This episode is called Daes Daemar. There is no way these idiots have the comprehension or skill to actually depict anything like the level of political intrigue implied.

1:14 That’s Tar Valon, “20 years ago” according to the caption. What could they possibly think to be showing of anything comparable to the actually important things that happened there 20 years ago? Because this is clearly not the winter setting of the canonical battles of the Aiel War and Rand’s birth, which even the show portrayed with snow in their overt the top flashback scene last season.

1:22 Moiraine and Siuan relationship bullshit. Why? How is this at all important to the story? Bearing in mind that their relationship was practically non-existent in the main series. It served the sole purpose of explaining why and how Moiraine had such leeway in her unilateral actions concerning the Dragon Reborn and the associated apocalypse. They interacted in one brief part of one book and were representatives of the different faces of the establishment that had to be removed to allow the actual heroes to do their job.

1:39 Now they are not being played by younger or digitally de-aged actresses, which is in line with the insane change that makes Moiraine nearly, if not more than, a generation older than Anvaere, who is played by a 72-year-old actress. Since they are carrying on with that change, instead of just using it for a one-off shock reveal, let’s address it. Because I don’t think the showrunners grasp that the White Tower is Part of the Problem. It’s significant that the Pattern needs to bring in six newbs, totally untainted by the institution and uncompromised by the establishment in order to save the world. Carrying on with this, the first step of that was putting the search for, and initial contact with, the Dragon Reborn, in the hands of two other brand new sisters, who had no other agendas or encumbrances when the task devolved upon them. And even then, Siuan got captured by the system at the outset. It’s important that they come to all of this relatively uncompromised. Instead, they are going to be anywhere from their sixties up, when Rand was born. Moiraine has older Pike-face in the portrait with a child Anvaere, and Anvaere is old enough to have a fully-grown son. Even if we go as young as 50, that’s much too far into her Aes Sedai career. Moiraine in the books is 42 when she meets Rand, and nowhere near flexible enough to cope. No way she makes the necessary adjustments to defy the Tower in her fifties, if she learns then that the Dragon has been Reborn.

2:04 What kind of pathetic loser have they replaced Siuan with? First of all, we are not talking about the 22-year-old we meet in New Spring, who in that incarnation was way more mature and realistic. No, if she is a young woman (sorry, Sophie Okonedo, black do crack and I don’t believe you’re 22, despite the excellent job you are doing of selling your character as a callow vapid idiot) of near that age, then Moiraine’s relationship with her is a little problematic. So in the absence of anything else, we have to assume she’s close to Moriaine’s age, which again, is at least 10 and maybe 20 years older than Anvaere (played by a 72-year-old) who has a grown son. And she can’t see any life outside of the Tower other than the rustic lifestyle in which she was raised. She has spent literal decades as one of the most powerful people in the known world, and done nothing with it, developed no ambitions nor any awareness of the wider world and how it works.

So the most charitable interpretation of Siuan at this point in the timeline is that she is as innocent and uncompromised as her book self (more, actually), but only because she’s an utterly useless idiot!

2:30 What is this career track Moiraine is proposing? The show has established her extreme old age, and presumably extended lifespan of an Aes Sedai, so what does she mean by serving out their time and then retiring? Just be a political advisor for a few years and then spend centuries playing fisherwomen? Or is she talking about a more canonical Aes Sedai career, and looking forward to a happily ever after 200 years from now?

And what does it mean to advise the Daughter-heir of Andor? A. Why does the Daughter-heir need an Aes Sedai advisor, when she has no actual authority, but the Queen of Andor comes with one, and has had an Aes Sedai at her side since before the nation was fully realized? The Daughter-heir is under the Queen, so the queen’s advisor would suffice there. B, ITB, there was no Daughter-heir at this time, nor had been for about seven years, since the last one (Moiraine’s sister-in-law) disappeared. Elayne is more than two years younger than Rand, who should barely be born or still in utero at the moment.

2:44 Don’t tell me we’re getting the Foretelling this far removed from the actual time. Also, remember how you can’t channel if you can’t see? Bet the writers don’t, and are going with one of the most tired clichés of the genre, the blind prophet.

