Television Amazon Studios - "The Wheel of Time" Official Thread - Season 2 release date: 1 Sept 2023

[Massdriver]

2 hours ago, Oberon said:

Really liked the first 2 episodes, going to watch the 3rd tonight. Really liking mat, especially with what he did with he girls, but wished they showed him fighting a trolloc to save them or something (ad peering and rand both face the trollocs)

 

Few nitpicks here and there as a fan of the books, but just seeing it on the screen brought a huge smile to my face. Very excited for episode 3

I’ve heard others praise the actor playing Matt. Just a reminder that the actor will not be in the show going forward. There’s no word as to why. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

I watched the first episode. It's as I feared. Mostly pretty, somewhat compelling, but the cast... God they are bland. So bland. Really not a fan of the color palette or filter or something that they're using either. Visually it's very gray/Marvel-y with the color tones and blacks.

 

And the music and score are just... Gross? Like, it's like so stereotypical lute, mandolin, and something droning in the background. And it even gets bluegrass-y at times. I like bluegrass, and I know bluegrass and Irish folk music share the same roots. But bluegrass just sounds out of place in a fantasy world full of British and Irish accents.

 

The trollocs looked cool though. Much more badass than I ever envisioned in my head.

 

20 minutes ago, Massdriver said:

I’ve heard others praise the actor playing Matt. Just a reminder that the actor will not be in the show going forward. There’s no word as to why. 

 

And that's a damn shame because he was the only one putting any personality into his delivery.

 

I'm going to keep going though. Hoping it does something to make me ignore all that negative stuff.

[Mercury33]

Keep going. The kids don’t have much to do for the first episode and a half. But the latter half of episode two and all of episode 3 they’re isolated with each other a bit more. So you get less of them just running and more time for them to actually talk and play off each other. 
 

Personally I’m very much enjoying the music. Nothing particularly of note to describe other than I do enjoy it. And these stories are filled with soooo many different cultural influences that honestly no style of music really will feel out of place. 
 

Each episode I’ve enjoyed more than the previous so far with 3 being head and shoulders the best IMO. Every change I think had made sense, I almost trust the show enough to stop worrying about what might be different haha. 

[Massdriver]

It’s not Shannara, thankfully. It’s also too early to judge the show completely, but I want to keep going which is a good sign. 
 

The budget seems well spent, so I disagree with the people complaining about the CG or effects. The costumes do seem too clean in many scenes. 
My 3 ep summary:

 

Acting- 7/10, nothing terrible, but nothing outstanding. There’s not a lot to work with right now so let’s see how it progresses. 
 

Effects- 8.5/10 I like

 

Writing- 7.5/10- Sometimes it feels too generic but remember this is a book from the 90s. Most of the humor hasn’t worked that well aside from a couple of scenes. However, the writing is carefully balanced to not give too much exposition all at once, but to gradually feed the audience info. Well done there. 
 

Characters- too early to judge, but the casting seems pretty good. 
 

Pacing- 7/10- It’s not nearly as bad as some people made it out to be, but it could use a bit more breathing room, but not much. 
 

World building and matching the book- Honestly they’ve done well. 9/10. It feels like Wheel of Time to me. It feels like fantasy. 
 

Music- 6/10- Very generic, but not terrible. It feels par for the show. I’m hoping we get some better stuff soon. 
 

Sets and Scenery- 9/10- Aside from certain things being too clean, I think they did well here. 
 

 

 

 

[Mercury33]

8 hours ago, Massdriver said:

It’s not Shannara, thankfully. It’s also too early to judge the show completely, but I want to keep going which is a good sign. 
 

The budget seems well spent, so I disagree with the people complaining about the CG or effects. The costumes do seem too clean in many scenes. 
My 3 ep summary:

 

Acting- 7/10, nothing terrible, but nothing outstanding. There’s not a lot to work with right now so let’s see how it progresses. 
 

Effects- 8.5/10 I like

 

Writing- 7.5/10- Sometimes it feels too generic but remember this is a book from the 90s. Most of the humor hasn’t worked that well aside from a couple of scenes. However, the writing is carefully balanced to not give too much exposition all at once, but to gradually feed the audience info. Well done there. 
 

