I loved that little moment when Lanfear said she may betray Ishamael, and he suddenly dropped his facade, going all crazy-eyes and deadly serious, "Will you?!" Oooh man, that gave me chills. Fares Fares is fantastic as Ishamael. I'm glad that there's still that little bit of insanity in there, he just keeps it in check most of the time, appearing clam and calculating.
I literally just said this, but I’m starting to kinda like her portrayal of Liandrin and I HATED the character in the book. I love how Suroth called her a Dog, it’s nice foreshadowing I think!
props to the writers as well. it was great decision to flesh out her character and plotline as a mid level villain opposed to the uber evil Forsaken. Really good stuff and an example of how an adaptation can improve on the source material
Got to see a little of that Aiel humor. That’s something I hope they really lean into. Avi bursting out laughing at inappropriate times were some of my favorite mid series book moments
As someone who never read the book i really look forward to the show. Robert jordan im so glad i got introduced to him through WOT show. Its an epic series of books im just now getting to the fires of heaven.
Lanfear should have used compulsion on that lady. Especially since compulsion was mentioned for what I believe was the first time in the show in this episode. The image of Lanfear in the world of dreams at the very end was awesome. It really showed her vanity and it just screamed evil.
@@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t they could have done any outcome they wanted with compulsion. She could have compelled that lady to kill herself which would have greatly conveyed how dangerous it is as well as made it very easy to convey how powerful and evil a spell it is.
So far in this season it's felt like every episode has built well on the previous and they've continued to ramp it up. This episode definitely overall felt like some of the best pacing and blending of the various character arcs. It just flowed very smoothly. Lanfear was very menacing and crazy with that cruel streak in the opening chase and I loved seeing the interaction with Ishamael in Tel'aran'rhiod. Lots of great lore introductions and upcoming character name drops. Curious to see where the changes with Barthanes go. Are they going to triple fake us with the wedding scenario? Was it just me or was Moiraine's little stumble when Barthanes asked about Rand and it seemed like she was trying to say something else but eventually just had to mumble, "Rand," was an indicator that she can't lie and she's still bound to the Three Oaths which would imply shielded. Hmmm... If this is how good Episode 5 hit I'm really hoping 6-8 just knock it out of the park. I think we've really benefited from the slightly longer episodes. Those 5-8 extra minutes really are allowing the scenes and arcs to play out better and not feel rushed or cut off.
Yeah. First episode on the entire show that, when it ended, I felt like I really needed to see the next episode NOW. Very much like a solid chapter ending. First episode where the changes/what was wrong were overwhelmingly outweighed by what they got right. Hoping it continues up from here
Pretty much the best episode of the show so far, and episode 4 was the best up till this one, hopefully the cast and crew are hitting their stride and the show quality continues to trend upward from here!
CGI costs my @ss. Game of thrones couldn't afford to have direwolves everywhere. HBO said, here's 50 million, make a season... .. amazon gave this show a bazillion dollars, per episode.
This episode was like a 9/10 or higher for me. Best in the show so far. It just flowed really well, it was a really good balance of keeping iconic things from the books but also giving its own spin. Only three more episodes in s2... If those are on the same level of quality as ep 3, 4 and 5, then we can confidently say that the show is hitting its stride.
Dogs used as wolves is pretty weak. I know, CGI costs money and real wolves aren't an option, but the dogs don't look threating at all. Why would Lanfear need a horse? She can travel! Would have caught them before they knew what happened. In the books, 4 women are in love with Rand. Lanfear, Min, Elayne, and Aviendha. Lanfear more for the power he represents and I'm pretty sure that will be explained over the course of the show. I can't see the writers allowing a 3 girls on 1 boy love story. The question is how much of a change will they make. I'm getting the feeling that Aviendha may take the place of Faile Bashere and be Perrins love interest. Min has met Rand briefly but there has been nothing in the plot so far that would lead us to believe something will bloom between Min and Rand. Maybe she will hang with Mat for awhile but there won't be any romance in her storyline throughout the show. Elayne could be the only one who will be in love with Rand. I would be pretty tough to "weave" a storyline in this show with 3 women mooning over 1 guy though. The plot lines for some of the rest of the Forsaken seems to be in doubt since Ishamael is parading around with the Seachan, which I believe was actually done by one of the other female Forsaken. Is there going to be one in the White Tower? In the books wasn't Ishamael more or less directing the others? At this point Moraine is becoming annoying. Bad idea to turn the story on its head and take her powers away. Has it made here story better? I can't see it. Moraine with the One Power and Lan are more interesting that what she is on the show so far. Lanfear wears white, almost always. Is it really that hard for these writers to get even the easiest of basics right? Putting her in black is cheap. We know she's bad. The white gives her a better contrast of what she looks like and who she is. Ishamael should have been as he was in the books. If they needed someone to do what he is doing in the show they should have used another of the Forsaken. Let Ishamael be Ishamael. In charge, but mad! The capture of Egwene was pretty weak. A few small explosions, not much confusion and Elayne, and Nynaeve just running through a few trees and they got away? The Seachan where promised 3 very strong channelers and they basically did nothing. In the show they keep talking about how strong Nynaeve is but they don't every let her really show it. In the books this scene she showed it. Why didn't they do it in the show? Let's see some real One Power power.
Could not disagree more about the Seanchan. They have been great. Intimidating. Exotic. Foreign. The damane are terrifying. The preview of what Egwene goes through looks like what it should look like. Their music theme is foreboding. I think we won't be getting their beasts tho for cost reasons if we get the Seanchan or we will only with the full invasion.
I had this thought too a couple times. I guess that's every show and movie these days, turn up the brightness, keep subtitles on and be ready to adjust the volume.
@@Hangry_Sasquatch I'm curious... Do you get kicks out of yucking other peoples' yum, or do you actually think your inflammatory comment will inspire anyone to do anything other than want to block you?
@@Hangry_Sasquatch why so angry and aggressive? if you don't like the show that is cool, no need to try and tell others what to like . I can completely understand people not liking the show, i cant understand people feeling the need to trawl the net attacking at those who do like it however.
@@wezul i re-watched it in movie mode on my TV in a darker room and it was much easier to see what is going on. It does seem to be the trend to have dark scenes, when i watched the battle of winterfell i barely had any idea what was happening as it was so dark!
The way they did Egwene's capture got the correct line of thought from Non Book Readers regarding how Damane are treated. Egwene wasn't down on her butt like a captured human, but instead, tied up on her SIDE twitching like an animal. And then when she's collared, she's on all fours as the leash forms.
Yeah, my biggest gripe is lanfear interaction with civilians... .. like, she popped the guys head off? Like, the dude should've just collapsed and fell off the horse. That would've been so much more terrifying and bad @ss... .. she pops the dudes head off..? .. like, what? .. poppin' the dudes head off is wile E. Coyote style. Like, what? Okay, then the horsetrader lady.. why not pop her head off like Ren & stimpy.... .. no, now we're doin' the agent smith/Mr. Anderson thing from the original matrix... ... really...
This episode is probably my favorite for the whole series at this point. They hit many actual story points even if details changed. Aviendha and Suroth were both great, and I may actually like show Verin more than book Verin, or at least the nuances of her character are more evident with such a great actress. I’m curious if she knows Verin’s full arc? I liked Avi eschewing weapons and displaying some general bad assery (obvs she wouldn’t grab a sword) and a bit of Aiel humor. The Rand/Moiraine plot was a bit meh although I enjoyed Ishy and Lanfear. I wish we had some Mat and Min scenes. But, otherwise a solid episode.
Totes...I wasn't sold on the portrayal (although Natasha O'Keefe is brilliant in Pinky Blinders), but she shifted into unhinged Lanfear quite brilliantly this episode @@tw7998
Thank you for your review. I thought this was the best episode so far. The meeting between Lanfear and Ishamael felt so much like the forsaken get togethers I loved reading in the books. I think the forced politeness with the underlying sense of competing egos and the open promise of betrayal will show non book readers that there are differences between the forsaken and they operate in an environment where backstabbing is not only acceptable it’s expected. It was a small thing but I loved the way the background Seanchan nobles shuddered and looked away when Suroth had her nails clipped. I think it showed their obsession with rank and position and keeping “face”. The after battle scenes with Nynaeve and Elaine went to showing Nynaeve especially at this point is all emotional driven whereas Elaine is more logical and practical. Likewise Aviendha’s chuckle when Perrin tries to protectively step between her and the Whitecloaks was hilarious. It showed his protective nature and how little wetlanders understand the Aiel My only gripe was the absence of a certain ancient statue. I was sure the show took Rand towards the Kinslauer Daggers to drop that nugget.
i felt that the explosions when the seanchan were trying to capture the girls fell a bit flat. and the editing on some of the music and transitions between scene were a bit sloppy.
Overall I really liked the episode, with the 2 exceptions. Lanfear's mouth thing made me irrationally angry. Using compulsion to have her hurt herself would have been a fantastic tie-back to the Verin questioning. Lanfear is also good at inflicting a LOT of pain in a very short time period, like when she peeled Kadere's skin. I think an adaptation DOES need to adhere to the lore and mechanics of the source material, and if it deviates, there should be a DAMN good reason. This was a deviation for no reason. The other thing was, I was thoroughly unimpressed with the Avi/Perrin fight. The choreography was just garbage. A quick montage of unrelated scenes without any kind of grace or flow. Given the emphasis that jordan put on the aiel and the sword forms, I was _really_ hoping to get good fight choreography for this season.
6:39 Oh, you think that was just the Dark One resurrecting her? I thought she used the True Power to heal and revive herself (I mean, come on, it's not the first set-in-stone rule Rafe would have broken with this show). After all, she had the Saa flooding across her eyes as it happened.
