It was incense. You saw the child soldiers walking ahead and waving them, with the fog being generated out of the containers. Combined with the whitecloak charge, was probably the most cinematic sequence from the entire series. UNO and I saw someone else mention Steppin and Lady Amalisa in there?? So there are around 20 heroes in all of history and 3 of them are just some random idiots from the last 6 months. Mat being one is try and short circuit the Finn storyline, which I understand but it still seems odd that he knows he’s a hero, does a matrix download and then gets to fighting. I hadn’t even picked up on Moiraine breaking one of the 3 oaths during that scene… I really don’t understand what they were thinking and why they couldn’t just allow Rand to kill them all ffs. Agreed on the Egwene moment, the position would’ve been better allowing her to be saved and the others witnessing her killing the suldam in revenge. Now it can just be glossed over and any time two damane feel like not being one, can just pick up the bracelets left in their room and set each other free. I really don’t understand why the Whitecloaks tried to kill Perrin, watched a wolf save him, killed the wolf and then were just like ‘nah lads fine who we just tried to kill, there can be no consequences if we leave him here’.

Thoughts collected whilst watching. - Aiel spears look like they’re made of tinfoil for a kids play. - the channeling for the bond to be unmasked… - just randomly appearing with the Horn… - dummy’s in the mouth continue to be a truly horrendous acting choice - what a pointless thing in having Turak say the line from the book but good to see Rand actually do something. - ‘I’ll hold them’ doesn’t even last 5 seconds and the soldiers should be no further behind the others. - Lanfear gives Domon what looks to be equivalent of £10 to give up a fortune worth thousands. - dagger can melt locks??? - dagger now kills immediately… - whitecloaks all speak as though they are reading an autocue that they don’t really trust. - why did taking the suldam wrist off open the collar this time but not the other times? - Rand’s whisper acting continues to be frustrating. - shielding without being able to see, distance and not bonding. So annoying. - Valda just leaving Perrin on the floor… - the horn looks like cheap tat - why is Uno a hero? - ‘I remember’ as though he’s been plugged into the matrix training programme. - ‘oh no no’ I’ve never heard anything funnier!! - Egwene saves Rand, Rans lies down like a weak baby as always. - Moiraine somehow has the power to destroy a ship from a mile away. - Lan actually has one scene of being competent. Don’t understand why they didn’t just run to the side of him to kill Moiraine. - Egwene can hold off the second most powerful channeler on the planet without too many issues. - Perrin holds him off with some random shield. - Elayne heals/closes the wound… - the stab under the heart might be the most anticlimactic thing I’ve ever seen on a tv show. - oh not just one ship, all the ships. - why is Lan doing some random crouch behind Moiraine whilst she sends the ridiculously massive fire dragon. All anyone else could do was the fireball equivalent of a water balloon. - now it’s a physical dragon monster ffs.

Probably already been said but: - Aes Sedai maintain the grass around the Tower and in the city via the One Power. - Aes Sedai ignore/don’t feel the cold so don’t need to be wrapped up if they don’t want to.

None of the second half of your post is possible with the adam. The suldam decides when the damane embraces the source, decides exactly what happens once the source is embraced and decides once the damane is to pull away from the source. There is no possibility of self rescue, resistance or causing accidents. The domination is whole and complete at all times.

Maybe if they had opened with Moiraine hearing the prophecy 20 years earlier, before panning to a shot of all the EF5, to allow for the nonsense ‘anyone can be the Dragon’ season 1 plot. Once you get to season 2, the prophecy then becomes focussed on Rand and starts the process of him actually looking like a main character, rather than some mopey lad who sort of grunts through two seasons worth of dialogue.

Without having read the books I couldn’t see how you would understand that Rand is meant to be a big deal. His lack of characterisation in favour of wasting time on Steppin, Lan and whatever is going on with Moiraine is pretty frustrating. Tbf though, the book did also have this issue, spending huge detours on things like Morgase, that are completely unimportant in the wider scheme of things. I do think they would’ve been better off trimming everything away to just Rand, Mat, Nynaeve / The Last Battle / Forsaken. Deciding what is absolutely key to keep for the correct markers to be hit. Then fleshing out Egwene and Perrin in their overall plot, before settling on Moiraine, Elayne and Aviendha with whatever is left. They obviously drop the right names and characters in as they go along but entire episodes are not wasted on someone that has no impact or influence on the Last Battle. If they were going to do the Steppin type episode, I would’ve preferred an episode getting to know darkfiends in this world, as they’ve definitely done Darkfriends and potentially the Forsaken on the series compared to the books up to this point. The amount the series has been compressed with the 8 episode series means that anything that is not key can go, whereas the focus seems to be on inventing new scenes and beats that weren’t needed.

Quality of writing, cgi, directing and acting has increased significantly this season, just a pity that the base was so low last season. I still feel the choice of making Moiraine the singular main character is holding the series back, as for those who aren’t book readers Rand is just some random man who can do magic like the women. Rosamund Pike was not famous enough to actually re-write an entire series for and 100% would not have drawn casual viewers in. This then leads in to whatever the hell has gone on with Lan for the past two seasons. It just feels shoehorned, unnecessary and really dragged out. If this is what they want to do with him, I feel it would’ve been better off just killing him off and having that being the shock death to book readers. There are many minor changes that whilst taken individually wouldn’t be frustrating, are becoming more frustrating, especially as I struggle to see the benefit in the change. Whereas changes like Uno being killed are fine, as he was basically just some generic soldier that was an easy reference point in the books. On a tv show literally any soldier can do the job fine.

Are any of those titled the play they are based on? No? They are adaptations of a play done in their own way, not just picking taming of the shrew, calling it taming of the shrewd but having Neo run in and drop kick some bishes. What people want is for a show named literally after the book to be a relatively close adaptation of the book, hitting key points. Otherwise just use WOT as a foundation, similar to what you have mentioned above, and you can then add your own spin with no moaning.