Has Season 3 changed anyone's opinion of the show? I started out only watching it just to give it one last chance, and it wasn't until I watched episode 8 for the 2nd time that I gave a hoot whether or gets renewed. I have still had problems with some of the writing, but S3 was such a remarkable improvement over the first 2 seasons I now feel like they actually may be able to continue making it a good show, even if it's not the show I originally hoped for.

I had never seen her in anything before (I don't watch much TV) and wow, is she good!

Best speech of the entire series!

I was visiting my kids for a week, so I have not been on any SM and I finally rewatched E8. I'm sure this has already been asked so I apologize, but what part of the episode is what Rafe called controversial? Sammael's death? Siuan's death? Moiraine and Lanfear's fight? I HATE that they killed Siuan because I love her character even more in the show than in the books, but I know if it does get renewed, they won't get enough seasons to warrant keeping her around.

That was, for the most part... underwhelming. It was good to see Nyaneave lose her block, although on screen it loses so much. I cried when Siuan died, but I liked her little speech at the end. I'm sorry to see her go. I love Siuan's story in the books, and I really love Sophie in the show. Moiraine and Lanfear's fight was good in places and weird in others. I'll have to see what I think on a rewatch. We know where Elaida got that bracelet now, but not what it means. Unless I missed something, which I could very well have. I kind of expected to hear an Elton John song playing when she walked in wearing the stole. Mat got his fox head medallion, but lost the memories he gained from blowing the horn? I'm confused. The Aelfinn kind of looked like a character from "Cats", but I kind of liked it. Rand is officially the Caracarn. Yay? No Maksim - YAY! I'll have read the through everyone else's thoughts when it's not my bedtime.

As someone who cannot handle gore and brutal violence, the scenes I actually have to close my eyes for on rewatches are Uno, Leane clubbing the White BA to death, the Brown sister getting cut in half, Natti's burned corpse, and Moghedien killing Ispan. If we had seen Muradin clawing his eyes out more closely, I'd have to close my eyes for that, too. Normally, I'd have to cover my ears when someone is screaming as they're being burned alive, but I guess his screams weren't convincing enough. Where Moghedien is concerned, she is bat shit crazy and also brutally tortured Jaichim into becoming a gray man. Not that this proves or disproves anything. I am just way more sensitive about violence and these are the scenes that especially affected me.

Who are the experts? One person claiming to be an expert can say one thing while another says the opposite and it all depends on their individual biases. The only ones who really know are the people involved in casting and writing the show.

I don't think there is a PoC issue with this show. Abdul Valis was brilliant as Valda, and I can't help believing that is why he was cast as Valda, period. I hated him in the show much more than I did in the books. He just made my skin crawl. We know we're not getting Morgase's side story, so there really wasn't any point in keeping him in the show, but his death was satisfying because it was at the hands of Mat's sisters. We know Ihvon being killed off had nothing to do with his skin color. Alanna does lose a warder, but they couldn't kill Maksim because he's Rafe's boyfriend. Something that they didn't have time to show that I really missed was Perrin leading the young men of the Two Rivers to hunt trollocs. I really loved that part of Perrin's leadership development.

Yeah, they really powered up her instinctive ability to heal. She at least is a wilder who survived channeling on her own in the books. I need to look up the explanation of the power ratings. It's been a long time and I don't remember the rating system at all. Not that it made a lot of sense years ago, but perhaps now after 9 or 10 reads I'll get it. I guess Perrin's t'averen nature could be an explanation for Daise and the girls being able to channel better than they should have. That's an interesting point, and I would actually prefer if the writers were astute enough to make that a factor. Logain was a "wilder" too. I think Taim was supposed to have been trained by Demandred, though.

Well, they did need to show Perrin being in charge of the battle. Perrin didn't have to instruct Tam because he was a trained soldier. I think the only time Tam asked Perrin anything was at the beginning of the battle when Tam asks Perrin "At x number of paces?" But I loved the inclusion of the TR long bow and that even Cenn Buie could still use one because had been doing so all of his life. And at least they showed Maksim being properly impressed ("Two Rivers long now indeed"), even though he would have already seen the men use them in a previous trollocs attack. The men on roofs with their bows was a good touch, too.

No, Egwene was born with the spark. Moiraine tells her that she would eventually have channeled on her own. What the show has left out is the danger of not being trained if you have the spark - that 3 out of 4 of such women die due to the lack of training. I don't think that's going to be canon for the show. If it was, they would have introduce it by now, and it's much more convenient to have channelers be able to do complex weaves without training.

Moiraine did start training Egwene in S1, and she channeled 3 times afterwards that I can remember. First, to start a fire, second to free Perrin when they are captured by Valda, and third, to heal Nyaneave in the finale. The first 2 times it did not happen immediately and she had to really concentrate. Some untrained channelers doing small things is acceptable, but having the power to create a shield like Daise did? No way.

Actually, what many people don't seem to recognize is that you don't die from arrow wounds immediately unless they hit a vital organ and penetrate deeply enough. Even a gun shot wound isn't immediately fatal depending where you get shot, and gut wounds are an especially slow, painful death. In the books, Perrin gets badly wounded by an arrow and the possibility of infection was the greater concern. I did like Maksim letting Alanna know it was time for her to do her thing through the warder bond. I know they can't communicate telepathically, but all she needed was to feel desperation from him. That's the only Alanna & Maksim scene I've liked.

I don't recall anyone saying that in the Ep 1 discussion. I only remember people saying they were too shocked at first to do anything, and that the BA was better trained in combat. That was really too much. As someone else said, why bother sending women to the Tower to be trained? The problem of girls with the spark dying if not properly trained is obviously not a thing in the show. It's never been mentioned, and it's much more convenient to have women channel whenever they want them to.

With the exception of the fact that Mat blew the horn, I think this battle was better. In spite of its problems, the stakes felt real. Perrin making a deal with Fain felt very off at first, but then I realized it was the only way he could save the people. They were gonna lose if the battle continued.