tv show spoilers S1E7: The Dark Along the Ways

[Yojimbo]

1 hour ago, Spiritweaver1 said:

Reading some of the comments back a bit in this thread about R/E/P reminded me that I wanted to mention one of the on going jokes in the book.  This is where our three boys always think and say that the other two, or third one if talking to one another is the absent one(s) that understands/is good with women.  I do hope that starts up soon.  I am thinking it may not.

 

 It's like the term wool head which is used when somebody is being foolish or dumb.  As somebody who has been around live sheep I got that perfectly and I thought is was a great way to anchor in our hero's origin's in a small village where wool and tabac are the chief products.  I am sure they didn't include that because 90 percent of the audience wouldn't get the reference.  

 

Another thing I want my Drakhar.  Let's not stint on the shadowspawn people.  

This is another of my major complaints.   So much of the lightheartedness has been removed.  It's another thing that makes it seem so different from the books.  They really seem to be accentuating the dark and grim aspects, which is a shame.   The innocence and occasional lightheartedness really makes it tonally different fro things like GoT.  I guess they didn't think a modern audience would appreciate that as much. 

[Jaysen Gore]

1 hour ago, Yojimbo said:

This is another of my major complaints.   So much of the lightheartedness has been removed.  It's another thing that makes it seem so different from the books.  They really seem to be accentuating the dark and grim aspects, which is a shame.   The innocence and occasional lightheartedness really makes it tonally different fro things like GoT.  I guess they didn't think a modern audience would appreciate that as much. 

This is one of the big Hollywood-isms. They can't tell the difference between YA and all ages anymore.  Same reason the kids are now definitely adults. So everyone gets more serious, more "grown up", and with darker motivations, especially in the Sci Fi / fantasy world, since that's already assumed to be childish.

 

Another big Hollywood-ism is all main characters must have a character growth arc.  So no one is allowed to be good just because they're good and to do the right thing without learning right from wrong, or overcoming some weakness first.  I"m amazed Tam survived untouched.

 

I don't know if I should blame Hollywood or the audience for those, but that's basically why I don't hold these types of changes against Rafe specifically. they're almost all guilty of it.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Jaysen Gore

[Vambram]

I gotta agree with y'all there. Although there is some grim dark fantasy I do enjoy, some of my favorite parts in the WoT books was the fun light hearted humor put in there by Robert Jordan. For me, RJ's humor was one of the aspects of his writing that set his books apart and made them better than most of the epic fantasy fiction out there from the last 30 years.

[notpropaganda73]

I think the little scene in ep7 where Perrin is explaining the Tinkers to Rand is a little snapshot of what we're all missing. I really liked it but it was all too brief

[Guest Cranglevoid]

This was one of my favorite episodes so far, though it had it's fair share of bad things.

 

What the hell is up with the choreography in the Tigraine fight? Look at the soldier just after he tries to slash her over the rock – is he having a seizure?

 

Not to mention him swinging about 5 feet above her head just before she janks his cloak. She doesn't even have to duck.

 

They've ruined machin shin. It was supposed to be this primevil being hell-bent on tearing you apart in the most horrific way. Something even trollocs and myrdraal feared. Now, it's just a stereotypical "whispers your biggest doubts in your head" thing. What on earth is it going to tell a trolloc? "You're not nearly as hairy as your brethren" or "Your smell barely brings tears to my eyes"?

 

And don't even get me started on them including yet another cringy "I'm so powerful I just have to scream to unleash the most complex and powerful of weaves even though I have zero knowledge of the power" Nynaeve moment.

 

I won't even get into the utterly ridiculous love triangle. Jesus Christ... Not to mention the constant smearing of Mat as weak-willed and inherently "dark".

 

But overall, a good episode (compared to the others). I really liked the reveal of the Dragon and Fal Dara looked great.

[TheSmurf]

58 minutes ago, Cranglevoid said:

They've ruined machin shin. It was supposed to be this primevil being hell-bent on tearing you apart in the most horrific way. Something even trollocs and myrdraal feared. Now, it's just a stereotypical "whispers your biggest doubts in your head" thing. What on earth is it going to tell a trolloc? "You're not nearly as hairy as your brethren" or "Your smell barely brings tears to my eyes"?

?

[wotfan4472]

13 hours ago, VooDooNut said:

This got me thinking...where is the projectile being fired from?

 

In this shot you can see what looks like Kinslayer's Dagger off in the distance, with the fired projectile coming from South of that. Seems like that would put its origins pretty close to Cairhein, no?

 

Alternatively, those could be The Black HIlls, and then I have no clue who's firing those things.

Could they actually be coming from ships in the river? I get a suspicion that may be the answer.

