I agree with everything being said so far. Especially when it comes to Matt being unnecessarily dark and untrustworthy. Tam said it best when he was talking to Rand about what the Village Council discussed. He talk about “four solid lads”.  Not three solid lads, a solid young lady and a thief.  I hate what this show has done with Matt and his father Abell (who was a leading member of the Village Council and someone others looked to for guidance). Also, Moiraine tells Lan “there are rumors of FOUR TA’VEREN” in the Two Rivers. 1st the people of Emond’s Field (and the entire Two Rivers for that matter) don’t know what a Ta’veren is, let alone that they may have four. 2nd Moiraine was LOOKING FOR ONE and only took all three after she discovered more than one and because she didn’t know which was the DR. The changes may seem small to someone who hasn’t read the series. But to those of us who have, the small changes lead to bigger things needing to be changed because of those and foreshadows even bigger changes in the story later on if the series is allowed to progress far enough. 

I agree that this was a much better episode than the first two. Most of the changes they made from the books actually helped instead of hurt like the previous changes. However, again I dislike them supplanting Raen as the “Seeker” or leader of Tuath’uan. Even though they didn’t expressly say Ila was the leader, it was implied in how Raen deferred to her while she offered the greeting and waited for the expected response. But again I see that just as this series’ attempt to bring in and possibly empower female viewers. Which, however unnecessary given Jordan’s female characters, can be a positive for the screen adaption of the books. Dana was great. With her relatable story and subsequent deception. But Thom’s dagger throw was a sublime piece of nostalgia for me. It looked on screen as I have always imagined it would…totally awesome! 

There are a number of things wrong with this episode’s portrayal of our favorite series. One of the biggest is Bornhold telling Moiraine to seek Aes Sedai assistance. Never in a million years would he do that. If the reviewer believes they did this to display the conflict between the Questioners and the Whitecloaks, I believe this could have been accomplished with as simple a thing as Geofram condemning the way Eamon killed the Yellow. A quick “why are you wasting our time with these elaborate executions? just kill the witch and let us be on our way” while Valda scowled at the back of a retreating Bornhold, would have established the same thing without destroying the essence of the Whitecloaks.  Second is Moiraine’s feigned deferential attitude towards the Whitecloaks. In the series Moiraine did not invite unnecessary attention or danger upon the group but neither did she EVER cower or stoop below the standards befitting her station as an Aes Sedai.  I disagree with the reviewers comment regarding toxic masculinity. One of the things that I love about this series and which makes it enjoyable to read repeatedly is the fact that Jordan had ridiculously strong female leads. He portrayed women in a way that demonstrated not only their capacity for kindness and nurturing. But also their intelligence, cunning, ruthlessness and raw power. While reading the series I never once got the impression that the women were any less…well anything than the men. But this series tries to pander to the whims of our current time by making the women boastfully stronger and more prevalent then the men.  In the books Jordan used Lan to “lead” the party out of the Two Rivers with his actions and his words. But it was always clear whose bidding he was doing and who was really in control. That silence, the idea that mundane trivial matters were beneath her efforts, is what made Moiraine (and subsequent Aes Sedai) such strong and effective characters. So far in this series I believe Rosamund Pike is asserting her influence to place herself too far into the spotlight and is accomplishing nothing but alienating the audience. I did however enjoy the Shadar Logoth sequence. With not having Nynaeve and Thom in the scenes, the way it played out did not seem bad to me. I believe this Matt would totally have stolen the dagger despite the warning “not 30 seconds ago”. Because he is a thieving scoundrel. The real Matt never stole a thing.  But apparently this Matt does. ??‍♂️?

I agree with the comments in this case and not the reviewer. I have so far not seen any reason to have Perrin not only BE married but accidentally kill his wife. That does nothing for his character but to saddle him with unnecessary guilt. His stoicism and apprehension over the dangers of his bulk could have been (and was) aptly displayed in the scene from the book where he struggled to make way through the crowd at paean gains cart despite his much greater height and strength. As for the changes to Matt’s parents, again unnecessary. Matt was special because he was DIFFERENT. His parents were upstanding, honest citizens. And his mischief was uniquely his own. Mat was my absolute favorite character through the series. So much so that during the third read through (and most of the ones after) I would skip through the books to his scenes and then go back and read the rest so I could go urge myself in his story with out interruptions. But this Matt does not seem anywhere near the lovable rogue who ineffectually tried to hide his honor and heroism. This Matt seems like someone Rand and Perrin would never be friends with. He seems more like a Coplin or Congar than a Cauthon. They seemed to have mad little changes that add up to a huge change in the story. Another instance is Moiraine announcing to the foursome that one of them might be the dragon and they simply went right along with her. Seriously?! The mystery of WHY the Dark One was interested in the boys and Moiraine’s secrecy was the whole reason Rand was so defiant and what later developed into his appreciation and love and understanding for  Moiraine. I don’t think the people who made the show had actually read the books before making it and that breaks my heart.