Legend of the Seeker review: Mirror
Nov. 18th, 2012 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meridian_roseTitle: Mirror, Mirror: The Good and the Problematic
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Word Count: 555+ words
Prompt: For the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
legendland rewatch challenge
Summary: Partly cracky, partly serious review of the episode "Mirror", looking at the inherent humour of the script as well as the problematic treatment of gay characters
Warnings: None
This is one of the campier, more humorous episodes of the show. There's lots of mistaken identity moments beginning with Richard getting distracted by not!Kahlan bathing in the lake (not for the first time; see also "Elixir".)
Most of the time the identity switching works because most people have never met the Seeker or Confessor. They might have seen the wanted posters, but it's hard to tell one gormless Seeker look-a-like from another. Until the "Seeker" steals their gold.
Good bits:
Zedd shows up and immediately realises this isn't Kahlan and Richard. It's a big improvement from the episode "Identity" when he didn't realise that he was actually travelling with a bespelled Gryff rather his grandson. Maybe we didn't have time for Zedd to potter about being deluded, or maybe it was a case of "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me".
The over-the-top acting by the fake Richard and Kahlan makes it obvious they're not the real deal. Very reminiscent of similar light hearted "Xena" episodes. It sets the tone for the episode.
The tables are turned on the impostors, leaving not!Zedd wailing and jumping around in protest. I find it funny to watch!
Not my gif
Bad show:
Richard catching Kahlan bathing and his shock. As I mentioned already, this isn't the first time it's happened. I think he needs to stop being shocked (shocked, I say!) at a naked Kahlan. He can see less of her in the water than when she's clothed. And has he really never seen a naked woman before, or a partially clad one? Or is it just Richard and his obsession with ZOMG KAAHLAAN, MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN EVAH?
The only male gay character we see in the show is a rather dopey guard who is easily wooed by not!Richard's charms. It's supposed to be funny that he isn't immediately swayed by not!Kahlan's boobies. Naturally he's (a) gay and (b) attracted to the Seeker. He's quickly overpowered and, I believe, later gets killed in battle.
This treatment of gay characters is problematic. We see lots of lesbian activity from the Mord'Sith – although since they all 'love' Lord Rahl, maybe they're all technically bisexual. Cara is certainly canonically bisexual, and she's the only 'good guy' we see who isn't straight – and that's only after she's switched sides from being Evil Snarky Bisexual Badass to just Snarky Bisexual Badass. I don't think we see any civilians who are gay or lesbian. Any time our heroes meet an old friend or family member, they're married/engaged/courting someone of the opposite sex, or their sexuality is not mentioned. If it's not mentioned, the default is to be straight.*
We don't even hear of any Confessors**, the flipside of Mord'Sith, being gay or bisexual. Which could make for some interesting conflict given the 'Confess a Man and Breed' ethos that the Confessors employ.
And despite the slashy subtext in some Richard/Darken scenes, we never hear that Darken has taken male lovers. Which wouldn't be much of an improvement because I think it's pretty nasty to only show evil (or evil but reformed) characters to be other than straight. It equates this 'otherness' with the 'otherness' of siding with evil. This is an issue with the show as a whole rather than solely with this episode, but it's a pretty blatant example. I suppose on the plus side, we do see that gay men exist?
Overall: I didn't rewatch the whole episode, but I remember mostly enjoying it, so I'll give it a 3.5 out of 5.
Notes/References (not included in word count)
* "The default person is straight. Hence, we have more words for gay than we do for straight. The default person is a man. Hence, there are three times more books written in English about “women’s speech” than there are about “men’s speech.” The default American is White. " ["Why are gay people always talking about being gay?: Challenging normativity in everyday conversation", http://commentsjournal.com/2012/01/17/why-are-gay-people-always-talking-about-being-gay-challenging-normativity-in-everyday-conversation/]
** It's something I've addressed in fanfic by making Marrah, my OC for a legendland challenge, a lesbian civilian character (though she does have a Mord'Sith kink!) and touched on in "Mistress of Her Own Destiny" where some Confessor students share each other's beds
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Word Count: 555+ words
Prompt: For the
legendland rewatch challengeSummary: Partly cracky, partly serious review of the episode "Mirror", looking at the inherent humour of the script as well as the problematic treatment of gay characters
Warnings: None
This is one of the campier, more humorous episodes of the show. There's lots of mistaken identity moments beginning with Richard getting distracted by not!Kahlan bathing in the lake (not for the first time; see also "Elixir".)
Most of the time the identity switching works because most people have never met the Seeker or Confessor. They might have seen the wanted posters, but it's hard to tell one gormless Seeker look-a-like from another. Until the "Seeker" steals their gold.
Good bits:
Zedd shows up and immediately realises this isn't Kahlan and Richard. It's a big improvement from the episode "Identity" when he didn't realise that he was actually travelling with a bespelled Gryff rather his grandson. Maybe we didn't have time for Zedd to potter about being deluded, or maybe it was a case of "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me".
The over-the-top acting by the fake Richard and Kahlan makes it obvious they're not the real deal. Very reminiscent of similar light hearted "Xena" episodes. It sets the tone for the episode.
