The twist at the end when Cara was turned away from Richard was heartbreaking because we had bought into the redemption arc of her character. Watching Bethell and Regan work out their characters' friendship was one of the high points of the season. It was far more compelling to watch Cara's emotional journey as she unlearned her Mord-Sith ways and discovered what being a true friend is about. While she shook up the dynamic that previously existed between Richard, Kahlan and Zedd, the show wisely chose not to make her a romantic rival for Richard's affection. The addition of Cara as a full-time cast member was one of the smartest changes in the second season. Horner gave us a more mature version of Richard this year, it was rewarding to see him take more of a leadership role in the group. Craig Horner and Bridget Regan have a believable, easygoing chemistry and I'm grateful the show did not try to change that, even when they brought in Tabrett Bethell's Cara as a regular cast member. Keeping Richard and Kahlan and their relationship as the emotional heart of the show was a no-brainer since it is one of the stronger elements of the show. We will never see what mayhem they would have been able to inflict on Richard's world, which is a shame. As it is, they ended Darken Rahl's storyline on a bit of a cliffhanger when he teamed up with Sister Nicci. When he escaped the Underworld and forced Richard to work with him for an episode, I wished that they had introduced this storyline much sooner so there would have been more time to see where it would go. Craig Parker was one of the few villains on the show who was able to add some flamboyance to his role, making it fun without being too cheesy. However, since the Keeper was mainly just a menacing voice in the Underworld, it is lucky they also kept Darken Rahl around. The world of Legend of the Seeker was expanded in its second year, most notably with the introduction of The Keeper and his servants the Sisters of the Dark as new enemies for Richard. Considering how much more interesting the episodes at the end of the year were, it would have been a stronger season overall if they had concluded the Stone of Tears storyline quicker and introduced something new for the second half. Since the search for the Stone was not enough to keep Richard busy for twenty-two episodes, there were many detours introduced to stall the storyline so that the Stone would not be found until the end. Unfortunately, this quest was stretched out so it would last the entire season, when it would have been better to keep things moving as quickly as they had started. " Marked" was filled with action and introduced a new task for Richard: find the Stone of Tears so the rift between the world of the living and the Underworld could be closed. Things got off to a pretty good start in the season premiere.
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What Richard Cypher and his friends needed was a new quest and a new antagonist. The Season 1 mission had been completed and the main villain of the show, Darken Rahl, was dead and defeated. When Legend of the Seeker returned for its second season, they had quite a challenge ahead of them.