Except in the books Perrin was 10 years younger and never married. The whole death/mourning of Laila was pulled outa someone's *** and many minutes of valuable screen time were wasted on Perrin's angst that could have been spent on the actual story. What did they have to omit from the book to cram this newly fabricated material in? Why fabricate this new background at all? It doesn't contribute to his overall story arc, so I respectfully disagree about it being good writing.

RitualM I feel your pain. I ... painfully ... watched the first season YELLING at every episode "it didn't happen like that!" or "that wasn't in the book" or "why that bizarre change??" Did the writers even read the books? Maybe they googled a character list and scanned some fan wikis to get some details... then chucked that out just because. I imagine it's difficult to turn a very detailed book into 8 hour-long episodes and pages of exposition into a script so a lot has to be cut, combined or condensed, but why CHANGED into something completely different? Poor Mat Cauthon and his parents get the worst of it. Our beloved charming rascal is changed into a klepto, psychopathic despicable ***hole in Season 1. And his parents? Oof, not even gonna open that can of gross slimy worms. And, why did Thom Merrilin look like Rooster Cogburn from True Grit? I could go on for paragraphs but I'll just vent to the hubby, he's getting used to it ... again ... now that season 2 is out. I'm so surprised we are in the minority. I am watching season 2 with the mindset that the only thing they took from the books are the names of people/places/things. Season 2 is supposed to be based on "The Great Hunt" ... I think? They chucked out the book's plot and groupings. Still, I recognized a few things. Guess their wiki surfing turned up a few relevant details. In the words of Monty Python "and now for something completely different!"