tv show spoilers S1E7: The Dark Along the Ways

[WOTReader2]

I did not like the opening. A woman in full labour actually fighting against trained and experienced soldiers is pretty ridiculous. I also did not like the camera work and also flying around. It felt like one of those martial arts movies, like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I found it really cringe inducing. Also, we have seen more fighting from a side character than we have from Lan, which is disappointing. 

 

The Ways were fine. The design of Machin Shin was not great; it looked more like a plague of insects than wind. But the talking was better than what was in the book. That was one thing in the book that was not done that well.

 

The reveal of the Dragon Reborn was pretty poor. The montage style is fine, but it is just they barely had anything to show in it. They had two things from the same episode (knocking the trolloc off and Machin Shin's words), and one from earlier (pushing the door open). 

 

There were not enough clues built up throughout the season to make the mystery interesting; it was more like 'darn, we need to make a montage, but we have nothing to show - let's shove all the clues in this episode.' Funnily enough, this lack of clues earlier actually made it obvious to a lot of people it was Rand, anyway. They needed it to be more progressive, rather than slam them all in at the end.

 

Love triangle of Perrin, Rand, and Egwene - this was a very random addition to the story. It seemed to be added just to create some artificial rivalry and argument, but this could have been done, anyway. Would the characters not be stressed out enough to just get annoyed by simple actions of the characters? A pretty pointless addition, to be honest.

 

Agelmar - I'm pretty sure he was friendly with Moiraine in the book. Seems a bit of a random change to make to the character. Not seeing how this improves the story.

 

The Blight - Not a huge fan of the design. I pictured it as pretty sparse and extremely humid. This seems to be more like Mirkwood, which is not something I was expecting. But, I think it might be a way to cheapen the costs of the CGI in the next episode, which  a problem with TV series.

 

Matt - inherently evil? Not liking that idea that he is almost enjoying the evil dagger. Has Rafe misinterpreted the luck of the Dark One and made him into a, somewhat, evil character? 

 

Lioal - Discarded. Seems a bit harsh treatment by the group. He risked his life leading them through the ways, and now it is like 'get lost'. 

 

Overall, it was a much better episode than the last two. However, I do think it could have been much better had they not wasted so much time in the last two episodes to build up more stuff and give more time to certain things. In the end, some things felt more rushed than they should have been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Owayn The Traveller]

Now that’s more like it! 
 

I was expecting the blight to be more of a living jungle, all twisted and squirming. 
 

I know they only had 8 episodes but I wish they would let some scenes breathe more. Fever dream seemed rushed. 
 

braid tug ? 

 

void ?

 

min ?

 

3 women ?

 

 

 

I have a feeling Thom and Mat run into each other early in season 2. And maybe we will get a river journey too. Who says Bayle won’t be going up river.  
Or will fain just steal the horn. 
 

I actually forget the great hunt book. Too long since I read it. 
 

 

 

I find the show to be uneven and at times there’s a kernel of something great there but the approach is a bit hamfisted. 
I will say though, that I love that it’s real and that it has me back in here posting. Has me back up waiting to midnight to watch the show early, brings me back to waiting for the books/prologues to be released online  late at night. 
 

hopefully season 2 is more like episode 4&8 

[Gothic Flame]

36 minutes ago, WOTReader2 said:

Agelmar - I'm pretty sure he was friendly with Moiraine in the book. Seems a bit of a random change to make to the character. Not seeing how this improves the story.

Not just friendly. If I recall he felt deeply honored to have Aes Sedai in his keep.

[LordyLord]

This Episode was the closest to Perfection, the Show has gotten. Seriously this is an 8/10 from a Book reader perspective AND from a TV perspective. Went a long way to restore hope from the disappointing episode 6 and 7.

So lets the bad out of the way

BAD

Perrin/Egwene/Rand love triangle is the most Unneeded addition in the Show. like WHY?WHAT did it add?

