tv show spoilers S1E7: The Dark Along the Ways

[Elder_Haman]

10 minutes ago, divica said:

the show ignored the effects of rand finding out that tam wasn't his father in ep 1.

But he didn’t find that out. Tam was just rambling. He just pieced it together. 

[GSH]

While most of us prefer not to indulge in gratuitous gore, if more Blood Snow scenes, mass healings, trollic raids (with cook pots), and dozens of other great book images made it into future episodes very soon, this WoT TV series could last a longtime.  If not, stick a fork in S3 and beyond, IMHO.

[Gothic Flame]

1 hour ago, NetNightmare said:

Well obviously you are free to see it that way, in my opinion they simply decided not to show Rand channeling because it served their purpose in the "Who is the Dragon Reborn?".

I think that arstechnica review said something similar.

[CaddySedai]

Either way, my non book friends actually liked the reveal.

 

I was indifferent but i enjoyed it because I knew it would finally end the DR speculation haha. 

 

Meant my life on the forums would be a teensy bit quieter now that that thread is cut haha.

[DaddyFinn]

1 hour ago, NetNightmare said:

Are you by chance quoting book knowledge here ? because it is quite clear that in the "show" we see Logain channel from various PoV and we do not see Rand channel if not later on the flashback. I agree with the original poster that the show is lying to the audience they cheated to cover the "who is the dragon Reborn", if you do not agree that it is "cheating" you will at least convene it is quite confusing at the best...

 

In the books Rand didn't see any weaves when he healed Bela and called the lightning because he was unaware he was channeling. The show seems to do the same with the door. I'm not sure if he already knew when he was in the Ways and we just saw it from Egwene's POV so we only saw saidar and didn't see saidin and the Corruption. 

[DigificWriter]

52 minutes ago, divica said:

it is undeniable that the show ignored the effects of rand finding out that tam wasn't his father in ep 1

 

Not telling the audience about information that the characters know before it becomes relevant to audiences understanding the story isn't 'ignoring' the existence of said information.

 

You seem to either be genuinely unaware of how visual-medium storytelling works or aren't willing to let the show actually use the tools of visual-medium storytelling to convey stuff to the audience.

Edited December 19, 2021 by DigificWriter

[Ralph]

I didn't like the Machin Shin part of the reveal, because it was a full part of the earlier scene, and was omitted purely for this. 

 

The flashback I didn't mind, although it could have been cleverer. I don't agree that they haven't written its effect on Rand - I assumed his volatility throughout (suddenly shouting at M, his see sawing re Eg, etc) we are intended to understand to have been because this has been eating at him. But he may never have known this might mean he is the DR. 

 

Re channeling, I don't mind that they didn't show Rand channelling before, but I do think they have been inconsistent. When Liandrin gentled the channeller in the open to Ep1 we couldn't see the weaves

I know RJII once said if you are female channelled you'll see them, so I assumed that scene was POV of the man, but then other scenes are not consistent. 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Ralph

[DaddyFinn]

I liked this one. He makes good analysis on Rand's character throughout the series and how the fever dream reveal affected him. He also talks about some of the other characters (The "worst part of the series" is about the supposed love triangle)

 

 

 

[VooDooNut]

Is it just me, or did anyone else see the resemblance here?

 

Such creepy/cool shots.

[Guest Wolfbrother31]

You know, people can argue back and forth if they "cheated" with the Dragon reveal but...

 

I've been very critical that they're playing up the "who is the Dragon" as a mystery from the get go - cause I think it's really dumb (and is the reason for a lot of the lore changes and lack of character development of Rand) as a book reader.

 

But my earlier point from talking to a non-reader is: apparently the shows done a pretty good job of it. Because even after "the reveal" a bunch of non-readers don't believe Rand is the Dragon. 

 

Which is actually perfect - cause whether my hot take (see predictions thread) is right or not - they can continue to play on Rand's doubts himself that he's the Dragon. Then they can bring in more of the actual prophecies (we haven't actually "heard" even one in the show yet right?) and can have Rand fulfilling them.

 

It could actually work quite well. For non readers & as critical as I've been of show...think about this: 

We're all experiencing with the characters we love ... What's going to happen next?! Who knows?! 

 

How in the world are they gonna fix the Matt/Fain plot? We don't know...

 

How are they gonna move forward with the ships we got this season? We don't know...

 

Who are these Forsaken and what their motivations? We don't know...

 

The show could do anything. 

I'm definitely still watching and talking about it and complaining! ? 

[RhienneAgain]

2 hours ago, JaimAybara said:

Haha ain’t that the truth. Was it because it moved too fast for Lan and Nynaeve? Or do you not like their chemistry? 

I just feel that their dialogue and interaction is at odds with their book characters - very little of it feels like the kind of things the book Nynaeve and book Lan would say to each other (or at all).  I actually like both actors, and their chemistry, and their interactions...to me they are just not recognisable as Lan and Nynaeve from the books (either as individual characters or as a couple).

[DigificWriter]

5 minutes ago, RhienneAgain said:

very little of it feels like the kind of things the book Nynaeve and book Lan would say to each other (or at all). 

 

Good.

 

Because the show's versions of these two characters aren't the same as their book counterparts, nor should they be.

[Ralph]

26 minutes ago, Ralph said:

I didn't like the Machin Shin part of the reveal, because it was a full part of the earlier scene, and was omitted purely for this. 

