2 hours ago, WhiteVeils said:

I guess in response I gotta ask...why do you think the difference between Saidin and Saidar is the very heart of the story?  As opposed to, say, "It was all of them" or any number of other really important themes the story delves into?

The dichotomy between Saidar and Saidin drives a great many of the plot points and mechanics of the series. From a metaphysical standpoint, it is this yin and yang that literally turns the wheel. But that the least important part. It is the taint upon Saidin that lead to the Breaking, and led to male channelers being singularly afflicted with madness, and then being hunted down and gentled despite one of them being prophesied to be the DR, who will be both savior and destroyer. It is what led to the creation of Machin Shin (because male channelers grew the Ways after the taint). It is why men can’t see women channeling and vice versa, which is a frequently important plot point. It’s why men can’t teach women, and vice versa, another important plot point. Male channelers can kinda feel women channeling, but not vice versa. The way men harness Saidin is totally different from women. Angreal and Sa’Angreal are gender-specific, another important plot point. By the way, this is what makes Mo handing Rand that Sa in Epi 8 kinda stupid and contrived, no? Here she is saying and thinking “it’s one of the 5” and probably Nyn or Eg, but she’s carrying around a male Sa? Or maybe she’s toting around a whole bag of em?

I could go on and on and I really shouldn’t have to explain this… the distinction between Saidin and Saidar is ESSENTIAL to the story - at least the true story, the one RJ wrote. It is what make WOT unique from just another magic fantasy series. And uniquely awesome. And it is being totally ignored so far. 

33 minutes ago, MasterAblar said:

Oh I totally agree that's what I mean when I say they're tip toeing around it. And it's getting old.

Why do you think they are "tip toeing around it"? To me, the distinction between Saidar and Saidin, the taint upon the latter, and why, is at the very heart of the story. This should have been explained near the outset. There were ample opportunities to delve into this throughout the season, and yet the writers appear to be deliberately avoiding it. I don't think this is negligence - it appears to be very deliberate - but I don't think it is helping the story.

@sidcarton2 you pretty much covered the changes/omissions I found most disappointing about this season.

1. The whole "who is the Dragon" mystery, coupled with the Dragon possibly being male or female, was hugely off-putting. They wasted so much story and made so many changes to misdirect the audience.
2. The BEATING HEART of WOT is the difference between Saidar and Saidin, the taint upon the latter due to the desperate actions of the Dragon, and resulting gender dichotomy. The TV series almost completely ignores this, dumbing it down to "men can't wield the One Power without going mad," ignoring that men can't see women's weaves and vice versa, and making LTT look like an arrogant ass.
3. The supergirl stuff, contrasted with the mostly ineffectual men, is over the top.

All of these problems above were particularly evident in the final couple of episodes: the "mystery" is resolved in a frankly dumb fashion, supergirl moments abound, the guys are ineffectual, the whole LTT scene (shudder), and the idiotic "Mo and Rand take a hike to the Eye" thing where the writers once again had every opportunity but completely failed to explain the difference between Saidar and Saidin.

I think it is a stretch to call this an "adaptation." It is a markedly different story inspired by characters and concepts from the WOT.

Anybody know if Sarah Nakamura has done any in-depth interviews since Season 1 finished airing? Granted, I'm not sure how much stock we can put in any public comments; she has devoted the past couple of decades to positioning herself to being involved in this production, and she won't do anything to jeopardize that. But boy would I would be fascinated to buy her a few drinks and really get her unvarnished opinion of this "adaptation."

18 minutes ago, JenniferL said:

It’s fine to discuss the individual strengths and weaknesses of the writing team. Just keep in mind A) they are unlikely to read this forum B) season 2 is already written and being filmed. 
 

Approach this discussion the same way you might a discussion of Hemingway vs Fitzgerald in a classroom. Unless someone produces a time machine, anything we say here is not going to affect the series. 

