WoT Season 2 - I WATCHED ALL THE EPISODES TOPIC

[SinisterDeath]

This is the topic to discuss Season 2 as a whole, without spoiling episode specific details for those who haven't watched all the episodes yet.

[Pandemonium]

I like how we are already getting hints about both Ingtar and Verin.  Ingtar tells Perrin to question why Fain became the way he did.  And Verin tells Moiraine that oaths can be bent and used in unexpected ways.  

 

 

[king of nowhere]

I was surprised that, after S1 ended with the characters in very different positions compared to the books, they managed to bring everyone back on track for their storyline. for all that nothing is exactly like the books, every character is doing more or less what his book equivalent did.

 

characters are doing good, and the writing is good. I'm liking it a lot so far.

most annoying issue is lan failing to put up a good fight. really, lan needs to shine better.

[DreadLord31]

There were no “that’s embarrassing CGI” or “that’s terribly written” moments. The acting was good, the fight scenes well choreographed. I think I can get my non-readers to watch and they’ll like it. 

I like that we’re getting Bayle Domon, Elyas, and Elayne. All of them had the right vibes. A lot of moments that “felt like the WoT” to me. Like the new OP look. Still like all the costuming and sets. 
 

But, even with girded loins, there’s still a lot that is hard to swallow as a book fan: Matt doing nothing; Min being completely “off”; Rand doing nothing (and sleeping with Selene); Logain is gonna be Rand’s teacher (and you took 3 episodes to set that up?); Perrin doing, basically, nothing; Elyas is gonna start teaching him at some point? (and you took three episodes to set that up?); Uno is dead; Liandrin gets the most screen time (it feels like)??; Liandrin is gonna be Nynaeve’s teacher? (And you took 3 episodes to set that up?); Elayne gonna be Egwene’s teacher?; a lot of Moiraine more or less replacing the Suian/Leana book-arc (unless they’re gonna be really redundant with time they don’t have in the show); emotional Lan… 

 

I think directing wise there’s more evidence in that Rafe: A) prefers the girls as heroic characters, B) loves fake-out deaths, C) wants to “add content” to WoT more so than adapt the source material, D) is going to get us to iconic book scenes and basically the same end-points as the books (and tick off most of the hard-core fans in-route there)!! 

[king of nowhere]

18 minutes ago, DreadLord31 said:

 (and you took 3 episodes to set that up?)

consider that with so many split characters, 3 episodes still only gave 10-20 minutes to rand or perrin

 

it's actually the same problem the books had during the slog. most individual story arcs were fine, if taken individually.

[Samt]

1 hour ago, king of nowhere said:

it's actually the same problem the books had during the slog. most individual story arcs were fine, if taken individually.

So you're saying that we're in the slog already?

[king of nowhere]

Just now, Samt said:

So you're saying that we're in the slog already?

well....

in the books, at this point we had 2 main plots: the girls in tar valon and the boys after the horn.

in the tv show, we have the girls in tar valon, perrin alone, rand alone, mat alone, moiraine alone. we already split the plot 5 ways.

though it's not actually longer than the books, because having rand and perrin together chasing the horn and then in cahirien, or having rand alone in cahirien and perrin alone after the horn, it doesn't take more time.

 

regardless, proliferation of viewpoints is a common issue with all large fantasy sagas. if we are here we probably like big sprawling stories; but it doesn't change that they do tend to go slower, and they are more slow the more different people they follow

[DreadLord31]

19 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

regardless, proliferation of viewpoints is a common issue with all large fantasy sagas. if we are here we probably like big sprawling stories; but it doesn't change that they do tend to go slower, and they are more slow the more different people they follow

 

Spot on. If you split the plot too many ways, it feels like nothing gets developed/happens - even if that's not really true. But for some reason these episodes did feel like we had more time with each of the characters/there was a bit more development. Can't put my finger on why that is.

Edited September 1, 2023 by DreadLord31

[VooDooNut]

44 minutes ago, DreadLord31 said:

 

Spot on. If you split the plot too many ways, it feels like nothing gets developed/happens - even if that's not really true. But for some reason these episodes did feel like we had more time with each of the characters/there was a bit more development. Can't put my finger on why that is.

The episodes are definitely longer. I hope that trend continues for the whole season. 

[Mirefox]

26 minutes ago, VooDooNut said:

The episodes are definitely longer. I hope that trend continues for the whole season. 

Aren’t they longer because there will be fewer episodes?

[SinisterDeath]

On 9/1/2023 at 12:13 PM, king of nowhere said:

well....

in the books, at this point we had 2 main plots: the girls in tar valon and the boys after the horn.

in the tv show, we have the girls in tar valon, perrin alone, rand alone, mat alone, moiraine alone. we already split the plot 5 ways.

though it's not actually longer than the books, because having rand and perrin together chasing the horn and then in cahirien, or having rand alone in cahirien and perrin alone after the horn, it doesn't take more time.

 

regardless, proliferation of viewpoints is a common issue with all large fantasy sagas. if we are here we probably like big sprawling stories; but it doesn't change that they do tend to go slower, and they are more slow the more different people they follow

I suspect we're going to get various character arcs merging together as everyone's slowly brought together.

 

On 9/1/2023 at 1:42 PM, Mirefox said:

Aren’t they longer because there will be fewer episodes?

Season 1, the episodes were like.. 55 minutes? This season they are 60+ minutes each.

