Light 2x08 - (Legend of the Seeker)

This week on Legend of the Seeker; Queen Melosa shows up and tells Richard about his powerful magic before whisking him away to Hogwarts. Meanwhile Zedd's dead baby, Zedd's dead. And Cara and Kahlan spend forty minutes setting the celluloid ablaze even though they don't actually have time to make a fire.

Lets begin by stating the obvious, Kahlan is wearing Cara’s colours. Perhaps the wardrobe people just wanted to give Kahlan a new hot outfit so she could stand toe-to-toe with the more revealing and sexualized uniform of Cara. Doesn’t really matter how or why it came to be, what it does is work as a signifier of Kahlan and Cara’s "union". Kahlan’s new dress imitates the dark crimson of Cara’s Mord’Sith leathers while at the same time being laced with the dark forest green that has become a trademark of Kahlan herself. Wearing someone’s colour is a simple yet extremely symbolic way of pledging your allegiance and showing your support and love. This would be Kahlan's subtle way of showing her complete acceptance, and dare I say devotion to Cara.


[Cara rubbing off on Kahlan]

But back to the actual plot. In short, Zedd is kidnapped by Denna, and Richard’s got magical migraines, which can only be cured by Amazon Ninja Nuns and their Texas sized throwing stars (sometimes I really do love this show). One thing leads to another and Richard is forced to leave Kahlan to explore his wizardy skills (leaving Kahlan time to explore her sexuality). Cara who’s sworn to protect Richard, and who clearly does not trust herself to be alone with the Confessor, insists she go with him. Kahlan however assures Richard that she and Cara will find Zedd on their own. Richard takes Kahlan’s side and tells Cara to protect Kahlan as if she was him. Cara pauses for a beat before adding; “I think it’s good you’re leaving. You’ll only slow us down”. At which a brief, but wide smile spreads across Kahlan’s lips, once again looking a whole lot like true affection. Perhaps Cara's line is meant and does play as a joke, but there is an undeniable and subtextual truth to it. Richard does slow down the subtext, not by much, but three is after all a crowd.

We are then dealt one of those hitting-you-over-the head-with-symbolism kinda scenes where Kahlan is shown standing between two roads.


[Not much of a choice is it?!]

On the one side we have Richard walking away alongside the Ninja Nuns and on the other side we see Cara standing between two horses, one light as day, one dark as night (I am such a sucker for any yin/yang imagery). And while Cara gently strokes Kahlan’s horse, Kahlan gives one final look at Richard before joining the Mord’Sith. Symbolism doesn’t get much more explicit than that. Though I liked the nice touch of having Cara care for Kahlan’s animal in there.

Then there’s the fighting.



Every time I watch the scene I seem to zone out and all that is left once it is over is; “oh so pretty”. Which obviously is the honest truth, but not very descriptive. So here’s me doing my best to move beyond the pretty; The fight in itself is beautifully choreographed and played out. It is smooth and it is powerful. But what makes it so brilliant and much more than just a fight scene is the complete awareness these two characters show each other. Wordlessly they stay in-sync and cover each other's backs. Watching them you don’t see two different individuals fight, you see one unit fight. And that is for obvious reason incredibly satisfying from a subtextual point of view.




Ah, the subporn. What can I say, it happens. There is moaning. There is phallic objects. There is ambiguous dialogue. It is love in disguise. You need to watch it.

And on a slight sidenote, but I recently read a painfully tragic story called Denial, and the dialogue going along with the subporn reminded me a lot of that story. Denial is a story about a love that shouldn't be, about cheating and about passion. Without spoiling too much, the two main characters of that story tries to burn out the passion they have for each other. They give in and let it "burn" in the hopes that it will finally lose its power that way. Like I mentioned the dialogue to this scene is very similar to that reasoning, granted in this they are (supposed to be) talking about the wound on Kahlan's thigh, but it is ridiculously easy to read between and behind the current context. Lets just look at some of the things they say.

CARA: I’ve made a promise to Richard..."It’s" infected. We need to burn the "wound" closed.
KAHLAN: We don’t have time to "make a fire".
CARA: We don’t need "fire".
KAHLAN: I’ve been struck by an "Agiel" before.
CARA: Not like this.
KAHLAN: Do it!

It really isn't much of a stretch (or well a little bit of one, but stretching life is what makes it so interesting) reading this scene as an attempt to ease and vent some of the frustration and attraction that's been building since Marked. When the faun cat's away, the mice will pain-play - old jungle saying.






The meaning aside, the truly beautiful aspect of this scene is the eye-contact, it’s what pushes it over the edge of just being a scene of plot-furthering to being exclusively subtextual porn. Even if the writers didn’t know what they were doing when putting it on page, the director and actresses sure as hell knew exactly what they were doing putting it on screen. The look on Cara’s face shows as much pleasure, if not more, than during Broken when she boinked random tavern dude. And even though the scene is centred around pain, when you see the kind of look they share and how they almost appear to be urging each other on through their eyes…

Okay, I should stop. But before we continue lets clear our mental palates of the lingering arousal. Turn your thoughts to Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day and watch this video. Once again captain of your own bodily responses?

