So we have confirmation now, season 2 was books 2 and 3 rolled into one, season 4 is all about book 4, so if Tear happens it is later, but I do like the theory I have seen that Callandor replaces the bowl of the winds. 

14 hours ago, Joe B said:

Again, it is more than semantics. He isn’t Car’a’carn until the clan chiefs say so. I don’t care how pedantic this for y’all…I will die on this hill…at this point in the story, ain’t no Aiel saying “that’s my Car’a’carn right there” especially without the dragon tats. 
Of course, the show may change adapt things with the Aiel, because “the stone that never falls will fall to announce his coming”.

I did not take it as Avi making a proclamation, but her identifying the potential. In terms of the titles, no, it really doesn't matter to the audience what title is used, it is far easier in a TV show to just keep to one name and stick with that all the way through, Rand still needs to go through the crystals, get the 2 dragons, break the Aiel with his announcement, he still has to do all of that to actually become Car’a’carn, but, if he has completed the prophecy then he has the chance to try, also, Avi saying it means nothing, I can absolutely as an alternative see her producing him to Amys, Amys taking one look at him and correcting Avi, telling her "no he isnt, not yet". The scene did what it needed to do, it told the viewer that there is a connection, something important between Rand and the Aiel, it is a title that can be said as one word to close a scene, that impacts far better then a phrase. It makes perfect sense from a writing perspective. 

I think it is also very clear we are not getting Tear, Rafe has stated that books 2 and 3 are all in season 2, so that whole piece of story now changes. 

13 hours ago, Mirefox said:

I don’t remember that but it would make sense.

Robert Jordan added it in because he realsied that Rand shouldn't have been good enough to beat Turok, Rand also learns to fight with his hands, and tries learning to fight with a spear as well. 

I can see Matt joining these training sessions, sparring with his "spear" bonding with Rand

14 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

I think it will begin early and continue throughout. Remember that book Rand often clashes with the Aiel over his preference for the sword and he never adopts the spear. But I suspect Lan will start training him and that the Rand/Lan relationship will be the buffer between Rand and Moiraine, who he will begin to distrust as wanting to control him. Remember, he's not had any time to chat with Moiraine after Siuan did what she did and he is going mad.

 

The season could end with Rand fighting Couladin, sword to spear, and killing him with a sword. That would be a satisfying arc to make Rand into a competent swordsman by season's end and give him a nice payoff. 

Couladin will be in season 4, ad will die at the hands of Matt as per the books, season 3 will be a fight with Asmoden, my assumption was it would end as it does in the books with Asmo becoming Rands teacher, but, I also think there is a possibility that it ends with Rand sheathing the sword, this gives him his second wound and lets him achieve something with the sword fighting he will be learning. 

5 hours ago, Godoggo said:

I just have a fundmental problem with the world of TV writers WOT.  When you write fantasy, you establish rules.  The rule was, if you think of something as a weapon, you can't touch it, even if it is for a different use.  As a result, as soon as Egwene thought of using it as a weapon, she shouldn't be able to use it.  It's a TV trope that the victim gets to kill the oppressor, but it doesn't make sense here.  Let alone the fact that even if Egwene could have placed the collar, as soon as she gives pain to other, it would create a constantly increasing feedback loop until both would clearly die as each adam increases the pain exponentially to their damane.  

The collar rules do not break any established TV lore, and given that we have never seen 1 damane collar another in this way in the books any statement that it isn't possible is opinion, the simple fact is that in the TV show it very much is possible, and the lore backs that up. 

I posted about this just 1 page ago but very briefly. 

Renna tells Egwene laughing, The collar will have no effect on me, that means that to Renna the Collar is not a weapon. If Egwene had used it to beat or to hit or cut Renna then yes, she would be stopped, but she is using teh collar for it's intended purpose and, I imagine it has never been programmed into the Collar to prevent a dammane using it on anyone, because, how would a Damane actually collar a wildling, seeing as Damane are lower then all. 

So the Collar is not a "banned" weapon because it only affects enemies of the Seanchan, it is not a weapon in Renna's eyes because it is not going to affect her and it is not a weapon in Egwenes eyes, because as a damane she is simply either collaring another Damane, or putting a nice collar on someone that will have no effect. 

As for the feedback loop, did you watch the following scene. Renna was screaming in pain, Egwene, was clearly in pain, but, had learnt to channel and direct it in a way that she knew she could outlast Renna, Renna told her, if you continue to hurt me we will both die. Egwene didn't care about that. 
 