9/10 for me. Best episode of the season. Highest highs. The Moiraine scene at the end is likely my fav scene of the show. It is 4/5 book character development moved up for me where through a great conversation with her sister. She has to surrender to actually control things similar to Saidar. Avi intro was perfect. Feels like the character already has nailed her vocal cadence for me and the personality of the character. Loved the Ishy/Lanfear TAR scene. Seanchan continue to be fantastic. Didn't like some of the acting/writing in the Verin scenes. Liandrin would be dead as a BA member long ago if that is how poorly she lies and how obvious it is when she does. The scene with the young Brown where she goes "I guess the Black Ajah are a thing" fell flat for me. There should be denial and horror there. This is something the Tower has actively denied for a thousand years. It came across as not impactful at all.
I like the fact that they confirmed Graendal and Moghedien to be in the show xD by mentioning them. And Liandrin is more likable in this show or it's just me?? They made her more empathic and not just evil. She has a motive to why she joins the Black Ajah.
@@Deanof316. Yeah me too, she is way too scary to be left out but since she was linked to the Seanchan but they made Ishamael so in the show... who knows. Maybe they make her show up when Tuon comes.
This time I feel your review felt short, as if you are afraid of trusting too much in the adaptation. For me it was a very good episode and can't complain about anything
Great episode. I both like this version of Verin and dislike her. I wanted Verin to be the “scatterbrained” brown from the books with layered insight and hidden clarity, but this version is also very good with her sharp and clever wit. There’s just a big disconnect between the two versions. Did you notice the brief appearance of the Portal stone when Morraine and Rand were hiding in the forest? I hope that means we’ll get Portal Stone to Toman Head, where everyone experiences living multiple variations of their lives.
huh a weave to basically seal someone's mouth breaks lore how? Im a bit confused by that. yeah some random weaves the threads shut it off with threads which seem like actual threads and sealed off dont see the lore issue? What am I missing on this? Seems perfectly fine to me.
Yeah, I think it was fine lore wise. But it was cheesy and made Lanfear look less scary, less serious and just petty. Lanfear would either kill the woman, manipulate her or ignore her. She isn't semirhage.
@briane8627 semiraghe is kinda small character in the books, but has some important stuff to do. They gave a chunk of her role to Ishy. Probably will give the rest to Lanfear. The books have waaay too many characters for most people to follow and get invested in, so, I think, they are making fewer characters, but giving them more to flesh them out. Some choices might work out better than others
Stingy with your rating there ‘Blis. Thought for sure this would get an 8. Best episode so far, no doubt. No Lan, no Mat. I hope we get an entirely Mat-centric episode. Maybe episode 7, or something. Like, next one sets up everyone getting to Falme, with little to no Mat once again, then ep 7 is entirely Mat and Min, what they’re up to, and how they wind up in Falme, setting up an epic season finale.
I'm upset at no mat! He is such a fantastic character, truly uniquely written a well. Sanderson had an awful time trying to write him in the final books. I need to see more book adaptation action from him. The fight at the white tower with the quarter staff with Gowan and his brother. Chef's kiss, I love it so much.
@@jackytheripper they’ll get to him. He doesn’t have a lot to do in the first two books-except for that one thing in book 2 ;) which I expect we’ll see… unless they change it. Which they might? I dunno. Anyway, the show will get around to Mat.
It’s entirely possible they had her say “the boys” because the writers haven’t determined which ones they’ll actually use yet and they didn’t want to write themselves into a corner
For sure Ishamael and Asmodean are in the show, as are Lanfear, Grandael, and Moghedien, so the question is who is the other girl and 2 boys? Semirrhage for the woman I guess. For the men my best guess is Rahvin to go with the Andor storyline, since it has a lot of connections to Rand. It would be hilarious then if the final male forsaken is Demandred, and the show resurrects the Taimandred storyline that RJ possibly shelved. Most ballsy choice would be Aran'gar/Halima if they want to add a transgender type storyling into the show. Edit: One of the show statues is a short dude with beard though, so maybe they'll have Sammael instead of Rahvin. But I still think if you cut a Forsaken, you should cut Sammael. The RAHHHHVIN scene followed by the super-balefire is not only super cool, but would also serve as a perfect season ending cliffhanger. If they made that a season ender, I wonder how many show-only watchers would break down and go look up what happens next in the books.
I was very upset about Moiraine killing the horse. Not only is it *possible* to take more horses with you than the ones you are riding, it is often absolutely necessary. Needing extra mounts is a plot point in *tons* of books with lots of riding. In fact, one extra horse likely would not be enough for a rushed trip to Tar Valon from just outside Cairhien. Regardless, Moiraine is clearly aware that one can have extra horses, as she sends that lady ahead with both hers and Rand's, almost immediately after killing the other horse. Horses are very intelligent creatures, and sure--you'll kill one if you *have* to--but no decent person would ever just slaughter one on a whim. The lips sewn shut wasn't my favorite thing, but I read it as being part of their expansion of the True Power's workings. I think that this is supposed to make us think of bubbles of evil rather than TAR, as the bubbles are examples of the Dark One's power at work in the books (and, presumably, must be done with the True Power). The only explicit example we get of how the True Power is different from the One Power is in the very different mode of Traveling it affords, and I find that the way they're representing True Power healing is consistent with that.
If Moiraine hadn't killed the horse, they couldn't have shown how easily Lanfear can pop some poor chump's head off his shoulders with little to no effort.
I think the point of Moiraine killing the horse was to show that she was panicking a little and not thinking entirely clearly. She is definitely flustered up until Anvaere repeats her advice to her.
My head cannon is that the horse trader had fallen asleep after a hard ride so Lanfear was able to do the cheesy mouth thing as they were in Tel'aran'rhiod.
I don't understand how people who claim to be fans of Jordan's WoT can drool and faun over the garbage that Judkins is spewing. I used to think Peter Jackson's LotR was the worst ever adaptation. Judkins laps that in this sleep, standing on his head, hands tied behind his back... which seems the only way anyone who has claimed to have read the series could foul it up so badly. The only reason I'm still watching is to see how bad it really gets... Sort of like not being able to take one's eyes off a gruesome car wreck. Shame on Judkins, and shame on every 'fan' who praises any part of this misbegotten horror.
One thing that annoys some people but that I personally liked, is Robert Jordan likes to describe everything. the ground, the boots, the food, the clothing, the quality of the clothing, the stitching, the adornments, who made it, how long ago that was, whether its feastday wear, or whether its travel wear, 3 chapters later then he will get to the horse they are riding, and how they aquired it, and also with regard to the food, if it was in one quality at the time it was made but was left to sit and become cold and congealed then u get multiple descriptions of the same plate. :P
I did think that the lip stitching thing was weird and not a one power thing. My headcanon for it is it was either a TP thing or perhaps it was really a compulsion thing and wasn't really happening but the victim really did believe her lips were being stitched shut and will never talk again as a result.
It's not a typical one power thing, certainly not in the 3rd age (Aes Sedai couldn't use it even if they retained the knowledge; and it's not a pure enough weapon for the Seanchan). But I think it works as an obscure bit of the vast litany of 2nd age powers the Chosen have access to, and enjoy using. Also, if they're not casting Semirhage, then Lanfear can have all of her torture-style expertises, and this would be one!
I mean she could've literally just stitched her lips together with weaves of air that she tied off, they wouldn't wear out before that woman starved to death
Lanfear should be in white at the end but it doesn’t really matter. It does make for a very stark contrast with the pitch black clothes on the pale background.
This just isn't the Wheel of Time. The hunt for the horn is barely even a plotline, which is crazy considering how powerful the object is. The setting where the Forsaken meet in the dream world were always horrifying or fantastical in some way. Instead we get Lanfear and Ishamael meet in a scuffy looking room. There's nothing dream-like in that dreamworld. I still think Fares Fares is possibly the worst casting choice in the show. He literally looks and sounds like Nandor from "What We Do in the Shadows," which is the farthest thing from Ishamael and Moridin. He just comes off as a frail grandfather and not an intimidating force. On it's own, it's mediocre. Has some good moments, but also some really really bad ones.
'Perrin and aviendha take out the whitecloaks' nah. The Aiel woman did it all by herself.Perrin helped a little. Is it magic or genetics or sth. How r they so good at fighting?
Serious ,..Perrin been in 2 battles this season alone and hasn’t suffered a single scratch😢..he has no history of fighting, we didn’t see him get to even train, or get lessons during his journey…we haven’t seen him in a forge once, yet they call him a blacksmith😂😂😂
This Felt like Wheel of Time! Best episode yet. Let's hope they keep it going. I do agree with you about the breaking the magic system. What weave is that!
I agree but mat in book 2 is doing anythink he suffer the desease from the dagger his only role is at the end. im certain it will be also at the end of the show. Matt is just not too interesting character in first three books
Did anyone else think Ishamael's head looked a bit large and a little CGI in the dream world? I didn't notice anything different with Lanfear, except for the Goth eyeshadow. If this is how they telegraph the dream world, I think it works. It is just subtle enough for the viewer.
I like what they're doing with the Seanchan accent. There's a /hint/ of southern accent in there, but no so much as to sound silly in this setting. It works for me, but to each their own!
I read someone's comment that said they had to use some dubbing because the wind messed up some of the sound in that one Seanchan scene so that might be the weirdness you heard. I have no way to verify this person knew what he was talking about.