Part of the Dragon reveal fell flat for a couple of reasons. The significance of the Rand being born on the Dragonmont was not setup at all. The Fever dream of Tam was rushed so what he said was missed

-Not a fan of Min casting

 

If it wasn't for this 2 things, I would rate this Episode perfection

GOOD

Everything else was perfection

-Explaining Mats absence and the reactions to it was EXCELLENT all through it.

-Morainne sending the Red Ajah after Mat was such a cold ruthless Morainne thing to do.Loved it

-The Ways were fantastic, The scenes in the Ways were Excellent! Loved every scene in it!

-Fal Dara! Oh my Goodness! I was disappointed in Tar Valon but Fal Dara blew Tar Valon out of the water EASILY.

-The Acting in this Episode was just A+. Loved every scene in Faldara

-The Dragon reveal had some awesome shots. The channeling flashbacks.Machin shin creepiness

Sooooo much good in this episode.Im trying to gather my thoughts but ill end with this. THIS is what all the episodes should strive to be

[qlorin]

Lets start

Blood Snow... This was actually not bad... There are sooooooooo many things wrong with the show this unrealistic fight scene seemed acceptlable... A blademaster in the books or an amazing swordsman in real life can perform that action scene but not while in labor... Obviously aiel are amazing warriors but for a woman in labor even running is a big achivement...

Love triangle... Why we have this? There is a very suddle nod in the first book to this triangle. But thats it... If there was a future between Rand and Egwene maybe I can understand this (hardly) but this have no purpose... 

Borderlanders are overconfident now... From the start dark forces are insanly nerfed... Myrdrall can not talk they are not that smart... No forsaken mention... Baalzamon is a burning eyed dream scare monster no inteligence... So I got why they are confident but this hurts the sprit of the book... Good guys must be losing to have a savior... Also Agelmar was just baaaaad... Fal dara was like skyrim city... NO POPULATION TO DEFEND AGAINST A REAL ATTACK...

Padan Fain.. In TarValon it was smart... In Fal Dara this is too much... Show assumes average audience have a intelligence of a trolloc so they explain and show everything again and again...


Lan Nynave... This is not bad... Some filming and editting problems but story is not damaged... Real damage comes from how ordinaary Lan is... He is not an extraordinary guy in the show... He is just a dude...

Mat vs. Red Ajah... Wait what?... Why?...

Blight... That blight was horrible... It is not just riddicoulus looking... It is not logical and logistacal... If you dumbed down the dark forces you will need numbers... No army can march in that foresty thing... Is it just me I never imagined blight like that.... It looked stupid to my eyes...

Loial... Lets preted like we didint read the books... Who is Loial? What is it? What is his likes/dislikes? Why eveybody soo rude to him even he is not talked 5 sentences? What his relaiton with the ways? Why he is travilling with the group? He is like a horse right now... No character just a place holder in some scenes... In ımportant scenes he disappeers probably left at the stable with the horses...


 

[EmreY]

"Mat vs. Red Ajah... Wait what?... Why?..."  Red herring to get them off her back?

 

"Blight... That blight was horrible.." I liked it.  The Pattern gone to weed. ? But I understand your POV.

 

"Loial... Lets preted like we didint read the books... Who is Loial? What is it? What is his likes/dislikes? Why eveybody soo rude to him even he is not talked 5 sentences? " This is a difficult one. I sort of agree.  But better he be in than out?

 

"Love triangle... Why we have this?" Honestly, I don't know.  This is very irksome to me too.

 

...

 

"Blood Snow... This was actually not bad..." Actually, I wanted something more, canon or not.  At least an earthquake or two.

[DaddyFinn]

Why do people complain about Tigraine actually fighting? That's book canon, right? Pregnant women are different even in real life. Some can barely move in the last month or two and some can do yoga and other physical activity right until labor day.

 

I think the love triangle is not as bad as Nynaeve and Rand think. Egwene sure seemed baffled by them even imagining it exists.

Edited December 17, 2021 by DaddyFinn

[Raezold]

2 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Why do people complain about Tigraine actually fighting? That's book canon, right? Pregnant women are different even in real life. Some can barely move in the last month or two and some can do yoga and other physical activity right until labor day.