20 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

I quit GoT after S4 or 5 and it was already boring at that point

There is no GOT beyond season 5, just as the matrix is 1 movie and an amazing animated series of short films. 

People on here are upset it seems that Rand in season 2 is not as powerful with the power as Rand in books 2 and 3. They seem to want him to be super syan, killing trollocs with a thought, annihilating armies at tarwins gap and being all powerful. 

The thing is, Robert jordan made a mistake in books 1-3, a mistake he spent a long time rectifying in the following books. his mistake was not of his own doing, it was forced on him by the writing process. It is a mistake that many writers have discovered if they don't have a full story mapped out start to end. I call it the Matrix effect. 

When he started out he hoped he had a trilogy. A story to tell over a 3 act arc, so, at the end of book 1 his main character gets a major power boost, all on his own, he destroys an army, because at this point RJ didn't even know if he had a second book. 

Then he has books 2 and 3 greenlit and so he carries on his oddesy, Rands powers increase, exponentially, he deals with threats with a thought, he teaches himself powers without knowing how and he becomes more and more all powerful meaning he can now take out god level beings (forsaken) on his own. 

Then, the best and worst thing happens he is given the chance to turn this into a multi book odyssey, but, he has a problem, his main character is at this point so overpowered in relation to the world around him that he really doesn't need anyone. he has come on in his power far faster then he should have done. Especially in relation to the other main characters around him, and, how will he find himself against threats that are really dangerous when he is so powerful all on his own. 

So Robert Jordan removes Rands power, the immense powers he showed in books 1 and 2 are put down to the madness, LTT in his head, or just things he can't possibly remember to do again. He is sent to the 3 fold land where his, by now, stupidly good sword fighting skills are worthless and he needs to learn to fight a different way, at the same time Matt, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve are sent on there own arcs to power them up to meet rand as he comes back down, trying to reach a point where they are all fairly equal, in different ways. 

I call this the matrix problem because at the end of movie 1 there is a problem, Neo is all knowing, all powerful, he is unbeatable in the Matrix, can shape it to his very will. By the time of the second movie (at least the concept as I have heard it, to my mind films 2 and 3 of the matrix are in the same place as seasons 6,7 and 8 of GOT, a thought experiment that thankfully never happened lol), Neo needs to either be de powerd, or, a threat even greater needs to be created, something that he can't fight against, that is both Agent smith, and, a crazy unintelligable plotline about architecture and load bearing structures or something. but on a serious note it is a problem with storytelling in an episodic format where you don't map out and clearly define the plot across the whole and instead have some viague idea but fill in the details book to book. 

So how does this impact the TV show, well, Rafe and co can, and are, fix that glaring mistake of Robert Jordans, they can ensure that Rand develops his powers in a linear and not up and down, they can show him slowly coming to grips with things in a logical way. At the end of season 2 an unshielded rand, untrained, raw, deals with Ishy far easier then Egwene, Rafe shows in that scene how powerful he is, just a few scenes before Rand ganked a load of soldiers without a seconds thought, when the most we have seen Egwene do is have a very powerful fart (sorry schoolboy humour). 

So no Rand is not godlike in his powers, but, that is a good thing, that is good episodic writing, if, when writing the first line of EOTW RJ had known, I have 14 books minimum to finish this in and my editor does not want a copy of the Fellowship, I think we would have had a very very very different books 1,2 and 3. and a very different, much slower, Rand journey. It is why I say WOT starts with book 4, books 1 2 and 3 where just RJ practicing, and, it is why stating that Rafe and co "Don't know the books because they have done this and that" is, in my opinion, showing that you are looking at the individual books in isolation, when that is the mistake, you have to look at the whole and, you have to look at the reality behind the writing process and how it impacted character development in a bad way. 

2 hours ago, Cauthonfan4 said:

I remember back during season 1 the book fans who didn't like the show were told to calm down, that the girl power ups at the expense of males would slow down and male characters, especially Rand, would get more time to shine, especially at falme

 

You can start apologizing now. Season 2. Falme in the bag. Rand screwed again.

 

I gave your garbage show a chance, yall lied to me and as far as I'm concerned every defender of this show is a liar who hates the books.

 

Rafe, as far as I'm concerned is a rampant misandrist and rafe of time can die in a fire.