2:59 Why are two Aes Sedai bringing messages to a (presumably, disabled & pensioned off) sister from the Amyrlin Seat? Remember in the books, they were present with Gitara and the Amyrlin, because they were only Accepted. Accepted bring news to the Amyrlin, who in turn, dispatches two full sisters to let some rando know. This Gitara should be an important counselor of the Amyrlin for the Amyrlin to prioritize getting her the news, but that should also require her being close by the Amyrlin. Otherwise, the Amyrlin sending two full sisters with news suggest Gitara has some sort of superior, elevated status. As in nearly every portrayal so far, the show does not understand basic intercourse within hierarchies.

3:20 She is having her Foretelling of an even that took place at basically this same location, during the winter, when there are green trees outside. Which means it cannot be simultaneous. So it is either a Foretelling for the coming winter, or a belated catch up memo from the Pattern half a year or more late. Remember timelines? A whole Bel Tine ago, Rand was twenty, and this season we got a second Bel Tine, making him 21. And according to the caption, this event is twenty years ago. So Gitara’s Foretelling is late.

3:31 No, actually she says it’s happening now. Where the trees outside this building are green, but everyone is bundled up for the winter and there is snow all around where it is actually happening. And remember, this “now” is only 20 years before a time when the baby in question is 21.

3:41 She says “It burns like the sun,” rather than “he” of the books, because of that ridiculous mystery setup last season.

That’s Hayley Mills! You can totally hear it in her voice, once you know!

4:22 I feel like from Moiraine’s face, they want us to feel bad about that loss of their dream of a bamboo hut. Time to channel me some Barry-O. Sorry show, “You didn’t build that!”
It was a puerile dream unworthy of the character who expressed it, and the world is starting to circle the figurative drain. They got more privilege than most, time to get their asses out there and earn it.
And that’s just objectively speaking. From what we have seen on the show, we have not been given any reason to care about the relationship between these women, nor Siuan as a person. She showed up to give the most obnoxious, arrogant and high on herself denunciation of Logain, while sentencing him for a crime the show did absolutely no legwork to demonstrate he deserved, and rebuking Liandrin for actions that, as shown in a prior episode, seemed rather necessary and justified by exigent circumstances at the time. Then she and Moiraine abused portal tech that might have been put to a more practical use in finding and transporting the Dragon Reborn to have a sexual tryst, while leaving said Dragon out of pocket, with only a single warder to protect the two different and separated locations where the candidates for the post were chilling. During that tryst they acknowledge that the relationship is forbidden by Tower rules but laugh because they don’t follow the rules. Then Siuan orders Moiraine to drag the kids off to the Eye of the World and figure out which one is the Dragon Reborn by process of literal elimination, Moiraine utterly fails at keeping any sort of cool during the fake exile ceremony they planned ahead of time for public consumption. In the context of this relationship, these are two very selfish, self-absorbed idiots who risk the fate of the world in order to indulge it. They have not given us any reason whatsoever to care that they can’t have their idyllic happily ever after. A reasonable extrapolation of their mindset from their actions is “Since the imminent apocalypse means our happy retirement together is not guaranteed, we are going to enjoy ourselves here and now, and our mission be damned.”

Remember this whole trend of prestige fantasy screen adaptations started with a movie where a character wished he had not been given the responsibility for the fate of the world, and was told “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide with what to do with the time that is given to us.” What Moiraine and Siuan decided to do was stroke their egos (and each other’s intimate parts) at the expense of their mission.

Remember when the excision of Tom Bombadil was the worst page-to-screen alteration we had to cope with?

I will give props to both Pike and Okonedo for their performances and conveying this insipid story with mere facial expressions.

4:53 It was really a kind of statement in the books how Aes Sedai and the Amyrlin Seat had such minimalistic and mundane regalia of office, and otherwise dressed like any other important person, but carried it with dignity and gravitas. These elaborate and ridiculous costumes for the Amyrlin serve the opposite, making her look like a puppet of the office, who has to jump through all sorts of hoops of protocol and ceremony like the King of England or someone similarly useless. I will refrain from speculating about any correlations between the books being written by an American author, whose head of state never wears anything more elaborate than an ordinary citizen might for a sufficiently formal event, whereas the actors are mostly from a culture where not only kings, but even some actual officials with legit power, must parade around in anachronistic costumes.