Characters- too early to judge, but the casting seems pretty good. 
 

Pacing- 7/10- It’s not nearly as bad as some people made it out to be, but it could use a bit more breathing room, but not much. 
 

World building and matching the book- Honestly they’ve done well. 9/10. It feels like Wheel of Time to me. It feels like fantasy. 
 

Music- 6/10- Very generic, but not terrible. It feels par for the show. I’m hoping we get some better stuff soon. 
 

Sets and Scenery- 9/10- Aside from certain things being too clean, I think they did well here. 
 

 

 

 

I would agree with this almost exactly. Personally im enjoying the music more than most it seems haha. I also really enjoyed Thom’s song. That’s something I was really really hoping they’d so since in the book such a big deal is made of songs for entertainment but you only ever get the names of them(for the most part). 
 

Agreed about the humor, the few attempts at it made me chuckle a bit. That’s got to a be a tough balancing act for them. For a TV show you want to have some kind of levity but there really isn’t much from the books for them to go off since no one is really written to be funny. Sorta Mat but not really. 
 

Also agree about the CGI, I completely do not understand anyone complaining about it. Looks good to me 🤷🏻‍♂️ The effect they’re using to represent the One Power is outstanding IMO. 
 

Like you said, overall I’m most excited that so far this FEELS right. It’s such a balancing act to not make people think oh this is just a LoTR, Game of Thrones, hell even Witcher rip off. But this feels unique from them so far. 
 

The one thing I’m still worried about is pacing and the season only being 8 episodes. It feels like they’re teetering on the edge of moving too fast but haven’t yet. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

Okay yeah I'm only halfway through episode 2 and I'm loving this.

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Okay yeah I'm only halfway through episode 2 and I'm loving this.

When Moraine tells the story of Monetherane(no idea how to spell that)…yeah they had me all in after that. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:

When Moraine tells the story of Monetherane(no idea how to spell that)…yeah they had me all in after that. 

 

For me it was the confrontation with the Children of the Light. Very well done. And Shadar Logath was awesome. Loved it visually.

[Mercury33]

Yeah agreed. Those parts were flawlessly done as well. Episode 3 deviates a bunch but it was def my favorite of the 3 episodes so far. Curious to here what you think. 

[Jason]

 

[DPCyric]

On 11/19/2021 at 7:35 PM, Massdriver said:

I’ve heard others praise the actor playing Matt. Just a reminder that the actor will not be in the show going forward. There’s no word as to why. 

 

Rumor has it that he is a total asshat and didn't play nice with anyone on set.

[Mercury33]

Lol yeah those reviewers probably just got triggered when Egweyne told Rand she was choosing a career over him. Probably set off a lot of their incel tendencies. 

[Mercury33]

Whelp, the book die hards are going to have a lot to sag about that episode 😂

 

I dug it. I think it’s become pretty clear that if you love these books you’re gonna have to appreciate that the soul of them is in this show but you’re not getting the straight page for page adaption you might have been hoping for. This reminds me of His Dark Materials. Clearly significant changes but all of them make sense for the story in the visual medium. Especially since they’re trying to actually keep it a secret who they real Dragon Reborn is. 
 

So far my only gripe is a feel Mat and Rand aren’t getting quite enough time, it feels like their story is rushing just a bit. Egweyne and Perins has been straight up perfect so far imo. And Moraine, Lan and Nynyeve has been mostly really good but that’s where the biggest changes are so as a book reader I’ve got to get over my initial “wtf” feelings anytime something is different haha. 

[Oberon]

Huge book fan and loving the show so far.

 

 

So I take it either Logain is seeing ny eave as a taveren or male channelers can see female weaves, but not vice versa as moiraine stated she couldn't see logains weaves

 

 

Loved logain

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mercury33]

6 hours ago, Oberon said:

Huge book fan and loving the show so far.

 

 

So I take it either Logain is seeing ny eave as a taveren or male channelers can see female weaves, but not vice versa as moiraine stated she couldn't see logains weaves

 

 

Loved logain

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good point. I’m gonna guess it’s Taveren. I don’t think he could see the other sisters channeling. And yeah that guy was fantastic. 