 

I think the love triangle is not as bad as Nynaeve and Rand think. Egwene sure seemed baffled by them even imagining it exists.

 

Is it? I don't recall that.

I know she joined the Aiel and was at Dragonmount but I really don't recall her fighting up until the point she pooped out little Rand. 

In my opinion it would've been better to see an actual battle with the Aiel and Wetlanders, have Tigraine run off because she's about to have Rand, die and then have Tam find the baby.

 

But at least they're consistent with the girl power trope so I guess we could give them points for that.

[Seaine's eyebrows]

1 hour ago, WOTReader2 said:

A woman in full labour actually fighting against trained and experienced soldiers is pretty ridiculous

Shaiel was a trained and experienced soldier too ?

 

She was also STRONG, strong in every sense of the word. She was strong enough to survive the Waste and strong enough to become a Maiden. Strong enough to leave her beloved son, family, people, and future throne behind on the Fortelling of an Aes Sedai. She was a fighter, she was Far Dareis Mai.

 

And the body is capable of anything if the mind wants it enough, whether you're in labour, or fighting for your life, or both if you're unlucky enough. It's possible to fight against the deepest instinct to push out your baby (I've had to do that myself, so I know this), and on either side of your contractions, I personally was fine. So I have no problem with their portrayal of her pwning those Companions while fighting the urge to push out her child, because she is a bloody Aiel doing what has to be done. She kicked their asses, as I would expect any Aiel to do, whether stabbed and in full labour, or otherwise. I thought it was really well done, it showed just how hard the Aiel are, and I loved watching her ❤️?

 

I loved this whole episode actually. Can't wait for next week!!

[Daenelia]

I really really liked it (and got the chance to watch it over lunch, during the break in working from home ? ).

 

Everything I thought that would be explained, has been explained so far. So I have confidence that there will be more things explained as we go along, and we get a better view of the world every episode.

 

I loved the over the top fighting, love some slomo scenes ? and yes, of course normally a woman giving birth would probably not be able to do all those things. Then again, some women only take 20 minutes to give birth, and are chipper and talking and walking right up until that moment. (Actual example. Also. That woman did have red hair. There maybe something ... Hmm. But no, she was not trained in fighting. If she had been, I have no doubt my friend would have kicked butt in a similar way.)

 

Part of me was sad that Lan/Nyneave was so quick, but realising we have limited time, I am happy they had that scene so early.

 

The one thing I a happy about is that Rand is now confirmed so we wont have to have that debate anymore on the forum. We can all be happy now. ?

[WheelofJuke]

The Good:

 

The "overworld" set pieces (first Tar Valon, now Fal Dara & The Gap) continue to be simply amazing. I gave a rare "hellz ye-ah!" when I saw Fal Dara. Well, well, done. *claps* 

 

Nyn, Lan, continue to be best characters at expense of Rand, Perrin, Mat.

 

Thought the Ways was okay. Wind was okay. 

 

Retroshowing Rand's channeling was neat. 

 

Fal Daran Min?

 

The Bad:

 

CW YA all up in this episode. Yuck. I rolled my eyes and groaned in embarrassment more during this episode than any other. Yeah yeah, it wasn't a "real" love triangle. The fact they even had to write those scenes...just immature, imho. 

 

Nyn/Lan being sped up I dislike but it at least works logically, and the chemistry is there between the actors, unlike Eg/Rand....who look like they're in remedial acting classes half the time. 

 

Perrin's acting is atrocious and I hate his big dumb mug at this point. Sad. 

 

Loial, the Edit Ogier. Edit him in as needed, out when not!

 

Jumpy, choppy, rushed editing/story telling, AGAIN. The quick jump from laying with Egwene to suddenly in a bar talking to Min jumping to the fever dream (or however that sequence went) was just too, "Wait, what the bloody ashes is going on here?" 

 

Sound continues to be muddy and their "accents" get worse every week, or else I'm just catching on to how bad they are...