Overall, 8/10 for this episode for me. The only real peeve I have with it is that to me Liandrin seems to use Traveling to get the girls to Falme, which at that point had not been rediscovered yet. I could have misinterpreted this, as I never got the impression she was using the Ways to go there. Aviendha entering the story is definitely is high point. I loved her scenes with Perrin. As for the girls, you know that Nynaeve, headstrong and stubborn as she is, is going to get into trouble, so maybe it is good Elayne is there to temper her impulsivity. Even though it is not shown so much in the series, you can tell what the moments are where in the books, Nynaeve would be tugging her braid. I am getting the feeling that Elayne as a character is not fully fleshed out yet. Don't get me wrong, I love her already, but up until she and Nynaeve flee the scene with Turoth, I was kind of getting the feeling she was just tugging along. I am curious to see where her character goes. Egwene is in a lot of trouble. Leashed as a damane, she will go through excruciating torture. However, we also know this is going to steel her for what's to come. She is both powerful and cunning, and has shown a great talent with the One Power. Will she use that power to simply burn through the link? Will she use her cunning to find a loophole in the link itself? Who knows. Obviously we know what happens to her in the books, but things may go slightly differently in the series. All in all, a very good episode.
So they do leash and collar them in a fashion. They definitely are trying to introduce characters and plot lines earlier. So how did Turak know that was the horn? Is the case mentioned?
You forgot the most important thing in your recap. Lanfear in sexy leather watching shirtless Rand tied to the wheel. Matt Hatch is just now picking his jaw off the ground. My one complaint is I do not think the show made it clear that the power used to bring back Lanfear was the True Power (Dark One's power). I would have liked that as part of the Ishy/Lanfear conversation. I think we may not get Semirhage in the show. Moiraine mentioned that Lanfear is the most sedastic of the Foresaken. In the books, that is Semirhage. Also, Lanfear named Moggy and Grandad, and then said the boys. To me this implied only 3 female Foresaken (Lanfear, Moghedian and Graendal) This was my favorite episode of both seasons. I give it 9.25
To me that makes sense: If this is another turning of the wheel, after the books, Semirhage and everyone else who was balefired in the books could not be reborn into a new turning.
And Meesana had her mind broken in TAR, which is also perment through rebirth. So, no Be'lal, Rahvin, Aran'gar, Semirhage and no Mesana, leaves 8 Forsaken to return in further turnings of the wheel.
@@leza4453 Why would having your mind broken in one life persist through your future lives? If someone suffers a severe traumatic head injury, lives as a vegetable for the rest of their life, and then when their soul/thread is put into a new life is that baby going to be mentally disabled? Also I'm pretty sure book canon states that even balefire cannot erase a soul from the wheel. What balefire does is that it removes that soul from immediate control of the dark one. Note that the Dark One is able to take Ishy/Aginor etc's dead souls and almost immediately place them into ADULT bodies with most of their cognition and memories intact. THAT is no longer possible with Belal, Rahvin, Smirhage etc, because they all got balefired. However their souls should still be able to reborn into new bodies in another time, but they will be born as babies with no memories of their previous life.
Between the backstory and Kate Fleetwood's performance, Liandrin is incredibly compelling. She's not just some mustache twirling villain. Book Liandrin was just a two dimensional psychopath.
9/10 Wheel of time episode. We got more pieces of the actual universe in this episode than any previous one so far. Aviendha, tel’aranrhiod, forsaken backstory, verin maneuvering, damane channeling, Egwene collared, ruthless Moiraine, Perrin distrusting wolfbrothers, crazy Lanfear, philosopher ishamael. I’m actually shocked Nae’blis gave it anything less than an 8.
Im sorry I dont agree. The Seanchan are badass and look badass in the show LOVE their customs, specially that of Suroth (although preferred her hair with the "helmet"). Specially the collard scene was amazing. By far the best scenes in the show. Perrin by far was the worst, I didnt care much in the books and I couldnt care in the show either. Lanfear and Ishamael scenes I agree with you. Verin more of the same.
Natasha is so good! I absolutely loved how she is managing to show how delusional Lanfear is. But I did not like the Maleficent-feeling outfit at the end. It doesn't feel like Lanfear at all to me.
I think they really wanted a villain to look like a villain. The outfit showed her vanity and showed the audience how dark she really is. If i remember correctly in the books she just wore white all the time which I always questioned as to why.
@@straighttalkwithkyle7947 yeah, she only wears white ever in the books, even as Selene. Not very practical but in line with her character and also used as a hint that something is off, as it remains pristine at all times (although she does steal Rand's shirt at one time claiming she needs to clean her dress, which was a cool nod in the episode where she wears his shirt in TAR). I can live with her wearing other colours, I just think the outfit at the end was not good.
That bugged me at first as well, but the more I think about it the more I like it. It sells that they are in Tar visually well, and the black could be great if we get a flashback with her in white before she goes to the dark side. I like visual exposition and this could be used smartly imo.
It implies a "I'm gonna punish you, naughty boy" in a sexual way. That's why it looks domina style. Its a visual clue to the viewer how she wants to spin Rands behaviour back into a relationship context.
Amazing episode! I can agree with some of your annoyances. I loved all the word drops such as damane, empress of the 9 moons, Car'a'carn, Ji'e'toh, dance the spears, Three Fold Land , Black Ajah, Compulsion, Tel'arhan'riod... Avhienda's fighting style was awesome. Best episode yet. I'm a little surprised you only gave it a 7.5.
You mentioned the Seanchan accent as uncanny valley, I think that's because it's a USA accent, but by people who don't live there, but you do. The Westlands have different European accents depending on the area.
yup, was also annoyed by the lanfear sewing mouth thing. Tbh, I don't think it's beyond the one power to pull that off, if u get creative. But, it's weird somehow. To me, she shoulda just let her be and made some comment like "u don't matter" and condensedingly dismissed her. Overall a very entertaining ep, especially the interactions between the forsaken.
I thought your review on this one was unnecessarily negative and nit-picky. We've had almost ZERO Mat; to then bitch about Padan Fain, which RJ didn't know what to do with either, seemed ... like misplaced whining, not criticism. Worse, I thought your review score was too low. I think this one was the best of the season so far; yes, better than Ep 3. It felt like Wheel of Time and I was smiling throughout it. This was an 8.5 to maybe 9/10 for some viewers. It was NOT a 7.5. Your book preferences are shining through here.
I have seen people who hate this show also state that the lip binding was lore breaking. I must counter with the idea that a twisted weave of healing could be used to grow skin over the lips in any fashoin you wanted. If a certain someone can turn blood to acid, skin can sew lips shit and then grow together. What does everyone think?
I gave it an 9/10… Egwene being captured and Nyn and Elayne escaping was the only scene I felt wanting. Perrin, Hopper, Dain and Avi were my favourite part of the whole episode.
Why is a Forsaken needing, or stooping, to riding a horse?!?! Are they going to ignore Traveling for the series? How was Ishamael supposed to have ever been in Seanchan if he couldn’t Travel?
Well, where would she Travel? (plus you need to know a place well before you can Travel from there) To Tar Valon? How long would she have had to wait until she realized she got duped? Thought of course she most likely would have gotten to Rand when he slept anyway. The horse makes sense to me because she was aiming to catch them on the way, as soon as possible, not reach their ostensible destination before them and wait for them there.
@@tresto2071 She could have Skimmed from wherever she was, that is true. However, Skimming is still a point A to point B thing (and you don't see the intervening real world along the way). So the rest of my points about Traveling still stand.
I'm with you on the Seanchan - They haven't REALLY shown then in battle, they should've shown them coming into that little town and just CRUSHING them, maybe had a town wall with defenders... a single boat destroying the harbor and the city wall, and their troops marching in against a completely baffled group of people and city defenders... with the Shienarins running to the fight from being 'camped' near the city.... a small glimpse most likely they are working towards a huge finale, but so far they fall a bit flat and if I knew nothing about them I'd be wondering where the army was that couldn't defeat these weird hangnail people.
It was a good episode. I'm sad we didn't get Gaul. I did like Aviendha's laugh at Perrin's attempt to stand infront of her when the Whitecloaks were advancing.
I'm still holding out hope that he'll show up in the future. In the book, he does disappear for a while after Perrin saves him from the cage, so there's definitely still a chance. Yeah, Perrin stepping forward and Avi's reaction was great. I also loved her doing some Aiel humor.
The Aviendha and Perrin duo should be fun, and maybe Aviendha can help him deal with some of his guilt about Laila. And then we can still get Gaul in season 3.
@@tay-dor7147 Definitely. Maybe Aviendha saves Perrin's life in Falme and they get all toh even before season 3 when she is back to the Waste and he goes to The Two Rivers with Gaul.
I haven't been able to watch these videos yet because I'm still so mad with what the show runner has decided for this series. Maybe I'm imagining it but I can see the pain in your eyes too bro - thanks for loving the series as much as you do.
I'm thinking maybe that we can't see the casting of the True Power. There was no evidence of power usage when she was healed, but there was saa in her eyes. When I first saw Avienda in the case, I thought that maybe they were combining Gaul and Faile's story-lines, but obviously not, this could go in some interesting directions. I feel like they are going to avoid the polygamy.
So I watched most, but not all, of the Prime NFL game last night. I did not see a single ad for WoT. Oh there were a number of commercials for rival streaming services shows, but nothing for their own product, WoT.. If I missed it, let me know that there was indeed an ad during the game.
You think Rand's Three have been distributed among the Three Ta'veren? And I think Lanfear is merged with Semirhage, since Semirhage only role was to shake up the Seanchan, now Ishamael's job. Also, a bit of retcon with the horses in the Ways vs Liandrin having to carry them with Air. I think a more logical way was to make DF's immune or ignored by Machin Shin, but CGI channeling might up the cost.
