tv show spoilers S1E7: The Dark Along the Ways

[dwn]

I enjoyed it overall--lots of good character moments. The two things I didn't care for were that I feel more time should have been spent in the Ways, and the look of the blight was very CG. I think this episode really shows that they were struggling to fit the first season in 8 episodes.

 

Tigraine -- Very well done. I can forgive the veil in a TV show. I wonder if they shouldn't have identified her as Shaiel?

 

I guessed correctly that it was Rand channeling in the Ways.

 

Moiraine, Mat and the Red Ajah -- Cold, but Moiraine's likely thinking they'll rough him up a bit at worst (there's a line similar to that somewhere in the books), gentle a fallen Dragon Reborn at best.

 

Padan Fain's actor is great.

 

Rand, Perrin and Egwene -- I think a lot of this stems from Rand (clumsily) trying to push everyone away like he does in TGH.

 

Min was great. I particularly liked her constant misdirection.

[JimGalaxy]

3 hours ago, Storeebooq said:

I was freaking OUT during the first Blood Snow scene. I love how over the top the fighting was, it contrasts with what we've seen before and really makes Aeil trained fighting stand out. Also made his birth even more miraculous and special. 

 

The blight: I've seen worse in winter when southern kudzu dies out and leaves a thick vine wall. Really looks the same and not at all scary. There was even green moss growing.....but the human skull in the tree? That was nifty and creepy. 

 

I'm afraid there won't be any Ogier/Nym scene with how thins are going. I really hope they don't leave him behind. =[

All three of these are awesome to me.

 

Blood Snow - I was *amazed*. Aiel maiden, defending her unborn child - could there *be* a better human fighter?? SO well-done.

 

Blight - Yep, I hated the visual - I had imagined more of a nothing-desert, but great point about southern kudzu (I'm here in RJ's home state of SC)

 

Loial - MAN, they need to give that dude more screen time. Really is an important piece that they ... *included*, sort of ... but they're missing the flavor by a *lot*.

[Fox]

Still enjoying the show for what it is. Loved seeing the Blood Snows, the fever dream, Min, and the 3 beautiful girls foreshadowing (that was important to me, idk why). Not really liking the whole direction with Mat, but I'm willing to see what they do with it. The Blight, I guess works, I had different thought on how it looked. Otherwise, I'm still really liking the series. 

[Chadouken]

Uno Nomesta! Hope we get to hear him call Rand a flaming sheep gutted milk drinker.

[JimGalaxy]

3 hours ago, themann1086 said:

Yes. Yes! Yessss!

• BLOOD SNOW. That was awesome. Tigraine absolutely killing it (this wasn't suppose to be a pun lol), in active labor... total badass. Wife's comment: "that knife wound probably hurt less than the contractions"
• Obviously a little forced/rushed with Mat but I thought they did a solid job with it. You gotta play the hand you're dealt
• So we got SOME Ways backstory, about how they use to be. Would've liked a little more but acceptable for now. Gonna want more in the future though!
• Perrin with the sharp eyesight!
• The damaged guidestone!

 

3 hours ago, themann1086 said:

• Dai Shan! ...
•  
• Also, jumping ahead a little, LAN BACKSTORY HECK YES
•  
• FLASHBACK REVEAL. Tam's fever dream ramblings, breaking down the door in E3, and *TOSSING THE TROLLOC OFF THE EDGE, I actually did not see THAT coming. Wife's comment: I CALLED IT!

Probably my favorite episode.

 

I picked out a few of these as points I wholeheartedly agree with; all of these. My favorite episode, easily, and Lan's reveal (no, not the shirtless - oh, never mind) was *really* well done

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by JimGalaxy

[JimGalaxy]

3 hours ago, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

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

? ... thank you for this. Single-funniest post I've read on any thread here. I'm D&D from *way* back, and the '20-sided die' reference was hilarious enough, but NO, you had to go and make it 'truncated' as well, because - of course you did. LOL

[JimGalaxy]

2 hours ago, Indil said:

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.

I wholeheartedly agree. Perrin is, for whatever reasons, my fave character, so I delight in his triumphs (even his finding 'peace' in the work of repairing the Tinker wagon - yeah, even that) ... his eyes changing color and shocking Valda ... and his sharp eyesight (from the back of the group!) in the Ways. I 'get' the whole wife-fridging thing; wouldn't have done it, but I 'get' it. But WTF is this love-triangle thing with the Black Wind catching his supposed feelings for Egwene, and Nynaeve calling him out on that? ... where are they *going* with that? Why *do* that? ... etc. Ugh. Perrin has enough on his plate, becoming the man he will become. ... let him do it.

