Minor thread necromancy here... I was thinking about this episode after watching last night's episode, and I started thinking about something that happened here that seemed to contradict what the books had to say...
The following is in a spoiler block because it relies on knowledge I have of the book series and may spoil the TV series for those who have not read the books. I recommend not reading further unless you've read the books (at least the first one).
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I hope I have the right episode, but if this is the one I'm thinking of it told the story of a seeker and a confessor who were in love, and when they slept together he was confessed. This contradicts the book in a few ways. First, I can't recall there ever being another seeker and confessor who fell in love besides Richard and Kahlan. I felt like the books even went out of their way to say that this was an extremely rare and taboo thing. The fact that this story of an ancient seeker and confessor was the first we heard in detail almost makes it feel like seekers and confessors always fall in love and that Richard and Kahlan's situation is just part of the job, an idea I don't like.
Secondly, the idea that he was actually confessed when they slept together seems to suggest that the ending in the first book is not going to be a valid ending in the TV series. If I remember correctly (read the books over 10 years ago) towards the end of the book Kahlan is somehow forced to confess Richard, and it turns out that he's un-confess-able by her because the power of confession is to make the confess love the confessor with all his heart, and Richard already did. If I remember the episode right I think the ancient seeker actually used words very similar to that when trying to convince his confessor that it would be okay for them to consummate their love.
This seems to suggest that either the ancient seeker's love wasn't as strong as Richard's love, or that the "I love you already, so your powers can't hurt me" idea is not true in the book series.
I'm wondering if the whole point of this episode was a way of saying to the fans of the book series, "We know how that worked in the books, and it ain't gonna happen that way here." If that's true I feel kinda cheated on the one hand, but on the other hand it's a good way to keep the sexual tension between the characters without actually getting them together, since TV shows seem to be less entertaining when the two main love interests actually get together.
And I did have mixed feelings about that part in the book ending. It did feel fitting and clever (and it's one of the things I remember well about the books after ten years), but it seemed to suggest that in how many hundred years of confessors not one of them fell in love with someone, broke the rules, and found out that true lovers cannot be confessed.
So what do others think? Was this episode the writer's way of telling us that this world doesn't have the same rules as the books' world, or was it just an excuse to get Richard and Kahlan together with their clothes off (sorta)?
(Please remember to sblock responses so that people who haven't read the books don't get anything spoiled for them! If this starts to be a popular topic we should probably fork it into its own thread with a big warning on top to stay out if you haven't read the books.)
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