Yeah no idea whatyou watched, I think it was a different show to the rest of us. 

Rand got a chance to shine, but also, why and how would Rand be all powerful in the one power, no one has really taught him, no one has shown him anything, after book 2 and 3 Robert jordan actually depowerd him in book 4 because he realised he had made him far to powerful for a multi book series, he had taken him on a 3 book story and so peaked him far far to early. Why should the writers repeat Robert jordans mistakes? 

4 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

'The Wheel of Time' Season 2 is a Payoff, not a Comeback (Review) (popculture.com)

 

Don't call it a Comeback...

This review is alot more realistic and fair, not just a puff piece. 

2 hours ago, EmreY said:

Plus if all Josha's asked to do for 7 years is to make stoic or angry faces, he's going to end up like Henry Cavill. 🙂

That hasn't exactly fared him badly lol, Witcher, and now Imagine he might be playing one of the most powerful characters in all of fiction, the emperor of Mankind or one of his sons :). 

3 minutes ago, Mirefox said:

Except at that point in book 3, isn’t Rand deep into the madness and kills them not even knowing if they are real?

 

This Rand looked like a later Rand who how power, intention, and control.  That all seemed to come out of nowhere.

Rand in the early books should never match Rand in the TV show, because in the early books Robert jordan thought the whole story was being wrapped up in 3-4 books, so he powered Rand up to fight the dark lord now, then he had to find ways to make his powers less, the madness, forgetting how to do things. it is a bit like a computer game I once played called prototype, the very first level you are fully powerd with all the special abilities un beatable killing everything, then, a thing happens in story and you lose all those powers and spend the rest of the game slowly powering back up. 

Rand is powered up to book 3, then RJ went, wait, I can tell this over a load more books, great, ok, now I need to depower Rand, a lot, or overpower the forsaken, a lot, I need to make him so he isn't the best swordsman in the world, ok. 

With the TV show we can see him slowly building his power, and then slowly going mad and building to a crescendo point, hopefully not on top of dragonmount talking to god. 

This amongst other reasons is why the pacing of the TV show is going to be far better then the books, there is no wibbly wobbley up again, down again power scaling needing to be done. 

6 hours ago, ilovezam said:

Yep, and someone like Elayne or any random Aes Sedai could have easily done the same (assuming the Oaths are not hindering them). Rand's only unique feat in the season that demonstrated a scary amount of raw power was channeling an abnormal amount when learning from Logain.
 

That's neat, I have not heard about Rand learning swordfighting in S3. Do you have a source? 
 

The same Rafe interview as the one where he said the Turok scene was lifted straight from something he does in book 3, he said that in the show Rand has not yet learned to fight, that is coming and we will see him learning to use the blade. If you think about it, had RJ known when he wrote book 1 and 2 that the series would be so long I think Rand would not have been a blademaster who was super syan with the power by the end of book 3. in fact, if you really take the books in Robert jordan was very clever in instantly retconning Rands power back in book 4 onwards, he finds ways to make his sword fighting skills less impressive, he dials back his power by having him "forget" what he did or how he did things and need to learn from scratch from Asmo. All the TV show has done is put him on a more realistic curve. But by having him do something in the show that he does in book 3 then he is on the same par as his power level in book 3. 

6 hours ago, Ralph said:

 

killing turak and his soldiers

 

perrin has not shown skill with the sword, which we have already been told is coming for Rand in S3.

 

Rand has not been involved in any of the fights with multiple fighters, whereas Perrin has. and that is not unlike the books at this stage tbh

Rafe said the Turok scene was lifted from book 3 when he does a similar thing with bandits/dark friends around a fire. They all die and fall to their knees. 

So if that weave was a book 3 weave then he is about in the same place as he is in book 3. 

10 minutes ago, Yamezt said:

Top of my head:

 

Book 2 - Siuan? or one of the Aes Sedai commented how they called the winds to speed up cuz they were in a rush and were so sad they flooded villages on the way, damaging crops and basically f up the weather. They were rushing to meet Moiraine and see to see Rand I think.

 

Book 3? Elayne tried being smart with Verin by saying blowing up the ground near a whitecloak(?) does not constitute using a weapon. Now Verin did give her a earful. But at the same time, if Elayne had the oaths and genuinely believed she complied, she would be to have done so. So I guess the interpretation of why certain events constitute the one power as a weapon is probably indoctrinated by the white tower.