5:27 Where is this room? It looks like the Amyrlin Seat behind Siuan, but there are Rising Suns on the doors, and I don’t remember Moiraine going to Tar Valon. Are all thrones just these over-elaborate benches?

5:56 So Lan was NOT bonded by Alanna, but Moiraine threatened to let Alanna take the bond without permission. How was that supposed to work? Moiraine is stilled, there is no bond and she has no further say in the matter. Letting Alanna is just not in it for her. Also, there is no bond to take, Alanna would have to bond him on her own. And if he did not want to be bonded by Alanna, and was not bonded, why was he farting around with the Pervert Trio for so long? What about the war with the Shadow that was the most important thing in Lan’s life, of which his bond with Moiraine was merely a means to that end?

6:38 Did Moiraine, at some point, tell Lan that Rand was still alive?

7:09 Now we’re back to ignoring the story to make Rand out to be in the wrong. Rand left the Eye of the World, because Moriaine told him that was it, that was how and where to defeat the Dark One, which he did. It’s only in this season that Moiraine comes to the realization that rather than banish the Dark One, they were tricked into freeing Ishamael. Rand did not run away. He fulfilled the purpose he came for and left, all according to Moiraine. Moriaine facilitated his departure, which makes her compliant in it, and as the vastly more knowledgeable party, responsible. Anything “wrong” in what Rand is doing to this point regarding his duties as the Dragon is on her.

7:26 What the ever-living fuck does it matter that Siuan comes from humbler beginnings than Rand?

And even supposing it does, what is the dialogue here?

Lan asks why Rand ran away from the Eye, he says to protect the people he loves, Lan calls that ridiculous and says as the Dragon Reborn he has a duty to protect every person in the world (not unlike the duty of a Dai Shan of the Borderlands and the uncrowned last king of Malkier, who spent most of this season doing household chores and being passive aggressive). Then he tells Rand “Listen to me. The Amyrlin’s a smart woman. She’s a good woman. And she comes from humbler beginnings that you.”

So what? What does any of that mean for Rand? How does it change his point that he saw what she did to the Logain? Why do Siuan’s qualities matter at all in that context? The correct answer to Rand’s issue is that it was necessary, that he would have gone mad and caused a lot of harm if it had not been done. And furthermore, it is the Tower law that it be done, which means the brains, character and background of the Amyrlin is irrelevant.

I strongly suspect this is another case of the writers going straight from The Great Hunt and ignoring last season. Because in the books, Siuan was responsible for Logain’s gentling, but on the show, Liandrin did it long before he came to the White Tower. Since this season they wrote Logain sensing Rand’s ability with the Power, they really seem to have forgotten how he was gentled.

Also, Siuan’s brains and goodness join the list of things the writers tell us and keep failing to show us. We know that on her watch a Black sister is operating with impunity in the White Tower, abusing one of the Dragon candidates and a ta’veren, and abducting the three strongest living initiates of the White Tower. We know she was responsible for the ridiculous plan for the Eye of the World which resulted in Ishamael being freed, and was still a better outcome than her own plan to bring all the Two Rivers folk to the Eye and see who does not die.

7:36 Oh, just shut up. Did you face Steppin’s funeral on your feet, you fucking pussy? Did you face the loss of your bond on your feet? The guy who said that in the books had the credibility to say it. Book!Lan was a guy we knew had sacrificed. Book!Lan was a guy who refused to give up the fight against the Shadow even with his whole country long gone. He turned down love because he wanted what was best for the woman in question and could not turn from his duty to give it to her. Show!Lan whines and cries and abets his Aes Sedai’s selfish relationship distractions, he sleeps with the woman before giving her a similar speech and spends months moping before blabbing to the Pervert Trio, whose judgement is suspect at best, whose priorities are insanely hedonistic, and whose loyalty is utterly unproven, and finally running to tattle everything to the Amyrlin. I guess because she’s smart and good and comes from the humblest background ever.