Agreed on almost all points. It seems like the season is improving over time. My guess is "The Boys" will be Rahvin, Demandred, & Asmodean (possibly Belal/Sammael merged). It makes sense to me why Mesaana, Semirhage, Balthamel, & Aginor would be cut because their roles could be written into the others. What interesting is we have mentions of Mazrim Taem already in Saldaea. Looks like he will not be combined with Demandred, which Im happy about. Since Gawyn is said to exist (boo!), it looks like they may be possibly setting Geofram up to take Galad's place in the story. Bummer that Gaul wasnt present in the show, hoping he still shows up as part of Perrin's crew. Also appreciated that Egwene didnt get one of those terrible ball gags. Ogier slave? Im nitpicking, but I didnt enjoy that.
Why did Liandrin want Nynaeve to go through the arches again? Makes no sense in the show -- especially if the plan was to send her to the Seanchan immediately. Stuff like that is driving me batty. This feels like middling fanfic now.
I think it was because she can’t train her unless she is an accepted. If she can’t train her then there isn’t a good opportunity to try and get her to join the dark
@@matthewcacy4817 Not a bad attempt. But seemed like the intent was to give Egwene and Nynaeve to the enemy. Didn't need Nynaeve to be Accepted to knock them out and take them. Just poorly thought out revisions to the story, IMO
@@geoffjohnston6066 I thought it was pretty obvious that she was accelerating Nyneave education to get her to legally leave the tower without a trace and it was completely consensual until Egwene and Elayne also arrived and complicated things forcing liandrin to improvise and knock them all out
@@Echidna23Gaming Maybe. But if her plan was just to knock Nynaeve out and kidnap her anyway, the Accepted test was totally unnecessary. Plus I got the impression she wanted Egwene to kidnap too. (Although Elayne was a surprise).
One weird quirk I noticed this episode is how many characters simply walk into the scene from stage left or stage right. It reminds me of 1e8 when Egwene and Nynaeve simply walk up to Amalissa and co to face the trolloc army from just offscreen. It's sort of "obviously bad" directing and blocking that you wouldn't expect. Examples: Padan Fain entering with the Horn, stable lady spreading on horseback, stable man appearing on horseback, stable lady again spreading on the side of the road when Lanfear catches up to her. I also didn't feel any menace from the Seanchan nor the sense of alienness. The way Turok was disrespected in a public audience feels crazy to me. He's just a guy in a chair, he doesn't even sit in a high palanquin as Suroth did. There doesn't feel any specific menace or threat about him. But overall, still the best episode of series so far. Could have been a 10 with better writing and more attention on the directing.
@@Rumalf101 Maybe Rafe & Co. were planning to scrap the ‘real’ introduction of Avienda and needed a place for her to appear in their story line? It’s like a time traveler altering the past which has a ripple affect in the future. Par for the course.
@@joesplace2663 Only Gaul could have beaten all those soldiers bare handed He’s got an important role to play in the story If the directors know what they’re doing, unlikely imo,they should find the right spot for Aviendha. Isn’t she supposed to be green eyed with red and gold hair? Woke clueless directors lol
Rafe hates the source material. Ingtar went through the portal stone with Mat, Rand, Loial, and Uno! There they had the "flicker flicker flicker" moment and lived various iterations of their lives. Rafe stole this from us who actually care about the books. Rafe stole the tension filled escape of Padan Fain from Fal Dara and he will steal from us the heroic sacrifice of Lord Ingtar seeking the light as well.
Might still happen under a different context? Rand and Mat need a way to get to Falme quickly... and maybe Rand might learn some sword skills through those lives while Mat understands the evil of the dagger more
@@sephyr9 Even in the books, it seemed hard to believe that a few months of training under Lan would give Rand enough prowess with a sword to take out an actual blade master like Turak. And him learning sword forms from that old PTSD soldier in Cairhien would be even more ridiculous. So it would be a low-key genius move to have him be stuck in flicker flicker for a year or more where he gained real sword training.
How did her killing the horse accomplish anything? What if there were only three horses? They still get away and lanfear still explodes that random guys head.
Can you use compulsion to force someone to break the Three oaths? Is not knowing that you are lying the same thing as believing that you are telling the truth? Do spoilers make my questions irrelevant? Is Veran the worlds greatest detective, was she covering up the lie, or did the show runners give to much away?
Grading on a curve for wot so far it should be a 9/10 easily. Really the big thing is they finally hit the tone exactly right which is something they have been struggling since season 1 episode 1 where they cut the fade on the road scene and gave us a bunch of hobbits in the shire in mid June nonsense for an event that occurs in late march (barely spring) in a world of problems and woes that is the opening from the books (where that setting really *matters* because this is gothic romance, i.e. the world is going to turn again --- spring, but its going to be shitty/horrific about it --- i.e. early spring). Makes me think they've finally realize this is gothic romance not a romcom (which is what they've been treating it as, especially with the Lan nonsense, for most of season 1 and a lot of this season too). Fantastic episode (though I agree we need some more crazier Padan fain).
Good review. Largely agree. I would add to anoying: 1. When Seanchan mention the empress, they do not say "May she live forever". I kept adding it in my head, which just meant that its lack was anoying. 2. No Gaul and Avi flirting with Perrin. Switching out Avi for Gaul bothered me because Gaul is such a great character and they just eliminated his initial motivations of being with Perrin (Assuming Gaul will be in the show). Avi flirting with Perrin in the way she did is such a departure of her personality from the books it was jarring. Maybe this will all come together, but at this point these changes to 2 kick ass Aiel characters bothers me
Aviendha flirting with Perrin is 100% from the books, Far Dareis Mai love making people uncomfortable that's more maidens of the spear not specifically "Aviendha" it was totally awesome to me anyway but we all have our own views of course. (I saw it more as humor, making someone uncomfortable not just flirting) But I get it we all see things in our own lens and that's the beauty of stories! =)
Best episode yet for me. I really liked Aviendha. She is badass and the Aiel seem to have been lifted right from the page to screen. Idk if her saying she wouldn't attack in a fit of lust is an intentional reference, but it made me laugh. The hand off of the girls was much better in the books though. And the wolf noises that don't even match up with what the very tame looking dogs are doing is hard to overlook.
that's his Voice, the character, not the actual voice. I thought Turak himself sounded fine, it was the character that played his Voice that i had issues with
It seems like there's always one thing that pulls me out of the story. Previously it was the water wheel spinning with no current, this episode it was Aviendha wearing boots with rubber lug soles. That's some CW Shannara stuff.
100% agree on the Lanfear sewing the mouth shut. Incorrect lore, done before, not needed, and so many other choices of something to do there. But that was my only complaint for the episode. 9/10
I love how you break down the episode and comment on it. I'm the author of "Quattuor IV: The book of Aurelius". It would be my absolute pleasure to see you getting into my material and breaking it down to its foundation similarly how you've done with The Wheel of Time. Getting more people familiar with my material would be awesome.
Liked most of the episode. Didn't like how Lanfear called Moghedien insane. She should've called her a coward. Also don't understand why they're taking so long to make Fain show what he is. If he's not Mordeth, why was the fade nailed to the door some episodes ago? If he's, why is he still obeying Ishamael? And the show didn't say anything about how Shadar Logoth was formed, so I guess they dropped that part of the story. A pity. The guy was perfectly cast.
I loved that little moment when Lanfear said she may betray Ishamael, and he suddenly dropped his facade, going all crazy-eyes and deadly serious, "Will you?!" Oooh man, that gave me chills. Fares Fares is fantastic as Ishamael. I'm glad that there's still that little bit of insanity in there, he just keeps it in check most of the time, appearing clam and calculating.
I love Fares' face, it has power and dread, and he looks like a king from an ancient civilization.
Those actors have serious chemistry and gravitas...you know in that... any minute I might kill you way.
Kate Fleetwood deserves a friggin' Emmy for how awesome she's portraying Liandrin.
I agree. Liandrin & s1 ep7 tigraine cold open are the only things I thought were dope so far.
I literally just said this, but I’m starting to kinda like her portrayal of Liandrin and I HATED the character in the book.
I love how Suroth called her a Dog, it’s nice foreshadowing I think!
She'll have to get in line behind Natasha O'Keeffe
props to the writers as well. it was great decision to flesh out her character and plotline as a mid level villain opposed to the uber evil Forsaken. Really good stuff and an example of how an adaptation can improve on the source material
Got to see a little of that Aiel humor. That’s something I hope they really lean into. Avi bursting out laughing at inappropriate times were some of my favorite mid series book moments
As someone who never read the book i really look forward to the show. Robert jordan im so glad i got introduced to him through WOT show. Its an epic series of books im just now getting to the fires of heaven.
Lanfear should have used compulsion on that lady. Especially since compulsion was mentioned for what I believe was the first time in the show in this episode. The image of Lanfear in the world of dreams at the very end was awesome. It really showed her vanity and it just screamed evil.
Compulsion seems like it would be difficult to convey visually, especially if what they're being compelled to do is... to not do a thing.
@@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t they could have done any outcome they wanted with compulsion. She could have compelled that lady to kill herself which would have greatly conveyed how dangerous it is as well as made it very easy to convey how powerful and evil a spell it is.
Big Maleficent energy
@@straighttalkwithkyle7947I thought it was a cool way to show all the crazy shit the Forsaken are capable of doing.
Moraine mentioned her "casual cruelty" was a trademark, what she did to that poor girl fits the description perfectly.
So far in this season it's felt like every episode has built well on the previous and they've continued to ramp it up. This episode definitely overall felt like some of the best pacing and blending of the various character arcs. It just flowed very smoothly. Lanfear was very menacing and crazy with that cruel streak in the opening chase and I loved seeing the interaction with Ishamael in Tel'aran'rhiod. Lots of great lore introductions and upcoming character name drops. Curious to see where the changes with Barthanes go. Are they going to triple fake us with the wedding scenario? Was it just me or was Moiraine's little stumble when Barthanes asked about Rand and it seemed like she was trying to say something else but eventually just had to mumble, "Rand," was an indicator that she can't lie and she's still bound to the Three Oaths which would imply shielded. Hmmm... If this is how good Episode 5 hit I'm really hoping 6-8 just knock it out of the park. I think we've really benefited from the slightly longer episodes. Those 5-8 extra minutes really are allowing the scenes and arcs to play out better and not feel rushed or cut off.
