In the books we basically get three different Mats: the first Mat is an incredibly immature boy who likes to pull pranks, and behaves like he is 10-12 years old or so. RJ probably wrote him this way to make him appear hobbit-like (Pippin?), since EotW was intentionally written to be close to LotR in tone and story line. Then we get dagger-Mat, who is somewhat matured, but also moody and cranky under the influence of the dagger. Finally we get the "real" adult Mat, who has matured overnight by at least 6 years compared to the first Mat. He is a flirtatious person who likes to gamble, but is also extremely caring and ultimately a responsible person.
I totally understand that in the show the first Mat had to be skipped. We go straight to the adult Mat. I thought that all three aspects of that character, flirting, gambling and caring, come across really well in ep1. It is hard to do that in an episode that needs to provide so much exposition, so the shortcut of using potentially neglected siblings as a target of his caring nature seemed fine to me.
I understand that some people would also have liked to see boy-Mat, but that was not practical for a live-action show. They would have had to hire a younger teenage actor, and that would have created regulatory problems once the show starts moving more towards intimate relationships, especially considering that a show with that kind of budget needs a worldwide release to break even, and regulations in different countries vary. They decided to play it safe and make everyone 20 years old. If a 20-year old had acted like a 10-12-year old, that would not have looked adventurous and carefree, but would have created the impression that Mat was suffering from mental or developmental problems, which is clearly not what anyone would have wanted. Adapting that part accurately in a TV show would have required an animated show, not live-action. "Arcane" did that pretty well with Powder/Jinx.
As for the ending of ep8. We need to distinguish between the changes to the story and the changes to the visuals. I like the changes to the story. The ending of book 1 never made much sense, and RJ had to press the reset button at the beginning of book 2 to rein Rand back in. That is not viable for a show. In a show you need more consistency, and I like the idea that Rand is tricked into breaking a seal, and that THAT causes the forsaken to be freed. I also like the way the theme of the ep8 scenes foreshadows the Last Battle. As for the visuals and the portrayal of the Blight: that was not planned this way. They had plans to shoot in a natural forest on La Gomera, which would have given them much wider shots, a more natural look, and more options to set up scenes. Shooting there became impossible due to COVID travel restrictions, so they came up with the idea of shooting a smaller version of this on a back lot using artificial trees. At the time that change was made they were close to the end of the production and almost out of time and money, having just enough to build 7 (or so) trees for all of the scenes. Everything else was computer-replicated. So, yes, this is not what I had hoped the Blight would look like, but I don't blame them given the circumstances.
Dragonmount Interview with Rafe Judkins
in TV Show
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In the books we basically get three different Mats: the first Mat is an incredibly immature boy who likes to pull pranks, and behaves like he is 10-12 years old or so. RJ probably wrote him this way to make him appear hobbit-like (Pippin?), since EotW was intentionally written to be close to LotR in tone and story line. Then we get dagger-Mat, who is somewhat matured, but also moody and cranky under the influence of the dagger. Finally we get the "real" adult Mat, who has matured overnight by at least 6 years compared to the first Mat. He is a flirtatious person who likes to gamble, but is also extremely caring and ultimately a responsible person.
I totally understand that in the show the first Mat had to be skipped. We go straight to the adult Mat. I thought that all three aspects of that character, flirting, gambling and caring, come across really well in ep1. It is hard to do that in an episode that needs to provide so much exposition, so the shortcut of using potentially neglected siblings as a target of his caring nature seemed fine to me.
I understand that some people would also have liked to see boy-Mat, but that was not practical for a live-action show. They would have had to hire a younger teenage actor, and that would have created regulatory problems once the show starts moving more towards intimate relationships, especially considering that a show with that kind of budget needs a worldwide release to break even, and regulations in different countries vary. They decided to play it safe and make everyone 20 years old. If a 20-year old had acted like a 10-12-year old, that would not have looked adventurous and carefree, but would have created the impression that Mat was suffering from mental or developmental problems, which is clearly not what anyone would have wanted. Adapting that part accurately in a TV show would have required an animated show, not live-action. "Arcane" did that pretty well with Powder/Jinx.
As for the ending of ep8. We need to distinguish between the changes to the story and the changes to the visuals. I like the changes to the story. The ending of book 1 never made much sense, and RJ had to press the reset button at the beginning of book 2 to rein Rand back in. That is not viable for a show. In a show you need more consistency, and I like the idea that Rand is tricked into breaking a seal, and that THAT causes the forsaken to be freed. I also like the way the theme of the ep8 scenes foreshadows the Last Battle. As for the visuals and the portrayal of the Blight: that was not planned this way. They had plans to shoot in a natural forest on La Gomera, which would have given them much wider shots, a more natural look, and more options to set up scenes. Shooting there became impossible due to COVID travel restrictions, so they came up with the idea of shooting a smaller version of this on a back lot using artificial trees. At the time that change was made they were close to the end of the production and almost out of time and money, having just enough to build 7 (or so) trees for all of the scenes. Everything else was computer-replicated. So, yes, this is not what I had hoped the Blight would look like, but I don't blame them given the circumstances.