I can see this one being controversial but I was pretty impressed on my second rewatch. I always watch twice because otherwise I forget a lot but what I loved about this one is that Perrin figured out the blacksmith puzzle that was the battle of two rivers and I really love that because it was one of the things that RJ kept coming back to with Perrin is it took him a while but he had deep wisdom to figure out a situation and that's what happened here with Padan Fain and also with Dain Bornhald and I really like it. Perrin was in the middle of raging but he took a moment to ask why and his solution tied into the way of the leaf and the hammer axe thing and Perrin figured out the best way out of the situation to save the most lives and did it no matter what it cost him and that line about Fain being the only one there afraid to die was devastating and it tied into his wolf senses so I really liked it. Then I feel like Bornhald will take on the Galad arc as the judge for Perrin and it's strange to move the trial arc up but it does make sense to happen after the two rivers it condenses a lot of story which they need to do and it gives a good arc for Bornhald too and gives Perrin something to do while Mat and Rand are building what they need to build..
I agree Loial and Valda do have things they do but it's so sparse it probably doesn't warrant keeping an actor under contract and they do have to introduce new characters so it makes sense they have to make room. Really loved what both of them brought to the series but honestly the way they went out had good impact Loial accomplished something significant and the two rivers battle does have to have consequences so it was a good time and way to do it and Valda just served a really strong story beat and was a satisfying way to watch that dude go even though I thought he did an amazing job.
The fight I thought they actually did a good job with it, the scale of it finally looked right. I also liked how they used the defensive structures and retreating I think it did get confusing with them holding the pass and then Alanna getting jumped and then all of the sudden everyone was in the square I feel like a scene or something got cut for time there and it almost worked but it did just seem really jumpy. I do think Slayer was the one that was drilling Alanna and the wisdom with arrows so I feel like this was just the start of the second part of that story. I did like Alanna's channeling in the pass though you always see fireballs and lightning but that was like a good old ice storm and it was devastating. I liked the two rivers bow got a shout out and I really liked Faile and Perrin fighting together and then Perrin going berserk. There was also a nice moment where Faile and Perrin fought together in I believe the same spot that he killed his wife and they just started rolling through trollocks so I felt like that was kind of like Perrin getting over a block. Lol that in that moment Perrin is like Hammer or Axe why not both? Overall the battle seemed good to me it went south pretty quick and was pretty brutal but it didn't seem too dark and I like that the moment you thought the white cloaks were coming to save the day Fain just stabs everyone in the back it was nice to have different beats play out in a battle and that was what happened at Fal Dara in the books. On that note I like that Perrin told Loial the same thing that Agelmar said which was even if we die we can tell the world and maybe they will live I thought that was a cool callback. Also liked when Loial said that Perrin's name will sing in the world's ears. And then as tough as it was to see Loial go that was another beautiful shot so I think the cinematographers have done an amazing job.
I actually agree that the healing has gotten out of hand but I don't mind it with Alanna because she is green Aja and they are supposed to basically be warriors so Alanna and her Warder/s should be more formidible than say Moiraine and Lan even though Lan is who he is a green and her warders should be born to battle and just ready to fight. I also really liked her line about she should be out building an army because that was one of the biggest complaints with the Aes Sedai is the greens should have been leading armies and the yellows should have had hospitals etc so she should be a military bada$$ and I kind of like how she says she isn't going to the tower something more important is happening and she sees the army. Like if I see a yellow sister start tanking like Alanna I agree it starts to be too much but I don't mind seeing a green sister and her warders tank that is what they should be good at. I feel like maybe we need to stop looking at Alanna as an Aes Sedai and more like a straight up fighter like Lan or Bain/Chiad if they could channel.
Some random things was I loved the Cauthon girls ripping on Mat that was perfect, I liked them and Alana and the drunk wisdom I thought all of that was funny just the Cauthon girls in general were amazing. Then part of me wonders that maybe the Cauthon girls talent is burning white cloaks. I liked how they explain ji'e'to with both Loial and Bain and Chiad and I thought it was funny how Loial was the one learning hand talk. Also the hand talk signals are kind of funny because you can understand them without the subtitles like they would bang Aram if he wasn't a coward lol. I can see how some of the changes bothered people but I feel like they really nailed this one.
