Right. And also recognizing that any true “defeat” of “evil” in the mortal world would be evil in and of itself. Eliminating evil requires eliminating humanity, which — of course — is the Dark One’s ultimate goal.

I forgot that you haven’t read the books. Here is the overarching theme: Absolute evil exists. Absolute good exists. But while these things exist, they almost NEVER exist independently of one another. Thus, wherever an evil institution exists, you will find some good in it. The same for people. When the Tower falls, it falls not because the Dark One commanded or instigated it. It falls because of one ‘good’ woman’s arrogance, vanity and pride. And when the Tower is ultimately rebuilt, it is facilitated — in no small measure — because of the Dark One’s minions and their schemes. The same is true of the Children of the Light. They are devoted to good, but are full of self-righteous people serving themselves and their own ambitions. When they are ultimately rebuilt, it is because of the choices of those who turned to the Dark. Rand’s ultimate victory is not just about good triumphing over evil. It’s about recognizing that evil must be permitted to exist in order for good to exist. You can’t just have generic bad guys and keep with this theme.

How? By doing this, you neuter the absolute heart of Jordan’s theme.

This is how it already is. Making Elaida a darkfriend doesn’t change this at all. All that making her a DF does is simplify things in a way that cuts out the more interesting parts of the Tower Schism and removes all of the nuance from Egwene’s plot.

It's not inconceivable. But (a) there's no reason to think they've done this; (b) it would cut against the thematic heart of the books; (c) it would make for far less interesting television; and (d) I would hate it.

You’re going to have to walk me through your logic here. Elaida is just power hungry and manipulative. Nothing she did shows her as a darkfriend.

Only Elaida doesn’t murder Siuan, Alviarin does.

Oops. You're right.

Not so fast, my friend... https://winteriscoming.net/the-wheel-of-time-breaks-into-top-10-streaming-charts

I sure wish I knew.

Isn’t that the whole point of Rand as a character? The struggle between those two halves? Did we even read the same books?

The language was ‘accused of being’. I think she just doesn’t care whether the accusation is true.

Are you going insane because of the corrupting influence of Saidin? You’re missing the bigger thematic picture. He decides to trust Moiraine because she acted like a ruthless pragmatist in pursuing Rand’s victory. Is that the lesson Rand should be taking away as he goes mad? I know you think it’s “bad writing,” but I’m not sure what more you want the writers to do. Rand explained his reasons. And those reasons have enormous, theme and plot appropriate ramifications for the story to come.

He literally explains why he decides to finally trust her.

It is not arbitrary. It’s literally the definition of the term. Yes. And also to highlight Elaina’s venal cruelty. And also to drop an important hint about another character. And also as a symbol of the Tower itself. I get that you don’t like it. But there was a lot more depth to the decision than you’re willing to acknowledge.

No. No, no, no. That not what fridging is. Fridging is creating a character for the sole purpose of killing them in order to motivate the main character. You know like Laila Aybara. Siuan was not fridged. She died.

They sure made me love reading though…

Some, not all cuts are bad. Some, not all additions are good. Those are not contradictory statements.

I have critically important information to share. Ok, not really, but in terms of non-book reader opinions, I wanted to share this: My son is 19. Never read the books. Could have absolutely cared less about the show in S1. When pressed (by me), he would say it was okay (to be nice), but even though it was our 'family show' [we watch one show together as a family] for that time, was usually on his phone. Tuned in a little more to S2, but there's no way you could call him invested. He rolled his eyes when I talked about it. But he admitted he liked it more than S1. He moved out, so we didn't watch together as a family this year. But when he came to hang out one time, we watched the first two episodes of S3. Similar to S2, he was tuned in but not super invested. Next time, we watched 3 and 4. After 4, he was asking me non-stop questions about the AoL and the Aiel. Started saying things like, "I'm gonna have to go back and look at that one time..." We watched E5, which he liked. Last night he was over. Now, my son and I are not night owls. We're both usually in bed by 10. We watched E6. His jaw was on the floor. He couldn't stop talking about how terrible it was that Rand killed 'that little girl' but how awesome it was that he 'no looked' Sammael. He looked at the clock, almost 9. "I can't stay up for the last one, dad. But let's watch 7." As Episode 7 plays out, he's a non-stop comment machine. (He loves Faile and the contrast in height with Perrin.) Saw Loial's sacrifice coming and kept saying things like, "no, they're not going to kill him" and agonizing over Bain and Chiad. He cheered - loudly - when Valda got his. That episode wraps past 10. Immediately, he says, "I can't just not finish. We have to just watch." He loved E8 and was still talking about it on the way upstairs to bed. He can't wait for S4. When I told him they hadn't for sure said there would be one, his exact words, "that would be the dumbest thing ever. We have to find out what happens." The last half of this season was absolutely dynamite. (Side note: I asked him about the 'fake out deaths'. He agreed that it was a little overdone, but had an interesting point. He grew up with Marvel and said something like, 'it's pretty typical now' that people get up after they should die.)

Leanne. Which, I suspect, is why we had several scenes of her attempting to advise Siuan only to be rebuffed.

I think they were waiting to see what Alviarin did.

I see your point. But then again, they give Mat intangible things that assist him (i.e. memories) in obtaining his goal. So the gift could be something less tangible that nonetheless allowed her to obtain the Amyrlin Seat?

They could have given her the Amyrlin seat, no?

I think it's impossible to finish in 4. The lowest number Rafe has given is 6. I think you could do it in 5. Something like this: Season 4: Rand takes the Stone -- Rand is Caged -- Dumai's Wells. Salidar -- Egwene Captured -- Seanchan Attack. Andor Succession -- Mo to the Finn -- Faile rescues Perrin Season 5: Cleansing -- Veins of Gold -- Last Battle Egwene Heals the Tower -- Last Battle Matt Rescues Mo -- Last Battle But even that is going to skip a ton and probably have to be written in a pretty herky/jerky, last 2 seasons of GoT jumble.

Much respect, but you're kind of muddled on this issue. (1) There's no reason to think Elaida met the Aelfinn at all. She came back with gifts - one of those may be that she become the Amyrlin Seat. The Eelfinn give gifts. (2) There's no reason to think that Alviarin knew exactly what Elaida did there. She namedropped both types of Finn because both exist, and sisters are known to have encountered both types. (3) Mat only met the Eelfinn on his first trip through the doorway as well. This is not a question that needs to be answered at all. (4) Magic portals are ... magic. They don't have to always lead to the same place. In the realm of the Finn things shift and change. The same portal could lead to different places depending on what rules are established.