 

and this is the thing, alot of the lore around the oaths is also wraped up in doctrine, what is a weapon, that is probably defined in a book somewhere in the white tower, I imagine there are lessons on these very things to ensure novices are conditioned so as not to think to far around the oaths. I imagine these lessons where defined and created by Black Ajah sisters as yet another form of control. 

but, that also suggests that conditioning can be broken and twisted, Moiraine has not been in the tower for 20 years, so she is alot more free to play around the edges of the oaths. 

31 minutes ago, LightHelpMe said:

I'm in the same camp. They allow continuity errors that could easily be avoided, and cheesy crap like the magic Captain America shield, and give the show runner's favorite character 2 big moments, neither of which she should have been capable of. People are having to explain how Moiraine didn't break one of the Oaths which could have been avoided simply with different dialogue.

 

Maybe Ishamael thinks because he failed to turn Rand he'll get to enjoy blissful death until the Dragon is reborn again or that the other Forsaken can take him out. But, no, it really doesn't make sense for him to just stand there and wait for Rand to stab him.

 

It's fun to discuss and theorize, but not about stuff that is simply a matter of less than great writing.

Sorry until we see the whole we cannot even begin to question that this is "bad writing" Rafe has said in multiple interviews that he has the benefit of knowing all the books and he has a massive board full of post it notes mapping out the story from start to end, maybe you prefer your TV in neat little hour long packages that answer every question within the 60 minutes, I am perfectly happy if something is left unresolved now and then revealed in 6 seasons time to all have been done for a reason. I don't even care if that reasoning is figured out after the event. One of my fav shows was the new Battle Star Galactica, a show that showed deep levels of lore and foreshadowing that seemed to be very cleverly mapped out from episode one when things where revelaed. Turns out the writers and show runners wrote season to season and woud go back and take random things they had done in a prior season and then make it into something for now, the fans thought it was really clever, it was, but not in the way they thought. 

Claiming that keeping the viewer and the characters ignorant of hidden purposes, even in interviews in the role of a writer, is bad writing is really backwards thinking. 

40 minutes ago, Rhaze said:

 The big glaring hole with the Ishamael thing was the fact Ishamael KNOWS the DO isnt going to just let him go but immediately spin him back out. Nothing about it made sense except they needed Ishamael to die without giving Rand enough power or taveren to do it. So they came up with some really silly BS that they want fans to just accept, dont ask questions, and move on... The show is enjoyable, but once again, it will never be great because the writers dont care  if it is great, good enough is good enough for them.

I mean, we don't know that Ishmael knows that, we know that Ishmael was imprisoned, and he might hope that the DO is going to leave him dead. 

But, maybe, just maybe, he has a plan, maybe, you either Turn Rand at this early point, or, you have to let Rand think he has won a victory in order to ensure he does the next thing to allow you to win the war for the DO, maybe this is all part of a plan, in the books it is not, in the books Ishy dies, and then RJ realises he has another load of books to write and he is killing off his big bad guys at an alarming rate of knots, so he creates a way to keep brining them back over and over. So when Ishy dies in the books he has no idea that he is coming back, he tells Rand, it was my punishment for failing with you. 

So either this ishy is the same, ignorant to the fact he is about to come back, or, he is well aware and it is all part of the plan. 

12 hours ago, LTL said:

Do we see any examples in the 14 book WOT series of Aes Sedai using the one power against an enemy structure when it is not in defence of their or their warder's life? Genuine question, the answer may be yes. If not then it seems pretty unlikely that RJ was using an incorrect interpretation of the word "weapon". If yes then it becomes much murkier.

I need to go back to episode 1 but at the very start didn't Moiraine destroy the wall of the inn to kill a load of trollocs? That act may well have put innocents at risk, all that flying rock, the chance of the inn collapsing, if you extrapolate this out then Moiraine destroying the ships is a similair thing. Innocents might be hurt but it is for the greater good. 

But as it goes we din't need to question this scene, even though everyon seems to want to. Moiraine tells Lan, They are shielding the dragon reborn, Ishmael is up there Rand is in danger and if he dies the entire world burns (or words to that effect). lan then tells her that innocent people may be hurt, and she makes that choice, the trolley problem and decides to destroyb the ships to free Rand and therefore save the world. 