And just like the breakup speech to Nynaeve they cut and pasted from Eye of the World, this line is totally out of context. Lan has not spent months mentoring Rand. He has not been growing close to both him and Nynaeve, that he would be more sympathetic to them. This version clearly isn’t, since his priority here is putting Rand in his place and making sure he understands that place is well below St. Siuan, one of the Writers’ Pet Triumvirate. Lan’s dialogue in this scene is rebuking Rand’s appearance, then his running away from his duties, praising the Amyrlin and then telling him to face whatever comes on his feet. In other words, “Siuan is great, you are not, so you are obliged to accept whatever she does to you.”

7:53 “You’ve been learning sword forms” They don’t even realize that they are highlighting the problem here! Rand listened to Lan, because they built up a relationship as he taught him! Rand easily could tell that Lan’s instructions before meeting the Amyrlin were intended to make him look good and present himself in the best possible light to her. It proved the relationship.

And, by the way, Rand has learned sword forms well enough to be recognizable by Lan, from verbal descriptions by a teacher of dubious mental stability.

8:16 What is the difference between the coat Rand took off and the one he put on? Why did Lan decide, at this juncture in the conversation, to give him a new one?

8:32 “Go, the Amyrlin awaits.” How? Why, at this point? Lan was just chilling, Rand was pacing, they had an incoherent argument and then all of a sudden, Lan gives him a new coat and sends him in. What determined that time point? Has Siuan just been sitting in there waiting for Lan to decide it’s time?

They’re just going to stick as close to the meeting with the Amyrlin from the books, for no reason, aren’t they?

ITB, the point of the scene was for Rand to learn in the most harsh and shocking way possible that he was the Dragon Reborn and that the worst person possible knew his darkest secret, and to reveal to the readers the backstory of Moiraine’s mission and have Rand’s backstory confirmed. It presented Rand with his mission for the book (which is why it was at the beginning of the book, rather than the last quarter) and gave him a chance to react to these events, to show his mettle to Moiraine, Verin and the Amyrlin. Among other things, it was the account for the readers of the Foretelling of his birth, which we have already seen. Rand knows he is the Dragon Reborn and is under no illusions about keeping his channeling a secret. Especially since he is arguing loudly about both things with Lan in front White Tower guards. Rand does not have a best friend about to die from an evil dagger, no one knows Nynaeve & Egwene are in Falme, and the pursuit of the stolen Horn of Valere has reached the “far western shore”, not setting out soon from the same venue where Rand is meeting Siuan. What exactly are they trying to accomplish?

9:57 Ohhh! She wants him to answer truthfully! That is what we needed to know! She more or less told him, “It’s normally a good idea to keep secrets, but you shouldn’t with me. You should answer my questions truthfully.” Why? What’s in it for him?

10:24 Thom?

10:43 Lanfear had a goon knock Mat unconscious and then transported him across the continent before he revived. Okay. How is this going to do anything other than make this most dangerous of the Forsaken look like more of a chump?

Is all the raccoon look the show’s way of tacitly admitting they can’t possibly match the description of Lanfear’s beauty from the books, and so they’re deliberately not trying?

12:16 So, in yet another “put Nyneave in her place moment” (coincidentally, I am sure, buffing the whiter woman at her expense, yet again – but she’s black! Isn’t it great that we have such a strong, leading black female heroine? ), Elayne is just going to make insane leaps of logic to succeed?

And when did they try something Nynaeve’s way? Last we saw, at the end of last episode, they had been coopted by Ryma and Basan and were hiding in their rooms. If Nynaeve’s way failed, it was because Basan snatched them, not because of superior Seanchan security.

12:56 Egwene’s sul’dam is untrained? Why?

13:10 Are we ever getting any explanation for those mouthpieces?

13:19 And we’re out. Back with the Aes Sedai hanging around, no doubt wondering what the hell Siuan is doing in Cairhien on such short notice and bringing even more scrutiny to her secret actions. Like a solo audience with some random dude, with witnesses to the fact of the meeting, if not the substance.

13:22 How are Aes Sedai completely unfamiliar with the Royal Library in Cairhien? That line was just “generic Brown sister statement”.

14:00 We happen to know that there is not a Forsaken in the city, because she is in Falme. Or else is capable of moving from one place to another so fast, except when pursuing Moiriane on horseback that precautions because she might be present are pointless. By Alanna’s logic, the pervert trio can never again be separated, because Lanfear could, for all intents and purpose, be in any city they are in.