Agreed. There's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. We're not getting back to a more faithful adaptation at this point. Whomever is still on this bus is just gonna ride it to wherever Rafe and crew is taking it.

4 hours ago, Lethira the second said:

I'm not really comfortable calling out individuals and individual episodes. Surely the overall arc was presented to each person as well as a summary of what was to happen in the episode.  They are pretty tight constraints.

Agreed. For me it isn't about being "comfortable" so much as it just seems silly to try slicing and dicing this based on who wrote an individual episode. The problems with this series don't come down to twists and turns being decided by one particular writer in one particular episode. This isn't a game of "Pass the Story." That's not how this works. The overall plot points - and massive deviations from the books - are being decided by Rafe and his whole inner circle. Doesn't really matter who is writing the specific dialogue.

3 hours ago, Quiksilver said:

 

Episode 4 is the only one not written by the Four Stooges.

 

Four Stooges:

- Rafe

- Celine Song

- Michael Clarkson

- Paul Clarkson

 

^ They wrote all episodes, except Episode 4.

 

Episode 4 writer = Dave Hill. He wrote a number of GoT episodes

If that’s true, then that’s a stunning indictment. Episode 4 was the only one I thought was decent. Well and I was ok with episode 1, also. 

23 minutes ago, Sir_Charrid said:

I mean given he is himself an out gay man that can’t actually be true. 

Yeah, I don’t think Rafe hates men. Or masculinity. But this does bring to mind an interview I read where Rafe said that reading WOT with his mom while growing up gay in Utah was a formative experience for him, and this is why the strong female characters in WOT have such appeal to him - the connection to his mom. I think it might have been this one. 
 

https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/writing-the-emotional-storyline-rafe-judkins-on-the-wheel-of-time/

And when I read that, I was like “uh oh… that’s concerning.” And then I chastised myself for thinking that, because it was stereotypical and didn’t actually mean he would make wholesale changes to the plot to fit his lens. But then he did exactly what I was worried about. I think “misandry” is too strong a word, but it’s close to what we’re seeing so far. 

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

[Re the DR being man or woman] this has been shown to be an in world thing, not an actual changing to the lore.

It being “an in world thing” doesn’t make it any better. Whether the prophesy has changed or the Aes Sedai (and the world) have misunderstood the prophesy, it still presents all kinds of problems. Primarily diminishing the conflict between “we have to gentle all men” and “one of these men is gonna be the DR.” 

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

[Re Power Ranger Nyn] Nyn saved the day once, then she was part of a circle at tarpons gap.

Um, what about in the cave with Logain? And in the Ways against Machin Shin? Or her special “better than the best warder of all time” tracking skillz?

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

[Re no Saidar / Saidin] There is saidar and saidin both words have been used now and it has been made clear both are different.

No it hasn’t. Like, not at all. And an extra bonus feature doesn’t count. Remember we’re taking “in world” again. The dichotomy has not at all been explained in the show. And they gave Mo plenty of monologues - where instead she did of “unreliable narrator”ing. What we know from the show, during the entire first season, is that there is a one power that men can’t channel without going mad. Oh - but they’ll just explain it later? That’s playing things more than a little fast and loose with the audience. This dichotomy is at the CORE of the story. Er, at least in the books. 

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

[Re Emoti Lan] This is a good character development, as he that matches the Lan of later in the books, book Lan in EOTW is dull, one dimensional and really would not track well on TV. This Lan can now have a duty vs desire internal struggle. If he hadn’t spent the night with Nyn then Morraine would not have escaped and would not now be shielded.

So you’re saying it was necessary to the plot? Trust me, we’ve seen that these writers can pull a rabbit out of the hat any way they want to go wherever they want to go. 

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

[Re sex] Lol RJ’s books where full of sex, have you read them? Not just normal sex, but kinky BDSM sex, orgies, casual sex, paid for sex, yes you faded to black and didn’t get the details generally but enough was there to let you know everyone was at it.

