tv show spoilers S1E7: The Dark Along the Ways

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

1 hour ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

Min. Not how I pictured her - her prophecy for Moiraine...hmm, more changes coming I guess? Didn't love it.

Failed to ask about the face of the Amyrlin in the vision...

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

1 hour ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

#7] The Nynaeve supernova bubble - disliked - looked silly. 

What shape would you prefer for a ward to hold back a threat from all sides - a truncated icosahedron?

 

A kind of "you shall not pass" vibe here - shouldn't a respected mentor figure have plummeted into the depths?

Edited December 17, 2021 by bringbackthomsmoustache
To add picture

[ArrylT]

3 minutes ago, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

Failed to ask about the face of the Amyrlin in the vision...

 

Yes I noticed that too.  Especially since Min had previously shown a willingness to Aes Sedai the Aes Sedai by making her explanations vague (the big broody guy).   

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

1 hour ago, CaddySedai said:

Because a Forsaken letting Fain in - one way - works but then how did he get out? Did Ishy hold his hand the whole way in?

And why would a forsaken not just travel him - has he been made into shadowspawn and unable to travel?  

 

1 hour ago, CaddySedai said:

Plus they were a gift to the Ogier - in places the Power cant be used. So there HAS to be another way to operate them. 

"it's not a silly question.  The waygates were built immediately outside the borders of the stedding" Loial (in the book).

 

What I really don't like is the lore stating they were made in the age of legends rather than during the breaking.

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

31 minutes ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

Also doesnt make a lot of sense that he brought... 1 Trolloc to attack them? 

That was a fairly sickly looking trolloc though ...

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

24 minutes ago, Sabio said:

28 minutes ago, DermidAjala said:

Can't believe people even entertained the idea he'd kill Shaiel in the predictions thread.

They had Perin kill his wife, so I wouldn't say it was totally out of the realm of possibility they could have changed Tam finding Rand to Tam accidently killing his mom.

Also it was not necessary of reasonable to have her fighting at all - the books only indicate that she died in child birth (very common in a low tech culture especially without assistance of a midwife).

[Sabio]

You sort of assumed she was fighting since she was found out there alone.  It's unlikely the Aiel would have just left her had she been in camp.  So the fact she was by herself led you to think she had been fighting and got split off from the group or something.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Sabio

[ArrylT]

In the companion book it states that she died of wounds.   

[Sabio]

Anyone else disappointed how they handled Moiraine with her threatening Min.  Seemed a bit harsh having her threaten to tell the Aes Sedai about Min unless Min told her what she saw.

[Jaysen Gore]

My thoughts

- loved all of the stuff with the Blood Snow, and especially the kindness at the end. Win all around. And we got the fever dream flashback. So lots of people right on that one. Was it excessive that a woman in labour killed 5-6 men. sure. Looked good, tho.

 - I did like how they handled the Mat situation, and agree with what a lot of people are saying - Mat's run in with the Reds will help lead to the Fox.

 - The ways were cool enough I guess. Another example where 70 minutes would have been so much better than 60. They didn't need 1/2 an episode, but a few more minutes would have helped a bunch

- I kind of liked Nynaeve's shield bubble. Super Saiyan, sure, but she's not really channelling at this point, she's just kind of exploding with the power. So it conveys really well that she is not in control of herself. They'll explore this much better in S2, when she tries to channel when she's not in danger.

 - Agelmar; I get the sense that there's a little resentment to the tower for either thinking his sister wasn't good enough, or getting her out of his topknot

- Uno!! although way, way shorter that I was expecting.  Flaming bloody borderlander with a Napoleon complex.

 - During this episode, I actually thought PF did die in the TR, and this is actually one of the Forsaken.  He's just surviving too much evil too naturally. It requires an explanation, sometime.

 - Perrin / Egwene / Rand. Just ugh. no.  BUT...I did like the fact that Mr. I'm pretty sure I'm the Dragon Reborn backed down from his rather large and annoyed friend.

 - Loved the Lan stuff, but really would have liked the Oath to be spoken.  And I'm not sure we're going to get THE Lan speech now, which would be a shame.

 - Min seems less playful than I imagined her.  She also has been darkened down, like the boys

 - I also fell for the door edit cuts. Good for them.  And Rand / Moiraine leaving was perfectly in character. So much that Lan should have got everyone moving the minute he felt the bond mask.

 - the blight was not what I was expecting, but we'll see more next week.

 

I'm sure they'll be more chat, but I thought I'd dump my initial thoughts out.

Oh - and the first episode I felt the need to watch twice. Much denser, but didn't feel rushed like the opener. Good job all around 8/10

 

[Jaysen Gore]

1 hour ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

If all of S2 is like the Blood Snow scenes... Then we'll be cooking with gas. Might make it to S8! 

