9 - Puppeteer

Information

Title: Puppeteer
Episode number: 9
Production number: 109
Director: Mark Beesley
Writers: Nicki Paluga
US Air date: 17th January 2009
UK Air date: 10th September 2009
Gallery: View Puppeteer images

Synopsis

Evil Queen Milena is in possession of the third and final Box of Orden. To prevent the box from falling into the hands of Darken Rahl and giving him the ultimate power he so desperately craves, Zedd disguises himself as an entertainer in order to infiltrate Milena's castle. With the help of a little slave girl named Rachel, Zedd plots to replace the coveted box with a fake. Meanwhile, Richard and Kahlan learn that Darken Rahl intends to personally retrieve the Box of Orden from the Queen.

Review by Tracy Casebere

Do not adjust your television sets. What you're seeing is real. Darken Rahl really does exist! See him there with his nice shiny hair and evil-yet-devilishly-good smile? Finally! After all these episodes we were beginning to think he was merely a dream, a nightmare as it were. Or perhaps fantasy? Whatever! Darken Rahl is back!

And so are the child actors. But that's OKAY. They're actually pretty good. So let's get onto the good stuff (as there is plenty of good stuff in this episode.)

Since finding out just what Darken Rahl wants (power, control, maybe some more hair conditioner...) and what he needs to achieve that (the three Boxes of Orden, a little screen time and perhaps a bottle of Head and Shoulders), the trio find themselves outside a castle; inside finds the third and last Box of Orden.

Zedd uses not his head, but his foot to get inside the castle walls and once in, he sets about causing serious mischief. He claims to be a Grand Master Puppeteer, one who goes by the name of Ruben Rybnik. His claims are well founded; he plays the part of a sycophantic royal-ass-kisser to the maximum.

The royal ass in question goes by the name of Princess Violet: a horrible little girl with more toys than sense. One of her "toys" is called Rachel - a sweet and innocent young girl who is often mistreated by the said ass. Zedd takes little Rachel under his robed cloaked wing with all the gentleness of a doting grandfather, and promises her he will help her escape - only they need to do something first.

Steal the Box of Orden. Of course Rachel agrees, why wouldn't she? She may be scared but she's not stupid - unlike Violet. Their plan goes practically to plan. Ok so maybe they didn't intend to bake the Box of Orden in a cake. And perhaps Zedd's original skit didn't include a puppet Seeker thrashing a puppet Darken Rahl (whilst the real Darken Rahl looked on in delighted amusement.) But the point is, the box ends up in Richard and Kahlan's hands - who, up till that moment were busy hatching their own master plan.

Sorry, did I say master plan? I meant a rubbish plan. Did they really expect to be able to kill Darken Rahl with just a cross bow? Er, what's the point of having the Sword of Truth then? We've waited seven long episodes to see Darken Rahl again. They're not going to suddenly kill him off now after only five minutes of screen time. Tsk. Besides, we're not even half way through the series yet, what would Richard have done for the remaining thirteen episodes aside from mooning over Kahlan?

Yet we don't really care how crap their plan was, all we really cared about in this episode was Zedd and Rachel. And dare we even say it, Darken Rahl - who's proving to be quite the sarcastic remarker. We like it!

The ending is fantastic, if not a little creepy. Not for the fact that Zedd goes all wax-work on us, rather for the very aggressive roar Darken Rahl lets out in frustration. In this episode, Zedd commanded more than a bunch of puppets; he commanded the screen and its audience. Encore, encore!