The first season of Legend of the Seeker, an epic fantasy series based on the novels of Terry Goodkind, was great fun, designed for television viewing on weekends. A charming hero, a stunning heroine, a dastardly villain and plenty of sword fighting action were introduced to those who tuned in.

The first few episodes were burdened with too much exposition, but when introducing a new fantasy series to an audience who may not be familiar with the books on which the story is based, that is an inevitable issue.

If the main goal was firmly established — that "Seeker" Richard Cypher was on a mission to destroy Darken Rahl, the evil ruler — then the show was free to give us more action and keep things going. The eighth episode, "Denna," was the real turning point in the season. The episode both introduced the Mord'Sith as recurring villains, and was the first highly emotional episode as well. Building from that hour, the show raised the stakes for its protagonists and became even more engaging.

The two protagonists, Craig Horner and Bridget Regan, are the show's greatest assets. Richard Cypher, from Horner, is a classic hero; he is sincere, courageous, and selfless. In today's pop culture, he is not burdened by doubt or indecision, setting him apart from the flawed protagonists that are more prevalent. As he became more comfortable in the role, Horner 's acting improved gradually throughout the season, possibly from the beginning. The star of the cast is Bridget Regan as Kahlan Amnell. Kahlan is both influential and vulnerable; she made the audience think about her personality from the very beginning and what needed to be done to avoid Darken Rahl.

Bruce Spence in the role of Wizard Zedd, Richard's mentor and leader of their small party, is less fun. With his "wise proverbs" that he used to make it a teaching moment for Richard, he was irritating in the beginning. Zedd was not unlikable at all in smaller doses, maybe that is something the show itself knew and was the reason why he was sent so frequently on off-camera missions. The episodes that I liked best were episodes where he was scarce, which occurred quite a few times.

On the other hand, Craig Parker, as the villain Darken Rahl, improved when he was given more camera time. It veered into an over the top mustache twirling style of acting when only a scene or two were allowed to decide how evil he was. However, he became much more interesting in the episodes where he was given enough time to show his deviousness, particularly in the second to last episode "Fever." Although that episode proved disastrous for one poor kitten!

One of the best bits of Legend of the Seeker was getting back to Richard and Kahlan, watching their chemistry unfold. While it was revealed to the audience that there were reasons why their developing love for each other was not able to be consummated, the show created various ways to cheat that rule, like having other characters be able to look just like them, or having the ghosts of dead lovers take over Richard and Kahlan's bodies. This way the writers could give the audience a glimpse of what they wanted, but still keep the sexual tension, as well as the reason for Richard and Kahlan's separation, intact. It will be interesting to see how much longer they can string the audience along with this type of thing.