I'll give 8/10. IMO, best episode so far. No boring stuff, no fillers. Lanfear fantastic.
Yeah. First episode on the entire show that, when it ended, I felt like I really needed to see the next episode NOW. Very much like a solid chapter ending. First episode where the changes/what was wrong were overwhelmingly outweighed by what they got right. Hoping it continues up from here
Pretty much the best episode of the show so far, and episode 4 was the best up till this one, hopefully the cast and crew are hitting their stride and the show quality continues to trend upward from here!
CGI costs my @ss. Game of thrones couldn't afford to have direwolves everywhere. HBO said, here's 50 million, make a season...
.. amazon gave this show a bazillion dollars, per episode.
“Symbolic long ass nails”
I’m so glad I started following you on my first read through of the series 🤣
This episode was like a 9/10 or higher for me. Best in the show so far. It just flowed really well, it was a really good balance of keeping iconic things from the books but also giving its own spin.
Only three more episodes in s2... If those are on the same level of quality as ep 3, 4 and 5, then we can confidently say that the show is hitting its stride.
Dogs used as wolves is pretty weak. I know, CGI costs money and real wolves aren't an option, but the dogs don't look threating at all.
Why would Lanfear need a horse? She can travel! Would have caught them before they knew what happened.
In the books, 4 women are in love with Rand. Lanfear, Min, Elayne, and Aviendha. Lanfear more for the power he represents and I'm pretty sure that will be explained over the course of the show. I can't see the writers allowing a 3 girls on 1 boy love story. The question is how much of a change will they make. I'm getting the feeling that Aviendha may take the place of Faile Bashere and be Perrins love interest. Min has met Rand briefly but there has been nothing in the plot so far that would lead us to believe something will bloom between Min and Rand. Maybe she will hang with Mat for awhile but there won't be any romance in her storyline throughout the show. Elayne could be the only one who will be in love with Rand.
I would be pretty tough to "weave" a storyline in this show with 3 women mooning over 1 guy though.
The plot lines for some of the rest of the Forsaken seems to be in doubt since Ishamael is parading around with the Seachan, which I believe was actually done by one of the other female Forsaken. Is there going to be one in the White Tower? In the books wasn't Ishamael more or less directing the others?
At this point Moraine is becoming annoying. Bad idea to turn the story on its head and take her powers away. Has it made here story better? I can't see it. Moraine with the One Power and Lan are more interesting that what she is on the show so far.
Lanfear wears white, almost always. Is it really that hard for these writers to get even the easiest of basics right? Putting her in black is cheap. We know she's bad. The white gives her a better contrast of what she looks like and who she is.
Ishamael should have been as he was in the books. If they needed someone to do what he is doing in the show they should have used another of the Forsaken. Let Ishamael be Ishamael. In charge, but mad!
The capture of Egwene was pretty weak. A few small explosions, not much confusion and Elayne, and Nynaeve just running through a few trees and they got away? The Seachan where promised 3 very strong channelers and they basically did nothing. In the show they keep talking about how strong Nynaeve is but they don't every let her really show it. In the books this scene she showed it. Why didn't they do it in the show? Let's see some real One Power power.
Could not disagree more about the Seanchan. They have been great. Intimidating. Exotic. Foreign. The damane are terrifying. The preview of what Egwene goes through looks like what it should look like. Their music theme is foreboding.
I think we won't be getting their beasts tho for cost reasons if we get the Seanchan or we will only with the full invasion.
I loved this episode, my only real negative is i wish things were not shot so dark! 9/10 for me.
I had this thought too a couple times. I guess that's every show and movie these days, turn up the brightness, keep subtitles on and be ready to adjust the volume.
@@Hangry_Sasquatch I'm curious... Do you get kicks out of yucking other peoples' yum, or do you actually think your inflammatory comment will inspire anyone to do anything other than want to block you?
@@Hangry_Sasquatch why so angry and aggressive? if you don't like the show that is cool, no need to try and tell others what to like . I can completely understand people not liking the show, i cant understand people feeling the need to trawl the net attacking at those who do like it however.
@@wezul i re-watched it in movie mode on my TV in a darker room and it was much easier to see what is going on. It does seem to be the trend to have dark scenes, when i watched the battle of winterfell i barely had any idea what was happening as it was so dark!
100% agree with you 9/10. Don’t listen to trolls who want to ruin other people’s good time.
The way they did Egwene's capture got the correct line of thought from Non Book Readers regarding how Damane are treated. Egwene wasn't down on her butt like a captured human, but instead, tied up on her SIDE twitching like an animal. And then when she's collared, she's on all fours as the leash forms.
Yeah, my biggest gripe is lanfear interaction with civilians...
.. like, she popped the guys head off? Like, the dude should've just collapsed and fell off the horse. That would've been so much more terrifying and bad @ss...
.. she pops the dudes head off..?
.. like, what?
.. poppin' the dudes head off is wile E. Coyote style. Like, what? Okay, then the horsetrader lady.. why not pop her head off like Ren & stimpy....
.. no, now we're doin' the agent smith/Mr. Anderson thing from the original matrix...
... really...
This episode is probably my favorite for the whole series at this point. They hit many actual story points even if details changed. Aviendha and Suroth were both great, and I may actually like show Verin more than book Verin, or at least the nuances of her character are more evident with such a great actress. I’m curious if she knows Verin’s full arc?
I liked Avi eschewing weapons and displaying some general bad assery (obvs she wouldn’t grab a sword) and a bit of Aiel humor. The Rand/Moiraine plot was a bit meh although I enjoyed Ishy and Lanfear. I wish we had some Mat and Min scenes. But, otherwise a solid episode.
I really wasnt buying lanfear in the first four episodes to be honest, this episode sold it for me.
Totes...I wasn't sold on the portrayal (although Natasha O'Keefe is brilliant in Pinky Blinders), but she shifted into unhinged Lanfear quite brilliantly this episode @@tw7998
There were flying beasts in the background around the castle towers of the Falme opening shot, easy to miss.
Thank you for your review. I thought this was the best episode so far. The meeting between Lanfear and Ishamael felt so much like the forsaken get togethers I loved reading in the books. I think the forced politeness with the underlying sense of competing egos and the open promise of betrayal will show non book readers that there are differences between the forsaken and they operate in an environment where backstabbing is not only acceptable it’s expected.
It was a small thing but I loved the way the background Seanchan nobles shuddered and looked away when Suroth had her nails clipped. I think it showed their obsession with rank and position and keeping “face”. The after battle scenes with Nynaeve and Elaine went to showing Nynaeve especially at this point is all emotional driven whereas Elaine is more logical and practical.
Likewise Aviendha’s chuckle when Perrin tries to protectively step between her and the Whitecloaks was hilarious. It showed his protective nature and how little wetlanders understand the Aiel
My only gripe was the absence of a certain ancient statue. I was sure the show took Rand towards the Kinslauer Daggers to drop that nugget.
I fully believed that "Selene" took Rand up to the cabin just to show him that statue. Still wondering how/when that's going to happen.
i felt that the explosions when the seanchan were trying to capture the girls fell a bit flat. and the editing on some of the music and transitions between scene were a bit sloppy.
Overall I really liked the episode, with the 2 exceptions. Lanfear's mouth thing made me irrationally angry. Using compulsion to have her hurt herself would have been a fantastic tie-back to the Verin questioning. Lanfear is also good at inflicting a LOT of pain in a very short time period, like when she peeled Kadere's skin. I think an adaptation DOES need to adhere to the lore and mechanics of the source material, and if it deviates, there should be a DAMN good reason. This was a deviation for no reason.
The other thing was, I was thoroughly unimpressed with the Avi/Perrin fight. The choreography was just garbage. A quick montage of unrelated scenes without any kind of grace or flow. Given the emphasis that jordan put on the aiel and the sword forms, I was _really_ hoping to get good fight choreography for this season.
6:39 Oh, you think that was just the Dark One resurrecting her? I thought she used the True Power to heal and revive herself (I mean, come on, it's not the first set-in-stone rule Rafe would have broken with this show). After all, she had the Saa flooding across her eyes as it happened.
9/10 for me. Best episode of the season. Highest highs. The Moiraine scene at the end is likely my fav scene of the show. It is 4/5 book character development moved up for me where through a great conversation with her sister. She has to surrender to actually control things similar to Saidar. Avi intro was perfect. Feels like the character already has nailed her vocal cadence for me and the personality of the character. Loved the Ishy/Lanfear TAR scene. Seanchan continue to be fantastic.
Didn't like some of the acting/writing in the Verin scenes. Liandrin would be dead as a BA member long ago if that is how poorly she lies and how obvious it is when she does. The scene with the young Brown where she goes "I guess the Black Ajah are a thing" fell flat for me. There should be denial and horror there. This is something the Tower has actively denied for a thousand years. It came across as not impactful at all.
I like the fact that they confirmed Graendal and Moghedien to be in the show xD by mentioning them. And Liandrin is more likable in this show or it's just me?? They made her more empathic and not just evil. She has a motive to why she joins the Black Ajah.
I hope we get Semiraghe too though...or at least her torturer traits in one of the other Forsaken.
@@Deanof316. Yeah me too, she is way too scary to be left out but since she was linked to the Seanchan but they made Ishamael so in the show... who knows. Maybe they make her show up when Tuon comes.
