Explain why changing the leash and collar to a gag and collar is "unreasonable" or "twisted". Especially in light of the facts that: (a) it is incredibly impractical to tether two actors together with a leash and collar and expect them to perform repeated takes on camera; and (b) it is incredibly expensive and laborious to add CGI leashes to every scene where there are one or more sul'dam and damane pairs on the screen.

I think this is a bit of a stretch. Remember, the nature of the "villain" changed for each of the characters as the books went on. (Rand thought he had killed the Dark One being the obvious example). We've certainly seen some heavy-handedness and bad writing, but we also need to allow some room for the idea that our expectations are being set up to be subverted. There's a lot of story to be told yet, and as we well know things do not stay the same in the world of the Wheel of Time.

I suppose Bain or Chiad could take his place in the wolf dream. I hope not though. And I hope they don’t cut Ruarc either, but they probably will.

I doubt they cut Gaul. His arc is too tied into Perrin’s.

I think there are people who confuse “opinion” with “fact”. You appear to be one of those.

I will!

So? In the end, did this change anything? I generally agree that the “who is the Dragon” arc was mediocre. But it had ZERO impact on the actual plot. It’s a tempest in a teapot.

All he said was that souls could be reborn as either male or female. The rest is entirely about the unreliable nature of centuries old prophecies and how political entities like the Tower interpret them to suit their own preconceptions and narratives. The Dragon is (and was always going to be) Rand, a male.

Uh. No. This is just wrong.

I’m about to start my 3rd watch. First since right after the show was finished. (Watched as it came out, then binged again afterwards.)

I’m not sure you’re on solid ground here. “The public” is not the same as “hardcore fans of the book”. It’s also not the same as US viewers. By all accounts, S1 was extremely popular around the world. It’s also unlikely they would have green lit S3 already if the metrics proved that “the public” didn’t like it.

I'm not sure about the forehead makeup, but if memory serves all of the other damane I've seen pictured have the same heavy eye makeup. So that seems to be a common trait. I'm interested whether the makeup on the sul'dam will also be a common trait. I like that look.

Maybe for some. I quite like it.

They will need snappy dialogue that's mostly different from what Jordan wrote because the way Jordan's dialogue flows will - for the most part - translate poorly to screen and fail to accomplish what it needs to from a screenwriting standpoint.

*folds arms and stares*

I know it seems like that. But because of the need to truncate so much for the screen, the dialogue really has to carry the scenes, something Jordan never attempted to do in the books. That being said, there are a number of memorable lines that I hope they manage to include. I agree that the dialogue in the show was not great. I just don't think borrowing directly from the books is the answer to that problem. The solution is just to write better.

I 1000% disagree with this. The Eye was indeed a trap designed to expose the Dragon and set in motion Ishy's plan to use Rand to break the Wheel.

He wrote some really good lines of dialogue, no doubt. But you have to admit that he doesn't write snappy, dialogue driven scenes the way GRRM did (see what I did there?). His style is too florid - you spend too much time inside the character's heads to have dialogue drive the story.

I love these books. But I wouldn’t describe Jordan as writing particularly great dialogue. His strengths are his plotting, world building, florid descriptions and his characters. His dialogue is, as my kids would say, mid.

I think people underestimate the impact of COVID on some of the production quality issues. I'm stoked to see if the CGI improves. (The weaves in the trailer are trending in the right direction).

I get it. A lot of people felt that way, and I'm not trying to criticize you for it. On the other hand, other than your pre-established feelings about the show, I'm just trying to figure out what put you off about the trailer. Not trying to shame you for not liking the show. Just trying to figure out what makes you feel that there's been no change in direction.

It's so hard to tell. The most visually arresting shot from the first trailer (Egwene in the multi-colored pool) wasn't in Season 1. That boggled my mind.

I think they were going for “sorta creepy, thematically linked” music to set the tone. I’m not familiar with Halsey at all and did not recognize the song, so it definitely didn’t pull me out of the moment the same way something I’m more familiar with would have. I didn’t really hate the lyrics either. I took them as sort of a montage of thoughts in Rand’s mind as the madness begins to overtake him. As @SinisterDeath put it, Totally subjective though. I hated A Knight’s Tale. Music totally ruined it for me. Other people absolutely love that movie.

I don’t think the music will be in the show. Seems like it was used more as a tone setter. The tone seems to be leaning into the horror/thriller aspects, which would be a smart way to go, tone wise. The VFX of the weaves are much improved and the visuals are still top notch. The costuming also looks good. I’m not sure what’s not to like from a visual standpoint. As for “purposefully continuing down the path set during season 1” can you elaborate? What “path” did season one go down? And how does the trailer demonstrate that S2 will continue following that path?

You got that all from a 2 minute trailer? Specifically what makes you say that?