I was tugging my braid quite a bit during this episode. I'm not going to give a long analysis this time because frankly, I just don't have it in me. For the people who are enjoying the show, I wish you the best and hope the show continues to satisfy you and only get better.

Thom said it better than I can.

"We can't go back, Mat. The Wheel has turned, for better or worse. And it will keep turning, as lights die and forests dim, storms call and skies break. Turn it will. The Wheel is not hope, and the Wheel does not care, the Wheel simply is. But so long as it turns, folk may hope, folk may care. For with light that fades, another will eventually grow, and each storm that rages must eventually die. As long as the Wheel turns. As long as it turns..."

As for me, this is where the show and I part ways. I'll continue to hope and care for the series as what it means to me, but I must follow my own path. Have a lovely holiday. ?

I did not hate it, but I did not love it either. What a boring take, I know. This will be very long, but if there's one thing the Wheel of Time taught me (from a writing perspective), it's the value of being thorough.

Let's start with a positive.

Casting & Characterization

I think the casting and characterization is overall a big win, with a few reservations. Nynaeve is almost certainly my favorite thus far. She's a raging, glorious protector. The only moment when I questioned her portrayal was when she refused to heal Moiraine, which I don't think Nynaeve would ever do. This could have been a bluff though, I'm not sure.

Perrin, Tam, Padan Fain, and Eamon Valda are the runners up. Perrin feels like such a strong presence and has quite good chemistry with Rand and Mat. Tam is basically exactly how I pictured him. One sour note is that I do think was that he lost against a single Trolloc. I know he was rusty, but he didn't get that heron mark for no reason. Padan Fain's smile was already enough. Eamon Valda is vile and will be delight to despise.

Lan is great. He's not perfect for me (why did he care about the bath temperature), but I think he plays the stoic well without becoming a robot. He's quite a badass as he should be. I also loved his interaction with Nynaeve when she tried to kill him. Mat is also great with a couple big reservations. I think Rand has the potential to be fantastic, but narrative-wise is subdued thus far (rightly so). I love his innocence though. Egwene is solid, but not great. She just isn't given much to do so far, which is basically the same as the book.

I think I'm in the minority on this one, but two characters I'm not a big fan of thus far are Moiraine and Thom. Regarding Moiraine, she's certainly not awful, but she feels a too distant. I realize she puts on those kinds of airs as an Aes Sedai, but even in the book, I feel she is a little more warm than how she has been portrayed so far. It is hard to fully evaluate her though, since she's kind of been out of commission for one and half episodes. I hope they open her up more in later episodes.

As for Thom, I get the grungy country/rock star style they are going for, but I prefer the more regal, theatrical Thom of the books. This is just a stylistic preference, but I feel it rather strongly. As for how Thom behaves, it seems a running theme that the show turns what appear to be light hearted characters into darker, more troubled versions of themselves. Of course, we find later in the books that Thom is a much more troubled character than his initial introduction, but only once we get to sit with him for a time. That being said, I am higher on him than Moiraine, particularly because of the scene between him and Mat when burying the Aiel.

With regard to my reservations with Mat, I don't like the fact they made him a thief, at all. To me, Mat simply is not a person who would do that, especially to someone he clearly liked. I know he technically did it so he could buy lanterns for his sisters, but even so I feel this is a very un-Mat thing to do. If anything, he should have just charmed his way into getting the lanterns from the seller for free. Or perhaps humorously fail at such, but the seller takes pity on his sisters, leaving Mat without one.

Then there's the change they made to his family. His mom is a drunk and his dad is a cheater. I guess we should call him Unabell Cauthon now. Very bad jokes aside, it's another change to make the character a bit more broken. I don't feel it was necessary, and it will rob us of the very heartwarming scene where Tam and Abell travel all the way to the White Tower to find their children. So we have two not great changes, but fortunately, they don't ruin Mat himself as a character for me. Therefore outside of those changes, I still feel that his character is done quite well (if a bit less disarmingly goofy than what I'm used too) once they leave the Two Rivers.

While we're on the subject of character changes, Perrin has a wife. Then he doesn't, 20 minutes later. As I've seen many point out, it's a shortcut for explaining the way Perrin is later in the story, but for me, that's just it. It's a shortcut. They weren't willing to put in the work, so they took the short and easy path. It felt lazy. It's not the end of the world, but it was a low point for me. Similar to Mat, I still love Perrin himself though. I think the way his character has been portrayed through these events is very much how Perrin would react. This is why, even though I really dislike the change, I can still say I love Perrin's character within the show.