[Kal-El814]

Watched the first 4 episodes.

 

The Good

 

The show looks really good for the most part. It's really colorful and most things look pretty interesting. I'll be interested to see how they portray some of the bigger cities once they don't have to show... one castle parapet, but if they do as well as they did with the Two Rivers and Shadar Logoth, I'll be happy.

 

Most of the cast is pretty good. I like all of the Aes Sedai they have focused on, the warders, the Whitecloaks, Thom, Logain, and 4/5 of the Two Rivers crew.

 

Diversifying the cast has really done wonders, I think. I still think they could steer the ship into the iceberg with the Aiel and the Seanchan, especially with the Aiel already being described by Thom as the "noble savage" stereotype that they were in the books. Hopefully they do better with that. I also appreciate that they've gone out of their way to show that this society isn't homophobic even if Nynaeve is weirded out by polyamory, at least most people are not.

 

The Aes Sedai are represented pretty well so far I think. They've done a decent job of breaking down which faction is which, that they're not as united as they may seem, and how they're perceived by larger society.

 

Logain was really good too. I worry that the wad was shot a bit early here, but whatever.

 

I really like Egwene, Nynaeve, and Lan.

 

The Middling

 

The pacing is weird. Perrin ALREADY has nothing to do which is not a great sign. More on him later.

 

One would be forgiven for assuming Thom was a channeler as well given that he's a ninja with a throwing knife, can hold his own against a Fade (more about that later, too), and is suspicious of Mat as a potential channeler himself on a dime with what feels like... no actual evidence at all? I guess it's setting up Mat's derpiness with the dagger but it really felt to me like it came out of nowhere.

 

Changes to the power. I don't care about strict loyalty in adaptations, and as mentioned, there's A LOT that should probably be changed, like homogeneity about groups of people based on ethnicity, whiteness, etc. But we're 4 episodes in and we're already at risk for things not making a lot of sense. The show established the breaking of the world tainted the version of the power that men can channel. We've established this drives men insane. We've established that even Moiraine, who is looking for the Dragon and who is opposed to summary stilling, will participate in it when the alternative is the death of a bunch of her sisters. A female Dragon changes everything. A female channeler claiming to be the Dragon changes everything. For as good as it is that the show seems to be steering away from the books gender / sex essentialism, including the notion that in the books, sex is an indelible part of the soul... I don't think it makes sense for the Aes Sedai to be worried about a female Dragon. Wouldn't they be a natural fit for Amyrlin?

 

We're already talking about power levels, and sweet Jesus there is nothing I find more boring than discussions about the power levels of fictional characters. Logain can dunk on a bunch of Aes Sedai who are shown to be awesome, Moiraine drops hints that Egwene is potentially more powerful than most of the Aes Sedai, and the Dragon can dunk on everyone. We have a fucking tier list already by episode 4, all we need now is Sakurai to introduce the next character.

 

I don't know how to feel about them teasing that Nynaeve is the Dragon so hard. 

 

Mat and Rand are acted just fine.

 

I go back and forth about adding the representation of the power here or in the good section. The way it's described in the book was never going to just be shown on screen, but I still wish there was more variability in the weaves. I always pictured them being colorful based on their description in the books. Overall better and I'd probably tuck this into the good section if I thought about it more.

 

The Bad

 

Perrin fridging his wife is fucking terrible. I have no idea why they did this. Yes, I acknowledge it's that so he has "a reason" to not want to pick up the ax, but what the fuck. For a show that is doing a lot right about representation, this really sticks out.

 

Also Perrin is a fucking drip. I know they haven't given him much to do, but I feel like every director is shouting at the actor to stay slack jawed. I don't understand this casting at all.

 

The biggest problem for me is that... I don't know why I'm supposed to care about any of the boys? I feel the show is trying to make everyone from the Two Rivers potentially interesting by maybe being Westland's Next Top Dragon, but this shit isn't working for me. We had 15 seconds to remind us that Perrin is a blacksmith, Mat... gambles and potentially loots corpses? Rand was a shepherd and lived outside of town? Why do I give a shit? The ladies have powers and agency, the boys are just... there. 4 hours in and we're still just vibe checking them. We frigging know Lan better than the Two Rivers boys. It's bad.