14:14 Okay, the way Ihvon’s head is cocked, he is actually following Tomas. Because he and Maksim outvoted Alanna? The only consistently established fact we have about warders is sex object.

14:35 Is this a secret meeting to show us that Barthanes is a Darkfriend, like ITB, or is Liandrin going to slot Anvaere into Amalisa’s role as her catspaw? Or something new and stupid?

15:11 What have they lost that Lan thinks he will regain by informing Siuan of everything?

16:00 There are thorough and complete Tower records on stilling. There are ironclad sources in the Tower for everything the writers want the audience to know or for Aes Sedai to be able to stipulate as facts, but Darkfriends can purge those same records so that no one knows what the Eye of the World is.

Of course, ITB, they knew very little about stilled women, because it was a topic with which the Aes Sedai were uncomfortable, and because the stilled women themselves avoided Aes Sedai as painful reminders of their loss. All of which told you something about the nature of the Power, about the shortcomings of Aes Sedai and left things open for characters to discover. None of that is convenient for this exposition, so we’re going to chuck it. Next season, if it comes up, stilling will be a topic with convenient lore gaps.

16:09 Moiraine says she never considered committing suicide as most women in her position do in the first year, because she knew that Rand was more important than anything else in the world. But until most of a year had gone by, she did not know he was important, because last season, they thought they won. Moiraine let the guy who is more important than anything, her sole reason to go on living after being stilled, wander off on his own. None of this explains her pissy games with Lan, because Lan’s skills and connections are a huge asset in her mission, especially with the lack of her own abilities. She should have been bringing him on it all.

16:24 Now Moiraine says that by telling Siuan, Lan is putting the fate of the world in jeopardy, because Siuan is keeping secrets from Moiraine. Isn’t this the most important thing in the world? Shouldn’t the person who can actually channel and actually holds the status of Aes Sedai, be handling it?

Seriously, who the fuck does she think she is? Even ITB, Moiraine and Siuan had a bit of that quality, but there were reasons that if not sufficient, provided a basis for their keeping it close to the vest.

16:53 If Siuan is worthy of your time and attention all night, while the Dragon Reborn is hanging out relatively unguarded in a random inn in Tar Valon, then maybe Lan has a bit of a point here.

19:05 See, Rand fell to his knees in an audience with the Amyrlin! It is a totally faithful adaptation of the books! Some idiot shill on Tumblr or YouTube is going to be making either that point or rationalizing how this is so much more efficient storytelling, because they combine a channeling lesson with the reveal!

20:19 Is Renna going to blow everyone over to show how strong Egwene is, or will she do a moderate explosion and then Egwene will do an even bigger one of her own will, to show how awesome she is?

21:51 Ogier kneel to human rulers now.

22:57 They are having a powerful villain do a mundane task! The contrast! Isn’t this brilliant and original storytelling?!? This is the advantage of a modern adaptation, to bring new ideas to Jordan’s stuffy old dated work.

23:40 “Is this a sex thing or a murder thing? Because either way, I’d prefer you skip the talking.” Best line of the show, and they don’t realize it’s their own bullshit they are calling out.

25:12 Well, we can’t possibly start a winning streak, so from that line we segue into Ishamael has a magic tea from the Age of Legends that allows you to recall your past lives and understand your true self. Writing characterization is hard. Let’s invent magical bullshit to take its place.

26:36 I hope that’s not Bain & Chiad. They were shorter than Aviendha ITB.

27:36 The proper way to do this is to have Aviendha tell Perrin not to interfere. Aviendha is the one he knows, the one he has fought beside and is traveling with. He is, or should be on her side, against these women he does not know. That would be his reason for intervening when they start beating on her for not explicable reason. So why would he stop because one of the people hitting his companion tells him “Don’t”? Why would he listen to her? What did he think was going to happen when he moved to intervene? That Ginger 1 would back down just because Perrin disapproves? Of course, given that this whole thing was setup through hand-talk, you’d think Aviendha would realize Perrin has no idea what’s going on and give him a heads-up before starting…

28:20 50 seconds of gratuitous beating on a woman, and her bloody face. What a wonderfully feminist show.