The main thought that occured to me watching this - that Aiel fighting style means they aren't going to need to CGI 1/2 million of them coming over the wall. They'll be able to get by with many fewer of them, because they are so much more dangerous.

[Jaysen Gore]

38 minutes ago, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

A kind of "you shall not pass" vibe here - shouldn't a respected mentor figure have plummeted into the depths?

meh. It's been done. ?‍♂️

[Jaysen Gore]

3 hours ago, Maximillion said:

Oh , by the way, where did Loial go???

 He just disappeared from the episode.

He was there up until the point everyone started bed hopping and door knocking. So I'm okay with him only in the first half. Could of used a Glory to the Builders, though.

[dorotea]

Might be just me but I am trying to guess what would a none-book-reader think about the whole mess of Tigraine killing many plate-clad knights then giving birth to a baby on the slopes of the Dragon Mount be all about? If you never heard/read/ was spoiled the prophecy would not you be plain annoyed by this very cool but irrelevant and time consuming sequence? Will it add to your confusion or make you excited? I liked this part a lot, but it genuinely felt like a bone thrown to a reader at the expense of none-reader viewers. Was it THAT difficult to cut some prime Stepin show and mention the Dragon mountain, just saying.

 

Also the whole CW high school drama of aww Perrin had an eye for Egg  was absolutely pointless plot-wise, and felt like another bone thrown solely to YA audience. And they wasted precious time that could have been spent on the above mentioned Dragon Mount exposition.

 

Nyn jumping into Lan's bed just cheapened the whole affair to the point of me de-investing out of their relationship altogether. Remember in the books he says there are always women in and out of my bed but you are the one? Now she is just one of the many. I betcha they are going to compensate for this by making her of Royal blood of Manetheren or something, because her late parents spoke in Old Tongue. But nope, the YA audience would not be interested if they did not sleep together in the 1st season.

 

Rand reveal was not bad, except him actually channeling Saidin in the way was so tiny-winy affair when compared to Nynaeve completely unblocked performance that if I were Moraine I would have bundled him up and sent him to Reds as he is a puny channeler claiming he is a DR. And remember the viewer has no clue what's the baby in the blood snow is all about.

 

The show seems tp be shooting itself in the foot every time it is about to gain some momentum. This eppy is better then 6 but still an ugly duckling. I am not expecting a swan any time soon.

 

Oh, and there was an elf girl from GoT there for some reason, claiming to be Min.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by dorotea
typos

[Jaysen Gore]

2 hours ago, JaimAybara said:

One more thing I’ll toss in. Although I loved Lan’s added story I wish there was the story of the best soldiers in his nation dying to smuggle him out vs. just one family. 
 

*Am I misremembering this? I thought there were a bunch of the best swordsmen in the land protecting him and then by New Spring there was just a few who raised him and then the one left before he joins Moiraine.* 

Nope, it was kind of a 7 out of Thebes thing, with them slowly falling 1 by 1 to get him out. Another example of where even another 90 seconds could have really added emotional punch.

[Skipp]

Wow, lots to cover.

 

Loved the creeping realization of Rand putting his thoughts together about being the DR.  I really preferred this than seeing some big explosive reveal.

 

The Blood Snow!  So very cool to see what we did.  Shaiel was a badass and I loved how it ended with just a shot of the Heron Mark blade.

 

Combing those two points, it was very quick but we got to see the fever conversation. We also confirmed that the sword has a Heron mark on it's sheath.

 

The Ways were very cool.  I wish we could have spent an entire episode there but I will take what we got.  I thought making the Blackwind force your creeping doubts onto yourself was a nice touch.  The Blackwind in the books was creepy and disgusting but I am not sure if it would have translated well to the screen.

 

Padan Fain's happy little strut while leaving the ways.  Apparently there is a still of him in the bonus features holding a 3 bladed leaf object.

 

Loial was spot on again but suddenly disappeared for half the episode.

 

I think Moiraine sending the reds after Mat was a strategic thing.  Couldn't send the blues as they would ask to many questions and they don't know who Mat Cauthon is.  Liandrin presumably already knows what he looks like and this sets up Mats future dislike of Aes Sedai.

 

Freak loved Min.  She is one of my favourite characters in the books and I loved what they did with her visions.  Also she was sassy/feisty enough for me.

 

Nynaeve and Lan getting together was sweet.  I enjoyed seeing Lan spend some time with friends. 

 

I did not care for the Love triangle plot they threw in the middle.  I am really curious to see where they are gonna go with his as it seems too purposeful otherwise.  I do believe Perrin when he says he has only loved his wife.

 

So hyped for next week! 9/10

[Jaysen Gore]

51 minutes ago, Sabio said:

Well alot will depend on "downfall".  In the book Siuan being put to the question leads to Elaida ordering Moiraine to be arrested, that could be her "downfall".  When Elaida discovered Siuan and Moiraine have been acting together.

