The Seeker's Journal: Brennidon

[pristineungift]

I'm still really sick, so I'm not up to doing a live blog/recap like I usually do, but the challenge ends in a few hours, so here's just a few things I thought about while watching.

My rating of Brennidon: 3 out of 5

Comments

[angstbunny]

LOLOL support group. Yeah, they really do need one.

It's a good question actually. Jennsen v. Richard's other real and not-real brothers. I don't think it's a comment on women in Seekerverse being more forgiving, though I do think it's part and parcel of the gender politics stuff that the show plays with. In short, I think the show goes for the message that men are stupid and generally incompetent and also they fight over stupid shit. Women are the ones who get things done. The issues the bros/not-bros of Richard's have are ALL about male rivalry and male ego. Mommy loved YOU best. Daddy loved YOU best. Everybody thinks YOU'RE super special. Women on the show tend not to get caught up in that ego spiral.

"Ares, what are you doing here? This isn't even your show!" "He reminds me of Hercules."

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL forever.

[pristineungift]

I think you've hit it on the nose there.

Lol, glad you like my ramblings XD

[borg_princess]

"Ares, what are you doing here? This isn't even your show!" "He reminds me of Hercules."

*dies laughing* Omg, that is just so loltastic, I can't even. :D

Zedd's powers don't make sense because we see him do really big things sometimes, but other times he won't so much as conjure them dinner when game is scarce

THIS. I'm sure it annoyed my cousin when we watched, 'coz I was always ranting about how his powers varied from ep to ep and he never used them in situations where IT WOULD MAKE SENSE.

One in particular is in the last ep or two, where there's this big divide in the ground, and he's all 'let's walk all the way down and hope to find a place where we can cross over'- SURELY a wizard as powerful as him could levitate them over? Or create something they could walk over to get to the other side? We've seen him use these blasts of air that send people flying for several meters, that would've sufficed

[pristineungift]

Wrt to Richard's siblings...well, Michael was faced with Richard having apparently killed his father and the other dude's mom was arrested and facing execution, so I think the antagonism toward Richard is warranted.

At that point yes, but we see that he has problems with Richard even before that, in his interactions with George as well as with Richard prior to George's death. His attitude was YOU LOVE RICHARD BEST YOU AREN'T EVEN MY REAL BROTHER before we even got to any kind of actual event that could give rise to a justification for that resentment.

I tend to think angstbunny nailed it in her comment above.

[vorquellyn]

The difference between Jennsen and the brothers is even more present in the books. Jennsen is redeemable while they're all power hungry, self aggrandizing assholes who are threatened by Richard. And I think it's the threatned by Richard part that continues into the show's weird male/female issues. Michael has to deal with suddenly not being an only child and seems resentful of that. I also have headcanon about George and Mary playing favorites a bit. Not on purpose just that when a man arrives with an infant and entrusts his care to you with a warning that the child might have a s pecial destiny, you'd probably keep an eye out for specialness without meaning to. Mark's mother has apparently spent the last twenty three years obsessing over her dead son. Even with the displacement to Richard, there's no way Mark can compete with a legend. Darken has received a prophecy that Richard will kill him. The threat there is explicit. Judging by Richard's interaction with Michael and Mark, my head canon is that Richard gets so caught up in

[pristineungift]

Very insightful as always. Short comment is short because I'm still a bit sick, but your thoughts on Richard and Jennsen in particular are kind of awesome and mind blowing, because I hadn't stopped to think of it that way. <3

[vorquellyn]

It's ok. ♥ Thanks for the compliment.

[meridian_rose]

'I also have headcanon about George and Mary playing favorites a bit.' I lean towards this to. It would explain why Michael has such strong feelings about Richard. I write Michael more sympathetically than canon, and that he has genuine reason to feel slighted is a big part of that for me.

And yes, for someone who says 'Prophecy be damned' in the pilot, Zedd seems to spend a lot of time respecting and upholding it throughout the show. I could see him not wanting to risk upsetting the chance of his grandson being the One True Seeker.

[meridian_rose]

I agree Confessors can only tell if you believe you're telling the truth, but I think Zedd would have been careful - don't want too many potential wizards running around the place. I wrote Zedd fic for this review and touched upon his feelings about this - with mentions of Shota :D

[pristineungift]

Oh I agree that Zedd would have been careful. I don't think he'd go around knocking women up on purpose, but I'm just pointing out it's possible, I guess?

Also it's my head canon that Shota is Taralyn's mother, and Zedd stole her and gave her to his mother and Thaddicus to raise because he was afraid of Taralyn being raised to be a tyrant by Shota like in her vision. And then Shota probably gives the prophecy about Richard to Carracticus, partly in retaliation for Zedd hurting her, not realizing at the time that it would affect her grandson, etc.

Of course, if you involve book canon, this theory becomes kind of gross since in the books Shota wants to sleep with Richard. But everyone with a vagina wants to sleep with Richard in the books.

[meridian_rose]

Shota is Taralyn's mother : mind blown

' book canon, this theory becomes kind of gross since in the books Shota wants to sleep with Richard. But everyone with a vagina wants to sleep with Richard in the books.' And my desire to never read these books is once again renewed. Not because Shota/Richard would be bad due to the age difference - though by your headcanon it would be bleh - but because the OMGRichard trope would probably grate a bit. Or a lot.

[vorquellyn]

And all of the ones with the presumption to think they could replace Kahlan die. Usually as traitors. But no men. Ever.