 

 

Robert Jordan's framework is here, but unfortunately, the writers continue to (mostly) people it with sad, one-dimensional facsimiles, speaking clunky dialogue, rushing from checkpoint to checkpoint, without personal development or growth; the few moments of downtime left for interpersonal relationships has these "aged up" characters acting like CW YA twits. 

 

Anytime this series has a hot hand going they shoot themselves in the foot. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by WheelofJuke
spelling

[king of nowhere]

I have only watched the initial blood snow sequence, because i have to watch the episode sunday with friends and i'd rather watch it fresh. but i wanted to see the tigraine fight.

 

And I must say, it's one of the very best fight sequences I've ever seen in a movie. granted, I don't watch many movies, so it doesn't count as much.

 

but still, extremely believable. people were moving in realistic ways. extremely clear; you can understand what's happening there. the combat style, she's really dancing around. double wielding short spears is a bit unheard of, but it works magnifically for the 3 on 1 fight, allowing tigraine to block and attack multiple foes. you don't see the soldiers engaging tigraine one at a time, like you see in many witcher fights. they all go for her, and dual wielding allows her to believably face multiple attack. the combat style, jumping around a lot to avoid being surrounded and cornered, also feels very realistic for the best way to face multiple opponents.

we even see a helmet being useful in deflecting a strike - and all fatal hits are delivered on areas left uncovered, at most through the leather parts.

tigraine unveils for a reason, and - even knowing book aiels would much rather risk death than go unveiled - it does not feel wrong for her to finish fighting with her veil down.

the whole scene oozes aiel badassery, just like it should. Magnificent. if that's what they got for hiring an expert of medieval combat, the guy is well worth his salary.

 

only black spot: at 2:58, when she trips the soldier with her spears, it shows clearly that he started jumping before she started twisting her arms; not that she had the kind of leverage to actually pull that manuever in that position. that's the only move that felt staged.

 

can't wait for sunday to see the rest of the episode

Edited December 17, 2021 by king of nowhere

[Pandemonium]

This is a 9 or 9.5 episode to me.  The 1st iconic scene in the show with the blood snow.  Nice action with the ways, and all the character building scenes before the grand finale.  It wasn't the same as the books, but it definitely was the spirit of wheel of time.

 

I

[NetNightmare]

Ok I had my first viewing as usual at 1am, as usual the first time I cannot help but compare it to the book so I will refrain to compare change to scene and such after my  second view with family.

 

That being said, I felt disturbed for most of the night, I m trying really hard to like this show ... but honestly I m starting to realize that probably I ll never truly do, and this is truly saddening.

 

To my perception they have completely killed Lan personality...he indulge in his passion throwing aside his honor not being honest with Nyn, obliterated are the days of "Duty is heavier then a mountain" ??????

 

Nyn is a brainless high college girl who keeps doing wrong assumption, talking out of turn, not to count bedding before wedding ....

 

The Perring\Egwene\Rand melodrama is embarrassing even if it is not true and created by nyn speaking out of turn ...

 

And yet again we are fed 10 to 20 minutes of footage regarding romance and such while on the other hand ...

 

- What is the meaning of these heron marked sword ?????? nobody still cared to explain

- Rand has spent 0,0 time practicing sword fight, but hey he cannot get a good bow-shot unless using the ..wait they didn't took time to explain flame and void either

- Loial ...in the ways acting as a professor but not really guiding since moraine start of without him .....then he get completely eclipsed not even a "You ll find me to the library..."

- Hey we left a potential dragon reborn back ... but who cares he is evil we can wait that somebody get to TV to alert the Reds (I guess how much time will it take)

- 7 Episode of this building up of "who is the DR" and then he just walk up to her and say "Hello It's me", and she immediately believe it .... no question asked ... (poor Logain had an army was strong in the power and never had a chance")

 

I do agree that most of these are personal feeling they are not really argument it is just me venting and I really do envy those who like this turning. I will keep watching the show ... I only once stopped watching a show (Shannara Chronicles) but we are obviously not there 

 

just my 2cp

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2021 by NetNightmare

[Ralph]

Sorry I have only read the first four pages, so others may have made these points, but I wanted to write them down before I forget ?