This isn’t about sex in general. It’s about who is having sex in this show, and when. The lesbian relationship between Moraine and Siuan is more than a little problematic for a certain other character. Oh maybe she’s bi! (Thrills running up leg). But the Nyn and Lan hookup is just the worst. That was a relationship that was supposed to build over time. A long time. And it completely changes Nyn’s character.

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

[Re the Eye and the Dumbest Plan in History] The eye is not the dark ones prison, again, just because a character thinks a thing does not make it fact in world. Morraine thought this was the last battle, she has built up

to this, allowed Rand to leave thinking it was done. Now realistation hits, she really had no idea and why should she.

Or maybe “the Eye” they went to wasn’t the Eye at all?! Yes there’s a million “well

maybe” justifications, but the unreliable narrator excuse is wearing thin. You are bending over backwards to try to justify the changes. But the bottom line is, this wasn’t even CLOSE to the Eye depicted in the books, or the story built around it. No Eden, no GM, no horn, no banner, no pool of Saidin, no Rand reveal. That was all GREAT in the book but somehow Rafe thought they could do better. And my god, it wasn’t even close to as good. 
 

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

[Re Rand’s reveal] No Rand always knew he just tried to avoid it, or ignore it. Which is how it is in the books for a long time before he embraces his destiny and yes we saw him knock on her door, I imagine there was a conversation but, really does the viewer need to see that not really. 

Was impacted by Covid restrictions hence you see the soldiers all handily stood 2 m apart, and cgi Trollocs so don’t see a proper fight. As for the Chanelling, ok yes as book readers we can pick all sorts of holes in that scene but really, for the non book reader, the scene works, my wife loved it. When I told her how the book ends, and Rands saves everyone, she told me she would have liked that less because it makes the other characters bit part players. Rand has plenty of time to have his big public reveal. 

The reveal simply wasn’t anywhere near as good as the book, and there was no reason to make the change. The reveal in the book was GREAT, and this is why I kept holding out hope for the show “ok, their really playing up this dumb “mystery” but I know it will all be cleaned up at the Eye. Just be patient….” And then we got this. For no good reason at all. 
 

2 hours ago, Sir_Charrid said:

Now this I agree with, Rafe has sat down and planned out an entire 8 season story arc, this is very different to how books are created, yes RJ had plans in his head but, with each book, many things changed, stories got added, threads and journeys changed. I imagine there where many many alternatives to the way the story could have gone. 

Finally something we agree on. Rafe took an amazing set of books (I’m speaking specifically of Books 1-6) and decided to make massive changes, and those changes really don’t have anything to do with time constraints. 8 episodes was perfectly sufficient to give a faithful treatment to EOTW, especially when cutting Caemlyn (a change that made perfect sense if you were looking to save time). 

2 hours ago, notpropaganda73 said:

As I mentioned in the ep8 thread, how you end something will leave the bigger impression. I know there are many that have hated this adaptation vehemently, and that’s ok, but as bitterly disappointed as I was with the finale I still have to say I enjoyed the season as a whole.

 

Episode 4 is really the shining light in terms of potential for the show. And I feel that they had strong moments through the middle episodes. The finale was an unmitigated disaster, but there was enough in S1 for me to be optimistic about

For me, and I think probably most people who are deeply disappointed, this has nothing to do with one episode. It’s how the series diverged more and more from the source material as it went along. 

1 hour ago, Skipp said:

And that is, unfortunately entirely on Amazon.  We know RJ2 asked for 10 episodes and a 2 hour premier but Amazon wants only 1 h 8 episode seasons.  Hopefully this will change in the future.

How would two more episodes, or ten more episodes, have avoided the massive deviations from the book? By massive deviations, I’m talking things like….

