1:48 – Just for the record, on this so-woke show, the two blackest actors are playing Padan Fain and Eamon Valda. Not even cool bad guys, but scummy, marginally competent bad guys. And rapists.

2:46 – More stupid world-building and “characterization”. I hate hate hate hate hate these lazy monologues about something pointless that is supposed to be profound and allegorical, or some experience or anecdote from a character’s distant past that is incredibly on-point and relevant to the current situation. Seriously. Back during their strike that messed up broadcast schedules about 10+ years ago, I opined that they didn’t deserve anything because TV writers are the absolute lowest form of fiction writers. Nothing in the adaptations of the five major fantasy series I’ve seen adapted for the screen since then has changed by mind in the slightest.

By the way, there had better be something other than “cutting off an Aes Sedai’s hands prevents her from channeling” to explain how the Children of the Light got around “live witches being somewhat hard to (execute)."

5:00 – As abstractly symbolic intros go, this is not the worst. I’m still going to start using the Skip Intro button unless I see it’s somehow relevant to the coming episode.

6:20 – One thing that has never occurred to me, regardless of medium… if they were going to prevent the Trollocs from crossing the Taren after them, they would be effectively stranding them in the Two Rivers. With all the people the boys left home to protect.

8:36 – In the Borderlands they have a saying, ‘The look of the Eyeless, and the Noseless and the Lipless is fear.’

9:30 – I like this version of how Moiraine screws over Hightower. The book version seems not have landed with people as much, and the fandom doesn’t have much sympathy the boys being disturbed by it, which feeds into the myth that Moiraine is always right and smart and everyone should never doubt her because she’s the bestest.

11:27 – “I know, instead of showing character interactions on screen, why not just yeet one of them out of there and then have Mat tell the audience what it would have been like!”
“Brilliant Rafe! Book authors are just morons, aren’t they!”

11:52 – Yes, this! Rand’s articulated thought is an actual thing. Like, Moiraine has good reasons for doing what she does, but she also badly handles the Two Rivers boys, so their reasons for being wary of her are also good.

11:55 – Also making it possible for any of them to be the Dragon kind of undercuts that this is something Rand struggles with when he is finally told what specifically the Shadow is after him for, but if done right, it gives opportunities to explore the conflict in dialogue, rather than internally as ITB. Not super confident it’s going to be done right.

13:55 – “Words are important and how we use them is important.” Spoken on a TV show that’s going to mess up all sorts of words, and misuse them dramatically.

14:50 – The Power inside you is the smallest part of your strength. It’s your mind and how you use it that will mean much more in the battles to come.” Explains so much about Egwene, really.

15:35 – That Moiraine has already sensed Egwene’s channeling ability should rule her out as “the most powerful channeler who ever lived”

17:01 – “It’s the wind that listens to you” is neat wording, harkening to “touch the wind that moves the sun”.

21:07 – I suppose getting the dream stuff out in the open right away works, to stop the fans whining about them not trusting Moiraine and saving time.

22:35 – I like this conflict. It informs the rest of their relationship. Even if to the uninitiated, Rand comes off as petulant, based on the ITB world-building, he’s got legitimate questions.

23:34 – The word “bastard” is never used, once, in the whole Wheel of Time series. In a series where the main character discovers that he was born out of wedlock, with the circumstances of his birth and parentage being a significant and traumatic issue for him, and where a major character conceives a royal heir outside of marriage as well, with her pregnancy being an issue with her character over three books by the original author. Take all your woke bullshit and gender studies nonsense and shove it where the Dark One will be confused, because that’s way more important! That people in WoT don’t even have the concept of legitimacy says way more about gender relations and women’s agency than all the substituting of the word ”person” for “man” or “woman” in the world, or finding ways to cram transgender issues into a series that is already overstuffed with material that doesn’t have time or room to adapt to the screen.

Even Brandon Sanderson, with all his other blunders, abuse of anachronistic language and misconceptions about the themes and setting, did not make this mistake. He used “interrogate” more times in one paragraph than Jordan did in 11 books, but he was not stupid enough to use “bastard” in the mouth of a character in a world where female social dominance is unquestioned and even mass murderers and Darkfriends are appalled at rape.

More relevant to the plot, Rand’s prior understanding of Egwene taking the Wisdom job and cutting off his nookie nicely establishes that his anger at Egwene’s choice to follow Moiraine is not petty relationship crap, but genuine betrayal that she’s siding with outsiders.

23:47 – Mat is trying to talk Rand into being more reasonable in his hostility toward Moiraine. Because if you’re going to swing and miss that hard for the setting, why not the characters, too? That IS a kind of Mat-like rationalization, but it’s the sort of thing Mat says, rather than does. He talks about being practical and self-preserving, but then he acts according to principle.

25:43 – I don’t think Moiraine actually hopes her “sister” in Whitebridge will let them stay. And “wars and witches” kind of DO concern them. The effective portrayal of the Three Oaths requires the writers to be on the ball, and reasonably clever. But they keep hiring TV writers instead.

