Even though it was made clear that such was going to be the case long before the show even premiered, it's clear that some people are still super salty that Rand isn't the Series Lead.

It could also suggest that, despite the events in Caerihen, Siuan's trust in Moiraine has been mended and they're once again working in concert.

From the moment I started .my rewatch, I've been trying to remember/decide which episode(s) of Season 2 is/are my favorite(s), but after rewatching Episode 2x06, "Eyes Without Pity", I've settled (for now, anyway) on it as one of my favorite S2 episodes alongside the S2 Finale, "What Was Meant To Be". I also realized/remembered that there's some pretty fun, yet subtle, foreshadowing that happens in that episode vis a vis Rand using the One Power offensively, which happens in 2x08. It's also funny to hear everybody talk about how nice and kind Barthanes is knowing that he's a Darkfriend. Ryma folding up a Sul'dahm like an origami doll is still just as simultaneously awesome and freaky as it was the first time I saw it happen. I alluded to this in an earlier comment, but Renna is another villainous character that I can't help but find interesting and complex even though she is doing some pretty horrible things. I continue to love Nynaeve and Elayne, and the way they go from antagonistic to friends as a result of Ryma sacrificing herself still makes me happy and I'm hoping that there will be opportunities in Season 3 for them to build on that friendship.

Yes. My belief has heretofore always been that even though the show was most likely going to depict Moiraine 'dying', it was also likely going to keep Rosamund Pike as the Series Lead and protagonist of this particular Turning, but as we get closer to Season 3, I'm becoming less sure that the show isn't going to just kill Moiraine off permanently and shift to another actor as the Series Lead 'Game of Thrones'-style.

Death.

New observations/thoughts from my rewatch (Episodes 4 & 5): * I really love the Cairihen plotline that runs through slash dominates Episodes 3-7, mainly because I love the character of Anvaere Damodred * I love the interplay that we get between Ishy and Lanfear and Ishy and Suroth in Episode 5 * Even though I classify myself as a Show-Only WoT fan, I've chosen to not be unspoiled when it comes to details about the novels: one of the downsides to that, though, is that I'm still slightly confused about the overall end-goal of the writers including the White Tower subplot from Episode 5 of Verin playing Detective given that her actions don't seem to fit certain future novel-based revelations about her moral alignment * I've always been of the belief that while we are going to see Moiraine 'meet a sticky end', as it were, the TV series' focus on Rosamund Pike as the Series Lead won't change, but as we start to get closer to Season 3, I'm kind of starting to wonder if my assumptions are going to be proven wrong, which makes me sad given that Moiraine is my favorite character *I love how Episode 5 establishes that Moiraine and Anvaere are still 'best sisters' in spite of their decades of separation from one another and the clear resentment that said separation fostered on Anvaere's part

Yes, people in our world abuse animals. My point still stands, though: abuse is not training. The show pretty clearly wanted to make it obvious to audiences that the Damane are abused slaves (not trained and coddled pets), and the in-the-mouth gags do that super-effectively, as does the intense, in-your-face depiction of what happens to Egwene.

You don't train dogs or horses by abusing them.

Collars and leashes don't send exactly the same message as gags do, though, or at least not as effectively. Also, the Damane in the TV series aren't 'trained'; they're abused into submission and subservience, and putting them in gags in public is a symbol of that for both the Damane themselves and the wider world at large.

The point of the gags isn't that the Damane are rendered silent in Seanchan culture; the point is that they're subservient, enslaved, and subhuman. Anything other than literal in-the-mouth gags doesn't actually convey the intended message either culturally or in terms of why Sharon Gilham added them to the costuming in the first place.

Costume Designer Sharon Gilham added the gags to the Damane costumes as a visual representation of the Sul'dam (and the Seanchan in general) viewing the Damane as subhuman, which means that she obviously thought that having such an overt visual clue of how the Damane are viewed was in fact "necessary" or else she would not have bothered to incorporate gags into the costuming.

^ Again, the gags aren't pointless; they're a visual symbol of how dehumanized the Damane are in the eyes of the Suldam who control them.

😄 1. The Sul'dahm would never be expecting their Damane to have any need to verbally communicate because the idea is that the Damane are essentially pet dogs. 2. The only Damane we saw with the ability to detect the ability to Channel in others was Miri, and she could pretty clearly and obviously communicate non-verbally (like, again, a pet dog)

Here's a transcript of Moiraine's line: I now believe that this Aes Sedai could have been/was Liandrin, because the attitude and approach as described matches what Liandrin tries to do with Nynaeve, and would also explain why Liandrin felt 'familiar' enough with Moiraine to caress her cheek in Season 1. This is really neither here nor there, but some portions of the fandom have latched on to the idea that the presence of Jenny the Irish Wolfhound in Moiraine's room - despite Novices not being allowed pets - was related in some way to the aftermath of the incident(s) she describes. Re: my comment about finding the villains rootable, it comes down to the writing and performances, with a bit of costume design thrown in, and Kate Fleetwood, Natasha O'Keeffe, and Fares Fares were all killing it with their portrayals of Liandrin, Lanfear, and Ishy. Re: the gags, they do serve a purpose, which is to be visually and psychologically dehumanizing; they also look neat and cool as designed.

Yes. She mentions it to Rand in The Eye of the World. More observations about S2 that have come out of my rewatch so far: * I really want to know when and how Moiraine learned that Rand had gone to Cairihen and how exactly she got Logain transferred to the Sanitorium there * Credit for this one goes to KritterXD, but the fact that Egwene and Elayne met because Elly's maids left pillows in front of Eggy's door and Eggy returned them is amusing given the existence of the concept of Pillowfriends * When the show has such interesting bad guys like Ishy, Liandrin, Lanfear, and the Seanchan (just in general), its kind of hard not to find them 'rootable' * I still love the costuming choice to have the Damane wear pacifier gags, especially given the revelation from later on in the season that they're only forced to do so in public spaces * Having Moiraine and the characters around her believing and behaving as if she'd been Stilled is still really effective even knowing the truth of the situation, and I like that it exposed her as flawed, imperfect, and in some cases unlikable