1. DR can be a man or woman.

2. Super Nynaeve saves the day. Again, and again, and again….

3. No Saidar/Saidin.

4. This Lan is super in touch with his feelings and stuff.

5. Rand and Eg having sex. Suian and Mo having sex. Everybody’s getting some! Even Lan and Nyn have sex, out of wedlock (that’s super in-character for Nyn) and we even get a walk of shame with an Egwene “oooh girl” moment. 

6. Let’s make the Eye “the Dark One’s prison” and concoct The Dumbest Plan In History to take a totally untrained DR to face him.

7. Rand figures out he’s the DR through a montage of Min and flashbacks, then tells Mo, and she’s like Ok.

8. Tarwin’s Gap “battle” LOL.

9. Rand struts off into the Blight.

I guess I’m just confused by the reasoning that “things would have been closer to the book if they’d had more time.”

16 minutes ago, Sunkiss said:

I am a non reader, and I like the show but E8 was disappointing to me. E7 was good and I couldn't wait for E8. After watching it I was left puzzled. Not reading the books I really have nothing to compare to. I understand from reading the comments that the book is about the 5 kids of two rivers, but I really love Moraine character and Matt. Nan is my least favorite character, but the way the show is depicting her she is centered and looks like she is the most powerful.  Even Moraine looks like her knowledge is not of much use. Lessening her importance and the Aes. I get that things have to cut but like most have said they need more episodes to explain and develope the characters more. I mean if Rand is the main character he should be focus more not Nan. I like the Moraine idea, since she is the best actress and somewhat the leader.  Not reading the book tho I don't know how much attention was given to Moraine.

Read the first book. I think you’ll find the story to be vastly better than the show. Check back in with your thoughts. And Mo is a great character featured prominently in the early books. 

8 minutes ago, Chivalry said:

But there is definitely value in passionate fans helping to drop the review/score. That final episode was not good (the worst episode yet), and the WOT team need to spend considerable time reviewing the criticism and improving the story going forward. It shouldn't be all accolades and applause, even if Rafe manages to sneak in a beloved line or two from the books.

I really do think it’s too late for that. Season 2 is already written and being filmed. And they’ve changed so much already that it’s gonna be nigh impossible to “get back to the books” at this point. 

10 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

Angry hardcore book fans have just review bombed it worse than any other episode. It is obviously neither 10/10 nor 1/10

 

I’d say the 1/10 “review bombs” are just as legitimate, and probably more legitimate, than the 10/10 reviews. I say that because I kinda suspect a significant portion of the glowing WOT reviews are bot-generated. You don’t think Amazon is trying to goose the ratings for its $100MM investment? They are.

To your point about the show being neither 1/10 or 10/10, as human beings we tend to make binary evaluations. People are just giving a thumbs up or thumbs down. Many of the 1/10 reviewers are trying to offset what they view as ridiculous 10/10 reviews, and vice versa.

Overall, the number of “hate it” reviews on Prime, IMDB, Rotten, etc. is significant. 

5 hours ago, ilovezam said:

I feel you man. I did not expect to be so attached to this show being good, but after the finale I just felt a sinking feeling of grief. It could have been so great, but Rafe seems hell bent in modifying the story with a weird misandrist twist. Turning competent, good men less so (Agelmar, LTT now arrogant idiots, Lan significantly less competent, even Nynaeve is a better tracker), is NOT feminism. A feminist female YouTuber suggests exactly that 

 

It's totally great to elevate the importance of some of the women. I love awesome female characters. But that's no reason to dumb down the male characters, and take their moments away, especially if they're literally the protagonist.

Man, exactly this. It feels deliberate. 

2 hours ago, JaimAybara said:

I kind of wish the show had one expert female consultant and an expert male consultant. Did they say Sanderson didn’t get a chance to look at the script for the finale? Oof. 
 

