tv show spoilers S1E5: Blood Calls Blood

[Mailman]

7 minutes ago, Sir_Charrid said:

I should be getting back to it soon as I am re reading the EOTW but I am sure that story is lifted from the books, might not be Egwene but I do remember an Aes Sedai asking Nyn if she ever had someone who was sick, should not have survived but did and she recalls breakbone fever and how she felt sick the next day. 

In the books she healed Egwene who had breakback fever but it was not a fatal fever in the book but Nynvaeve thought she was dying and healed her. Egwene was being treated by the old wisdom at the time.

[dwn]

5 minutes ago, Agitel said:

 

Loial was going to point out 

  Reveal hidden contents

that Jain isn't dead yet, or at least was seen alive after Egwene was born.

 

This is what I felt they were going for. Along with a dash of Loial taking what Rand says a bit too literally.

[Scarloc99]

17 minutes ago, Harad the White said:

? I should hope not!

As opposed to GOT lol 

[A Memory Of Why]

Second watch and I'm still loving Loial, I could have gone with him speaking a bit slower and a few "hmmmmmmmm's" but I think it's best to disassociate Ogiers from Ents and Loial being a bit excitable is on par ?

 

Seriously though, on my rewatch I really couldn't help but think...

 

Spoiler

Loial secretly wanted to be hasty!

 

Can someone with skills grab a screenshot of Loials big grin at the end of that scene and meme this please.

 

[Scarloc99]

21 hours ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

#3. Liked that we got Logain laughing in the cage scene (reeeally disliked that they're strongly implying he's laughing at Matt & not Rand ... That ruins one of the most iconic book scenes.) 

 

From the non book reading audience perspective, but also from Rand and Mats perspective he was laughing at Mat. This is the kind of shot that is put in to switch and bait, so later on when Rand is revealed people can go back and go ahhhh. I also hope they flashback all the times Padin Fain has been seen, it is almost too subtle which means non books readers are less likely to see it (my wife didn't pick up on it, partly because it has been 5 episodes since we last saw the character, and that was only briefly). 

[Scarloc99]

21 hours ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

 

Hopefully once they abandon this : Who is the Dragon? thing ... They'll get on with telling the WoT story. That's the rhythm I'm hoping for. And pleeease give us more Forsaken than just Ishy & more of Fain & don't cut Elaida. 

I want either Fain to be cut pretty soon, or his story end completely re written, in the books his was the biggest let down, buikding up to some epic showdown with matt, and it instead turns into the Night King from GOT, seasons of build just to have arya stab him really easily. 

[Harad the White]

2 minutes ago, Sir_Charrid said:

I want either Fain to be cut pretty soon, or his story end completely re written, in the books his was the biggest let down, buikding up to some epic showdown with matt, and it instead turns into the Night King from GOT, seasons of build just to have arya stab him really easily. 

Not that easy for Arya to get her diploma from FMI (Faceless Men Institute). Was GoT's faceless men a tribute to WoT's Fades?

[Scarloc99]

20 hours ago, Sabio said:

Well for a side character to die and to make sure we know Nyn loves Lan.

It shows the non book audience just how dangerous it is to a warder if his Aes Sedai dies, that is a bit bit thing for later on in the series. My wife, who has never read the books, ended last episode complaining Steppin was stupid for attacking, askig why he couldn't control himself. This episode helped her understand better what that link is like. 

[LoRd PyrO]

22 hours ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

?? I mean more that they made them almost all white dudes with Hitler staches. 

 

I do read the Questioners as basically Inquisition style "truth" seekers. 

 

 

I apologize if read this wrong; but; Valda is portrayed as a Black man....

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

1 hour ago, AusLeviathan said:

It was a little unclear, Rand said Egwene thought she was Jain Farstrider herself which made me wonder if they were gender swapping Jain or if they just got confused about how to word it. I figured Loial was just talking about how unlikely it would be to know who you're reborn as given how many souls there would be.

 

In any case if they're going with the argument that Ogier know this then it would make it even weirder that Aes Sedai don't. Though perhaps the show is different given Loial was being chased by people in Tar Valon as if he was a monster, despite there being an Ogier grove in Tar Valon.

Or because he was going to point out that Jain was still alive less than 20 years previously and human souls are not likely to be immediately spun out again.  After all book knowledge allows us to infer that it is Jain who brought mention of the eye to the stedding some years prior to Loial leaving and that Jain is still alive.  I disliked that Loial did not use "metaphor" when he realised that Rand's comment on Egwene's notion of being Jain was merely figurative.