[VooDooNut]

On 9/1/2023 at 12:42 PM, Mirefox said:

Aren’t they longer because there will be fewer episodes?

Same number of episodes (8) according to IMDB.
 

Don’t scare me like that! I need all the WOT I can get. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by VooDooNut
I quoted the wrong person xD

[DaddyFinn]

Bless Rafe for changing butt spankings to shoulder whippings

Edited September 1, 2023 by DaddyFinn

[Storeebooq]

I hope we get more cold openings like we did in Season 1, with the glimpses into past or other moments. 

[Pandemonium]

We are also gaining 1-2 minutes approximately by not having the into from season 1.  I'm a fan of that, but I do think this show needs to introduce a map somehow for the audience

[DaddyFinn]

5 minutes ago, Pandemonium said:

We are also gaining 1-2 minutes approximately by not having the into from season 1.  I'm a fan of that, but I do think this show needs to introduce a map somehow for the audience

Apparently there's a static location-based map on the extras. Doesn't work on (my) TV

[A Memory Of Why]

It's definitely a step up or two from last season and so far I think it's great.

 

The 1st ep hit the hardest and was a bit jarring at times, will give it a rewatched or 2 which helped a lot with season 1.

 

There'd a lot more to love though..

 

Elaynes amazing, really is perfect casting

 

Nyns test was something special

 

Liking Perrins arc (golden eyes golden eyes!)

 

Veins fun, "so you found the Dragon Reborn.." 🔥 any one notice how she was sporting her browns on the farm and once they left she was dressed in black?

 

Liking Selene with Rand, she's totally messing with his dreams, all supportive lover whilst awake and giving him nightmares of killing his friends, and that last dream where we see "Lanfear" come out. Going to be fun watching the crazy come out.

 

Don't have much of an opinion on Matt other than Donal is doing good.

 

I could go on, overall the virtues far put way my problems, super keen to see where it's going 😀

[Agitel]

My opinion on S1: Got off to an unsteady start and failed to find its stride, face planting at the end.

 

My opinion of S2 so far: It's come out of the gate strong.

 

If season two maintains its quality as a TV show I could move this to my "would recommend" column.

 

It's a quite liberal adaptation. I'd gobble up fourteen seasons of a near shot for shot adaptation of the books. But I've come to accept it. I think there are good justifications for why this is what we get, which helps me accept it. I honestly don't believe he's changing things just for the sake of changing things. I think there are legit reasons in terms of the scope executives were willing to greenlight, budget, actor commitments....

 

My opinion of Rafe as a showrunner has improved. I know there are concerns about the changes, but putting interpretation aside, and just in terms of "good television" and writing... I had some doubts after season one. Those doubts are starting to be out to rest.

[zacz1987]

I enjoyed it much more than I did with season 1. It seems to be much of an improvement. I did still have a few minor issues however.

 

I found that there did not seem to be enough Aes Sedai walking around the tower scenes. Other than the main 5 or 6 sisters we don't see anyone else, they should have have multiple extras walking around in colourful Aes Sedai dresses. At this point in the series before the major event happens the tower should be quite busy and lived in.

 

Loial looked worse than in season 1 and his personality etc seemed to have digressed. While I didn't agree with his look in season 1 they had his personality down pat but he no longer seems to be the long winded slow talking character any more. They also did a poor job making him look tall, In season 1 they managed to make him look larger using camera angles but in Season 2 they have scenes where he is standing next to Perrin and Perrin is taller.

 

I also found the time skip to be a bit too much. We don't see how Loial recovers from his stab wound - its like it never happened. We don't see how Rand and Selene meet or how Perrin ended up being recruited into the hunt for the horn. Hopefully they have a flashback in future episodes which links the seasons together but I'm not hopeful.

[DigificWriter]

5 minutes ago, zacz1987 said:

I found that there did not seem to be enough Aes Sedai walking around the tower scenes. Other than the main 5 or 6 sisters we don't see anyone else, they should have have multiple extras walking around in colourful Aes Sedai dresses. At this point in the series before the major event happens the tower should be quite busy and lived in.

 

Did you miss Sheriam Sedai's statement that the Aes  Sedai's number is dwindling?

 

The Tower being emptier than one might expect is a deliberate choice on the part of the writers.

[zacz1987]

Dwindling does not mean only 6 Aes Sedai in the tower. In the books there are around 1200 Aes Sedai at the beginning of the Series and over 3/4 are usually in the tower at any one time. There has been a decline as there used to be many many more. 

 

There multiple reds and greens last season in the Aes Sedai camp and yet Liandrin and Alanna seem to be the only two in the tower now. I'm not talking about main characters but just having extras wandering the hallways in the  Egwere, Elayne and Nynaeve scenes would help a lot.

[DigificWriter]

Just because the show isn't showing us more than a handful of Aes Sedai so far this season doesn't mean that they're not there.

[zacz1987]

I understand that, but I am just saying having more extras would make the show much better.

[Elder_Haman]

13 hours ago, DreadLord31 said:

pot on. If you split the plot too many ways, it feels like nothing gets developed/happens - even if that's not really true. But for some reason these episodes did feel like we had more time with each of the characters/there was a bit more development. Can't put my finger on why that is.

Episode length. You can really feel that the writers have just a little more room to breathe. That extra 10-12 minutes/episode really matters.

[DaddyFinn]

5 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

Episode length. You can really feel that the writers have just a little more room to breathe. That extra 10-12 minutes/episode really matters.

Removing the long intro also helps. It was so good though 🥲