Story, Dialogue & Pacing

Ok, this one is significantly more mixed. I feel like the dialogue is sometimes pretty good, but most of the time it just doesn't hook me at all. Much of the dialogue doesn't feel very much like the books. Moiraine did manage to capture my attention during the description of the fall of Manetheren. I also enjoyed Dana's speech, when she revealed herself as a darkfriend. That felt VERY Wheel of Time.

In general the third episode was the strongest for me. The first episode was an absolute mess if I'm being honest. It felt like I was constantly being told, look at this, wait no look at this, no forget that, this is what's really happening! Then suddenly the Trollocs are attacking and the episode is over. The second was a good amount better, but still felt quite rushed. I was hoping to linger in Shadar Logoth a bit longer. I never really felt creeped out by the place. The third was the first episode where I felt they really took their time, which is why I enjoyed it the most.

Here are some random tidbits that stuck in my mind. I love the intro sequence. This is the part of the show that feels the most like the Wheel of Time for me. I loved the nightmare sequence Rand had. Though the context of Perrin's nightmare grated for me (since I didn't like the Laila inclusion), I thought it was quite effective terrifying nonetheless. The Ba'alzamon teases were cool in concept, but I won't lie, the CG just totally took me out of it on those. The gentling of a random dude by the red Aja was pretty lame. It seemed like screen time that could have been used for something a lot more critical. Loved Moiraine's epic bring down the house moment at the end of episode 1. I felt like the song on horseback was forced, but lead to a really good scene. The wolves don't feel intimidating at all, they look like they'd be nice as pets. I know fantasy wolves are so, so hard to do in live-action, but it still feels like another loss for me. I have no idea how they are going to make the talking not feel silly (if they have talking). The scene where Nynaeve took out a Trolloc was great, if a bit unlikely, and sadly more suspenseful than the entire Shadar Logoth sequence.

Art Design, Effects & Locations

This is another mixed bag for me. Some of the costumes are excellent. I loved most of the Two Rivers' folks get-ups. I didn't like the White Cloaks when they were first revealed, but they are growing on me. They definitely feel more cult-like, which adds to their maniacal side. Still, I would really like to see some shining armor at some point. The Aes Sedai have fairly good design in their costumes, but I despise the color coding. I get the reason, but I just hate it. I would also like to see more dresses. I know it's not practical, but I just am a sucker for dress fashion, love it to death. I also think Moiraine's shoulder things look goofy and rubbery, but it's a minor complaint.

The Trolloc's overall design is pretty cool in concept. I like that there is a variety, and that some even are on all fours. In practice, some of them are hits and some are misses. The CG on them does look dated to me, and the practical acting can be a bit weak in some places, in particular when they're stuck on the river bank, after the ferry departs. I wish there were a couple more beaked ones featured though, those where always my favorite in the book. Overall, they are still quite menacing, so I'll take it.

The channeling effects range from kind of poor to decent for me. I think the fireballs were the weakest, while I liked the lightning strike a good amount. The stone heaving looked alright, but the coolness factor of that moment made up for the CG rocks. The whirlpool also looked a little wonky, but water is notoriously hard in CG. I was pretty bummed that they didn't have Tam shudder after being healed, a minor change, but I always thought that was a cool (pun intended) layer to healing magic. I definitely like the idea of the weaves themselves being visible to the audience, but I feel like there is a LOT of potential room to grow in exploring more intricate weaves in the future. I hope they capitalize on this.

As for sets, Shadar Logoth looked great. Like I said earlier, I was fairly disappointed by the sequence, but not because of the city itself. I liked the claustrophobic design of the streets, as well as the grand scale when Rand and Egwene went into the tower. Mashadar was different, perhaps not as menacing as I'd hoped, but I thought it was still pretty cool. I LOVED a lot of the mountain and valley shots. Especially the one foreshadowing the Breaking. The areas they are shooting in were very well chosen. The Two Rivers town (Emond's Field) looked great, if a little too advanced. I missed the thatched roofs (poor Cenn Buie) of the non-inn buildings, but the inn itself felt spot on, and the general homey feeling was good.

Other Technical Stuff

While not always amazing, some of the cinematography is excellent. The wide shots are often glorious. The action shots aren't quite as good. Some of the transitions were a bit bold, not sure how I feel on them (such as the blood into the muddy pool fading to the tree line).

I am very glad the show isn't constantly hidden in darkness, which is what many shows/movies do to save budget. However, this is a double edged sword as it does make the show look a bit cheap, which is crazy to me given the show's budget. I suspect much of that may have been put towards the Blight, the Ways, and Tarwin's Gap, so I will reserve judgement. I also realize, that the startup costs of a first season are often more than subsequent ones, and they'll probably be able to dedicate money more effectively in later seasons.