[fra85uk]

I knew from ep1 that they would be hinting to Perrin fond of Egwene...remember he got scolded by  Nyn to Have left his wife alone? I think we will Have some more backstory About it

[JimGalaxy]

2 hours ago, ArrylT said:

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.

*VERY* well-said. I was completely disturbed by this, because (external reference) I do not like things I cannot understand. You give a plausible explanation, given the series' portrayal of his wife, and I thank you for that. I'll go with it

[ForsakenPotato]

I felt somewhat mixed on the episode, but at the same time when the credits rolled I still thought "wait, it can't be over already??!!" so I supposed I still enjoyed myself thoroughly, and will definitely re-watch this week ?.

 

I still think the dialogue could be improved and feel more natural in a lot of scenes...personally I can overlook CGI issues because most effects will look outdated in a decade anyway, but good dialogue is forever. I also wasn't a huge fan of the black wind, reminded me of the flying keys from the first HP movie...although I'm glad we saw it at all, because I sort of thought it might get ditched in favor of more trollocs, and I can't think of how it should have been made better so I'm not really in a position to complain. They also really seem to be pushing the "Mat could become a darkfriend" angle which I don't like, although I don't think he actually will...I could just do with less speeches about "the darkness inside him". He just has a bad attitude, don't make it sound glamorous or he'll only become even more emo.

 

But but but there were lots of things I loved too. Min!!! She was great - we've only gotten 2 scenes and I already like her at least as much as in the books, if not more. Also thought the Rand reveal was done well and the actor pulled off "grumpy chosen one who refuses to ask his friends for support" admirably. Also loving Egwene's performance, she's so self-righteous. Like a tiny steamroller. And there were tons of small nods to things that made me so happy: Perrin's excellent vision, the trollocs defacing the signpost in the ways, the flame and void during archery, Moiraine's comment about liking Nyneave, Padan Fain loitering (and again Perrin being the one to spot him). For not getting nearly as many episodes as I think this material deserves (10 would be good, 12 would be excellent) they are fitting in more than I expected and simplifying less than I expected. Pretty stoked for the season finale!

[JimGalaxy]

2 hours ago, themann1086 said:

So when Rand comes to her and says "it's me", she thinks she can spare Lan's life by leaving him behind. He's formed a bond (er, metaphorically) with Nynaeve, and that should keep him alive past her death until Nynaeve is trained enough to warder bond him. "I like her, you know. The Wisdom."

That is a *great* point of view, IMHO, that I had not considered

[JimGalaxy]

1 hour ago, Chivalry said:

I really like Lan, even the kinder, gentler version of him. But whenever Lan goes to sleep, something happens. Warders commit suicide, his AS ditches him. DUDE, you've got one job, pay attention!

Also (someone else, not me, pointed this out on the previous episode summary feed - was it you?? lol) Moiraine opened the Waygate and then strode in first. ... Hey, LAN! This is literally in your job description!! lol

[flinn]

5 minutes ago, JimGalaxy said:

Also (someone else, not me, pointed this out on the previous episode summary feed - was it you?? lol) Moiraine opened the Waygate and then strode in first. ... Hey, LAN! This is literally in your job description!! lol

 He isnt a warder, he is an Aes Sedai errand boy. They have destroyed Lan in the tv show.

[JimGalaxy]

1 hour ago, Therese Sedai said:

Really enjoyed the episode and I only have one question.
 

So Rand shows up to Moiraine’s room and is just like “it me” and Moiraine’s just like “aight let’s go.”  
 

Did I miss something from earlier in the episode or is the audience just meant to not read too much into it. Seems like Moiraine would want to know for sure that it’s him before rushing away with him to what could be both their deaths. 

Yup. Drawn-out episode, on the way *there* ... [cut to the scene there]. I also have a problem with that. I fully understand they have to cut, and cut, and *cut* to make it to the Last Battle by the end of (we hope hope hope) Season 8, or however many Seasons that Amazon foots the bill for. But to shortcut *that* reveal ... which is pretty much the entire focus of Season 1 ... that piece is just poorly done.