Now everyone is sayng this goes against the books but, at any point in the books did we ever see a similar situation, I am not saying infer, or guess did we ever see an Aes Sedai have the option of either do nothing and a worse evil happens, or risk an innocent and stop that great evil. If we didnt (and we didn't) then actually we can't say that this situation is not valid and we can't say the 3 rulew would not allow it. The fact is that one of the weakneses of the 3 laws that we see all the time is that Aes Sedai can work round them all the time, the one we see them do this with the most is telling the truth. but we also see Aes Sedai stroll into the middle of a full on battle with Aiel just to ensure they are "at risk enough", we see them manipulate around the oaths in al sorts of ways. If it is not categorically stated that this is not possible, and no I won't take opinion as proof, then I am sorry, it is actually possible in the rules of the world. 

9 hours ago, Gypsum said:

The collar thing was also a bit baffling now that you got me thinking about it. Perhaps more so than Moiraine's fiery assault on the ships. As per the show's own rules -- the whole thing with the water jug -- Egwene surely should not have been able to pick up the other damane's collar, much less place it on Renna.

Is the collar a weapon and is Renna a Sul Damane if it is that is the question here. I know she is wearing the bracelet but the power of the collar means the Damane can't just not hurt her Suldamane, she can't hurt anyone she is not directed to, otherwise Damane could kill each others Sul Damane, or each other in suicide pacts. 

But we do know that Channellers who are not collared are blanket considered an enemy of the Seanchan, I might be wrong but have we seen Damane collar free women in the series? 

Anyway if you take this logic, the moment that Egwene considers Renna to be a channeller who is uncollared then instantly collaring becomes something she can't just do, but she must do. At that point Renna is not her Sul Damane. 

But there is another element to this, when she collars Renna Renna laughs at her, tells her that the collar has no effect, so from Renna's perspective the collar used in that way is in no way a weapon, and like when Egwene used the jug to pour water and could touch it, she is allowed to use the collar as it is intended because it is no threat as far as Renna is concerned. 

If she had used the collar in any other way, trying to use a sharp edge to slice, or as a blunt weapon, then she gets stopped but she isn't, the collar is being used for it's intended purpose, and that purpose is no threat to a Sul Damane.

8 hours ago, TheBlueStuff said:

I took a long break after book 4. Like years. Coming back to book 5, The Fires of Heaven, was just incredible. The ending with Rand vs Rahvin and Moiranne vs Lanfear. Featuring Nyneve outsmarting Mogheiden??? Epic book.
 

And the character development in Rand, hearing how other characters describe how hard he gets is just so cool. Matt finally coming to terms with his memories and abilities.

 

books 5-14 were all incredible for me (except Crossroads at Twilight that shit was garbage). Brandy Sandy’s treatment of the final books was so much more fast paced than RJs, loved it. And his comedic touch with Matt was the finest. Brandy Sandys books are my next fave. 

And this is what is great about WOT so much variation, the 3 Brandon books for me are amongst the worst, I am greatful the series was ended, but I hate his style of writing and what he did to the characters I loved, I also hate the way he artificailly generates tension when RJ was able to do it so organically. 

My fav books, 4-11, with an emphasis on 4,5,6 and 7 I just love that flow of books and story. I find EOTW the weakest overall, and TGH is probably about level with AMOL in terms of being the 2nd worst for me, 

3 hours ago, Mirefox said:

It is interesting in this article that he talks about giving Egewene her big moment and how in the books Nyn was there but Rafe wanted it to be a moment for Eg.  Yet then in the show he took Rand’s big moment where he was alone fighting Ishamael in the books and made that a moment for…Egwene…

If RObert Jordan had known when he finished the great hunt that he would have 12 more books to tell this story I doubt he would have powered Rand up so quickly to make him able to go toe to toe with a forsaken power for power. In fact, when he realised he had more books to tell the story he Retconned Rand by having him "forget" how he did certain weaves and having the sickness of the taint impact his channeling. 

Rafe is lucky in that he can see the full arc of the story and build Rand slowly, but, in no way does Eg "take away" from Rands moment, that scene the 4 come together to barely hold their own against Ishy, it is only when Rand is freed that Ishy has any kind of concern, you see Egwene barely holding on, telling rand he needs to do something because she is going to die here. Then the shield is dropped and suddenly Rand takes over, un trained, walking into Ishy's fire, deflecting it. 

Where is that Rand's moment being lost? 