 

So Far

 

I'm enjoying seeing the adaptation and changes and I'm curious as to where it goes. They're in a weird spot at this moment where I feel like they haven't changed enough but also changed the wrong stuff. I feel like this far in GoT we had better reasons to care about the characters beyond them just being the characters.

 

I know I blabbed on more about the rough stuff, but I think it's pretty well done, honestly. I just want the characters to have more agency!

[Massdriver]

I thought the latest episode was the best so far. I agree @Kal-El814that for now, I don't care much about the boys, and Perrin's character is boring thus far. I think they had him kill his wife so they could show him going through something as all the other arcs are developing. It doesn't bother me, but it's not really making me care. 

 

On the one power being shown, maybe it'll get better as time goes on. 

Rafe mentioned that COVID interfered with the VFX department, so perhaps it gets better in season 2 with more colors. I think it looks decent, but it still doesn't have a holy shit factor. Sometimes less does more. The Witcher has some pretty badass magic where you just see small magical effects and big consequences and it goes a long way. I remember reading somewhere before WoT premiered that they would sometimes not show the weaves depending on whose perspective a scene was leaning into. Maybe sometimes don't show all the weaves?

 

I also agree they need to explain why we should fear a female dragon. They've made it clear in the show as in the book that male channelers are dangerous. So what's the big deal about a female channeler that happens to be the dragon? Will they lean into it and basically say every male channeler in history has broken the world and every female hasn't?

[Mercury33]

I watched episode 4 again. As far as an explanation for fearing a female dragon. They seem to have separated the prophecy of the Dragon potentially saving or breaking the world and men’s struggles with the one power. They don’t mention them together. It’s simply “The prophecy says the Dragon Reborn could rebreak the world” so I think that’s where the fear of a female dragon comes from. 
 

[GeneticBlueprint]

That was the best episode yet. The directing was top notch and it makes virtually all of my complaints from the first episode disappear. I loved the character moments, the battles the music, the atmosphere, etc. It was all great.

[GeneticBlueprint]

On 11/27/2021 at 4:02 PM, Massdriver said:

I thought the latest episode was the best so far. I agree @Kal-El814that for now, I don't care much about the boys, and Perrin's character is boring thus far. I think they had him kill his wife so they could show him going through something as all the other arcs are developing. It doesn't bother me, but it's not really making me care. 

 

On the one power being shown, maybe it'll get better as time goes on. 

Rafe mentioned that COVID interfered with the VFX department, so perhaps it gets better in season 2 with more colors. I think it looks decent, but it still doesn't have a holy shit factor. Sometimes less does more. The Witcher has some pretty badass magic where you just see small magical effects and big consequences and it goes a long way. I remember reading somewhere before WoT premiered that they would sometimes not show the weaves depending on whose perspective a scene was leaning into. Maybe sometimes don't show all the weaves?

 

I also agree they need to explain why we should fear a female dragon. They've made it clear in the show as in the book that male channelers are dangerous. So what's the big deal about a female channeler that happens to be the dragon? Will they lean into it and basically say every male channeler in history has broken the world and every female hasn't?

 

Similar things happened with Foundation. There were episodes where you could tell that there were supposed to be like 1000 extras but they had like 12 because of Covid. The show runner confirmed in an interview that that was the case with both VFX and extras.

[Mercury33]

Another good episode. Obviously this one was gonna be a lot more low key coming off what happened last week. 
 

Loial was amazing. The hair is eh but not a deal breaker and I’ll miss the ears but holy crap did that actor absolutely nail the character. I LOL’d when he kept on talking after Rand stopped paying attention. 
 

The actress playing Liandrin is also incredible. That woman has subtlety down to a science. 
 

The Perrin/Egweyne stuff was ok. Little more movement. It was fine. 
 

Padan Fain being slipped in there like Where’s Waldo is brilliant. 
 

One big change. I think I would have chopped off the final scene. At that point I think they’d already established the bonds between Warders and Aei Sedai and each other well enough. A second sad funeral scene felt like too much to me. Instead I would have taken that time to maybe show the implied conversation between Loial and Rand where he tells him about Nynaeve or a scene where Nynaeve is out in the garden and Loail finds her. I would have rather seen either of those. 
 