 

1) Re Nynaeve in the Ways. I am surprised everyone saw this as a ward or shield. If the OP could do that wouldn't Moiraine be doing it. I thought she was losing herself to Machin Shin and it was consuming her power. 

 

I understood this to be showing how much her protectiveness of the EF4 consumes her whole being, that of all of them she was the one MS got to the most. 

 

I have to re watch to see. 

 

 

2) Re Rand channelling in the Ways. Presumably Moiraine realised it was one of the boys, since she could not see the weaves. 

 

I wasn't so keen on the replay with MS telling him he is the DR. I prefer Ms just to be showing their own internal thoughts, not any omniscience. Unless it means that Rand already was pretty sure of it. 

 

Besides that, not keen on showing part of the MS whispers but not all, and then adding more later. I thought that was a bit too... 

 

 

3) Re Egwene/Perrin/Rand. Didn't like at all. And the acting also I found poor. I hope it is as others have said, that it was Nynaeve's mistake. But Machin Shin doesn't think so. 

 

Re Egwene/Mat. I thought it is still obvious at the end that although she cares about Mat, as she said, but she still despises him and thinks he cannot possibly be the DR. Notice she never retracted that point. 

4) Re Nynaeve/Lan. Not sure why people are saying it has moved further than the books. Of course it has, but only in that he didn't turn her down. On the way into the Blight she offers herself to him, which although not intended to be physical, is still relationship wise not very different. 

 

 

5) Loved the three beautiful women as a reference to the fans who have said Rand's harem has to be changed, because it is too much "living the life". Rainbows and unicorns, yeah! 

And also a bit of a dig at the fans who would want it to stay the same and never be changed. ?

 

 

Re the episode as a whole

Liked a lot (Blood Snow, Ways, M&R going it alone) , not sure about a lot (Agelmar) , disliked quite a bit too (soap opera) 

[ArrylT]

5 hours ago, Seraphine said:

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.

 

Well he is spending a lot of time with her, so it would be only natural, especially as she was there when he had the moment to share he killed his wife, to worry that his feelings could change.  Friends have become lovers and all that.  Emotions are not easy to fully understand - which is one of the things I really liked about the books was the emotional arc of the characters and the struggles in not allowing their emotions to control or define them (or with Rand the reverse). 

 

People have doubts on their wedding days, but doesnt mean they do not want to get married.   That was how I interpreted it.    One of Perrins abilities that he grows is his ability to sense emotions (guess we'll see if this is developed in the show) so maybe that is an inkling that after reflection he's sensed after the Ways that no I am not in love with Egwene.  

 

But guess we'll WAFO.     

Edited December 17, 2021 by ArrylT

[Jaysen Gore]

8 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.

 

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.    

I really like this post, but feel you're giving the creative team way too much credit. I think the writers room felt 2C should be here because Perrin and Egwene (or men and women generally) can 't just be good friends, and put it in without  further thought. It aligns with some of the Mean Girls vibes I got in the WT from the writing.

[Mnemosyne]

8 hours ago, dorotea said:

Nyn jumping into Lan's bed just cheapened the whole affair to the point of me de-investing out of their relationship altogether.

 

This is only true if you believe that sex "cheapens" relationships. I felt it simply added another dimension to Lan and Nynaeve's relationship.

[Reader]

Thoughts from my 1 am viewing - a decent episode to start wrapping season one up, best of the lot for me. Don't care about the CGI or the shortcuts.  Having the cold open tie in with Doomseer's confirmation to Rand worked ok for me.  Not bothered that some people think Perrin had a thing for Egwene.  Rand and Egwene didn't know, hardly a love triangle.  I always enjoy a silence of the lambs door-knock, so bonus points there.

 

I might rewatch after work.  I didn't bother with last weeks.