It’s hard for me to say this show isn’t sexist towards men beyond what is actually on the page for the plot after watching the season in its entirety. The writers in Hollywood just can’t help themselves with artificially inflating the female characters, nerfing most the men, injecting character assassination for two of the male leads, and then removed most of the plot points from Rand because of the “mystery”, then I was told to wait for the pay off at Tarwin’s Gap and they give the big moment that should have been Rand’s to all the women…yet again. The main one of which was an accepted who failed to become an Aes Sedai. Not to mention everything wrong in the world is 100% men’s fault unequivocally, as if they knew and chose to do it anyway? Unbelievable. 

 

Imagine reading Hunger Games and then it was all about Peta and Katniss just kinda came along for the ride, or if Harry Potter was mainly about Ron, Hermione, and Neville?  Many of the book readers would say, “what the hell?” And rightly so. Yes, The Wheel of Time is more of an Ensemble, but this season can hardly be called such, or more specifically, a successful one. The only characters allowed to to prosper at all were Egwene, Nynaeve, and Moiraine. Apparently, “heart and soul” to the show runners is to neuter every male character.

Tam-didn’t kill any Trollocs at all. Almost one. 

Abel- is a total garbage person. Straight trash. Dumpster fire. 

 

Rand- shot one trolloc from behind…and whinged about Egwene or moped about. I wait an entire season of suck to watch Rand own some fools at the Gap only to have it handed off to some Accepted with extra car batteries through linking…which by the way they should have been on the wall. Not walking into an open plain like they’re about to drop a 90s Christian album. But this is just another example of the Endgame poster syndrome. 

 

Perrin- An utter failure. Killing his wife? I’m embarrassed for the writers. I would be irate as the actor. (The actors seemed to all be reading the books as they make the show too, I’d be livid seeing my character being shredded to ribbons in real time). 
 

Mat- Also would be mad as hell. His backstory is a total joke for no reason. Because apparently only those with trauma can convincingly show us they care about their sisters or friends. (Hollywood continuing down the “fathers suck” road). 
 

Lan- made to look a fool to lift up female characters. 
 

Loial- done dirty too. All his purpose traded away to Moiraine. Then unceremoniously stabbed by Fain? Who appears to have the dagger now?…soooo how we going to survive this one? My non-book friends love him to death but don’t understand why he’s even there…yeah, me neither. 

Agelmar- Made to be a disrespectful idiot who is then immediately put in his place by Moiraine. 
 

Lews Therin- Made out to be an arrogant man instead of a desperate man trying to save everyone and only had scary choices to choose from. They were on their last legs fighting the shadow and in his opinion the ladies just wanted to continue fighting a war of attrition they could not win. He was more of a drastic times call for drastic measures, which they conveniently left this out of the conversation.  
 

Hollywood is so hellbent on making women “cool” that they inadvertently put them on pedestals like with a pregnant lady taking out six companions, and then make all the men look like useless toolbags, so much so I don’t even know how I am supposed to like them. I don’t like them as heroes or antiheroes. They just suck. You had 8 episodes to develop their characters…we hardly got anything from them, and that which we did get was mostly a Telenovela… “Mariah! Porque!?” Perrin clutching his pearls with Loial. Both of which were some of the most ferocious fighters in the series. Why not have Loial sing them some axe handles and they make legit axes, talk about preserving life from evil…something. But burn me that was bad. They are such wusses. Bunch of mewling quims.
 

Now Rand just saunters off into the wilderness, isn’t treated like a lord, doesn’t develop further as a leader, doesn’t get the dragon banner, hasn’t been asked to hunt the horn or the dagger with Perrin and Mat? The story boarding is terrible. They either don’t know what they are doing or…they know exactly what they are doing, which would make it even worse. I don’t trust them as writers not to screw it up or inject their own personal nonsense into it. 

 

Lastly, for those who disagree that is fine. Enjoy it. But I find it hard to believe if they did similar changes to female characters in the same negative light, you wouldn’t be rioting. 

 

 

 

Yup, exactly this. Also extra points for some excellent one-liners. 

