tv show spoilers S1E4: The Dragon Reborn

[CaddySedai]

2 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Watched it twice a couple hours apart. Yes, still leaning negative. But giving  it a fair shot.  There is lots to like. But also a lot I didn’t care for, obviously.

 

You will give in to the Dark Side. Search your feelings - you know it to be true ?

 

Also good on ya for giving it a shot.

[ArrylT]

11 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Did not like:

• Ila still in the lead rather than Raen
• Thom fighting successfully against the fade. Should have been pinned to the wall
• Why didn’t Aes Sedai link to hold the shield?
• Why was Aes Sedai camp so far from the cave with Logain?
• Why did warders and Aes Sedai have such a hard time with Logain’s army?
• Fight choreography terrible
• About 100 people in Logain’s “army”
• Why don’t Aes Sedai and Warders stand ground after initial contact - retreating fight puts them at disadvantage 
• Moiraine left with scar on initial healing
• Why did Logain stand like an idiot while the Aes Sedai linked to gentle him - he fought everything else
• Steppin did not go into berserker rage I expected

 

I thought Steppin sort of did at the end - that attack on Logain seemed counter-productive to the Aes Sedai efforts.  Maybe he was in shock or disbelief until he got into the cave.

 

As for the scar my only assumption is that Kerenne was still worn out from her shift guarding Logain - or maybe the length of time the injury.   

 

Spoiler

We know they have trouble with Mat & Rands wounds in the book 

 

[Lurker_Fan]

1 hour ago, CaddySedai said:

 

Then Rand is gonna be a nuclear bomb. lol.

Yeah that’s what I’m thinking. It’s going to be something to see!

[Still Trench]

So it couldn’t have been Mat who massacred the Grinwell’s, that was the Fade, right? If Mat had used the Dagger their corpses would have been all shriveled up. 

[DojoToad]

9 minutes ago, ArrylT said:

 

I thought Steppin sort of did at the end - that attack on Logain seemed counter-productive to the Aes Sedai efforts.  Maybe he was in shock or disbelief until he got into the cave.

 

As for the scar my only assumption is that Kerenne was still worn out from her shift guarding Logain - or maybe the length of time the injury.   

 

  Hide contents

We know they have trouble with Mat & Rands wounds in the book 

 

I always thought it was healed or not. 

[DaddyFinn]

16 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Thom fighting successfully against the fade. Should have been pinned to the wall

Well, he did manage to fight it in the books though it was in open space and not inside a house. He's just badass lol

 

23 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Why was Aes Sedai camp so far from the cave with Logain?

Maybe it's safer that way? Otherwise the Dragonsworn could have get to him easier and he could have done much more damage to other Aes Sedai and warders

 

24 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Moiraine left with scar on initial healing

Why not? How good is Kerene at healing, how bad the wound was and how tired was she?

 

25 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Steppin did not go into berserker rage I expected

I wanted more too. It fell a bit flat even though he caused Logain's escape

[NinjaPowers975]

I liked this episode a lot. Not sure if it's my favorite yet. Need to think on it.

 

There were things I liked and didn't like.

 

• Everything with the tinkers was awesome. Way better than I expected.
• Aram was especially awesome. The actor playing him has mad charisma and is incredibly talented.
• I liked most of the world building stuff in the Aes Sedai camp.
• Oddly, I'm reminded of vintage Star Trek in the way they're doing world building in this show. Old Trek, both the original series and next generation, was built around standalone episodes with a new threat every week. Every episode they had to build up a new alien species -- their culture, physical attributes, and etc. Consequently, there were lots of on the nose conversations about these things scattered around everywhere. With the huge amount of lore in WOT, they're kind of forced to do the same thing in pretty much every episode. This will probably continue for a while, and that's okay as long as they're doing it well.
• I could feel the strain on the budget during the forest battle scene. It felt very much like a TV battle scene, not a movie battle scene. This is fine for me -- I don't care about stuff like this that much -- but the people complaining about budget issues aren't just blowing smoke. Take away some of the shiny effects, and it could be a gun battle between two "armies" in a MacGyver episode. I know that's a little hyperbolic, but it really felt cheap, much more than Winternight, which I thought was more than adequate.
• Nyneave and Lan's romance is progressing nicely.
• I was really enjoying Thom, and it sucks that he's gone so fast.
• I love how dark this show is willing to get. The final moment with the Grinwells...
• Rand and Mat abandoning Thom to the fade feels a little different with them being more mature characters. Wasn't a fan of how that ended, even though it was faithful to the books in some ways.
• Everything about the final showdown with Logain was awesome.
• Holy shit at Nyneave's AOE heal.
• I feel like there are a million easter eggs in this episode for fans. Can't wait till people dig into it.

Edited November 26, 2021 by NinjaPowers975

[NinjaPowers975]

One more quick thought about this show up to now...

 

I LOVE how it seems light and breezy... Almost YA in terms of darkness and violence. And then suddenly it turns everything up to 11.

 

It's like a huge fake-out in every episode so far. Which is very true to the spirit of the books. A lot of the time RJ's prose can feel a little YA in tone, but then out of the blue horrible shocking things suddenly start happening. 