But overall another good episode IMO. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Finally started this and I'm loving it. Very well done show. Watching episode 3 now.

[Mercury33]

Episode 6 was phenomenal. Easily my favorite episode of the series. The kids are still more passengers than I’d like but honestly who cares with the performances Moraine, Lan and the Aei Sedai are turning in so far. 
 

So I think they’ve established that this show is going to be drastically different than the books. But my god have the captured the feel and the essence of this world and it’s characters while still also hitting enough major beats to make it familiar and the changes still let me have that “what’s going to happen next” feeling. So happy with this show. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

Things have been done with that oath rod that shall not be named.

[Mercury33]

6 hours ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Things have been done with that oath rod that shall not be named.

😂😂

[Kal-El814]

9 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

Episode 6 was phenomenal. Easily my favorite episode of the series. The kids are still more passengers than I’d like but honestly who cares with the performances Moraine, Lan and the Aei Sedai are turning in so far. 
 

So I think they’ve established that this show is going to be drastically different than the books. But my god have the captured the feel and the essence of this world and it’s characters while still also hitting enough major beats to make it familiar and the changes still let me have that “what’s going to happen next” feeling. So happy with this show. 

 

I wonder if they’ll drop some kind of hint that this is a different Third Age from the one in the books at some point. Not that they need to but if they wanted to explain the differences it’s a pretty easy out for more or less everything.

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, Kal-El814 said:

 

I wonder if they’ll drop some kind of hint that this is a different Third Age from the one in the books at some point. Not that they need to but if they wanted to explain the differences it’s a pretty easy out for more or less everything.

Spoiler

That’s certainly something they could do, I hadn’t thought of that. In this episode they dropped the idea that the Dragons Soul could be split among all 4 of them. That change or just changing who the Dragon is completely is the only change that I think would really piss me off. And in that instance I’d need them to retcon it with “this is a different 3rd age” for me to keep going. 

It’s fun to go on the Show only Reddit and read people legit guessing who the Dragon is. Most people seem to have figured it out at this point but I think it’s a credit to the show actually wanting to make that a mystery that people are still guessing. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Hey @Mercury33 i couldn't find those animated shorts you were telling me about. How do you get to those again?

 

Me and my niece are now on a mission proselytizing this show now 

 

At least we know we're getting a season two

 

‘The Wheel Of Time’ Rounds Out Season 2 Recurring Cast With Guy Roberts, Arnas Fedaravicius & Gregg Chillingirian

DEADLINE.COM

---

Amazon is expanding its cast for the second season of The Wheel of Time.

 

[Mercury33]

@skillzdadirecta I watch it on a Fire Stick and I press up during the episode to activate whatever those in episode special features on Amazon shows are called. There’s little animated shorts, behind the scenes features and interactive map that shows you where they’re traveling and still from the show; it’s pretty awesome. 
 

Yeah I believe they’re currently in production for Season 2 and Season 3 has already been green lit. That’s the nice thing about Amazon over Netflix, less crippilizing fear your show will be cancelled for no reason haha

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:

That’s the nice thing about Amazon over Netflix, less crippilizing fear your show will be cancelled for no reason haha

Apple as well. They understand that you have to give shows time to build audiences. Netflix has been spoiled by several shows that became overnight phenomenons like Stranger Things, Tiger King and Squid Games. If a big budget show doesn't reach those levels, they can it. We're shopping a project to streamers now and I'm not sure we want to go with Netflix because of this very thing. Amazon and Apple seem like safer bets. One of my good friends is doing a show for Apple now and I'm really curious about his experience working with them. He turned down showrunning a project with Netflix.

[Kal-El814]

So... am I the only one wheels completely fell off this thing in the finale? Like one of those cartoons where someone's driving a car and it just collapses and the driver is going down the road in just the seat, while holding the steering wheel?

