Dang, just realized a berry and a few washed cups gets you quite a bit in this turning.

I thought Egwene was the likely target for Lanfear replacing Avhienda. I thought we were going to get a cool scene of MO and Lan ambushing Lanfear after she attacks Egwene. Then Rand would get attacked by Asmodean and sucked into Dreamworld Rhuidean after Aiel chiefs declared him Car a Carn when he quietly told history. Mo and Egwene could get pulled into Telanrhiod after Lan gets knocked out. Mo and and Lanfear both get badly wounded and leave the dream giving us our fake out deaths. Egwene sees Rand and Asmo both barely alive. She blasts Asmo allowing Rand to shield him then the 3 leave the Dream returning to just clan chiefs standing in rain.

Sorry for delay in response. I had a bad plumbing leak in rarely used upstairs bathroom. I have been tearing out most of upstairs bathroom and ceiling of downstairs laundry room. So for background. I am mid fifties, hetero, in 35 year monogamous relationship. No kinks, I dated extensively as teen, married young, and have adult to teen children. I was fine with relationships in books. To me it was a military fantasy hero journey. I didn't have the problems with romance that many fans seem to have with way book handled it. I am probably one of few people on boards that has had intimate relationships and witnessed relationships in a war zone setting. I consider most of books arc to be in a war setting. Relationships can be odd to say the least. My complaint from a straight guy perspective was that time is the resource in show most important. The very positive inclusive everything goes sex scenes didn't add much emotionally or cause any visceral feelings of stress or danger to show. The time could have been better spent on certain characters development that lead to better emotional payoff later. I do recognize I am not gay, lesbian, or female. That is Rafes preferred audience. So fight training scenes seem to be gay male eye candy. To me it has seemed more cutesy than sexy. The vibe they have embraced also seems to reinforce the walking into Vegas male review vs real soldiers training to murder. I really liked the Nyn and Lan initial romance but the family meal and then quicky before the showdown didn't do anything for me to advance their relationship. So I guess my point is that are gay men, lesbian women, or women in general getting excited by shows presentation of sex? I understand lots of television and movies may steer away from or into the weighty issues associated with sex but the underlying reality is always there to color our reactions to what we are seeing. Rafe has said he wants this show to paint non hetero, non monogamous relationships in a positive light to normalize them. Much of the sex and adjacent screen time feels like this. I am pretty tired so this might be incoherent but considering how many fans of books rag on romance in series I don't think this turning has been much better.

So something about relationships on show popped into my head after watching final episode. The writing of the show wants a completely judgement free set positive view of sex and sensuality. We haven't seen any cultural taboos, no male gaze, everyone does whowever they want whenever and however they want. The occasional dad joke about not having enough holes even feels odd considering how sex seems to be completely a fully positive thing. No pregnancy concerns, no taboo relationships, no venereal disease. And when it's shown it's very PG 13 and chaste. Even Lanfear and Rand scenes which should be mind blowingly dirty and spicy just feel kind of like normal married for 20 years sex. Basically I think they have managed to make sex boring while also wanting to show and imply lots of it. I will admit that this show is not made for mid fifties straight guys but come on there is just nothing cooking in this kitchen. Feel free to to disprove me. .

I would assume it will get a few more. RoP is horrible beyond saving. I can't imagine it keeps going and a decent show like WoT is canned. That Salke firing may mean lots of changes in programming though. Hopefully the announcement happens soon.

I am a bit in the same boat. I feel for the fans genuinely enjoying show. This was just the perfectly wrong adaptation for me. A few years ago I would have thought nice for them and moved on. Now that activism has gotten into the mix I figure I might as well advocate for myself also. I want my epic military fantasy with giant wolves running the dream. Massive prophesy dumps and Borderlanders scary as shit. The main thing keeping me engaged has been Actors' performances. Lanfear, Mog, and some of the side characters have really been fun. This is just not a turning I care about. Ready for Elayne to Balefire this adaptation.

No 1 on my screen in US also.