3 hours ago, Skipp said:

Posting this from reddit but I don't have a direct quote for the sources but this has been gathered from a number of interviews and behind the scene things.

 

 

If true we certainly had a subpar episode compared to what we should have had. 

 

While I enjoyed episode 8 it was certainly disappointing to me as a book fan but I am not going to let it impact my enjoyment of waiting for season 2.

I fail to understand how “Covid” is the reason for massive deviations from the books. 

4 hours ago, grayavatar said:

Do you think Saidin will ever be cleansed? Of course, Moiraine, Egwene and Nynaeve will hold hands and scream and 10 seconds later the taint will be gone. No problems. Feel free to get invested in any character.

 

Um, what’s this Saidin thing you speak of? According to the show, there’s only this thing called the One Power, which men can’t channel without going mad, all because a guy named Lews Therin - aka the Dragon Reborn - went and messed with the Dark One for no good reason, and against the advice of the Tamyrlin Seat. Anyway, who cares about a Dragon Reborn when you got a Nynaeve Power Ranger?

6 hours ago, grayavatar said:

Rafe says he is a feminist, but in his attempt to portray strong women he has made all the men seem like stupid weaklings. Instead of righting the ship he is sinking it in the other direction. This isn't equality.

 

NO maiden of the spear is going to win against 5 elite troops, especially not if she had lived a pampered life in a palace for most of her life, add to this the fact that she was actively giving birth at the time. Rafe said this scene was "badass" I say it was ridiculous and wildly inappropriate for that character at that point in time. Why didn't we see any "badass" scenes for Lan?!

 

Important CORE concepts that make the world of WoT unique are missing.

1. Saidin and Saidar are male and female and only good things can happen when they work together. This is also reflected in other aspects of society in the books. ie village council and women's circle. But we can't actually have the one power separated by gender in the show because it is binary and we don't want to mention such things anymore so we destroy the story instead.

2. The Dragon Reborn is MALE. This creates the core dilemma in the story. The Dragon Reborn is needed to save the world but he is a male chaneller who could go insane and destroy you. So it creates this situation where you have no choice but to support him even though it could be your doom. Anyone supporting him is knowingly putting themselves in danger. For this reason, any mention of a female Dragon Reborn really hurts the story.

 

Yeah good take here. The “DR could be female” is a serious change with serious ramifications. It seriously undermines the conflict you explain above, which really undergirded the whole series. 
 

And I question if you might be right, as crazy as it sounds…. Did they eliminate the Saidar / Saidin dichotomy because they were worried it would be too confusing, or too binary?! Either way, terrible decision. 

2 hours ago, merlinfire said:

I am not certain I have ever seen a hollywood adaptation so utterly massacre its source material

Did you see The Dark Tower. This “adaptation” rivals DT in horrific awfulness. 

2 hours ago, merlinfire said:

i stopped watching at Flame of Tar Valon because I knew then that it wasn't getting better.  if they would change something so foundational, they would change a lot more.  and from what i'm hearing, i was right. 

That was wise. It got worse and worse as they changed more and more. 

4 hours ago, Spiritweaver1 said:

There are a sizable contingent in this community complaining about the treatment of the men characters in this season.  I have smiled smugly and said just wait for the season finale.  Quit thinking the show has it in for the male characters.  I fall on my knees to you now and beg your forgiveness.  You were right and I was wrong.  This show is going down a sexist path and apparently RJ's story is gonna be the victim.  

Agreed. I mentioned this in the overall season thread: the male characters are getting plenty of screen time but they are completely ineffectual. By contrast, we are treated to at least one if not more supergirl moments every episode. The Aiel fight scene was like something out the Matrix. In full labor?! Nynaeve saving the day with her awesome power, totally untrained… gah.