30:40 What is the point of that scene? Does Mat’s presumed self-loathing from an emotionally abusive mother, or believing he is genetically programed to follow in the shoes of his delinquent father, inform anything we have seen him say or do this season?

Fuck. This is their shortcut through the Finns, isn’t it? By having Mat recall all his past lives and see his true self, the generalship or whatever else is convenient for their plans will be brought out in him.

34:36 So we’re going with Barthanes the Darkfriend.

35:35 Wow. Really shit security you guys have. It’s one thing for the show to ignore these obvious precautions Liandrin should have taken, by just not having the security breeched, because people talk in front of those they should not all the time. Except when it is convenient, there is an eavesdropper.

Is this supposed to be the titular Daes Dae’Mar? I wonder too, if the intention here is to show that no, she was wrong to rebuke Moiraine, she does not deserve the upper hand over her magnificent sister, because she did not actually restore the family fortunes, it was all Barthanes’ deal with the Dark One that got them back in the high life again, and him engaged to Queen Galldrian.

36:10 So that was it? Mat’s vision of all his past lives was just to say he’s his father? What we saw does not track with what we were promised, and was incredibly underwhelming to boot.

38:45 This guy preening and admiring himself in the dagger is Rafe Judkins’ sodomitical concubine, and they spent their 10th anniversary together while filming season 2. He has, “somehow”, appeared in more episodes of the show than Elayne, Leane, Lanfear, Min, Padan Fain, Uno, Igntar, Verin, Elyas, Suroth, Valda, Sheriam, Masema and Siuan. He has appeared in more episodes than his fellow warder, Ihvon, who actually exists in the books!

39:59 Lan and Logain whispering threats at each other! Isn’t this what we dreamed of in a WoT adaptation?

41:35 So the upshot of all of this is that Moiraine is not stilled, she is just shielded. And we are confirming that severed channelers can still see the weaves.

And what is going on with Lan’s bond after all?

42:39 Aviendha somehow screwed up and got Jolien killed, so they had to beat her to restore her honor. This is your public service announcement that all Aiel customs are going to be pulled out of the writers’ asses and don’t you dare expect them to make sense.

Hey, it’s two thirds of the way through the episode, when are we going to see political intrigue?

42:54 Aviendha has just explained why she should not have any obligation to Jolien. She was defending herself, not doing something she should not. The idea that you are supposed to defend others and not yourself is nonsense. You don’t need any understanding of combat to know that dying to protect a comrade being the ironclad rule will quickly result in everyone who follows it going extinct.

43:14 The possibility of a sexual relationship is the most important thing to ascertain about any two new acquaintances. We have established nothing about these two characters, except their names, and not which name belongs to which woman, but we know that one of them is attracted to Perrin and disappointed that he is committed to another, and the other might be gay. And yes, their sexuality came up in their introduction ITB, but it was just to refute the Wondergirls’ assumptions about Aiel Maidens of the Spear, and the point was how rumors are unreliable. That same conversation went on to establish their close friendship that transcended their clans’ blood feud and the extent they went through to affirm that relationship in spite of the feud, as well as their issues with water, their courage & ingenuity in overcoming it, their loyalty to Aviendha, their purpose for being on the wrong side of the Dragonwall, and certain pertinent in the future details about the Wise Ones. On the show, we get the sexy details aired and the camera zooms back out.

43:32 This shot is so dark that I had no idea they were looking at the ocean and not just more desert until one of the Maidens asked about it. I do not know whether it is the one who is attracted to Perrin, or the one who is not, who asked about the ocean.

44:21 Normal decent people might be wondering why Elayne punched a helpless, restrained captive, but the channeler fangirls are wetting themselves with glee over it. By the way, we did not get Nynaeve figuring out how to work the a’dam against all odds and at great personal danger, ambush a complete pair, free a damane (who actually threw the punch, ITB, because she had a legit grievance), and have clothes and a plan in place to use the newly acquired a’dam to infiltrate the kennels. We did not have Elayne being willing to wear the a’dam to save her friend, and Nynaeve decide that not even for that purpose could she make her do it.

We also do not have the mystery of how the a’dam works, how it should not work on anyone but a mareth damane, and presumably no Egwene figuring out the truth despite her captivity, because the show has not made much of a distinction, if any, about the difference between learning to channel and being born with the ability.