 

This show is absolutely capturing that dynamic.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by NinjaPowers975

[Harad the White]

Nice episode.

Noticed that after they discussed 5 DR candidates the first shot of the next scene was Logain, and the first shot of the next next scene was Nynaeve.

Also sticking with the gender-neutral DR they helped that idea by saying there had been past females Dragons.

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by Harad the White
Typos

[CaddySedai]

2 minutes ago, NinjaPowers975 said:

I LOVE how it seems light and breezy... Almost YA in terms of darkness and violence. And then suddenly it turns everything up to 11.

 

I'd never describe RJ as YA (even in part) or the show for that matter. But to your point one of his strengths was the stories were accessible to all ages.

 

Whether you were under 13, A teen, an adult - you would find something to like about the stories. Written so its not too hard to understand for youths, but not childish so as to turn off older readers. And not too gruesome to turn off those youths.

 

He walked a fine line between writers like Zelazny and Tolkien. 

[Harad the White]

36 minutes ago, NinjaPowers975 said:

I love how dark this show is willing to get. The final moment with the Grinwells...

It's no GoT. ? I am channeling a a naysayer.

[NinjaPowers975]

2 minutes ago, CaddySedai said:

 

I'd never describe RJ as YA (even in part) or the show for that matter. But to your point one of his strengths was the stories were accessible to all ages.

 

Whether you were under 13, A teen, an adult - you would find something to like about the stories. Written so its not too hard to understand for youths, but not childish so as to turn off older readers. And not too gruesome to turn off those youths.

 

He walked a fine line between writers like Zelazny and Tolkien. 

 

Yeah, that's a better description than mine but I think we mean the same thing.

 

The difference these days is how much shows and even books are pigeonholed into very tight boxes in terms of age range. If you start a show with a younger character, you're almost forced to censor the hell out of your content by networks.

 

 

[CaddySedai]

1 minute ago, Harad the White said:

It's no GoT. ? I am channeling a a naysayer.

 

True. WoT tends to stray away from all of the (sensitivity block)

Spoiler

Rape, nonconsensual violating, mass murder for the sake of shock value, and unlike GoT the most liked character goes from the threat of madness to being a hero... whereas GoT decided to just allow its most loved character to bang her sibling, go bonkers for seemingly no reason, and just tank the series to the point fans begged for a do over. lol. 

 

I'd like their viewership numbers but...nothing else. lol

 

Well ok and their incredible amount of merch. Dat too. KThx ?

 

[Harad the White]

Try #2.

It is actually like GoT because it has scenes of beauty and scenes of brutality, dark and light moments done artistically.

[Harad the White]

Book spoilers ok on this thread?

[DaddyFinn]

2 minutes ago, Harad the White said:

Book spoilers ok on this thread?

Yes. This thread has the "book spoilers" tag 

[CaddySedai]

5 minutes ago, Harad the White said:

Try #2.

It is actually like GoT because it has scenes of beauty and scenes of brutality, dark and light moments done artistically.

 

Oh not saying its Baaaaad. Just sayin is all ?

[rtt]

Nynaeve's whole arc is about struggling to use her power and control it at first she can barely activate it.  She shouldn't just be able to blast an AoE heal without training.  

 

*Edit*

Stay on topic.

[Harad the White]

And then after the foreshadowing of Nynaeve and Logain as candidate DR #5, the epic meeting of the two in the cave--nicely done!

[Pandemonium]

2 hours ago, Beidomon said:

I agree with these thoughts, and the best part is that they managed to do in a manner that felt natural. This episode was hands down the best so far. Logain was fantastic. 

 

But damn they are changing a lot. Ok, now that we’ve told Logain’s story, and finally explained a few things to the audience about the Ajahs and the OP and the madness, and started really fleshing out the characters, I hope we can now back to something a bit closer to the books? We’ve got 4 epis left to do the Ways, Fal Dara, the Blight, the Eye, and the DR reveal. If they keep adding new stuff that means they’re gonna have to keep cutting deeper and deeper. 

my main hope is this show does super high numbers and they decide to give it more budget for season 3 and beyond.  I can dream right?  10 episodes would be so much better 

[Harad the White]

Who is Elusha Salid? A Forsaken?

[Fox]

Just watched; 

 

Good episode, best one so far, still keeping the main story beats. Still weird how they are treating the DR, man or woman, 5 possibilities, throwing fakes on who it is.

 

Did the Aes Sedai break the 3 oaths in that battle? Alanna intentionally dropped those arrows on the soldiers. 

 

Loved how they showed the taint on the OP.   

 

Really enjoyed this episode, still struggling with how different it is from the books, but i do believe they are the best they can

[Harad the White]

Just now, Fox said:

Still weird how they are treating the DR, man or woman, 5 possibilities, throwing fakes on who it is.

It's a good plan to build up the power of the eventual DR contest winner.

[Fox]

4 minutes ago, Harad the White said:

It's a good plan to build up the power of the eventual DR contest winner.

 

It is, and get why they are doing it. Still rubs me a bit, but I knew they would have changes in it that would do that 

[Harad the White]

No takers on Elusha Salid? She talks in Logain's ear, spiritually speaking.