If I had to guess, I’d say this show was pitched to Amazon as being “a Lord of the Rings for Women” - and they’ve run with that. That would explain the massive deviations from the book. And why I’m so skeptical it will get better. The folks who are confident the show is gonna start following the books more closely - on what basis?

3 hours ago, Agitel said:

The word "saidin" was used in the conversation between Lews and Petra in the Old Tongue. Listen and you'll hear "saidin" said, even though the subtitles say "One Power."

Thats a good catch if true, but that’s an awfully thin reed….

Speaking of the LT scene, that coulda been great, but the scene was ruined because there was zero urgency. They were losing the war. The Aes Sedai we’re desperate. None of that is evinced or explained. Instead they could have been having a casual brunch. Also calling LT the Dragon Reborn? Dammit this is EASY stuff. How is this kinda stuff not getting caught during the writing process?

2 hours ago, fra85uk said:

Christmas lunch, talking with my uncle, 60 years old, he is no book reader, saw the series, rated it 6/10, argued that he still believes Nynaeve to be the DR because "she is the strongest character" and it was impossible it was "Egwene's boyfriend"

 

We had then a "little chat" about the books and I gave him the Eotw book. He is Reading right now while we are resting on the sofa. 

Good for you, and him. One silver lining is this might encourage a few more people to read the real story.

People inevitably compare this to GOT. I read GOT in close conjunction with the TV series. I started the books sometime around season 2. And that adaptation was MUCH truer to the source material than this. I’d love to know the truth of why they felt the need to deviate so much, but I suspect Rafe would simply deny the premise of the question. 

Lurked for a while. This is my first and maybe last post. Just wanted to share my thoughts.

As a long time fan of the books, I’m crushed. I think the actors are all pretty great, but this isn’t Wheel of Time. Any adaptation requires some cuts, and some changes, and even some additions. But that’s not this. This can’t even be considered an adaptation. It’s like they took the characters and some of the concepts, loosely, and crafted an entirely new story. I think someone - Rafe? - said this would be a “new turning.” Turns out he meant that. Remember that Dark Tower movie? That’s what they did here. It doesn’t remotely resemble the story from the books. And my biggest frustration and complaint and question is “why?!” The Eye of the World made for a pretty good standalone Season 1. A few changes here and there, sure. I’ve got no problem with cutting stuff like Caemlyn. But they didn’t just cut - they CHANGED SO MUCH. 

This new story isn’t anywhere close to as good as the one RJ told. They’ve way overdone the female characters. Nyn and Eg in particular are way too powerful way too early. Feels like every episode had at least one totally implausible supergirl moment. The boys have all been relegated to what feels like secondary characters - they get plenty of screen time, but they’re so…. inconsequential. I understand the desire to “update” the material for a modern audience, but this is nuts. 

They neutered the gender dichotomy that was at the heart of WOT. The differences between Saidar and Saidin are never addressed - those words aren’t even mentioned in the series! Instead it’s all just “One Power” and some vague notion that “men can’t wield it without going mad.” The Dragon can be a man or woman… just changes things so much. That’s not a small change and it just feels like it devalues the conflict that made the books so interesting. 

The plot - the plan - was idiotic. The writers thought this whole “who is the Dragon” thing would be the central hook - ok I guess - and so the entire season Moraine is basically auditioning the five to see who is the Dragon, then takes the finalist on a suicide mission with zero training to face the Dark One?! That makes no sense. 

Rand’s “reveal” was horrible. A montage of Rand playing detective with Min and Machin Chin?!

Sarah Namamura (sp?) and Brandon Sanderson are supposed to be these major book fans who were involved in the production. So was Rafe. How did this happen?! How did they all decide that they just didn’t care about actually telling the WOT story?

I guess I’ll end the way I started. Just so disappointed. As someone mentioned earlier, this is the stop where I get off. It’s too disappointing to keep watching. Anyone holding out hope that this series will start getting truer to the series, why would you possibly think that at this point? Because of fan blowback? The second season has already been written and is being filmed.