15 hours ago, Mirefox said:

It’s like explaining color to a blind person; if you can’t see that there is a drastic tonal shift in the characterization of many of these characters then I suppose it makes sense that you’re so happy with how they are presented.  The defining personalities of many of these characters have been changed for TV; that’s character assassination and Matbwas one of the more egregious, along with Rand.

I mean matts story is now really interesting, he becomes most peoples fav character but that is really only from book 5 onwards, until then he is either Golumn and just mopes around getting more and more ill, or a bit of a brat, it never really made sense to me in the books why he was the one to take the dagger, to be enticed away as he was not that different to the other 2 boys, a bit of a scamp but not the kind to suddenly loot from a graveyard, TV Matt I can totally see making that choice and so that change for me made the most sense, I am not 100% on what they did with his mum an dad, I am happy to WAFO where that goes when Perrin returns to the 2 rivers. 

12 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

Technically, “battle lust” is a defense to murder (“heat of passion”), but the killing would remain a crime (manslaughter). Now, that’s just US law so maybe there’s no such distinction in Randland…

I mean in the book he gets off on the technicality that "whitecoloaks are not really people because they are an invading force and not subject to the laws of the land". 

Now where I am unhappy is that in the books he didn't kill Geofram, I would have much prefered if he had been seen killing a different whitecloak and then cast as killer of Geofram by association allowing the viewer to "know" and watch as the truth is uncovered later on. 

On 10/5/2023 at 8:49 PM, Elder_Haman said:

I'd say that if there is near universal agreement on anything, it's that Tarwin's Gap was the worst part of season 1.

I almost wish they had said, "because of covid we will have to animate Tarwins gap, because otherwise the 2 trollocs and 2 defenders we are allowed on set are not allowed within 6 feet of each other, and pole arm fighting looks really dull. 

I would love to see the storyboard of that scene before covid, what the plans where in terms of scale or numbers of extras etc. 

1 minute ago, ilovezam said:

I would much rather Rand have much more participation in the events thus far, but that's reasonable enough, cheers.

I'm just quite bummed out that "yeah he was sidelined, but watch him kick ass in Season 2!" was a very commonly seen response after Season 1, and then we got another 8 episodes (some of which were otherwise excellent) that treated Rand the same way.

 

I will add that in a big piece like this it is usual for main characters who are only around a short while to be given more screen time then other characters whos actors get a far longer time to develop and expose them to audiences. Ishy was dying the end of the season, I don't expect that actor to be returning, so he was given some great scenes to chew through because that is how it is worth his while as an artist, Rand had some key moments in season 2, he destroyed a Fade, took out the guy stopping him from seeing Logain, he showed himself as caring and compassionate, which is really important given how dark we know he will get, he risked everything to try and save Egwene, and her not needing rescuing is a theme that will follow her throughout the story (how many people think she needs saving when she doesn't in the books). 

If you think about book 3 Rand hardly appears in it, you see glimpses of him but it isn't until Tear that he joins up with the reat of the group that you catch up with him. Season 1 was about introducing everyone, season 2 was about moving moiraine to the side and making the EF5 the key main characters, it was about developing each of them. I will just add that in the books RJ brought Rand on so quickly because he thought he was writing a trilogy, once he realised it would be much bigger he did sideline Rand and brought on the other characters to get them aligned. 

43 minutes ago, ilovezam said:

 

Focused on the characters minus Rand. Which is the problem most people have. You don't have to agree, but it's a huge strawman to pretend that people want the show to be all about Rand. 

 

Rand should not be one of the most minor characters in this ensemble.

If you agree that "it's not about Rand" is what the books were already going for, why is there a need to take away all the big Dragon Reborn moments that these same books had away from him. Would having Rand fight Ishy instead of Egwene be problematic for you somehow?

Egwene didn't "fight" ishy, a fight indicates she had a chance of winning, she put up a desperate last ditch defence that was crumbling as Ishy played and toyed with her. He wanted Rand to feel helpless, to experience real loss, to punish him for locking him away 3000 years ago instead of killing him. This is going to be a fantastic cal back to when Egwene takes on Taim in the last season and absolutely owns him in a reversal. 

And I asked the many people around me who have never read the books and they absolutley get that Rand is a key character to this story, he is the one Lanfer tried to seduce, he is the one Ishy is trying to corrupt, he is the focus of everything. Yes in the first 2 books RJ made him a point of focus, but that quickly changed so that in book 3 he is barely in it. 

Rafe has simply balanced out the story time of each character, because that is how you make a TV show.