The score is good. It is definitely not on the level of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, but it's immersive. I always say, if you can't have a truly great score that sticks out, then at least don't make it distracting! I like the intro theme quite a lot, and the two songs we've gotten are both lovely.

What's Missing

This is what really hurt the show so far for me. I respect those that feel differently, but for me, the thing that is missing to me is a general Wheel of Time feel. It's intangible and very difficult to get across in words, as the Wheel of Time feel for me is something that encompasses a huge range of aspects from the books. The humor, the subtlety of the dialogue, the cultural expressions and fashion, the meticulous design of scene settings, the occasional jab of horror, and a lot more. Many of these things feel under-represented or absent thus far.

Here is an example that I think will get across what I'm on about. You hear Mat saying "shite" and Egwene calling Rand a "stubborn bastard". These phrases take the place of book Mat's preferred "blood and bloody ashes!" and book Egwene's preferred "wool-head". This may seem like a very small change, because it is, but when you aggregate a lot of these minor differences, the sum total starts to feel significantly different from the original.

Now, I fully recognize that some people want the TV series to feel significantly different from the books. I am not one of those people. I don't mind a decent number of differences. I am not unreasonable. I do not expect everything to be book accurate. Cut out Baerlon? That's a shame, but I can live with it. However, small changes like the one I just described are one's that feel completely unnecessary, and rob the world of it's own unique flavor that will set it apart from the myriad of other fantasy series.

This is by no means the final word on this though. As I stated earlier, the third episode was where things are starting to look up for me. Ironically, almost all of that episode wasn't from the books, but the feel was definitely getting closer to what I was hoping for. There was a bit more humor that felt right. The classic unexpected darkfriend when Dana had her turn as I discussed earlier. Things like this give me hope. Now that the shock of the beginning is over, perhaps the series will grow into what I hope it can be.

Still, "Hope is like a piece of string when you're drowning. It just isn't enough to get you out by itself." So I will remain vigilant as well. If the show never truly delivers for me, then I will always have the books. That was enough before there ever was a TV show, and it will always be enough.

If you read all that I commend you and thank you for your time. Please have a nice day. ?

 I'd just like to hop in and say how much I appreciate the fact that I can find a thoughtful, ongoing discussion about this. I mostly used Reddit before discovering these forums, but this thread might singlehandedly move me away from that platform.

I personally am OK with some changes being made, so long as they are executed well. I do think there some things that cross the line such as making Rand no longer the Dragon Reborn. This is because, for a first adaptation, I generally prefer it to be relatively faithful to the source material. If this were the 2nd Wheel of Time we were getting, then I say go crazy, mix things up. However, I simply don't think they will do something this drastic.

The thing that has me a bit worried a bit more is what a few have mentioned in this thread, that of poor execution on the whole male vs female thing. I think the showrunner has at least the understanding of the source material to not make this, a women (Aes Sedei) good, men bad story. The fears expressed by some people with regard to the way Moiraine discusses how the Breaking occured (i.e. how it was solely the fault of men), fail to take in that this is coming from an Aes Sedei who has inherited a culture that for thousands of years has feared men who can channel.

Still, I do worry that a lot of the subtlety will be lost in translation. This is the case with most books that transfer to flashy movies or TV shows, and you have to accept it to a degree, but I do think some shows and films have managed to maintain some of the finer points of their source material.

I think a good example would be the Nynaeve sneaking up on Lan scene mentioned earlier in this thread. I really don't mind it because it's a good way to show that she isn't to be trifled with, and show why Lan is attracted to her. However, I will miss the point where Nynaeve is caught out by Moiraine in the books (showing that Nynaeve is flawed too). This particular omission isn't a big deal, but if all of the subtle bits like this are lost, I will lament that greatly. Death by a thousand cuts as it were.

What would really become an issue is if after this scene we start repeatedly seeing Nynaeve make a fool of Lan or something like that. That would be the kind of ham-fisted storytelling that could actually ruin the show, and drive people even reasonable people to see this as some kind of woke project. I have yet to see evidence of something like this though, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Personally, I don't buy into the whole woke/anti-woke dichotomy. The most fervent followers of either side often turn out to be our turning's version of Masema or Jaichim Carridin. I know at some point that the proselytizing, from either side, can become too much for people, and I will admit that the on-the-nose thing can be a bit much even for me. However, as said by many others, it will only ruin the show if it does this at the cost of everything else. Otherwise, it will merely be mildly annoying to me.

I hope you all have a very nice day. I just needed to get that out of my system before watching the show. Sorry if I messed up a rule or something since this is my first post. ?