If the show map is still using the book geography, then there is a wide river meeting the Erinin just south of Dragonmount.

I mean, even in our world, ships had much greater range in siege weaponry than ground based equivalents.

If this worlds ground siege weapons have greater range of fire, then the ship equivalent should be much greater.

As an alternative, I can accept that the weapons fire may be coming from a nearby village or town that feeds Tar Valon.

Edited December 23, 2021 by wotfan4472

[Guest Cranglevoid]

On 12/21/2021 at 1:17 AM, Xen said:

Something that bugs me is people who have not even watched the episode who are some of the most prolific posters in threads about those episodes (whether it was DojoToad in previous threads or Gothic Flame here, who admitted earlier to stopping at episode 3).

 

Shouldn't a bare minimum for interacting in a thread about that episode be... having watched it?

 

It's just so weird to have folks who are not watching trying so desperately to convince people that the show is 'bad' when it so clearly is not.  I loved this episode; I have enjoyed most of them, in fact (with some issues, of course...)

 

I am also one of those people who would reread the *entire series* every time a new book came out.  Imposing your own personal opinion and saying that universally book fans must hate the show, especially when you are not even watching, is just so presumptuous.

A bit ironic to claim that people who say the show is bad are wrong because "it clearly isn't", and in the next breath talk about how wrong it is to impose your personal opinion and make blanket statements regarding something being good or not.

 

It's okay to like the show, it's okay to not like the show. The show is good to some and bad for others, and neither are wrong.

[Mrs. Yojimbo]

10 hours ago, Jaysen Gore said:

This is one of the big Hollywood-isms. They can't tell the difference between YA and all ages anymore.  Same reason the kids are now definitely adults. So everyone gets more serious, more "grown up", and with darker motivations, especially in the Sci Fi / fantasy world, since that's already assumed to be childish.

 

Another big Hollywood-ism is all main characters must have a character growth arc.  So no one is allowed to be good just because they're good and to do the right thing without learning right from wrong, or overcoming some weakness first.  I"m amazed Tam survived untouched.

 

I don't know if I should blame Hollywood or the audience for those, but that's basically why I don't hold these types of changes against Rafe specifically. they're almost all guilty of it.

 

Agree, this is the way of Hollywood for some time: all antiheroes, all the time. I think people miss straight-up good guys, even if they don't think they do. Reminds me of when Captain America: The First Avenger premiered in theaters. @Yojimbo and I were the two middle-aged adults in a theater full of tweener boys, and we were anticipating them being disruptive and noisy tweeners. But when the movie started, all was silent. And at the end of the picture, those boys got to their feet and gave it a standing ovation. 

[nsmallw]

21 hours ago, Skipp said:

 

Come to think of it the show runners introduced the idea that the Aes Sedai take the 3 oaths because of Hawkwing.  I wonder if that will be a plot going forward with the... you know.

What episode was Hawkwing mentioned ? I totally missed that.

[Xen]

46 minutes ago, Cranglevoid said:

46 minutes ago, Cranglevoid said:

A bit ironic to claim that people who say the show is bad are wrong because "it clearly isn't", and in the next breath talk about how wrong it is to impose your personal opinion and make blanket statements regarding something being good or not.

 

It's okay to like the show, it's okay to not like the show. The show is good to some and bad for others, and neither are wrong

 

No irony here at all; I never said that it was "clearly good," after all, simply that I am enjoying it.  However, if you look at any objective metric of the show it is impossible to state that it is -bad- and everyone who likes it is wrong, because... that simply isn't true. Period.  No matter how much certain people wish it was.

 

Bad and good are subjective, in this case people are liking it more than not.  You are, of course, welcome to not like it.  But demanding that others not like it because you don't is still presumptuous, and I stand behind that.

 

Further, if you cannot be bothered to watch an episode, then you shouldn't be posting about that episode.

 

PS: The 'you' here is generic because I do not know if the person I am quoting has watched or not, and it is kind of irrelevant to the overall point in the original post being quoted.  I don't see people who like the show demanding that others also like it (in fact, most seem to be pretty understanding), but there is an awful lot of the reverse.  If you don't like it, that is ok!  You still need to accept the absolute fact that other people do enjoy it, however.

[Skipp]

1 hour ago, nsmallw said:

What episode was Hawkwing mentioned ? I totally missed that.

Episode 2, when Moiraine wakes Egwene for a midnight chat.  Hawkwing is only briefy mentioned when Moiraine askes Egwene what she knows of the 3 oaths.

[Sovyetsky]

I don't understand everyone bitching about this love triangle.  There is no love triangle they even addressed it by the end of the episode.  It's just more weird fluff to create tension and whatever else.  They aren't actually going to make this a real thing.  You all seriously need to calm the wheel down.

