong and based solely on what he might do in the future. I think this would only be acceptable if you believe that the future is set in stone.
But I’m digressing from the episode. While I found all of the backstory in this installment quite interesting even though it’s not what I expected (wasn’t Panis Rahl supposed to be a really, really bad dude?), I felt like there was a gaping omission in all this talk about the past. No mention was made of Zedd’s daughter, Tarralyn, whom we met in the Season 1 episode, “Bloodline.” Panis mentions “siring” a son who would defeat Darken Rahl, but he doesn’t explain how he “sired” this son with Zedd’s daughter (as if she’s a brood mare). Zedd wants to kill Panis for murdering his father, but he says nothing about the fact that Panis raped (or at least knocked up) his daughter, which I think would be an equally grievous offense. Am I just missing something, or did you find this strange as well?
While I’m not entirely on board with this version of the story, I liked a number of things about the episode: John Rhys-Davies’ performance, certainly; lots of Darken Rahl scenes, including that final creepy but almost nice “I forgive you” moment with Panis; sweet fight scenes for Kahlan and Cara (they didn’t have much else to do); and Zedd blasting his way through those monks. I also liked the fact that they brought back the same actor who played young Zedd in “Wizard.” Extra points for continuity.
Before I close, let me throw in a couple other random observations:
Clacked by Ruby T.
on Apr 18, 2010 @ 09:17 EST5EDT
Good review, even though I don’t agree with everything but I’m with you about the next episode. More Darken Rahl is always welcome. I hope he’ll have a scene or two with Cara, they have amazing chemistry together.
“Thaddicus didn’t seem too fazed when Darken Rahl suddenly appeared in his kitchen. He seemed more annoyed than surprised at the otherworldly intrusion. It makes you wonder how crazy his life must be.”
Well, after Hunger, I’m not surprised, the guy has been through a lot.
“When Zedd and Thadd showed up and tried to kill Panis Rahl, why did Richard, Kahlan, and Cara all immediately defend the suspicious stranger instead of trusting Zedd? Odd.”
That’s the way Richard always is. To him Horace (as they knew him at the time) was just a kind, old and most importantly innocent man. They wouldn’t let even Zedd just kill him without an explanation.
“I mean, Richard would never kill a baby, no matter what prophecies Shota might spout.”
After Reckoning, I’m not so sure. In season 1 he fought for a male confessor that was taken away and he thought it would work out, surrounded by good people he would grow up to be good too. But in the finale we see that not even Kahlan was enough to keep a male confessor on the good path. So in a situation like this, with the knowledge he has now, I think he might do what has to be done. Remember, he was ready to let the abbot kill some soldiers in Baneling too, that wasn’t a lot like Richard from the first season, he understands that sometimes things like this have to be done.
“But why was no mention made of Zedd’s daughter?”
Because an episode only lasts for 42 minutes. :)
And Cara had some cool and funny scenes in the beginning, not just the fight at the end. But soon, in episode 20 she will have a lot more time, that episode will be amazing, an other chance for Tabrett to shine, and maybe in 21 as well.
Thanks for the great comments, Necros.
Somehow I don’t think Richard is capable of killing a baby, even at this point – as you pointed out, he jumped to Horace’s defense against Zedd, because that’s the way Richard is. He’s not going to let Zedd kill an old man who seems harmless, and in that same spirit, I think he wouldn’t kill a baby, even if it was prophesied to become a tyrant some day.
We’ve seen that Richard is willing to ignore prophecies/warnings about himself by insisting, “I know myself, and I know that I would never serve the Keeper.” So I think he would give a baby the same benefit of the doubt.
THANK YOU! Me and my girlfriend watched this and we both came to each other with the same question about the the daughter’s rape that just gets forgotten! It was absolutely the most heinous lapse in continuity yet. They are so off in LaLa land of their own now they can’t even remain consistent within the body of what they’re making up on the fly.
Now what we had to watch again and again through the miracle of DVR was the wire-work of the Sister of the Dark flying down toward Kahlan and Richard jumping in the way. I can only assume the wires, not used often in the series, were on loan from another show and they had to have them back by 5 or something, otherwise they would have seen how goofy it looked and have redone it till they got it right. It did make for the best laugh we’ve both had in ages though. =)
Cheers,
~R~
LOL I have to agree that the fight with the sisters of the dark was a bit on the silly side with the screaming as they run in and the terrible use of wires. But it was worth it to see Cara and Kahlan fight together.
I also found it kinda funny that although they didn’t follow the book’s description of Darken Rahl in the show (although I love Parker’s Rahl), TV Panis Rahl in this episode looks exactly how I pictured book Darken Rahl to look like.
Ok, people keep saying that Panis raped Zedd’s daughter but in the first episode of season 2 when that d’haran commander comes to escort richard to the peoples palace as the new lord rahl he tells the story of how Panis disguised himself as a young man to get zedds daughter.. and in the flash back of that he wasnt raping her… i havent read the books, but even if it happened differently in the books this is the tv show, and a different story so as the tv series is concerned is not a lapse of continuity..
oh and i totally agree with u abt the sisters of the dark, lame, i suppose it is the same creative team behind this as Xena,lol.
What he did still should have been offensive to Zedd, because 1) he knocked up Zedd’s daughter and 2) he did it while in disguise. Wouldn’t that make any father pretty angry – especially if the guy was supposed to be his best friend? I just thought it was weird that there was no mention at all of what happened. All it would have taken is one line of dialogue.
I’m fairly certain that in Season 1 they specifically said that Richard’s mother was raped by the Lord Rahl for him to be born. Now where it gets really weird is that I think they say that Jennsen is also sired by the same Rahl & mother so… did he rape her twice 9 months apart? If someone who has just the TV continuity in mind maybe research that? LOL
Of course, i think there should have been more abt Panis knocking up Zedd’s daughter too, just think rape is too serious a topic to just throw around..
oh and does anyone else find Panis a very funny name?.. Panis.. haha..
LOL – yes, it’s easy to misread and misspell! :-D
And to make it worse, Panis means “bread.” WIth a name like that, he should have called his son Croissant Rahl. That’s a great villain name.
Haha Croissant Rahl, instead of torturing and violently killing his enemies …. croissant rahl a calculating villain slowly kills them through sweet delights… mass diabetes and morbid obesity….
What gets me every time is that somebody named their child “Darken” and expected him to turn out well. Can you imaging his mother out the back of the castle “Darken, come to dinner!” or his friends going “Hey Darken, how’s it hangin?” Its just ridiculous sounding unless you put Rahl on the end every time you say it. Nobody in the series or the books calls him by his first name alone.
You’re so right about that. When I’m writing these reviews, I can never just call him “Darken” because that sounds stupid. Goodkind did a weird thing by mixing normal names like Richard and Nicci with “fantasy” names like Panis and Darken Rahl.
I was wondering why Cara didn’t give Panis the breath of life?
I also think that maybe we haven’t see the last of Panis given that the last scene with Darken Rahl was them hugging. So the story behind Zedd’s daughter and Panis could be another story in the future.
I liked the ep overall, but didn’t like how Zedd just slaughtered all those innocent monks. I’m surprised no one else commented on it. It was weird that his immediate first attack then was fire, but when the Sisters of the Dark attacked, he just knocked them back.
They explained in episode 1 of season 2 that Panis disguised himself as a common Shepard boy and wooed Zedd’s daughter and they conceived Richard. The episode is available on netflix on instant watch and its called “Marked”.