Liandrin is WAY more likable in the show. I’m starting to really like her and I hate it 🤣
This time I feel your review felt short, as if you are afraid of trusting too much in the adaptation. For me it was a very good episode and can't complain about anything
Great episode. I both like this version of Verin and dislike her. I wanted Verin to be the “scatterbrained” brown from the books with layered insight and hidden clarity, but this version is also very good with her sharp and clever wit. There’s just a big disconnect between the two versions.
Did you notice the brief appearance of the Portal stone when Morraine and Rand were hiding in the forest? I hope that means we’ll get Portal Stone to Toman Head, where everyone experiences living multiple variations of their lives.
It's just a sign post "Tar Valon 70 miles" or whatever
huh a weave to basically seal someone's mouth breaks lore how? Im a bit confused by that. yeah some random weaves the threads shut it off with threads which seem like actual threads and sealed off dont see the lore issue? What am I missing on this? Seems perfectly fine to me.
same
Yeah, I think it was fine lore wise. But it was cheesy and made Lanfear look less scary, less serious and just petty. Lanfear would either kill the woman, manipulate her or ignore her. She isn't semirhage.
@@briane8627 based on Moiraine's comments, I am pretty sure they will combine Lanfear and Semirhage
@@dimitrypapkov1977 yeah, you're probably right. It's a shame because Lanfear already has enough going on I think. But, oh well
@briane8627 semiraghe is kinda small character in the books, but has some important stuff to do. They gave a chunk of her role to Ishy. Probably will give the rest to Lanfear. The books have waaay too many characters for most people to follow and get invested in, so, I think, they are making fewer characters, but giving them more to flesh them out. Some choices might work out better than others
Also glad we didn't waste time on mopey Lan and the thruple this episode.
Stingy with your rating there ‘Blis. Thought for sure this would get an 8. Best episode so far, no doubt.
No Lan, no Mat.
I hope we get an entirely Mat-centric episode. Maybe episode 7, or something. Like, next one sets up everyone getting to Falme, with little to no Mat once again, then ep 7 is entirely Mat and Min, what they’re up to, and how they wind up in Falme, setting up an epic season finale.
I'm upset at no mat! He is such a fantastic character, truly uniquely written a well. Sanderson had an awful time trying to write him in the final books. I need to see more book adaptation action from him. The fight at the white tower with the quarter staff with Gowan and his brother. Chef's kiss, I love it so much.
@@jackytheripper they’ll get to him. He doesn’t have a lot to do in the first two books-except for that one thing in book 2 ;) which I expect we’ll see… unless they change it. Which they might? I dunno. Anyway, the show will get around to Mat.
It’s entirely possible they had her say “the boys” because the writers haven’t determined which ones they’ll actually use yet and they didn’t want to write themselves into a corner
For sure Ishamael and Asmodean are in the show, as are Lanfear, Grandael, and Moghedien, so the question is who is the other girl and 2 boys? Semirrhage for the woman I guess. For the men my best guess is Rahvin to go with the Andor storyline, since it has a lot of connections to Rand. It would be hilarious then if the final male forsaken is Demandred, and the show resurrects the Taimandred storyline that RJ possibly shelved. Most ballsy choice would be Aran'gar/Halima if they want to add a transgender type storyling into the show.
Edit: One of the show statues is a short dude with beard though, so maybe they'll have Sammael instead of Rahvin. But I still think if you cut a Forsaken, you should cut Sammael. The RAHHHHVIN scene followed by the super-balefire is not only super cool, but would also serve as a perfect season ending cliffhanger. If they made that a season ender, I wonder how many show-only watchers would break down and go look up what happens next in the books.
That was my first thought too.
Eh, I think they just want to throw us longtime fans a bone while still giving us something to speculate about
I’m all here for Aviendha - she was awesome!
I was very upset about Moiraine killing the horse. Not only is it *possible* to take more horses with you than the ones you are riding, it is often absolutely necessary. Needing extra mounts is a plot point in *tons* of books with lots of riding. In fact, one extra horse likely would not be enough for a rushed trip to Tar Valon from just outside Cairhien. Regardless, Moiraine is clearly aware that one can have extra horses, as she sends that lady ahead with both hers and Rand's, almost immediately after killing the other horse. Horses are very intelligent creatures, and sure--you'll kill one if you *have* to--but no decent person would ever just slaughter one on a whim.
The lips sewn shut wasn't my favorite thing, but I read it as being part of their expansion of the True Power's workings. I think that this is supposed to make us think of bubbles of evil rather than TAR, as the bubbles are examples of the Dark One's power at work in the books (and, presumably, must be done with the True Power). The only explicit example we get of how the True Power is different from the One Power is in the very different mode of Traveling it affords, and I find that the way they're representing True Power healing is consistent with that.
If Moiraine hadn't killed the horse, they couldn't have shown how easily Lanfear can pop some poor chump's head off his shoulders with little to no effort.
I think the point of Moiraine killing the horse was to show that she was panicking a little and not thinking entirely clearly. She is definitely flustered up until Anvaere repeats her advice to her.
its not moraines fault, its the fault of silly writers... i guess a woman... (oooops)
My head cannon is that the horse trader had fallen asleep after a hard ride so Lanfear was able to do the cheesy mouth thing as they were in Tel'aran'rhiod.
I don't understand how people who claim to be fans of Jordan's WoT can drool and faun over the garbage that Judkins is spewing.
I used to think Peter Jackson's LotR was the worst ever adaptation. Judkins laps that in this sleep, standing on his head, hands tied behind his back... which seems the only way anyone who has claimed to have read the series could foul it up so badly. The only reason I'm still watching is to see how bad it really gets... Sort of like not being able to take one's eyes off a gruesome car wreck.
Shame on Judkins, and shame on every 'fan' who praises any part of this misbegotten horror.
I just bought the first three books. Next season I intend to be a book reader too!
One thing that annoys some people but that I personally liked, is Robert Jordan likes to describe everything. the ground, the boots, the food, the clothing, the quality of the clothing, the stitching, the adornments, who made it, how long ago that was, whether its feastday wear, or whether its travel wear, 3 chapters later then he will get to the horse they are riding, and how they aquired it, and also with regard to the food, if it was in one quality at the time it was made but was left to sit and become cold and congealed then u get multiple descriptions of the same plate. :P
I did think that the lip stitching thing was weird and not a one power thing. My headcanon for it is it was either a TP thing or perhaps it was really a compulsion thing and wasn't really happening but the victim really did believe her lips were being stitched shut and will never talk again as a result.
It's not a typical one power thing, certainly not in the 3rd age (Aes Sedai couldn't use it even if they retained the knowledge; and it's not a pure enough weapon for the Seanchan). But I think it works as an obscure bit of the vast litany of 2nd age powers the Chosen have access to, and enjoy using. Also, if they're not casting Semirhage, then Lanfear can have all of her torture-style expertises, and this would be one!
I mean she could've literally just stitched her lips together with weaves of air that she tied off, they wouldn't wear out before that woman starved to death
This episode had me on the edge of my seat. I give it a 9/10
Lanfear should be in white at the end but it doesn’t really matter. It does make for a very stark contrast with the pitch black clothes on the pale background.
This just isn't the Wheel of Time. The hunt for the horn is barely even a plotline, which is crazy considering how powerful the object is. The setting where the Forsaken meet in the dream world were always horrifying or fantastical in some way. Instead we get Lanfear and Ishamael meet in a scuffy looking room. There's nothing dream-like in that dreamworld. I still think Fares Fares is possibly the worst casting choice in the show. He literally looks and sounds like Nandor from "What We Do in the Shadows," which is the farthest thing from Ishamael and Moridin. He just comes off as a frail grandfather and not an intimidating force. On it's own, it's mediocre. Has some good moments, but also some really really bad ones.
'Perrin and aviendha take out the whitecloaks' nah. The Aiel woman did it all by herself.Perrin helped a little. Is it magic or genetics or sth. How r they so good at fighting?
Serious ,..Perrin been in 2 battles this season alone and hasn’t suffered a single scratch😢..he has no history of fighting, we didn’t see him get to even train, or get lessons during his journey…we haven’t seen him in a forge once, yet they call him a blacksmith😂😂😂
I have literally nothing to complain about. This episode was amazing!
Lol
This Felt like Wheel of Time! Best episode yet. Let's hope they keep it going. I do agree with you about the breaking the magic system. What weave is that!
A literal weave
Bahahah
Still criminal how little screen time Mat has gotten
I agree but mat in book 2 is doing anythink he suffer the desease from the dagger his only role is at the end. im certain it will be also at the end of the show. Matt is just not too interesting character in first three books
@@jakubkrystufek9948true
Did anyone else think Ishamael's head looked a bit large and a little CGI in the dream world? I didn't notice anything different with Lanfear, except for the Goth eyeshadow. If this is how they telegraph the dream world, I think it works. It is just subtle enough for the viewer.
I like what they're doing with the Seanchan accent. There's a /hint/ of southern accent in there, but no so much as to sound silly in this setting. It works for me, but to each their own!
Why does Lanfear need a horse???
because she doesn't know where she would transport to?
I read someone's comment that said they had to use some dubbing because the wind messed up some of the sound in that one Seanchan scene so that might be the weirdness you heard. I have no way to verify this person knew what he was talking about.
I also liked how on Verin's entrance to Tar Valon I thought she might be Lanfear, which I think was deliberate
Overall, 8/10 for this episode for me. The only real peeve I have with it is that to me Liandrin seems to use Traveling to get the girls to Falme, which at that point had not been rediscovered yet. I could have misinterpreted this, as I never got the impression she was using the Ways to go there.
Aviendha entering the story is definitely is high point. I loved her scenes with Perrin. As for the girls, you know that Nynaeve, headstrong and stubborn as she is, is going to get into trouble, so maybe it is good Elayne is there to temper her impulsivity. Even though it is not shown so much in the series, you can tell what the moments are where in the books, Nynaeve would be tugging her braid.
