My wife read a few of the books and didn't like them. I have been surprised by how much she's enjoying the show. On the first viewing of episode 5 I was disappointed, but she defended it, pointing out how good all the scenes where with Moiraine and the other Aes-sedai were. I think the changes have been good for meeting today's audience. I also think the show might be more appealing to women then other fantasy stories. I think it's a hidden and underappreciated strength of the show.

Also just want to throw my two cents on Lan.

This Lan is fine. I like him and I like his and Nynaeve's interactions. In the book I honestly couldn't even tell Lan liked her.

But the funeral scene was over done. I blame the director/Rafe. I think they had a point and I don't mind Lan showing some emotion, but the scene was just too much. I believe Lugubrious is the word.

I'm willing to move on though.

I agree with the many people seeing the Elaida/Liandrin Mashup. One thing I haven't heard on this topic. Is this Liandrin Black ajah or not? The character mash up puts this in question.

Ok not replying to myself, just following up.

 Epsiode 3. I forgot how fun it is for Nynaeve to be a bad ass. Instead of being annoying  I feel like I know where she's coming from. I like that I can like this character.

My first time through I found the first episode a little bit clunky and cliched, but my second time through I catch more subtlety and character building than I caught the first time. One thing I have noticed: 

On these boards a great deal has been made about diversity in the show. Personally, if the show had an all white cast, that would be a negative to me. As a fan of the books I would try, but it would bother me. But What I see on the second go round is that casting has been about more than diversity. Almost everyone in the two rivers is of a quasi-dark complexion. It makes Rand stand out with his red hair. No big deal is made of this, but it is a quiet mark on him. Only Perrin's wife shares Rand's fair features.

On my first time through the second episode hooked me more than the first. I liked Moirain's conversation with Egwene, Matt really stands out as likeable and Shadar Logoth was cool. On my second go through, no improvement, but still fun.

I'm watching episode three now, but it's late I might not make it through.

On 9/3/2021 at 6:37 PM, Elder_Haman said:

Nynaeve's sad, knowing smile.

So I also took this smile differently, not as sad and knowing, nor as happy and approving. I thought she really looked like Nynaeve there, more than any other shot. She was smiling to cover that she felt uneasy, overprotective, and maybe even a bit jealous.

I think most of us expect things to get condensed, but how? How would you do it.

I expect some people would want 14 seasons one for each book? What do you think about that?

I would have the first 3 books in the first 2 seasons,

the next three books in the next 2 seasons.

Books 7-11 should get cut down to 2 or 3 seasons.

Maybe 2 Seasons for Sanderson's run.

What kind of changes would that mean for the story though?

This all seems a bit silly. Are we really parsing out nudity predictions. The books always came across to me as PG to PG-13 anyway. If they threw in a bunch of gratuitous nudity and violence, I would say that is deviating from the source material. It would also draw comparisons to GoT which they seem to be trying to avoid.

2 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

 

But you're not suggesting major alterations to the overall arc of the series, are you? Because while I agree that telling the story from other perspectives makes sense, at the end of the day Rand Al'Thor is still the Dragon Reborn.

No, I'm not suggesting that Rand shouldn't be the Dragon. And it was always fun that the "Chosen one," was, in fact, going insane.

I think that should all play out.

I think it can be played up better from the perspective of others and how they view his behavior as he starts to go unhinged. When we saw it from the inside we tended to lean towards "Rand's hearing voices but that doesn't mean he's insane." I think he'll come across a lot more on the edge of loosing it, when it's just everyone else having to deal with him and all the crap he pulls.

    I'm excited about WOT for the first time in decades. I really loved this series as a young adult, but I started reading it just before book 8 came out. I was frustrated and disappointed before Jordan died and completely done with it before the last book came out.

    This series got out of hand. It lost it's pacing and had too many spanking scenes. Most of us know that. I'm really excited the producers of this show are not afraid to make changes. Changes were needed.

    I am also glad they're pushing Rand back from the foreground and focusing the show on what's going on around him. We don't need another story centered on the personal journey of our white male savior. I hope they stick to that. Cutting Rand back is a great way to tighten the story line and frankly there were just a horde of more interesting characters in the original story line anyway.

   I really hope this show is able to clean up this story, because there was so much promise and so much to love in those first six books.