[Sabio]

14 hours ago, Yojimbo said:

This is another of my major complaints.   So much of the lightheartedness has been removed.  It's another thing that makes it seem so different from the books.  They really seem to be accentuating the dark and grim aspects, which is a shame.   The innocence and occasional lightheartedness really makes it tonally different fro things like GoT.  I guess they didn't think a modern audience would appreciate that as much. 

Brandon even told Rafe they were going a bit too dark with things and suggested a few areas where they could lighten things up a bit.

[Sabio]

1 minute ago, Sovyetsky said:

I don't understand everyone bitching about this love triangle.  There is no love triangle they even addressed it by the end of the episode.  It's just more weird fluff to create tension and whatever else.  They aren't actually going to make this a real thing.  You all seriously need to calm the wheel down.

It isn't that there really might be a love triangle, just that the mere suggestion of it was a dumb thing to toss in the episode.  It just seemed hastily tossed in and took away from the moment.  Here they are deciding if to go to the Eye, they might die tomorrow and Nyn accidently tosses out that they both might have a thing for Egwene?  Seemed clunky to me.  Sort of like Siuan's dream, suddenly oh yeah I have been having these dreams, you should go to the Eye to fight the DO.  Seemed really sudden and hasty.  Perin clearly has feelings for Egwene but also would never do anything since she likes Rand.  Rand picking a fight makes sense once you know he's the DR, he would try to piss off the others to make them not go to the Eye.

[Ralph]

25 minutes ago, Sabio said:

Brandon even told Rafe they were going a bit too dark with things and suggested a few areas where they could lighten things up a bit.

Interested to see this quote 

[Sabio]

4 minutes ago, Ralph said:

Interested to see this quote 

Someone posted a video in one of the topics where Brandon was doing a radio interview with David Wells and signing alot of stuff.  Brandon said he told Rafe they were going a bit dark with things, sounded like they had made the Tinkers some broody bunch walking about hooded or something like that.  So he suggested they lighen some things up.

[JaimAybara]

20 minutes ago, Sovyetsky said:

It's just more weird fluff to create tension and whatever else.

I think for many this is one of the critiques being presented, particularly when there has constantly been comments that they are strapped for time or couldn’t do other things due to time. But yes, everyone enhancing their calm would be nice too. 

[Sabio]

9 minutes ago, JaimAybara said:

I think for many this is one of the critiques being presented, particularly when there has constantly been comments that they are strapped for time or couldn’t do other things due to time. But yes, everyone enhancing their calm would be nice too. 

Calm NEVER.  There is time for calm in the long months ahead when we have nothing to do but complain about how long it's taking for Season 2 to arrive.  

[KakitaOCU]

21 minutes ago, Ralph said:

Interested to see this quote 

It's in the video interview that's been posted a few times.

Mind you he also says the show is too gorey for him to let his kids watch and then says he lets his kids play Doom-Eternal.... So...

This and his stance that you can't kill Laila because getting over someone that close is so traumatic, but it's okay to killing someone who is a parental figure is okay was enough for me to know Sanderson is in a very different headspace from me.

[aburuq]

Curious if I'm missing something -- how would Rand (and by extension viewers of the show who have not read the books) have known that being born on slopes of Dragonmount was significant and a part of prophecy? 

[Guest Wolfbrother31]

8 minutes ago, aburuq said:

Curious if I'm missing something -- how would Rand (and by extension viewers of the show who have not read the books) have known that being born on slopes of Dragonmount was significant and a part of prophecy? 

 

They would not. Unless they're also watching the Origins clips on Prime. I think some key background info is being put there in bonus content. 

Even then, I don't remember if it was mentioned ...

[Ralph]

Just now, Wolfbrother31 said:

 

They would not. Unless they're also watching the Origins clips on Prime. I think some key background info is being put there in bonus content. 

Even then, I don't remember if it was mentioned ...

I think not

 

I thought it is coming in Ep8

[Guest Wolfbrother31]

5 hours ago, Sabio said:

Someone posted a video in one of the topics where Brandon was doing a radio interview with David Wells and signing alot of stuff

 

It's in the ch...ch...changes thread. Posted twice by me. 

[Guest Testeria]

On 12/17/2021 at 10:11 PM, Spiritweaver1 said:

The blood snow bits were good.  A pregnant, wounded person doing all that fighting stuff isn't realistic at all.  I would have vastly preferred her to be helped by a couple of her spear sisters.  But when is realism necessary in fantasy.  The number of people here in the fires of dragon mount predicting Tam was gonna kill her really had me worried.

 

Thinking about it now - she should just give birth first and fight to save the newborn later. Would be just the same show and much more believable.