[LoRd PyrO]

Okay. My major issues are the fact that MAJOR characters and scenes have been deleted/ sped up. I understand cost/ adaptability; however, the whole Elyas thread is a major point, as is the hardships getting to Camlyn and meeting Elayne. Without Camlyn, how do you get Elaida's prophecy?!

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

1 hour ago, FanofKnotai said:

No actually I wasn’t. The Children were said to torture when they are given “suspected darkfriends”.  Even when Pedron Niall has Geofram meet Valda in the village before going on to Falme in The Great Hunt. Bornhold remarks on how Valda releases entire village of people to make room for his troops despite Bornhold’s orders to “not leave tongues allowed to wag” by Niall. He had no reason for suspecting them for DF besides “remembering their faces”, let alone to suspect her of being able to channel. 

Not Valda (who is a regular Lord Captain not a questioner in the books) - Caridin (who I admin I suspect they TV show will conflate with Valda).

[flinn]

 I thought he was going to say "but Jain isnt dead"

[Joe B]

2 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

regarding valda, i suspect if he has a ter'angreal like the one mat gets? he thought egwene could channel, and he was provoking her into channeling. what kind of madmen would do that? what kind of madmen would do that with 7 aes sedai, and be still alive at the end?

maybe he can taunt aes sedai like that because he's got his little secret?

otherwise, i have a hard time making sense of his behavior.

1. My first immediate thought was "OH NO! I know they didn't give him Mat's foxhead."  In regard to Valda's behavior...if you recall, Mat was very flippant until the ladies learned the loophole.

2. On second viewing, I think they buffed the untrained Egwene and had her spilt the flows; one to distract Valda and one to free Perrin.

3. I don't like either thought, but...

4. It is what it is.

[JaimAybara]

Another issue, even though I like how Perrin and Egwene did in their part, Perrin didn’t wipe out a handful of Whitecloaks…(Perhaps they will give chase and it happens soon?) if he doesn’t this completely retools his conflict with the axe at least in the start of the story. The warning was that it’s when you start to like it that you should get rid of it. This conflict is just pity and guilt driven vs. a

Spoiler

more bloodlust drive and honestly a more complex struggle. What is a man who likes/enjoys to kill but a monster? Paired with talking to wolves etc

. I don’t want to be a nitpicker. Please talk me down folks. Haha. Sorry.

Edited December 4, 2021 by JaimAybara
Potential Spoiler

[Beidomon]

2 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

By the way, speaking of minor nuisances, while I like the scenery it chafes that we never see any farm or plantation. I mean, the buildings yes, farms with barns and everything. But not actual fields. they aren't growing anything. even tar valon, a huge city, what do they eat? it's all woods around as far as the eye can see. it spoils a bit the atmosphere

They eat persimmons. 

[flinn]

Even if he had killed Valda or any other whitecloaks as he escaped, I dont see how he could have the same guilt. They were literally torturing him. Because he had his "confession" about his wife, I unfortunately feel like that is going to be the story. Somehow he wants the whitecloaks to punish him or relieve him from his guilt. If that becomes the case, why he would look to the whitecloaks for his redemption is going to be hard to swallow.

[Arie]

There is the point where Valda saw Perrin's golden eyes and become 'beastlike' in nature. Another reason to hunt him.

[CaddySedai]

21 minutes ago, Arie said:

There is the point where Valda saw Perrin's golden eyes and become 'beastlike' in nature. Another reason to hunt him.

 

Right because such changes are clearly a sign of allegiance to the Dark One. 

 

Or so it shall be seen as by the CotL

[Hudson]

Willing to overlook skipping Caemlyn.

Willing to overlook Elias not being intro'd yet and maybe not at all.

Willing to overlook the green man may have been cut.

Willing to overlook the WAY too much time spent on Stepin IMO.

Enjoying some of the character development.  Doing some good work there with little conversations, etc.

Love the actor playing Loial.  His voice is awesome.  His mannerisms and tone, etc. are spot on for me.  The visual isn't working at all though.  He needs to be much bigger.  Accomplish through CGI or through film techniques, I don't care but I'm struggling with that.  Oh..and his hair.  Meh.

