I never was able to get over.adjust to the Spartacus change.

 I really dont think it takes 13 to gentle someone.

 Rand gentled several all at the same time by himself. I think 13 is a number that no one can resist. 13 is required to turn a channeler into a darkfriend.

 I think starting with the Logain scene in episode 1 would have hooked a lot more people right away.

 Liandrian was the one who...

nm

 If Nynaeve is this powerful, does that mean Rand is going to be that much more powerful than Nynaeve?

 I always thought Logain was just a few steps behind Rand in strength, but he isnt even a shadow in comparison to Nynaeve and if Rand is that much stronger than Nynaeve, then Rand is going to be moving mountains around.

10 minutes ago, Harad the White said:

Some people complain about the "low-budget" look of the battle between the followers of Logain and the AS camp. In particular it is compared unfavorably to GoT (which as predicted will suddenly become the gold standard, after some time of ill-repuke). The first "wow" battle in GoT, the Battle of Blackwater, occurred in Season 2, overall episode 19. We are now in WoT episode 4. WoT has time.

 

Furthermore, the battle of the AS Camp was actually well-done. The stage was set when Liandrin said "One flash of lighting and they ran home to their mothers," for the fact that the attackers were not a massive CGI ground army. The defenders were about 20 in a rude camp, so the Battle of Minas Tirith was not appropriate.

 To start, I had no issue with the battle.. but to say because GoT didnt have a battle until season 2 makes it acceptable for WoT to half-assed their battle in season 1 doesnt make much sense to me.

 I like that the main characters have the same names as they did in the books and I like the actor that plays Mat.

29 minutes ago, Pandemonium said:

Well ya, this was just a way to plug a nice cover from the witcher.  Maybe there will be a cover for the WoT songs too, they have only been out for 2 days.  

 

I personally didn't like the way they had Thom sing, sounded pretty amateurish, but I think he can sing much better than what they showed.  Not sure why they sandbagged it. This show needs to build up hype as fast as possible.   One other example of Alexandre Willaume singing I could find singing was from the Danish version of Tangled... seen at the 2:00 minute mark.  He can clearly sing better than I originally thought originally.  Will be interesting to see how he sings in more grand settings.

 

 

 

 The only thing I can think of is that Thom was/is going through his "drunk phase". We would see it in the books after his apprentice/gf was killed and Mat runs into him at Tar. Not saying that wont still happen, but as of now that is the only possible reason his voice was so scratchy and amateurish.

14 hours ago, Pandemonium said:

Strictly by musical chops, I much prefer Jaskier.  I really hope Thom can sing better than what they displayed so far.  Toss a coin to your witcher was also a viral song, so hard to beat.

 

 

 

 No comparison, even if you don't like the tunes..

 Yep, if they put a huge beard, moustache, hat, glasses, you probably wont notice much difference.

2 hours ago, Ploodie said:

Of course - I just think that villains are better when they are understandable. Seeing her struggle over wanting to gentle Logain before he can do harm, and seeing that in some ways she was right, that's powerful storytelling. 

I can agree. In my opinion, Gus from Breaking Bad was an incredible villain. But I also dont see Liandrian in the same way you do. I dont see someone trying to stop someone from doing harm. I see someone who loves the ability to do harm to others and looks for any excuse possible. Of course, book knowledge may play into that, but the non-book readers I know who are watching see her as I do.

1 hour ago, ArrylT said:

 

Alas I do not believe there is such a thing as a bad karaoke night.   In any case everyone knows that karaoke does not involve playing an instrument  - if you said bad open mic night, then that would be more understandable, even if not everyone would agree since music taste is subjective.

 Well, his instrument playing was almost as bad as his singing. He just strummed a few chords here and there. But, yeah I get your point.. bad open mic night, no cover.

18 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

Horrible as an actor or as a character? I think they’re doing a great job of making her three dimensional. She’s not obviously evil but she also clearly has her own agenda. 
 

Kate Fleetwood is doing an amazing job. 

 As a character, the actor is doing fantastic. Liandrian is freaking awful in every possible way though.

Just now, Ploodie said:

Anyone else think Liandrin is almost coming off as a likable character? Maybe it's the actor portraying her doing such a good job, but I find myself hoping for more and more of her in this series. I think the portrayal of the Aes Sedai has so far been the best thing this series has done .. including the costumes. 

 absolutely not.. she is horrible.

5 hours ago, RhienneAgain said:

Yes, good point. I think Bowl of the Winds is their only really critical plot point and their role as master weather manipulators using saidar could be passed to the Kin or other channelers.

 Most likely, Nynaeve will sneeze and the weather across the world will change to suit her needs. Creator+

From what we have SEEN so far... Jaskier blows Thom so far out of the water it isnt even a contest. Hopefully that changes but at this point, Thom's one song was like something out of a bad karaoke night.

1 hour ago, Harad the White said:

The fact that the voices are real means he is not. 

1 minute ago, Harad the White said:

Listen to the conversation between Logain, King of Ghealdan, and the two shadows. Is Logain mad? He is perfectly rational and he resists the advice of the shadows to murder the King. 

 The fact that he is "hearing" voices means he is most assuredly mad.

 As more and more of my non-book reading friends watch, the more divided it becomes. And I dont mean some like it some dont, I mean all like some parts and really dont like other parts.