Well, we've already seen Siuan trip Moiraine and beat her to the floor, so maybe it's that kind of downfall? ?

[Indil]

According to the Rand in this episode, I'm wondering if they'll keep book Rand's confusion about really being the DR or not in book 2 and 3? It seems his alright with it right now.

 

I really want to hear some prophecies directly quoted in the show. They are really well written, but all we get right now is some indirect reference, and a lot of Moiraine's doubt over it. Having in world people trust it less could work, but I'd say at least give the full material to the viewers for some entertainment and interpretation.

 

Dislike every change they've done with Perrin in the show. I can endure killing a wife, even though I'd agree with Brandon's killing or hurting Muster Luhan by accident. But now what's all about this love triangle? PHEW! It's pointless even in the show in the sense that it got dismissed 5 minutes away, but it does do my boy Perrin dirty.

 

Another thing to add, Lan's background story is not as impressive as it is in the book. I'm ok with show's version. "Last king and queen made a valiant last stand against the shadow" vs "on the night my family got slaughtered" aren't really different, both are true. But they certainly give different vibes, and I prefer the first over the second. And "13 best swordsmen cut a path out" vs "they smuggled me out". The second statement isn't wrong, but it takes away so much from what really happened. Simply saying something like "my parents ordered a group of armsmen to bring me to safety while they tried to make last defence, and that old man is the last surviver of those armsmen why made it out" can give much a similar vibe to the book's and doesn't take up any more time. I'm nitpicking here, but this is something I don't really understand about the show. Sometime they can directly pull the stuff from the book and have no time issue with it, but they just want to add some small twists here and there.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Indil

[Jaysen Gore]

And maybe my last thoughts for now
- I'm kind of okay that they moved Nynaeve / Lan up this episode. I'd have to think about it, but I think we're about to go 1.5 - 2+ seasons without them in the same scene (after FD, it's after Tear), so having this happen now will enforce for non-book readers that this is a serious relationship, and not just a passing crush.

 - I really don't get where Perrin / Egwene could possibly be going, story wise. Like at all. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Jaysen Gore

[ArrylT]

Personally  I think there was no love triangle.    I think it was a combination of 2 things

 

1 - Perrin loves Egwene, not romantically, but a lot of people  especially younger find it hard to properly develop their emotions.   So trying to balance the fact that Egwene is very attractive with being fond for her as a person can easily be mistaken as puppy love.  But once Perrin met / developed feelings for Laila he realized what love really was.  However, no matter what he still cares for Egwene, and I really felt that while re-reading EOTW.

 

2 - The show deciding to play this up for a variety of reasons

 

(a) of course Rand as confused as he is by all the different emotions & events is going to jump at the simplest explanation (when emotions are so complex)

 

(b) it adds to all the reasons why Rand & Egwene will never work - one of the epic what could never bes of fiction imo.

 

(c) A lot of people love extra drama in their shows, so having it nudged in this direction to give them some extra sprinkles on their ice cream

 

(d) who knows maybe this will be added benefit for when Perrin & Rand fake fight (more than once?) later on 

 

But that is just how I see it.    

[flinn]

“My name is Nynaeve ti al’Meara Mandragoran. The message I want sent is this. My husband rides from World’s End toward Tarwin’s Gap, toward Tarmon Gai’don. Will he ride alone?”

 

 bar patron wearing a hadori: "Pardon Aes Sedai, but who is your husband?"

 

 Nynaeve: "Lan, Lan Mandragoran"

 

bar patron wearing a hadori: "Who?"

 

 Nynaeve: "Come on, you know, Dai Shan, King of Malkieri"

 

bar patron wearing a hadori: "sounds familiar, any of you know this man she is talking about"

 

grizzled bar patron: "Aye, served with him in the Aiel War. Got stabbed between the legs on the first day by one of those Aiel women who uses the spears, spent the rest of the war in the healing tents learning to pee through a straw. Last I heard he went off to Tar Valon and become an Aes Sedai errand boy."

 

bar patron wearing a hadori: "Ow, ouch, eh, yeah think he will be riding alone Aes Sedai"

[Skipp]

57 minutes ago, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

Also it was not necessary of reasonable to have her fighting at all - the books only indicate that she died in child birth (very common in a low tech culture especially without assistance of a midwife).

In the books she died alone during child birth.  Why else would she have been alone except for getting caught in the fighting.

[Skipp]

48 minutes ago, Sabio said:

Anyone else disappointed how they handled Moiraine with her threatening Min.  Seemed a bit harsh having her threaten to tell the Aes Sedai about Min unless Min told her what she saw.

I think this showed more of Moraine's unwillingness to get anything get in the way of her mission. 

[WheelofJuke]

Had to listen to this to cleanse the palate:

 

 

[Tam]

Ok anyone else have a problem with them trying to show egwene and Perrin as having been an item