I cannot overlook the almost complete change of personality of Lan.  Lan is a stone.  A rock.  They have him touching every other person on the shoulder, the crying, the crying out...but the ripping open his shirt at the end.  Terrible IMO.  That is not Robert Jordan's Lan IMO.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Hudson
Spelling/Clarification

[elteryon]

Enjoyed the Way of the Leaf demonstration that we see here. Thought it portrayed the power and vulnerability of the philosophy as starkly as I pictured while reading the books.

[grayavatar]

Lan is too emotional. Too much too soon. I would have preferred him to be portrayed like an Asian Henry Cavill in the Witcher

 

A lot of cool bits have been skipped and replaced with long boring discussions.

 

Great characters seem to have been skipped and the focus has been placed on insignificant background characters.

 

Where is Elayne, Gawin, Galad, Morgase, Min, Bayle Domon, Basil Gill, Gareth Bryne? No lets skip all them because we don't have time and instead lets focus a whole episode instead on Stepin who was barely mentioned and died in the background in the books...

 

Padan Fain has not been shown entering Shadar Logoth and if you think about it, that is one of the most important things to happen in the books.

 

I'm starting to feel like the writers of the series have no concept of what is a key moment in the story and instead are looking for cool moments to grab audiences. Unfortunately I feel it is all coming across a bit beige instead.

[HeWhoRunsWithTheSpears]

There is a lot to like about this episode, and a lot to wonder about.

 

Loved meeting Loial. I think the actor did a great job with the voice/mannerisms/whole ethos of the character (him going on after everyone left the room is 100% Loial). I wish he was taller. I get the show constraints. I don't want him to look like a Trolloc (CGI). But like, where is his mustache? His ears? Let's just be upfront here. They took a non-human character and decided to cast him with African American features. Honestly, that's kind of racist? And not true to the character's description in the books. I know the anti-woke crowd is already against the show for the diverse casting, but this seemed like a poke in the eye (no pun intended) on a character where it wasn't needed nor warranted.

 

Man, I was really hoping for a "meeting of the minds" between Perrin and Hopper here (and subsequent Whitecloak slaying). I can only assume they are subbing out Perrin's killing of the Whitecloaks for the killing of his (fake) wife as the thing that weighs on his conscious? Maybe because they made the Whitecloaks too evil out of the gate and murdering completely evil people wouldn't register as something to be remorseful over by the audience?

 

I loved seeing Dragonmount in that shot with Rand and Mat. "I think I've seen this before" !!!!!

 

I get that people are upset with how much time was spent with Stepin and Katrene. I agree it was a few too many minutes. But I like that the Warder-Aes Sedai bond is being explained. It's not really critical to the overall story, but it's certainly one of the more human/emotional aspects of WoT and it's something that the non-book reader can easily identify with. That being said, I agree with some other posters that I wish Lan was portrayed as more statuesque. I LOVE the casting of Daniel Henney, don't get me wrong (some people thought an Asian person shouldn't be cast as Lan? What? Pretty clear to me that all Borderlanders are takes on Asian cultures). But I really want to see the "man cut from stone" that is Lan. I get that in that end scene he is doing his duty (very much a feature of Lan) by taking on everyone else's grief, but I feel like that duty character trait could have been portrayed a different way.

 

I'm still high on the series so far. You cannot let yourself be bogged down in the changes the show is making from the books. It's impossible to adapt 10,000+ pages of literature to TV without making drastic changes.

 

 

*PS - The Forsaken shrine! Not from the books but I loved that. Sammael is the short one, right?

[FanofKnotai]

2 hours ago, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

Not Valda (who is a regular Lord Captain not a questioner in the books) - Caridin (who I admin I suspect they TV show will conflate with Valda).

You’re right. I confused Valda with Asunawa. However Jaichim Carridin was the Lord Captain that was a DF (the man who called himself Bors at the DF gathering)

[HeWhoRunsWithTheSpears]

3 hours ago, LoRd PyrO said:

Okay. My major issues are the fact that MAJOR characters and scenes have been deleted/ sped up. I understand cost/ adaptability; however, the whole Elyas thread is a major point, as is the hardships getting to Camlyn and meeting Elayne. Without Camlyn, how do you get Elaida's prophecy?!

Is Elyas really a major character? If he's eliminated, what actually changes? Do they really need to go to Caemlyn this season? Elayne's character is not important until the next book. They do not have enough money to build a set for every single place they go in EoTW. You have to think about what's actually important. Major character developments.