I am getting the feeling that Elayne as a character is not fully fleshed out yet. Don't get me wrong, I love her already, but up until she and Nynaeve flee the scene with Turoth, I was kind of getting the feeling she was just tugging along. I am curious to see where her character goes.
Egwene is in a lot of trouble. Leashed as a damane, she will go through excruciating torture. However, we also know this is going to steel her for what's to come. She is both powerful and cunning, and has shown a great talent with the One Power. Will she use that power to simply burn through the link? Will she use her cunning to find a loophole in the link itself? Who knows. Obviously we know what happens to her in the books, but things may go slightly differently in the series.
All in all, a very good episode.
When Liandrin was talking to tied up Nynaeve that was in the Ways and there was a waygate visible covered in plants when she met with Suroth.
@@gokbay3057 That totally went by me, thanks.
So they do leash and collar them in a fashion. They definitely are trying to introduce characters and plot lines earlier. So how did Turak know that was the horn? Is the case mentioned?
This is definitely the best episode so far. Season 2 is a vast improvement
You forgot the most important thing in your recap. Lanfear in sexy leather watching shirtless Rand tied to the wheel. Matt Hatch is just now picking his jaw off the ground.
My one complaint is I do not think the show made it clear that the power used to bring back Lanfear was the True Power (Dark One's power). I would have liked that as part of the Ishy/Lanfear conversation.
I think we may not get Semirhage in the show. Moiraine mentioned that Lanfear is the most sedastic of the Foresaken. In the books, that is Semirhage. Also, Lanfear named Moggy and Grandad, and then said the boys. To me this implied only 3 female Foresaken (Lanfear, Moghedian and Graendal)
This was my favorite episode of both seasons. I give it 9.25
To me that makes sense: If this is another turning of the wheel, after the books, Semirhage and everyone else who was balefired in the books could not be reborn into a new turning.
And Meesana had her mind broken in TAR, which is also perment through rebirth. So, no Be'lal, Rahvin, Aran'gar, Semirhage and no Mesana, leaves 8 Forsaken to return in further turnings of the wheel.
@@leza4453 Why would having your mind broken in one life persist through your future lives? If someone suffers a severe traumatic head injury, lives as a vegetable for the rest of their life, and then when their soul/thread is put into a new life is that baby going to be mentally disabled? Also I'm pretty sure book canon states that even balefire cannot erase a soul from the wheel. What balefire does is that it removes that soul from immediate control of the dark one. Note that the Dark One is able to take Ishy/Aginor etc's dead souls and almost immediately place them into ADULT bodies with most of their cognition and memories intact. THAT is no longer possible with Belal, Rahvin, Smirhage etc, because they all got balefired. However their souls should still be able to reborn into new bodies in another time, but they will be born as babies with no memories of their previous life.
No, they could be. "Balefire prevents natural rebirth" is one of the incorrect beliefs that characters in the book happen to have. @@leza4453
@@tren133I am pretty sure balefire is permanent, as are any injuries of Tel'aran'rhiod, but I am open to be proven wrong.
Between the backstory and Kate Fleetwood's performance, Liandrin is incredibly compelling. She's not just some mustache twirling villain. Book Liandrin was just a two dimensional psychopath.
9/10 Wheel of time episode. We got more pieces of the actual universe in this episode than any previous one so far. Aviendha, tel’aranrhiod, forsaken backstory, verin maneuvering, damane channeling, Egwene collared, ruthless Moiraine, Perrin distrusting wolfbrothers, crazy Lanfear, philosopher ishamael.
I’m actually shocked Nae’blis gave it anything less than an 8.
Im sorry I dont agree. The Seanchan are badass and look badass in the show LOVE their customs, specially that of Suroth (although preferred her hair with the "helmet"). Specially the collard scene was amazing. By far the best scenes in the show. Perrin by far was the worst, I didnt care much in the books and I couldnt care in the show either. Lanfear and Ishamael scenes I agree with you. Verin more of the same.
Natasha is so good! I absolutely loved how she is managing to show how delusional Lanfear is. But I did not like the Maleficent-feeling outfit at the end. It doesn't feel like Lanfear at all to me.
I think they really wanted a villain to look like a villain. The outfit showed her vanity and showed the audience how dark she really is. If i remember correctly in the books she just wore white all the time which I always questioned as to why.
@@straighttalkwithkyle7947 yeah, she only wears white ever in the books, even as Selene. Not very practical but in line with her character and also used as a hint that something is off, as it remains pristine at all times (although she does steal Rand's shirt at one time claiming she needs to clean her dress, which was a cool nod in the episode where she wears his shirt in TAR). I can live with her wearing other colours, I just think the outfit at the end was not good.
That bugged me at first as well, but the more I think about it the more I like it. It sells that they are in Tar visually well, and the black could be great if we get a flashback with her in white before she goes to the dark side. I like visual exposition and this could be used smartly imo.
She was a big Steve Jobs fan :) and also she was wearing things that augmented her abilities@@straighttalkwithkyle7947
It implies a "I'm gonna punish you, naughty boy" in a sexual way. That's why it looks domina style. Its a visual clue to the viewer how she wants to spin Rands behaviour back into a relationship context.
Haha your whiteboard message - 💯💯💯
Amazing episode! I can agree with some of your annoyances. I loved all the word drops such as damane, empress of the 9 moons, Car'a'carn, Ji'e'toh, dance the spears, Three Fold Land , Black Ajah, Compulsion, Tel'arhan'riod...
Avhienda's fighting style was awesome. Best episode yet. I'm a little surprised you only gave it a 7.5.
I think this was the best so far of the show. And thanks Naeblis for all the killer new content
You mentioned the Seanchan accent as uncanny valley, I think that's because it's a USA accent, but by people who don't live there, but you do. The Westlands have different European accents depending on the area.
yup, was also annoyed by the lanfear sewing mouth thing. Tbh, I don't think it's beyond the one power to pull that off, if u get creative. But, it's weird somehow. To me, she shoulda just let her be and made some comment like "u don't matter" and condensedingly dismissed her. Overall a very entertaining ep, especially the interactions between the forsaken.
I thought your review on this one was unnecessarily negative and nit-picky. We've had almost ZERO Mat; to then bitch about Padan Fain, which RJ didn't know what to do with either, seemed ... like misplaced whining, not criticism.
Worse, I thought your review score was too low. I think this one was the best of the season so far; yes, better than Ep 3. It felt like Wheel of Time and I was smiling throughout it. This was an 8.5 to maybe 9/10 for some viewers. It was NOT a 7.5. Your book preferences are shining through here.
I have seen people who hate this show also state that the lip binding was lore breaking. I must counter with the idea that a twisted weave of healing could be used to grow skin over the lips in any fashoin you wanted. If a certain someone can turn blood to acid, skin can sew lips shit and then grow together. What does everyone think?
I gave it an 9/10… Egwene being captured and Nyn and Elayne escaping was the only scene I felt wanting. Perrin, Hopper, Dain and Avi were my favourite part of the whole episode.
Why is a Forsaken needing, or stooping, to riding a horse?!?! Are they going to ignore Traveling for the series? How was Ishamael supposed to have ever been in Seanchan if he couldn’t Travel?
Well, where would she Travel? (plus you need to know a place well before you can Travel from there)
To Tar Valon? How long would she have had to wait until she realized she got duped? Thought of course she most likely would have gotten to Rand when he slept anyway.
The horse makes sense to me because she was aiming to catch them on the way, as soon as possible, not reach their ostensible destination before them and wait for them there.
@@gokbay3057 She could have used skimming. But I guess that got rid of that too.
@@tresto2071 She could have Skimmed from wherever she was, that is true.
However, Skimming is still a point A to point B thing (and you don't see the intervening real world along the way). So the rest of my points about Traveling still stand.
So glad the whitecloaks hired a new armorer/blacksmith
That head pop was completely unnecessary and awesome.
The head pop is from Winters Heart too
I'm with you on the Seanchan - They haven't REALLY shown then in battle, they should've shown them coming into that little town and just CRUSHING them, maybe had a town wall with defenders... a single boat destroying the harbor and the city wall, and their troops marching in against a completely baffled group of people and city defenders... with the Shienarins running to the fight from being 'camped' near the city.... a small glimpse most likely they are working towards a huge finale, but so far they fall a bit flat and if I knew nothing about them I'd be wondering where the army was that couldn't defeat these weird hangnail people.
Yes! Instead they were unable to 'hold the village' and that it was 'beyond their current reach'.
It was a good episode. I'm sad we didn't get Gaul. I did like Aviendha's laugh at Perrin's attempt to stand infront of her when the Whitecloaks were advancing.
I'm still holding out hope that he'll show up in the future. In the book, he does disappear for a while after Perrin saves him from the cage, so there's definitely still a chance.
Yeah, Perrin stepping forward and Avi's reaction was great. I also loved her doing some Aiel humor.
@@kaladongstormguy Yeah, hopefully. :) Its such a good friendship.
The Aviendha and Perrin duo should be fun, and maybe Aviendha can help him deal with some of his guilt about Laila. And then we can still get Gaul in season 3.
@@devlin76 Maybe she'll go with Perrin to Falme and meet Elayne.
@@tay-dor7147 Definitely. Maybe Aviendha saves Perrin's life in Falme and they get all toh even before season 3 when she is back to the Waste and he goes to The Two Rivers with Gaul.
I haven't been able to watch these videos yet because I'm still so mad with what the show runner has decided for this series. Maybe I'm imagining it but I can see the pain in your eyes too bro - thanks for loving the series as much as you do.
I'm thinking maybe that we can't see the casting of the True Power. There was no evidence of power usage when she was healed, but there was saa in her eyes.