 

I don't even mean in comparison to the books, I'm generally in favor of all the changes they've done (minus one, we'll get to that in a second). But the last episode, maybe the last 1.5, felt like the show was on fast forward. Characters are introduced, have little to no development, then die like it's a big thing? Oh shit it's the past but it looks like the future, oh shit here's the Horn of Valere, oh shit, it's stolen, oh shit it's Padan Fain, oh shit it's heartstone, oh shit that's broken, oh shit it's thousands of trollocs, oh shit they're all dead. It's just constant whiplash, and unlike the "battle episodes" in GoT, I don't think there was enough context for any of this to really make sense.

 

I did really like the stuff between Nynaeve and Lan, Moraine and Siuan. I think Rand / Egwene's romantic relationship being much more real and less implied is a great change. Perrin continues to be absolutely misused and useless, it's... going to be a rough show for him if they don't make big changes for him, and god willing they will. Also I have no fucking clue what they're doing with Mat, like... at all. It's not like the show is hurting for villains, they've got trollocs, fades, Whitecloaks, etc., so giving him a heel turn would be really weird. I still think the show is really well cast in general, though I hope we get to see more range from Nynaeve and Perrin especially. I think Lan is damn near perfect., and letting him have a personality other than "granite face" was the right move.

 

The show does sometimes feel weird scale wise. The eye of the world is... one day's walk from Far Dara? That seems unnecessary, and means that Malkier is a par 4's distance away from Fal Dara. They even had the characters ditch their horses to enter the ways, I don't get it. The characters said they were separated for months, so it's not like the show is unwilling to state how much time has passed.

 

Anyway I don't think the show has painted its way into a corner or anything, and in general I think they did a better job than I had expected they would. I'm excited for season 2.  I just have no idea what someone without the context of the books would make of what happened in the last episode and a half. Although I suppose the ending of the first season not making sense and the ending of The Eye of the World also not making sense is on brand.

 

 

Some thoughts about book to show changes, including stuff that happens way later than what's in the show so far:

 

 

 

 

Siuan and Moraine being actual lovers as opposed to Jordan's concept of "pillow friends" is probably the right move. I wonder what it means for future romantic entanglements for both characters, but the show being so openly accepting of LGBTQIA characters means this really shouldn't be an issue if they drift back to book canon.

 

Moraine being stilled is... something. I suspect that Egwene or Nyneave will heal her to level up one of them. This also feels like something that really hit in the books that hasn't had the time to ferment on the show.

 

Apparently one of amazon's pages about the show confirms that Moraine and Siuan use a ter'an'greal to travel to their love shack in Tear. Again, I wonder how this comes off to people less familiar with the lore since until I read that bit I assumed that both of them could travel, and it wouldn't be reasonable to assume they could teleport, given how it looked on screen.

 

I feel like they are really inconsistent about how tall Moraine is supposed to be. This happens all the time, since a lot of actors are short, but I think it's funny that Moraine is written to be around 5' tall and Rosamund Pike is pushing 5'10", so she's an inch shorter than the guy playing Thom

 

I really have no fucking clue what they're supposed to be up to with Mat. Moraine sent him to Liandrin, which is fucking wild with what we know about Liandrin in the books. Most of the rest of the changes so far feel like they've been done either for time, pacing, or representation. This one feels like an enormous change and I really have no idea to what end.

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

15 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

So... am I the only one wheels completely fell off this thing in the finale? Like one of those cartoons where someone's driving a car and it just collapses and the driver is going down the road in just the seat, while holding the steering wheel?

 

I don't even mean in comparison to the books, I'm generally in favor of all the changes they've done (minus one, we'll get to that in a second). But the last episode, maybe the last 1.5, felt like the show was on fast forward. Characters are introduced, have little to no development, then die like it's a big thing? Oh shit it's the past but it looks like the future, oh shit here's the Horn of Valere, oh shit, it's stolen, oh shit it's Padan Fain, oh shit it's heartstone, oh shit that's broken, oh shit it's thousands of trollocs, oh shit they're all dead. It's just constant whiplash, and unlike the "battle episodes" in GoT, I don't think there was enough context for any of this to really make sense.

 

I did really like the stuff between Nynaeve and Lan, Moraine and Siuan. I think Rand / Egwene's romantic relationship being much more real and less implied is a great change. Perrin continues to be absolutely misused and useless, it's... going to be a rough show for him if they don't make big changes for him, and god willing they will. Also I have no fucking clue what they're doing with Mat, like... at all. It's not like the show is hurting for villains, they've got trollocs, fades, Whitecloaks, etc., so giving him a heel turn would be really weird. I still think the show is really well cast in general, though I hope we get to see more range from Nynaeve and Perrin especially. I think Lan is damn near perfect., and letting him have a personality other than "granite face" was the right move.