Then lets move on.

Now we've come to what might actually be my favourite scene of the episode. After a morning of travelling the blonde tells Kahlan, who's still clearly in pain, to rest. The Confessor refuses to admit to exactly how much pain she is in and in turn Cara quickly flexes and tries a different approach. She tells Kahlan that she herself needs to rest. With an amused look on her face Kahlan calls the bluff.





The scene continues as Kahlan is distracted by a peculiar cloud that raises her suspicions. She shares her hope with Cara and tells the blonde that she believes Zedd to be alive and what they are seeing is a tracer-cloud. Cara disagrees and the bantering turns into a small argument. An argument that I can't really describe why or how, but does indeed remind me of a lover's quarrel. I think it might be the slight disappointment in their interactions though. They feel almost disappointed in having such differing views, a disappointment in not being able to share a world view. A disappointment in the gap between them. They're not arguing because they are angry at each other, they're arguing because they want to protect each other, in their own ways (i.e. Cara wanting to teach Kahlan emotional strength and Kahlan needing Cara to believe in hope).




The entire scene is one smörgåsbord of deliciously familiar banter between the two. They argue and you can see frustration in both their eyes and body language, yet there is something else there. It is frustration tempered with affection. Even though they drive each other to the brink and have problems communicating there is no ill-will or anger in their interactions. Merely a frustration born out of a need to understand and care for each other. The way Cara also turned the tables in the beginning of the scene and claimed she was the one in need of a rest was another one of those moments that show how much they do care. Also interesting to see Cara, the ultimate badass with an extremely warped sense of emotions and fear of weaknesses, fake vulnerability just to save Kahlan from more pain.

Plus the dialogue from their argument should also be noted, because it's things like this that are the fundamental building blocks of subtext; i.e. "you're not seeing what's right in front of you" and "you need to be strong enough to accept the truth".

The reason I love the scene so much is because of their relaxed yet vibrant and vibrating chemistry. They feel more like old lovers than new friends. And that there makes very little sense in relation to the story, but is damn beautiful nevertheless.


Damn beautiful.



ps. What's with the surplus of sisterhoods in this verse? And when will we get to see the Brotherhood of the Almighty Billy Goat?

Desecrated 2x16 - (Legend of the Seeker)

The 2010 Femslash Award for excellence in Sapphic Subtextual Storytelling goes to Legend of the Seeker episode 2.16 Desecrated. For their advancement in the art of having their cake while eating it.

I’m a little speechless after having watched Desecrated. The reason for the speechlessness is rooted in gratuitous exploitation (is there any other kind of exploitation?) of homoeroticism. Because instead of using a plot that could have further established the two female leads as friends, given them a solid ground to stand on in their newfound friendship, we are treated to straight up graphic subtext.

As I watched the promos for the episode I thought that the writers would finally sit these two down and have them deal with their problems and thereby defuse some of the extreme tension that’s been building between them, while possibly handing us a few cute and subtexty scenes. That was not the case. Instead we were treated to a series of short scenes that all continued to fuel the sexual tension between them, and continued to build on the existing pain is pleasure and fighting is sex principle. But I’m jumping the gun, lets go back to the start and have a look at it step by step.

It all began with a celebration of Richard’s birthday. We are handed some cutesy scenes between Richard and Kahlan where they smooch and dance and play out the happy couple role rather adorably. Meanwhile Cara intently watches from the sidelines and refuses to take part of the festivities.

As a local Conjurer performs his tricks our four main characters all take a front row seat and look on with various levels of excitement. Take a close look at their body language, Kahlan is turned towards and has her attention on Richard, but at the same time her arm is glued to Cara’s side (“any time you see two women standing very close to each other you immediately assume…lesbian” – Leslie Knope & her entourage are <3. But I’m digressing.). And the “it’s crowded” excuse just won’t work when you see how much room there is between Zedd and Cara. Sure you can call it cinematic prophecy, or foreshadowing of what to come plotwise, but you can also call it subconscious affection or Sapphic subtext.



Cara is then picked by the Conjurer to take part of his trick. Her immediate response is a look of dissent followed by a short and precise, “I don’t think so”. But after a pointed look and a few choice words from Kahlan, Cara agrees and makes her way onto the stage (it's called pussy-whipped and it exists even in magical worlds of fantasy.).

And what a trick it is. Kahlan and Cara are transferred to the Tomb of All-Consuming Sexual Frustration where they learn that they have 24 hours of air left and unless Richard finds a way to save them, they will be drawing their final breathes inside those four walls.



Dum-dum-duuuuu!