When I first saw Avienda in the case, I thought that maybe they were combining Gaul and Faile's story-lines, but obviously not, this could go in some interesting directions. I feel like they are going to avoid the polygamy.
So I watched most, but not all, of the Prime NFL game last night. I did not see a single ad for WoT. Oh there were a number of commercials for rival streaming services shows, but nothing for their own product, WoT.. If I missed it, let me know that there was indeed an ad during the game.
My favourite episode because for the first time in the whole show I felt like we were actually going somewhere. There's finally some momentum.
Finally!
You think Rand's Three have been distributed among the Three Ta'veren? And I think Lanfear is merged with Semirhage, since Semirhage only role was to shake up the Seanchan, now Ishamael's job. Also, a bit of retcon with the horses in the Ways vs Liandrin having to carry them with Air. I think a more logical way was to make DF's immune or ignored by Machin Shin, but CGI channeling might up the cost.
Just dropping by to see where they’ve gone with the story. Thanks for your coverage.
Agreed on almost all points. It seems like the season is improving over time.
My guess is "The Boys" will be Rahvin, Demandred, & Asmodean (possibly Belal/Sammael merged). It makes sense to me why Mesaana, Semirhage, Balthamel, & Aginor would be cut because their roles could be written into the others. What interesting is we have mentions of Mazrim Taem already in Saldaea. Looks like he will not be combined with Demandred, which Im happy about.
Since Gawyn is said to exist (boo!), it looks like they may be possibly setting Geofram up to take Galad's place in the story. Bummer that Gaul wasnt present in the show, hoping he still shows up as part of Perrin's crew. Also appreciated that Egwene didnt get one of those terrible ball gags.
Ogier slave? Im nitpicking, but I didnt enjoy that.
My only question is why Perrin couldn't bury Uno/forgot to
He panicked about the white cloaks. If he'd known the white cloaks were there I don't think he wouldn't gone to the town at all.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt that some of the Seanchan sounded dubbed over 😂 I tried to ignore it but I couldn’t unhear it
This episode makes me want to read the book.....im finally sold!!!
Why did Liandrin want Nynaeve to go through the arches again? Makes no sense in the show -- especially if the plan was to send her to the Seanchan immediately. Stuff like that is driving me batty. This feels like middling fanfic now.
I think it was because she can’t train her unless she is an accepted. If she can’t train her then there isn’t a good opportunity to try and get her to join the dark
@@matthewcacy4817 Not a bad attempt. But seemed like the intent was to give Egwene and Nynaeve to the enemy. Didn't need Nynaeve to be Accepted to knock them out and take them. Just poorly thought out revisions to the story, IMO
@@geoffjohnston6066 I thought it was pretty obvious that she was accelerating Nyneave education to get her to legally leave the tower without a trace and it was completely consensual until Egwene and Elayne also arrived and complicated things forcing liandrin to improvise and knock them all out
@@Echidna23Gaming Maybe. But if her plan was just to knock Nynaeve out and kidnap her anyway, the Accepted test was totally unnecessary. Plus I got the impression she wanted Egwene to kidnap too. (Although Elayne was a surprise).
One weird quirk I noticed this episode is how many characters simply walk into the scene from stage left or stage right. It reminds me of 1e8 when Egwene and Nynaeve simply walk up to Amalissa and co to face the trolloc army from just offscreen. It's sort of "obviously bad" directing and blocking that you wouldn't expect.
Examples: Padan Fain entering with the Horn, stable lady spreading on horseback, stable man appearing on horseback, stable lady again spreading on the side of the road when Lanfear catches up to her.
I also didn't feel any menace from the Seanchan nor the sense of alienness. The way Turok was disrespected in a public audience feels crazy to me. He's just a guy in a chair, he doesn't even sit in a high palanquin as Suroth did. There doesn't feel any specific menace or threat about him.
But overall, still the best episode of series so far. Could have been a 10 with better writing and more attention on the directing.
What is you take on Avienda taking Gaul’s place in the cage?
They keep messing it up
We’ve got you Gaul
@@Rumalf101 Maybe Rafe & Co. were planning to scrap the ‘real’ introduction of Avienda and needed a place for her to appear in their story line? It’s like a time traveler altering the past which has a ripple affect in the future. Par for the course.
@@joesplace2663
Only Gaul could have beaten all those soldiers bare handed
He’s got an important role to play in the story
If the directors know what they’re doing, unlikely imo,they should find the right spot for Aviendha. Isn’t she supposed to be green eyed with red and gold hair? Woke clueless directors lol
I'm sitting at about 25/10 so far. I'm in love with all of it.
Rafe hates the source material.
Ingtar went through the portal stone with Mat, Rand, Loial, and Uno! There they had the "flicker flicker flicker" moment and lived various iterations of their lives. Rafe stole this from us who actually care about the books. Rafe stole the tension filled escape of Padan Fain from Fal Dara and he will steal from us the heroic sacrifice of Lord Ingtar seeking the light as well.
Might still happen under a different context? Rand and Mat need a way to get to Falme quickly... and maybe Rand might learn some sword skills through those lives while Mat understands the evil of the dagger more
@@sephyr9 Even in the books, it seemed hard to believe that a few months of training under Lan would give Rand enough prowess with a sword to take out an actual blade master like Turak. And him learning sword forms from that old PTSD soldier in Cairhien would be even more ridiculous. So it would be a low-key genius move to have him be stuck in flicker flicker for a year or more where he gained real sword training.
How did her killing the horse accomplish anything? What if there were only three horses? They still get away and lanfear still explodes that random guys head.
Hey, can someone help me out with why the One Power cant do the lip-stitching thing? Feeling kind of lost here.
Can you use compulsion to force someone to break the Three oaths? Is not knowing that you are lying the same thing as believing that you are telling the truth? Do spoilers make my questions irrelevant? Is Veran the worlds greatest detective, was she covering up the lie, or did the show runners give to much away?
Grading on a curve for wot so far it should be a 9/10 easily. Really the big thing is they finally hit the tone exactly right which is something they have been struggling since season 1 episode 1 where they cut the fade on the road scene and gave us a bunch of hobbits in the shire in mid June nonsense for an event that occurs in late march (barely spring) in a world of problems and woes that is the opening from the books (where that setting really *matters* because this is gothic romance, i.e. the world is going to turn again --- spring, but its going to be shitty/horrific about it --- i.e. early spring). Makes me think they've finally realize this is gothic romance not a romcom (which is what they've been treating it as, especially with the Lan nonsense, for most of season 1 and a lot of this season too). Fantastic episode (though I agree we need some more crazier Padan fain).
Good review. Largely agree. I would add to anoying:
1. When Seanchan mention the empress, they do not say "May she live forever". I kept adding it in my head, which just meant that its lack was anoying.
2. No Gaul and Avi flirting with Perrin. Switching out Avi for Gaul bothered me because Gaul is such a great character and they just eliminated his initial motivations of being with Perrin (Assuming Gaul will be in the show). Avi flirting with Perrin in the way she did is such a departure of her personality from the books it was jarring. Maybe this will all come together, but at this point these changes to 2 kick ass Aiel characters bothers me
Aviendha flirting with Perrin is 100% from the books, Far Dareis Mai love making people uncomfortable that's more maidens of the spear not specifically "Aviendha" it was totally awesome to me anyway but we all have our own views of course. (I saw it more as humor, making someone uncomfortable not just flirting) But I get it we all see things in our own lens and that's the beauty of stories! =)
Best episode yet for me. I really liked Aviendha. She is badass and the Aiel seem to have been lifted right from the page to screen. Idk if her saying she wouldn't attack in a fit of lust is an intentional reference, but it made me laugh.
The hand off of the girls was much better in the books though. And the wolf noises that don't even match up with what the very tame looking dogs are doing is hard to overlook.
Really hoping the damane with the red-gold hair is named Alivia. Seems like a cool name for a damane.
This is the first episode so far that made me feel like it resembles the wheel of time.
Turak actually does have a voice dub (IMDb- Akie Kotobe). No idea why.
that's his Voice, the character, not the actual voice. I thought Turak himself sounded fine, it was the character that played his Voice that i had issues with
Oh my gosh, you’re right. That’s funny I completely misinterpreted.
I agree with the Matrix scene. As soon as I watched that, I thought:
1) Matrix.
2) Seen before.
3) Can she do that with the power?
I guess they must ramp up Fain's role later in the season? Or else there would be a very unexplained dead Fade to account for.
Waste of screen time tbh
They're running out of season to ramp :D
Hated fain in the books (and not because of his villain role) as a character and I hate it in the show. So the least he shows the better.
It seems like there's always one thing that pulls me out of the story. Previously it was the water wheel spinning with no current, this episode it was Aviendha wearing boots with rubber lug soles. That's some CW Shannara stuff.
I laughed at the mill, too. What is that a steam-powered mill that just stirs the water?
100% agree on the Lanfear sewing the mouth shut. Incorrect lore, done before, not needed, and so many other choices of something to do there. But that was my only complaint for the episode. 9/10
We know there will only be 8 forsaken, not 13. I wonder which ones will be cut
I love how you break down the episode and comment on it. I'm the author of "Quattuor IV: The book of Aurelius". It would be my absolute pleasure to see you getting into my material and breaking it down to its foundation similarly how you've done with The Wheel of Time. Getting more people familiar with my material would be awesome.
Liked most of the episode.
Didn't like how Lanfear called Moghedien insane. She should've called her a coward.
Also don't understand why they're taking so long to make Fain show what he is. If he's not Mordeth, why was the fade nailed to the door some episodes ago? If he's, why is he still obeying Ishamael?
And the show didn't say anything about how Shadar Logoth was formed, so I guess they dropped that part of the story. A pity. The guy was perfectly cast.