 

... and I say this, even though this was literally my *favorite* episode thus far; I was 9/10, but *that* (well, that and the whole love-triangle thing) ...

[TheMountain]

Episode 7 was 10x better than 5 and 6.

 

The closer they are to the books, the better the episodes. Huh, they might be on to something here...

[Seraphine]

I do like the explanations that minimize/explain the love triangle (Perrin cares for Egwene but didn't fully understand love when he was younger, Nynaeve is misreading things, etc.). But part of what the Black Wind says to Perrin is that he loves another woman more than his wife. My impression of the Black Wind is that it feeds on one's insecurities/fears, so it seems like there's a part of Perrin that worries about this, which I don't like. I would have been much happier with the Black Wind feeding his fears about violence. While I suspect the love triangle issue not going to turn into a big thing (e.g. Rand and Perrin dueling for Egwene), I still don't get the purpose of having it be a thing at all.

[DaddyFinn]

Favorite episode so far. Rand completing the puzzle was AWESOME! Time for a rewatch and I'll check non-reader reactions later.

[Gothic Flame]

1 minute ago, Seraphine said:

While I suspect the love triangle issue not going to turn into a big thing (e.g. Rand and Perrin dueling for Egwene), I still don't get the purpose of having it be a thing at all.

It's for the cw crowd I suspect.

Just like tossing Nynaeve in Lan's bed.

[Maximillion]

Just to expand on a point made in Fal Dara. 
Similar to much of the show, even Tar Valon, it feels like a sense of scale is really missing from the cities. 

I suppose we all see things differently when we read the books, but there seemed to me enough going on at Fal Dara in the books to give the city a sense of large scale where Rand could hide. In the TV show I didn’t get that feeling at all. Where are all the people? 

Tar Valon was the same… looked big in the cityscape but then the procession to show Logan has just a few people… again nothing like the throngs of people from the books.

 

 Same with Logains ‘army’ 

 

 Scale generally feels small.

 

 Only one episode left.  I suspect the battle scene at the end of TEOTW is going to be cut because I just don’t see how they can set it up and give it any scale in one episode. Unless they just rush it.

 

[Blackbyrd]

28 minutes ago, ForsakenPotato said:

I still think the dialogue could be improved and feel more natural in a lot of scenes...personally I can overlook CGI issues because most effects will look outdated in a decade anyway, but good dialogue is forever. 

 

Right- for instance at the end 'this is the blight' should have been 'this is the blight- the blasted land' Not a big difference but those three extra words just would have added so much pop. Yet, that the show is that close to getting the tone spot on is actually a testament to the quality of the immersion.

 

Really enjoyed the episode though, it was all the feels. As a book reader the birth/death scene is something I would say that they did really well and is one of those moments that would make me buy a drink for anyone I happen to meet involved in the show. Was it exactly right? Who knows but it was really well imagined and one of those powerful scenes that does well filling in blank spaces of the book

[DigificWriter]

7 minutes ago, TheMountain said:

The closer they are to the books, the better the episodes

 

A good chunk of book fans would dispute this assertion.

[Therese Sedai]

11 minutes ago, Gothic Flame said:

It's for the cw crowd I suspect.

Just like tossing Nynaeve in Lan's bed.

Nyn and Lan happened far too quickly for my liking too but I think it’s to speed up Moiraine’s decision to break the bond. 
 

In a perfect world I would have loved the yearning to drag on for at least 2 seasons. I really enjoyed the way they danced around one another. 

[fra85uk]

Best episode.

 

Just a small comment on Mat: I hope they will do a substantial redemption arc for him to become the atypical hero that we have learnt to love.

 

 

 

[DojoToad]

6 hours ago, Whittle said:

Rather liked this episode. It’s obvious to me the SFX budget for a TV show just isn’t adequate to pull off some

of the really cool stuff from the books like The Ways. A feature film

budget is needed. It looks cheesy but I liked how they portrayed Machin Shin with it playing on their fears. Love triangle was unnecessary and dumb. And the guy playing Perrin is terrible. Granted he hasn’t been given shit to work with. This episode was faithful enough to the spirit of the books to keep me for one more episode. So far that’s been the show’s MO. A good episode or 2 followed by a stinker. Just very uneven to this point.

So you don't have high hopes for the season finale then?

[DojoToad]

5 hours ago, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

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

Unforced error