 

The show does sometimes feel weird scale wise. The eye of the world is... one day's walk from Far Dara? That seems unnecessary, and means that Malkier is a par 4's distance away from Fal Dara. They even had the characters ditch their horses to enter the ways, I don't get it. The characters said they were separated for months, so it's not like the show is unwilling to state how much time has passed.

 

Anyway I don't think the show has painted its way into a corner or anything, and in general I think they did a better job than I had expected they would. I'm excited for season 2.  I just have no idea what someone without the context of the books would make of what happened in the last episode and a half. Although I suppose the ending of the first season not making sense and the ending of The Eye of the World also not making sense is on brand.

 

 

Some thoughts about book to show changes, including stuff that happens way later than what's in the show so far:

 

 

 

 

Siuan and Moraine being actual lovers as opposed to Jordan's concept of "pillow friends" is probably the right move. I wonder what it means for future romantic entanglements for both characters, but the show being so openly accepting of LGBTQIA characters means this really shouldn't be an issue if they drift back to book canon.

 

Moraine being stilled is... something. I suspect that Egwene or Nyneave will heal her to level up one of them. This also feels like something that really hit in the books that hasn't had the time to ferment on the show.

 

Apparently one of amazon's pages about the show confirms that Moraine and Siuan use a ter'an'greal to travel to their love shack in Tear. Again, I wonder how this comes off to people less familiar with the lore since until I read that bit I assumed that both of them could travel, and it wouldn't be reasonable to assume they could teleport, given how it looked on screen.

 

I feel like they are really inconsistent about how tall Moraine is supposed to be. This happens all the time, since a lot of actors are short, but I think it's funny that Moraine is written to be around 5' tall and Rosamund Pike is pushing 5'10", so she's an inch shorter than the guy playing Thom

 

I really have no fucking clue what they're supposed to be up to with Mat. Moraine sent him to Liandrin, which is fucking wild with what we know about Liandrin in the books. Most of the rest of the changes so far feel like they've been done either for time, pacing, or representation. This one feels like an enormous change and I really have no idea to what end.

 

 

Didn't read a lot of this but I'm pretty sure the finale was filmed after the Covid lockdown so a lot of the things you're noticing probably had to do with that. I haven't read the books so I can't comment on that stuff, but without that, I was still pretty satisfied with the finale and look forward to the next season. Pretty sure Amazon has commited to at least 3 seasons so far and have said they would like to keep it going for as long as they can.

[Kal-El814]

32 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Didn't read a lot of this but I'm pretty sure the finale was filmed after the Covid lockdown so a lot of the things you're noticing probably had to do with that. I haven't read the books so I can't comment on that stuff, but without that, I was still pretty satisfied with the finale and look forward to the next season. Pretty sure Amazon has commited to at least 3 seasons so far and have said they would like to keep it going for as long as they can.

 

Fair.

 

Also one other thing...

 

Moraine having a male sa'angreal and giving it to an untrained male channeler "because the pattern" is like giving an alcoholic pyromaniac access to a nuclear launch site, launch codes, and a handle of 195 proof grain alcohol because "Jesus take the wheel," just truly shocking stuff from our tall queen Moraine.

[Massdriver]

I thought the finale was weak (scattered, disjointed come to mind), but I’m hopeful for season 2 improvements. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

Yeah that finale was a mess not gonna lie. And the episode before it too. They needed ten episodes at least to flesh things out a little more. Great write-up there @Kal-El814

 

Also, Perrince and Randall getting all macho over  Eggs McGwane is some of the dumbest shit I've seen on any TV show in a long, long time.

 

I did love the look of the blight, though. When reading the book I imagined it as some strange dry starving sickness, but in the show it was this wet disgusting tree plague. I liked that.

 

Overall a solid season and setup for bigger things to come. I'm still looking forward to season 2. I hope Amazon throws more money at it to make it better.