Alanna getting stabbed is the new Southpark " They killed Kenny". I didn't have Siuan getting stabbed with spirit arrows or Moraine stabbed by Lanfear with Lan sword on my ep 8 bingo card. The writing team is putting together a workshop titled "Why we stab? The art of penetration. "

It will be mentioned by Egwene. She Dreamwalks into Marins dream to check on 2 Rivers and sees Alanna accidently stabbed by Aram when she walks in on Maksim and Aram "blacksmithing ".

Rafe and writing team seem to really appreciate deep and frequent penetration. Yea I went there. 😁

Perrin hesitates to stab Padan Fain because of Layla PTSD. This results in Padan stabbing Faile. Simultaneously in the dream Slayer stabs Hopper. Perrin goes so wolf rage he actually turns into a real wolf and Dane Bornhald stabs Wolf Perrin. Cauthon girls stab Bornhald. Aiel Maidens stab Lord Luc. Loial trips on a pitch fork and stabs Maksim. Caution girls go super saiyan and heal everyone. All the good guys (newly healed) stab Padan Fain who walks it off and is healed by trolloc medics using their own boogers.

Bela is of the Old Blood. It sings in her. Her ancestors carried the dead from Eamon's Field and the children of Manetheren out of the mountains after Eldrin's scourge of the Shadow. Bela is so solid and fierce she probably appears as real in the Wolf Dream. She did not have to be altered only woken up.

A massive wolf pack plowing into dark forces similar to Watch Hill villagers would probably be my favorite choice. They need to use more fog of war and less wolf dog close ups to make this work but it would be really satisfying. I am hoping battle is a little more complex than sneak peak indicates but I don't think that has even been a top ten priority. I have a bunch of cool ideas how they could make a female centric battle happen but just gonna wait and find out. The line of village women with shields has been really annoying because it looks so close yet so far. Fingers crossed they put some thought into it.

We know we are getting Morgase, Galad, Gawain, and Elaida Sedai this season. Also Faile does not seem to be traveling with Perrin, Aiel, and Loial in sneak peek. Possibly Morgase sends Galad and Gawain led army to investigate Trolloc activity. Or Elaida leads tower army. Or Saildean army searching for Faile pops up. Elaida could see Tower ignorance of trollocs in south and black sisters sudden appearance as reason to usurp Siuan. Or Borderland army appearance could advance Perrin and Rands story and possible fall of Stone in next season.

After sneak peek I have been thinking about Two Rivers and how that arc will play out. First, show's goals for arc. Female empowerment, defeat dark forces in 2R, advance Perrin to Lord Goldeneyes. Players on the board. From sneak peek and casting notes. Perrin, Faile, Alanna, Maksim, Marin, Jac AlSeen, Bain, Chiad, Loial, Dain Bornhold, White Cloak soldiers and 2R villagers. Tinkers likely in mix. Possibly Taren Ferry villagers. Missing or unknown on light side. Tam, Abel, Bran, Verin, Tomas, Gaul, Devin Ride village, Watch Hill village, and Perrins companion guard. Dark Forces mix of trollocs, fades, and dark friends possibly led by Padan Fain. Slayer/Lord Luc mia so far. From previous 2 seasons battle scenes I think we will get some lite skirmishes then bulk of dark forces coming down from mountain following road to multiple direct assaults of 2R defenses. I think previous raid in season 1 killed more 2R villagers than book battle. Possibly leading to building of palisades and defenses around 2R village prior to Perrins return. Female villagers seem completely integrated into defenses. White cloaks seem to be fighting from ground as part of village defenses in multiple battle scenes. Battle will probably finish with Dark Forces breaching village defenses and some unknown force overwhelming Dark Forces after 2R forces pushes them out of village. From sneak peek I assume Ihvon killed in Tar Valon or early in 2R fighting. If Maksim is killed in 2R battle Alanna may pull an Eldrin and burn herself out ravaging Dark forces. Not sure otherwise unless White cloak cavalry or Andoran Forces show up and save day. I don't think show arc will have same impact as book for many reasons but wondering how others think how arc will play out or how you want it to go.