7 hours ago, swollymammoth said:

Yeah, and Danny Ocean isn't the main character of Ocean's Eleven. Give me a break. Ensemble stories still have main characters. This is such a tired excuse, spoonfed directly by the showrunners so they could justify making Nyneave the main character. 

Nynaeve is the main character? Are there people who think that at this point? She's had a lot of screen time but I wouldn't think she'd feel like THE main character to most. I mean, Ishamael and Lanfear aren't messing around in her dreams.

I'm mostly a lurker but I've read a bunch of posts about Moraine or Nynaeve being the main characters in this adaptation but I'm not sure that's how viewers are interpreting it. I talked my best friend into watching the show after never being able to convince him to read the books (I kinda regretted that at the end of the 1st season but it's definitely improved) and I asked him who he thought was the main character about a week ago. He basically said, no one really, and that it seemed like GoT in that way. He then said that if he had to pick one it would be Rand and that he thought Moraine was the Eddard Stark of WoT and he had expected her to die at the end of season 1 (he now thinks she's going to die at the end of season 2).

1 hour ago, dorotea said:

 

This is an extraordinary urban American take, and I say extraordinary because being Russian implant in US for a very long time I can spot these kind of things and appreciate your PoV while at the same time laugh my head off.  Lets just say that I listened to a few Eastern European reviews of the show (Russian, Polish, Check youtubers) and all of them are very sarcastic of the shows take on the diversity, saying as much as 'this is how a San-Fransisco-an would imagine a rural settlement in the middle of nowhere mountains'. See, in real life, as in real life out there outside the developed world's urban areas there are generally no diversity the way you imagine it. Zero, zilch, nil diversity is a norm for rural areas because these folks have no financial means to travel or to mix until they go full scale immigration, but that's another story.

This makes no sense. It's based on our earth experience, not the fantasy world we're following. In WOT, there was a flourishing society with magic and technology thousands of years ago and people were able to travel and did. After the breaking of the world, that wasn't the case but it doesn't matter because there would already have been immigration and EFers are the descendants of Manetheren which was a major city. It makes perfect sense. This is not the "real world" you talk about. It's a fantasy world. 

Have your Eastern European Youtubers watch the Origins episodes "Saidin, Siadar, Stone", "Fall of Manetheren" and "Breaking of the World' and hopefully they'll understand and move on to the plenty of legitimate things to criticize about the show because that isn't one of them. 

Another long time book reader who found his way here several weeks ago due to the show. I've been reading every episode thread but this one finally got me to sign up and post.

I could make a list of all the little things I liked and didn't like and there's a chance I could come up with more things to nitpick or complain about than specific things I liked and I could maybe even convince myself that the episode wasn't good but I'd be lying to myself. I really, really liked it despite the changes from the book. I don't know if I can fully explain why, I just enjoyed watching it and was thoroughly engrossed. Definitely one of my 2 favorite episodes so far. I think it helps that it's been a long time since the last time I read EOTW so I'm not super hung up on every change. I've generally liked the episodes even more upon a subsequent viewing so I'm looking forward to that in a couple of days. 

Just a few specific comments: I really liked the Siuan Sanche stuff and think that actress did a really good job, particularly in the scenes when seated on the Amyrlin Seat. I was really worried about that role but I was immediately relieved by her performance in her first scene. All of the Aes Sedai have been good actually. Logain was awesome again. I liked Loial but I want more. Biggest complaint is I was really hoping for more Rand this episode. I need that soon, 

Overall, I've definitely liked (but not loved) the series so far. I have issues with certain aspects but I'm enjoying it and find myself really looking forward to it every week. Most of my complaints stem from the fact that they're trying to adapt a really long book into 8 episodes. Even the 2 extra episodes GOT got would help. Like many book readers I'm really hoping for an episode increase in subsequent seasons. Reviews are good so maybe that will help? Fwiw, I'm  watching along with a friend and my gf and they are both enjoying it. Neither has read the books but they are both fantasy/sci fi fans so that likely helps.