1 hour ago, JenniferL said:

This is consistent with the books. Cadsuane and Semirhage both comment that men who can channel eventually start hearing voices. It is unknown whether or not these voices are past lives, like Rand and Lews Therin, but it’s not unreasonable that the show might decide that it is and that Logain is hearing whatever his past lives are. 

 Well, it is consistent with the books that SOME people hear voices, but not all hear voices. The madness manifests in different ways in the book, but I am perfectly ok with simplifying it to just all hearing voices. The difference SHOULD be, that the voices others hear are not "real". Whereas, with the DR, he actually hears a real voice.

 If it turns out that every male channeler hears real voices from their past lives.. it will be another huge strike against the show IMO.

7 hours ago, RhienneAgain said:

I think you've hit the nail on the head, here.  I was expecting something of similar quality to GoT and it just feels consistently a level below it.  The actors seem mostly ok (but not superb as in GoT) but I think the writing is also not in the same league.  

 

Another difference to me is that the characters in GoT were completely recognisable between the books and TV series.  Yes, there were some differences but the core character traits and personalities were the same.  If there was a new scene in the TV series, it still felt like part of the same GoT as the books because the TV character responded to that new scene in a way that felt true to the book character.  I'm not getting them from WoT.

 

In particular, Nynaeve seems really off.  The actress seems fine (if not spectacular) with the material she has been given, but she doesn't seem like the same Nynaeve as the one from the books.  And I'm not really even talking about the vast acceleration of her talents with saidar as of episode 4.  I mean more her actual personality seems unrecognisable.  There's none of the ascerbic, barely restrained temper and fury, or the bossiness and bluster.  I can't see book Nynaeve opening up to someone else about her traumatic childhood or being comfortable joining a campfire of Warders as the only woman.  It's like the show has just taken her name and a few basic attributes (healing talent, tracking talent, falls in love with Lan, can't control emotions) and then written a completely different character.

 

Lan feels similar to me - there isn't the same feeling of stoniness, or stoicism in TV Lan.  Same with Thom - the TV character is fine, but he's not recognisable as book Thom.

 

I think it's particularly jarring as some characters do seem to have been faithfully translated from book to screen (Moiraine, Perrin, Rand) so it feels more like bad writing or not understanding some of the characters instead of the show aiming to be different on purpose.

 well yeah, of course Nynaeve is different. She is now the creator in the flesh. The DR will be her champion and Lan will be her Aes Sedai errand boy. I am now just laughing whenever I see Nynaeve on screen.

15 minutes ago, Rand the Plumber said:

Well I liked it.  I mean, I really liked it.  I'm not going to rehearse every aspect which I liked or disliked, because who wants to read that on page 17?  It does seem to me, though, that the show is now starting to hit its stride.  Let's see if they can keep up the pace in the next four episodes.  Some stand-outs for me include:

• Did anyone else notice that when Logain was channelling, sometimes at least, the power seemed to snake from somewhere outside of him?  A very clever way of showing how he is being manipulated by person or persons unknown.
• Not sure what I think of the shadow people whispering in Logain's ears.  Forsaken, I presume.  I hope they put in a fleshly appearance soon, because I don't think that the disembodied shadows really work.
• Really enjoyed the Tinkers scenes, and I don't mind overmuch that Ilya has been given prominence over Raen.
• I love Matt again.
• And Marcus Rashford is hot.  My goodness me, I came over all a-flutter.
• Was less impressed with Rand in this episode, and my opinions on Thom are decidedly neutral.
• The actor playing Liandrin has really nailed her.

Overall, a solid 5/7.

 I thought the shadow figures were just the taint. It appears that hearing voices is going to be the universal madness in the show, instead of each person having their own unique madness trait.

1 hour ago, dorotea said:

1. Loved the Logain arc. He is rational, dedicated , even compassionate behind the power hungry, superb acting, good writing.

2. Pretty lame Tinkers : the visuals are all the flower children of the 60 ties minus the music, which is horrible, colors are drab, dancing is asexual and  lame, it feels like the flower children meet Tolstoy crossed with Amish. I feel for Aram , if I was him I would have run away when I was 12. MDK is lost in this arc. She would have been perfect Siuan.

3. Thom is ah rather than oooh. Just shrugging him off for the time being.

4. Amazing dynamics in the Aes Sedai camp. Really good and patient build-up.

5. Can forgive a lot for the good story. Alas Nynaeve's powerhouse explosion feels unearned, too early , and too Mary Sue-ish. If they could keep her from being the navy seal/ green ranger in disguise for the last 2 episodes it might have worked. As of now it feels like a joke: oh come on, Nyn can do anything.

 

 

5. yeah it is becoming ridiculous to the point I just laughed when she did her power explosion.

15 hours ago, LordyLord said:

With episode 4 out now, we have officially seen half of the season.

 

My judgement is....Its average.Just average.

Which is worrying for me because I dont think Amazon will renew the show for season 3 if its average.Especially with how expensive it is.

 

The show trails behind GOT, Witcher, Shadow and Bone (Yes I said it). But it certainly is not terrible.

 

One on hand, I blame the averageness on the Show Runner's questionable decisions.On the other hand, EOTW is the most average and derivative of the books so its hard to adapt.

 

Overall I enjoy the show for what it is, but dont have hopes for its future.Which is sad. cause it could have been great

 It might be even with Shadow and Bone, but I dont think it is behind it. Witcher and GoT definitely have a leg up at this point though.