[nsmallw]

6 hours ago, JimGalaxy said:

*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

I didn't like the whole love triangle thing either. I do have a thought as to why the writers put it in. 

In the books, Egwene and Perrin have such limited joint screen time developing their relationship, that I believe the writers were looking for some additional development of the two characters. They whiffed it with the love triangle thing but I hope they continue to expand N & P's relationship beyond just them surviving the post SL bit. So, writers do better next time !

[nsmallw]

6 hours ago, ForsakenPotato said:

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!

 "the flame and void during archery,"  I didn't really see the connection watching the episode. I know contrasting the two bow shooting sessions kinda hinted at it but I was hoping for a more visual or noise action to show off the flame/void.  Kinda like the Min part where the stars/darkness fighting for control...I was hoping for a better visualization on that also. 

Thoughts please 

[nsmallw]

5 hours ago, Maximillion said:

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.

 

So they are supposed to hire 5k extras ? lol They def. need bigger budget though, esp. once LB comes along.

[Jaysen Gore]

5 hours ago, Maximillion said:

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.

 

I"ll credit Logain's army as a Covid reduction thing, but for the cities, I kind of like that they've shrunk them down. One of the things I had an issue with in the books is the population scaling. Armies in the hundreds of thousands, multiple cities in the millions.  Entire countries on the battlefield at the end.

 

Until the industrial revolution of food transport, there were maybe a handful of cities in history that cracked a million people- Rome, Constantinople, the Aztec capital, London in the 1600s. So I'd give you TV, and maybe Tear, but everything else should be smaller than it was in the books. Especially a place like FD, which isn't the capital and is on the front. 

 

And again, I sympathize with you saving the crowd feeling small, but in a book, a throng might cost you a sentence. In a fantasy drama, a "throng" can cost you half a million dollars in crew costs and costuming. It's not like you can do a New York Street scene cattle call, and put extras on camera in what they showed up in

[notpropaganda73]

I absolutely loved it. This was the first episode of the whole season that I properly fanboy'd out ha. There is plenty to criticise but I genuinely shouted "YEAH! TUG THAT BRAID!" at one point so ya know, I think you can probably glean from that that I'm pretty happy with the episode... 

 

However there's definitely disappointing aspects to it, and just missed opportunities more than complete awful scenes or anything. Things like Lan's backstory, you're almost there but I feel they missed an opportunity for someone else to talk to Nynaeve about him? Loial and The Ways, it was good, but maybe another few minutes, Loial expanding on what The Ways actually are? Things like that, where I feel we have a good base of something but then they don't quite stick the landing. 

 

But when they stick the landing in this show, they really nail it in my opinion and that has happened consistently for me. Blood Snow was amazing, honestly gasped when she got stabbed, shouted "that better not be Tam" and was so relieved/happy with how it played out. I think it was @ArrylT who said further back in the thread that the show is not only trying to keep non-book readers guessing, but also us book lovers! I am really, genuinely sorry for those who are not on board with the show but my own POV is that I'm genuinely excited for next week, and season 2, and what they're gonna do with Mat, all these things that shouldn't actually be mysteries to me but I sort of feel like they are because even though they haven't changed anything fundamental to the story so far, they have made enough changes to make me think that maybe possibly they will, so I'm on the edge of my seat when a random Illianer stabs Tigraine. 

 

I will also add to the chorus of people hating the Perrin/Egwene thing, but having read some comments on here about this being character misunderstandings in the show, I could maybe be ok with it. Also, even though I didn't like what set it up, I did like Perrin and Rand standing off. The two of them butting heads was a big feature in the books even though Perrin obviously supported him hugely - they clashed on numerous occasions if memory serves? 

[Jaysen Gore]

5 hours ago, Therese Sedai said:

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. 

Except if they follow the book plot, Lan's about to disappear for most of 2 novels, and won't be in the same place as Nynaeve until after the Sheppard holds the Sword. TV audiences have really short attention spans, so the kind of pining they did in the books won't work, IMO