While Richard gets to fight corruption and a mummy, the Tensionable Twosome gets to spend some quality time together. But instead of opening up to each other or having a conversation dealing with their problematic past (Cara killing Dennee for example) we are treated to scene upon scene of upped sexual tension.

To begin with Kahlan realizes the torches lining the upper walls of the tomb are eating away their oxygen. So the two tries to extinguish the flames. Naturally Kahlan takes off her jacket, stands on Cara’s shoulders and waves the cloth around till she is glistening with sweat and has Cara grunting from the strain. Kahlan’s flayling about finally has her falling to the ground.




Cara has her back to the wall, watching Kahlan trying to get her breath back, with a look on her face that can best be described as the lovechild of fear and flushed. In an almost staccato rhythm she then goes about telling Kahlan that the flames are using less air than they are when trying to snuff them out.



My jaw literally dropped the first time I watch this scene, I mean are we allowed to be this exploitative on television? Kahlan on the ground, sweating, showing off a fair section of thigh and breathing heavily as Cara looms over her with desperate self-restraint etched into both her face and tone. Remember that thing I said about subporn, well so does TPTB, as a matter of fact they appear to be working towards the perfectioning of it. Anyhow the scene cuts off as Kahlan does some more heavy breathing while staring intently into Cara’s eyes (!).

Next time we return to the tomb the two are standing side by side looking up, commenting on how the air is growing thinner. Kahlan then turns to Cara and tells her to kill her. The Confessor continues arguing her point, telling Cara that she can bring her back with the Breath of Life (second time she’s asked for the Breath of Life from the Mord’Sith) once Richard finds them. Cara will have none of that and turns the tables offering her life for Kahlan’s. Once again the scene is cut short and we’re not allowed to see Kahlan’s reaction to Cara’s comment, “Better one of us than both of us”.

As we then are allowed to return they are now sitting down, seemingly relaxing. Tentatively Cara then begins to tell Kahlan how much she means to her. And even though she’s been trained to hate all Confessors, but for some reason she doesn't hate Kahlan.



CARA: I don’t want to die without you knowing….that I consider you to be…my friend.
KAHLAN: I think of you as a friend too.

And this exchange reminded me so much of the ending of the Xena: Warrior Princess episode Deja Vu All Over Again. Somehow I've got a feeling that was exactly what I was supposed to be reminded of as well.

Kahlan then wraps Cara up in an awkward hug. At first Cara is limp in Kahlan’s arms, but slowly pulls the brunette closer and closes her eyes (and allows herself to dream?) for a moment. It should also be noted that there is probably good reason behind Cara's awkwardness when it comes to hugging. It is quite possible this is one of the few hugs she's ever been involved with during her adult years. The Mord'Siths were not famous for the huggability or their touchy-feelyness. It really wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that the number of hugs (born out of affection) Cara has received could be counted on one hand. Something that even further adds to the importance of this scene and what's to come.

As they pull apart Cara tells Kahlan she will make sure Richard has enough time to find them and dives for Kahlan’s dagger in an attempt to take her own life. Kahlan desperately pounces on the blonde intent on not letting her kill herself. What ensues is…well fight!sex really. We are treated to a fight sequence that has the two in a strangely carnal dance and it rather quickly feels like both of them forget the reason they are fighting. It is an extremely difficult scene to describe, because violence is not affection, there are far too many people who suffer because they make that mistake, yet when you watch this scene…these two don’t hate each other, they’re friends. They clearly care for one another; they care to the extent where they both are willing to risk their lives for the well-being of the other. And even though they are physically hurting each other during this fight scene all you can feel is passion. It’s a quickly mounting passion that makes your breathing irregular and quicker, makes your nose tingle and your blood hotter.



Between all the grunting, open handed slapping and grappling you suddenly become sexually frustrated on the behalf of these two characters. Because in a world and verse where these two could never have each other, fight!sex becomes the closest substitute for more conventional forms of intimacy. And as the two then collapse, once again breathing heavily due to the strenuous activities and lack of oxygen, you can’t help feeling like a hardcore voyeur. But as they hold hands while preparing for death you cannot look away no matter how much of a perv it makes you feel like, because this- this is so damn complex, tragic and beautiful it has you completely under its spell and you can’t tear your eyes away for a moment. Instead you rewind and watch it all over again, eyes riveted on what is, but can never be.

As always the hero saves the day and this time also saves the two temporary damsels in distress. And the final scene of the episode has a small exchange between Kahlan and Cara where the Confessor tells the blonde that her life is extremely important. Which is followed by the following exchange;

CARA: About what I said back in the tomb.
KAHLAN: Yeah, it really meant a lot to me.
CARA: Forget I said it. I was delirious from the lack of air.

So here we are, back at square one, only the tension having managed to grow tenfold and suddenly you find yourself wondering what else could have been said in that tomb. What really happened between the few and way too short scenes we got to witness? And what exactly did Cara refer to in her final words?



And now I'm gonna go find a cold shower and hope this vicarious and fictional frustration can be washed away.