25:45 – Waiting for the zinger question, and it better not come from Valda.

26:00 – There is no worse Child of the Light to alter into an Inquisitor of the Hand of the Light than the egregiously unsubtle and incurious Eamon Valda, whose only tactic is “the charge”.

26:43 – I could be wrong, but I also don’t think the Children ever refer to Aes Sedai as sisters. Even when Niall and Balwer are plotting their PR campaign about the Tower split.

27:27 – “Madam” so they have French in this world?

27:58 – NOOOOO! They would NEVER recommend someone seek out a sister for Healing! What IS this?

28:09 – The idea of Moiraine grinning sycophantically like that in the books is highly amusing to me. It kind of looks like Lan is thinking “seriously Moiraine?”

You would think the Children would be questioning how Moraine and company managed to escape Trollocs when they managed to inflict that wound and meanwhile, no one else shows any sign of injury.

29:20 – There’s just something wrong about Moiraine to tell someone “it may not be the truth you think you hear.”

29:49 – I like the ruins. It’s the kind of thing that WoT should have. They’ve been through the equivalent of two falls of the Roman Empire.

30:05 – Nosewart.

30:17 – I’m thinking Nynaeve’s moment of revelation is going to be her saving Moiraine’s life when she turns up again by Healing her.

30:21 – We need singing even less than the books needed dress descriptions. Which were actually important. Unlike the singing.

31:08 – Moiraine only tells people things when she needs a reaction. She told the story of Manetheren to sway the ire of the villagers. She would not whip it out when the kids are already in a good mood and especially not when the last on-screen words with Rand were a fight. Don’t want him getting too full of himself.

31:48 – Nosewart

32:21 – “They knew no help was coming.” Yes, who betrayed them again, Moiraine? See this is why, regarding Rand being suspicious, this is a bad time to bring that up.

34:30 – Sweeping vistas and scenery shots. The TV equivalent of dress descriptions.

36:33 – DON’T sniff on camera! First off all, sniffing has a particular meaning in this fandom and second of all, you have a certain osenay artway issue to which it calls attention.

36:50 – You’d barely know Perrin was a widower, if Egwene hadn’t mentioned Laila twice on the journey now.

37:50 – I guess this is their adaptation of how Perrin becomes a Coyotebrother.

41:05 – Okay, at least with Moiraine being unconscious, there is some excuse for her not telling the boys what Shadar Logoth is. However, Lan on his own would absolutely tell them. Moiraine acts like they have no agency and will behave as she expects. Lan acts like they’re idiots. The former would just sit where they were left and not move without permission, and the latter would not trust them to behave.

43:00 – Which he does.

43:30 – Now they might think this version of the Shadar Logoth story is more economical, but it utterly destroys the lesson of Aridhol, which is that doing things for the wrong reason, and fighting the Shadow with the wrong attitude, is just as bad as being on the wrong side! This is incredibly important, because it informs the stakes of Rand’s internal conflict for most of the story!

And let’s not even get into the potential motivation such as the fact that it conveniently fits with a leftist political narrative, leaning into “Walls are bad” and steering away from any implications for Antifa and BLM and the woke narrative, where what side you are on is all that is important and any tactics are justifiable if your heart is in the right place.

44:59 – Be neat if this is the same spot where Rand sees Sammael get Mashadared.

45:27 – Good, right profile. Keep showing that right profile, Egwene! No, stop, don’t turn. No, no. Not the left side… And cut to wide angle. Phew.

45:51 – Lan, you have now let all four Emond’s Fielders out of your sight. Are you really doing ANY good poking at Moiraine’s shoulder?

47:30 – Mat-Perrin interactions are weird. Mostly because they barely exist ITB.

Also, I’m thinking somehow Mordeth is going to infect the dagger from Laila. Or Mat will take up an already infected dagger, because he gave his own away, which is no less dumb

50:00 – This is all very stupid, because they were specifically warned against touching anything. Whereas they were not in the books, and the dagger was just something Mat picked up at random, instead of specifically messing with stuff he knew he should not, against instructions.

51:18 – One problem with CGI creeping evils is that it’s hard to get horses to react to it. Aldeib’s just standing there in the background, chillin’, because Moiraine can’t run so they can’t have her horse run off, but it looks very incongruous.

I do like this version of Mashadar. For my money they will never top the depiction and atmosphere of Shadar Logoth from the WoT PC game, but this is an interesting way to do it, especially when you remember how much Moiraine’s weaves in the prior episode looked like the book description of Mashadar.

52:08 - “Why don’t you hoist me up?” is a very good question when directed at someone canonically eight inches taller than you.

52:43 - Good use of the power-wrought sword’s properties.

53:19 - The person who says “I’ll find you” when forced to part from their love interest always must shortly after jump from a great height.

54:20 – Forget Rand and Mat, you guys left BELA!! Narg’s lines are cut, and Bela doesn’t carry Egwene out of Shadar Logoth. This show is bullshit.

55:07 – Nynaeve FTW!