The tables are turned on the impostors, leaving not!Zedd wailing and jumping around in protest. I find it funny to watch!
Not my gif
Bad show:
Richard catching Kahlan bathing and his shock. As I mentioned already, this isn't the first time it's happened. I think he needs to stop being shocked (shocked, I say!) at a naked Kahlan. He can see less of her in the water than when she's clothed. And has he really never seen a naked woman before, or a partially clad one? Or is it just Richard and his obsession with ZOMG KAAHLAAN, MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN EVAH?
The only male gay character we see in the show is a rather dopey guard who is easily wooed by not!Richard's charms. It's supposed to be funny that he isn't immediately swayed by not!Kahlan's boobies. Naturally he's (a) gay and (b) attracted to the Seeker. He's quickly overpowered and, I believe, later gets killed in battle.
This treatment of gay characters is problematic. We see lots of lesbian activity from the Mord'Sith – although since they all 'love' Lord Rahl, maybe they're all technically bisexual. Cara is certainly canonically bisexual, and she's the only 'good guy' we see who isn't straight – and that's only after she's switched sides from being Evil Snarky Bisexual Badass to just Snarky Bisexual Badass. I don't think we see any civilians who are gay or lesbian. Any time our heroes meet an old friend or family member, they're married/engaged/courting someone of the opposite sex, or their sexuality is not mentioned. If it's not mentioned, the default is to be straight.*
We don't even hear of any Confessors**, the flipside of Mord'Sith, being gay or bisexual. Which could make for some interesting conflict given the 'Confess a Man and Breed' ethos that the Confessors employ.
And despite the slashy subtext in some Richard/Darken scenes, we never hear that Darken has taken male lovers. Which wouldn't be much of an improvement because I think it's pretty nasty to only show evil (or evil but reformed) characters to be other than straight. It equates this 'otherness' with the 'otherness' of siding with evil. This is an issue with the show as a whole rather than solely with this episode, but it's a pretty blatant example. I suppose on the plus side, we do see that gay men exist?
Overall: I didn't rewatch the whole episode, but I remember mostly enjoying it, so I'll give it a 3.5 out of 5.
Notes/References (not included in word count)
* "The default person is straight. Hence, we have more words for gay than we do for straight. The default person is a man. Hence, there are three times more books written in English about “women’s speech” than there are about “men’s speech.” The default American is White. " ["Why are gay people always talking about being gay?: Challenging normativity in everyday conversation", http://commentsjournal.com/2012/01/17/why-are-gay-people-always-talking-about-being-gay-challenging-normativity-in-everyday-conversation/]
** It's something I've addressed in fanfic by making Marrah, my OC for a legendland challenge, a lesbian civilian character (though she does have a Mord'Sith kink!) and touched on in "Mistress of Her Own Destiny" where some Confessor students share each other's beds
no subject
Date: 2012-11-18 05:51 pm (UTC)LMAO!!!
AWESOME post!!!
no subject
Date: 2012-11-19 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-19 11:56 am (UTC)ZOMG KAAHLAAN, MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN EVAH
Honestly I always failed to see any chemistry between Richard and Kahlan. And all those scenes where Richard is staring at her dumbstruck were very, very confusing to me. It is indeed like he's never seen a woman before and only reacts to her because she's the only one around.
The only male gay character we see in the show is a rather dopey guard who is easily wooed by not!Richard's charms.
If the guy wasn't the ONLY one male gay character I think it would work very well. It would show that not any bystander is by default straight. But as it is... *sighs* You're right.
It also got me worried when the teacher!Cara didn't show her bisexual tendencies at all.
We only see that she has been married to a guy, is a mother of two kids, and is interested romantically in Leo (another guy). All of which might imply that her bisexuality is only a part of her 'evil' Mord'Sith personality and a result of her being corrupted by Dark Magic. And if not corrupted by magic Cara is a 'normal' woman with a 'normal' straight sexual orientation and a 'normal' "married, with kids" life. Ugh. That isn't a nice implication at all.
(Though I'm somewhat relieved that the real Cara was horrified at her AU self.)
So yeah. The show had its problems.
It's a great review, bb! :D It really made me think more about everything. Thank you for sharing it! :D
*HUGS*
no subject
Date: 2012-11-19 12:05 pm (UTC)It also got me worried when the teacher!Cara didn't show her bisexual tendencies at all. You're absolutely right and I ought to have remembered that. It does add further weight to my assertion that non-straight sexualities are only associated with evil.and say it's wrong to call them homophobic, but if they'd given us just one named character on the side of good who was openly gay or bisexual they'd have more of a defence.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-19 12:24 pm (UTC)non-straight sexualities are only associated with evil
*sighs*
And with all the homophobic laws in real life, it makes we wonder when will they start with the Inquisition again? Burning witches and whatnot. I mean it's the twenty first century! Everyone knows that witches make people gay with their evil magic and we should burn them all before it's too late.
Ugh. I can't.
I really hope sane people will prevail eventually.
Thank you for your thoughtful posts, bb!
*HUGS*