The same segment of rabid Seanchan-haters in the fandom contend, fallaciously, that the Seanchan are hypocrites, especially Tuon, for the whole setup, because they refuse to recognize the difference between the channeling status of sul’dam and mareth damane. These are the petulant children who claim that the later books are unreadable because Mat has civilized conversations with Tuon, and they are the segment this show is generally pandering to.

46:33 Impotent death threats. The classic sign of true strength!

48:26 Moiraine has in no way demonstrated that she knows the difference between right and wrong, she does not even seem to know the difference between right and expedient. At what point, ever, have we seen her forgo an option because it was not morally correct, or made trouble for herself because it was the righting thing to do? When she went along with the plan to send ta’veren into a death trap to see who was the Dragon Reborn? When she cheated Domon of his price for the poem?

50:30 Yeah, real quick on the uptake, aren’t you, Verin? All of this has about Rand proclaiming himself at Falme has been previously established in the dialogue of this episode, there is no need to make Verin repeat it for the audience.

51:41 They really like showing bald Aes Sedai. Do they consider how this, like so much else, undermines the exoticism and alien appearance of the Seanchan?

52:15 Okay, when Siuan did not deny sending Verin, I figured she realized what was going on, and felt like she had to play along. And so she tells Leane to take over leading this group, saying that Rand can’t be allowed to leave the city. By not denying sending Verin, she is tacitly supporting Verin’s claim, so why is she saying they have to stop Rand?

52:40 Lan is giving a channeling lesson. I thought Sanderson went too far in having non-channelers knowing and speaking of channeling concepts as channelers (or fans) would. There just are no rules anymore.

53:15 He just explained a channeling concept to an Aes Sedai!

53:44 The only person in this group who cannot channel is explaining to, and instructing, the channelers. Go. Fuck. Yourselves.

54:46 Lan failed to discover a forgotten Age of Legends channeling technique because he abandoned his duty. Whut? This whole episode is all about spinning everything to clear Moriaine of all censure or blame. Lan did not perform a miraculous deduction while Moiraine was passive-aggressively trying to chase him away, because he forgot his duty. Rand ran away from his duty to the world, he was not misled by Moiraine’s inaccurate assessment of last season’s battle. And now Moiraine is in charge and leading Rand to his epic confrontation and proclamation of himself as the Dragon Reborn, it’s not Rand doing this on his own, finding his own way there through things he sees as necessary, and making his own choices. The problem, in the eyes of this show, with Siuan’s revealed plan of the White Tower for Rand is not in caging him to be a weapon instead of a general (newsflash, he’s not supposed to be the general, either), it is in caging him to be a weapon for the Tower, instead of for Moiraine to use!

56:06 Is anyone going to point out that this good, smart woman, from humble origins, is the author of Moiraine’s failure at the Eye of the World last year? That Moiraine went there on blind faith in Siuan, pitted the Dragon against “the Dark One” as directed, only to discover later that it had all be Ishamael’s plan.

56:52 Moiraine will do anything for the Dragon Reborn, except smack down her lover before Siuan can give her a fateful order.

57:53 There’s that ol’ Siuan Sanche ego. We missed you, dumbass.

58:52 Yeah, the flashback goes too far and makes it dumb. It’s worse here, because why are we supposed to be invested in a relationship where one party violated the other’s trust so egregiously? If you want to use that flashback here, a better point would be when Siuan is ordering her to close the Waygate, because that’s the crucial decision point, the breaking of the relationship, the transgression that moves them beyond what they were with no going back (in theory – they love their WLW too much, I suspect, to let it die altogether). This is just sentimental twaddle when the Dragon Reborn and one of the Forsaken are heading through the Ways to his destiny. Siuan has been in three episodes, and in one of them, she was just riding in a carriage. Do they really expect the audience to care about her, next to the actual plot?

Also, if nothing is more important than the Dragon Reborn, and Moiraine is the only one who can handle him regardless of her actual channeling status, why did she ever let herself be compromised in such a way as swearing that Oath?

59:27 Liars!

I can’t help but notice the lack of anything that could be considered the Game of the Houses in this episode.