 

The flashback I didn't mind, although it could have been cleverer. I don't agree that they haven't written its effect on Rand - I assumed his volatility throughout (suddenly shouting at M, his see sawing re Eg, etc) we are intended to understand to have been because this has been eating at him. But he may never have known this might mean he is the DR. 

 

Re channeling, I don't mind that they didn't show Rand channelling before, but I do think they have been inconsistent. When Liandrin gentled the channeller in the open to Ep1 we couldn't see the weaves

I know RJII once said if you are female channelled you'll see them, so I assumed that scene was POV of the man, but then other scenes are not consistent. 

 

Just re watching end of Ep4, and you don't see the weaves in most of the battle either. Presuming POV is Nynaeve, it seems she can't see them until she channels. 

 

But it is a inconsistent that in the cave we can see both female and male weaves, since nobody should be able to do that. And to say then it is omniscient POV is too contrived

[RhienneAgain]

3 minutes ago, DigificWriter said:

 

Good.

 

Because the show's versions of these two characters aren't the same as their book counterparts, nor should they be.

I disagree, but that's down to personal preference, I suppose.  I don't mind the plot changing (even dramatically) but I want the new dialogue and action required by the TV series to feel like its true to the original character of the characters from the books.  I find it really breaks my immersion when I feel like some characters are acted very similar to their book counterparts (Moiraine, for example), whereas others feel like they only share the name and job description (like Lan).

[RhienneAgain]

3 minutes ago, Ralph said:

 

Just re watching end of Ep4, and you don't see the weaves in most of the battle either. Presuming POV is Nynaeve, it seems she can't see them until she channels. 

 

But it is a inconsistent that in the cave we can see both female and male weaves, since nobody should be able to do that. And to say then it is omniscient POV is too contrived

To be honest, I think we're overthinking this.  I don't think its tied to POV at all - too much inconsistency.  I think they are just showing it where they want to, and not where they don't.

[Ralph]

4 minutes ago, RhienneAgain said:

To be honest, I think we're overthinking this.  I don't think its tied to POV at all - too much inconsistency.  I think they are just showing it where they want to, and not where they don't.

 

I understand, but since he said "you'll see it if you're a woman who can channel" I assumed he meant POV. 

 

 

[Ralph]

Just now, Ralph said:

 

I understand, but since he said "you'll see it if you're a woman who can channel" I assumed he meant POV. 

 

 

And of course they're not showing when it is plot-convenient not to show,  and showing when it convenient to show, but that could be via choice of POV

[Bruan]

Ok... I have nitpicks. But I must say, for the first time in seven episodes, I finally feel like my nitpicks are me comparing the books to a somewhat changed film adaptation rather than watching something and wondering how this story relates to the books. My only question, where was this adaptation for the last six episodes?

[JaimAybara]

2 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

But he didn’t find that out. Tam was just rambling. He just pieced it together. 

It would have been nice to get some snippets of that night prior to the reveal, or maybe some of the early mutterings that if you rewound and really listened to it, you could have picked up a bread crumb or two. Because it did come off as mystery clues the viewer didn’t really even get an opportunity to piece together. I think they did okay with the door, we knew something happened, same with the ways, but not the fever dreams or what Machin Shin said. 

[dwn]

26 minutes ago, JaimAybara said:

It would have been nice to get some snippets of that night prior to the reveal, or maybe some of the early mutterings that if you rewound and really listened to it, you could have picked up a bread crumb or two. Because it did come off as mystery clues the viewer didn’t really even get an opportunity to piece together. I think they did okay with the door, we knew something happened, same with the ways, but not the fever dreams or what Machin Shin said. 

There's also the visual cues, this being TV and all. Moiraine is particularly interested in children born outside the Two Rivers--she brings this up with Nynaeve--and Rand is super 100% obviously not from 'round these parts.

[ArrylT]

I am going to have to triple check - but it has been mentioned in a few YT channels - and it seemd that way from what I saw - and once again shows how faithfully the show is trying to adapt the books - but 

 

(a) no one was hooded within Fal Dara 

 

(b) everyone in Fal Dara had a weapon close at hand

[ArrylT]

55 minutes ago, Ralph said:

And of course they're not showing when it is plot-convenient not to show,  and showing when it convenient to show, but that could be via choice of POV

 

Did you just talk to yourself?   Can you channel?   ??

[dwn]

6 minutes ago, ArrylT said:

(a) no one was hooded within Fal Dara 

 

(b) everyone in Fal Dara had a weapon close at hand

I thought about the hoods as they approached the city and completely forgot to watch for it!

Edited December 19, 2021 by dwn

[JaimAybara]

7 minutes ago, dwn said:

There's also the visual cues, this being TV and all. Moiraine is particularly interested in children born outside the Two Rivers--she brings this up with Nynaeve--and Rand is super 100% obviously not from 'round these parts.

Oh yeah, for sure. Also, I’ve been having a blast seeing all the Easter Eggs. Nynaeve’s yellow dress under her coat and the red trunk in the Aes Sedai camp in episode 4. Also the flame and the void in episode 7 I really enjoyed. They’ve definitely done a good job on visual cues. 

[ArrylT]

1 minute ago, dwn said:

I though about the hoods as they approached the city and completely forgot to watch for it!

 

Also, the description of having a large area around Fal Dara being completely open was pretty well done (for me) in the show as well.      And the nods to the Black Hawk (with the heraldry shown)