The first 3 Episodes of the show were released earlier this evening. This thread is for discussion of all 3. Book and show spoilers may be posted unmarked in this thread.
No spoilers for episodes past episode 3 may be posted here.
Overall I’m very happy with these episodes. I think it’s an improvement over season one, and I’m someone who liked season one.
Episode 1:
While I loved the dark friend social in the books, it’s a scene that really only works in a book. The visuals of film would ruin all of the fun hints in the book chapter. I think they did a good job adapting it to be nice and teasing without being too forthcoming with information.
I liked how they incorporated part of book 3 here with Moiraine having lots of visitors bringing her news. I also think having her and Moiraine and Lan have a season of repairing and strengthening their relationship will make it much more impactful ||when she dies.||
I liked all of what we got in the tower. Making Nynaeve have a little time as a novice is a great idea IMO, it gives them time to establish the problems she is having. And Egwene is doing great here, nothing to complain about.
Verin is perfect. New mat is great.
The scene at the end with the fades was AMAZING. I love how they leaned into fades being able to teleport in shadows.
Episode 2:
Selene is fantastically cast. She nails every scene she is in, and they are doing GREAT work at foreshadowing who she really is. And having Rand scheming his way into Loganes room is a really great plot for him.
I LOVE that they are making liandrin more human. Giving her time to win the audience over does a LOT of lifting. First, it makes the reds not seem like such giant assholes. I feel like in the books up until book 8 or 9 EVERY red we meet is just not a good person, and isn’t likeable. I like it that they are making Liandrin so much more interesting than just "that scary teacher who kidnaps the girls."It will make her betrayal so much more impactful. Giving her a son adds a lot of dept. I know book liandrin would never have had a child, but this was a really good change I think. It really helps to drive home how OLD these women are, and
Mat and Min is a FANTASTIC pairing. More on them in episode 3.
ELAYNE IS PERFECT. Everything about the scenes with her is REALLY Elayne. She’s emotionally intelligent, but clueless about the world, and she doesn’t always realize when it’s appropriate to speak up to people. But when she gets other people in trouble through her own stupidity she protects them, even to her detriment.
And the SEANCHAN. That palanquin is 100% extra in the most Seanchan way.
Episode 3: Fs in the chat for my Boi uno. Gutted we won’t get him later… But I kinda get it. Minor characters dying off is part of this series, and he really isn’t too important going forward. Using a minor character we’ve been seeing a lot of to show the brutality of the Seanchan is a good decision IMO.
And the accent is there! They aren’t emphasizing it too much, but they clearly went with the mild southern drawl the Seanchan have. I love the hunger games announcer lady vibes I got off of Suroths speaker. The anesthetic they went with for the Seanchan is really good, I love that they are leaning into the creepy factor for them.
Rand and Loganes is a fantastic pairing. I love how we see how Loganes madness comes out, and makes him believing he is the dragon a prlart of his madness. I’m really interested to see where they go with the character.
Mat and Min are another great pairing. We didn’t get much of them in the books and I’m excited to see them interact more. I LOVE that Liandrin is sending Min and Mat off somewhere… I’m guess west, to Falme. It’s a nice detail that helps get us on the path to everyone being in the right place.
And of course the elephant in the room here is Nynaeve. The accepted test was great. Most of the dialogue before it was ripped right out of the books, and the rest itself worked surprisingly well on screen. I wasn’t sure that it would going in. I loved both the fake outs, I think they both worked well. It gave Egwene some time to grow, and gave Elayne some time to show her emotional maturity. She was raised to deal with stuff like this, and it shows.
I’m excited to see more!
Man the test in 3 had me gutted by the end omg. This season is doing work! I’m so incredibly excited for this season.
It’s like the show is in a semi-parallel universe to the books and I’m okay with that.
I would have liked something closer to the source material but I’m still enjoying the show.
I thought the WoT community on Lemmy was dead. Positively surprised to see this post up.
I didn’t like S1 (not hated it; just ended up disappointed by the end of it) and I don’t plan on watching S2, but I’ll be reading you all’s comments with interest. Hopefully this ends up being better than the first (now they don’t have Covid and the main actor recast as excuses).
We still exist! More activity is good!
What the fuck, Lan, the legendary blade master loses to two fades?
Fades are no joke, but in the books he’d have turned them into sashimi
I think episode 1 was really good apart from that. The casting is really good (not how I pictured Eylas, but I can jive).
I thought that Moiraine’s issues with the power were interfering with the benefits re stamina and agility that warders get with the bond. I thought that was what they were showing at the beginning of that episode when he was frustrated while training.
Ahhh … that makes sense … thanks! (not a book-reader)
I don’t get why they are giving her an issue with her powers to begin with. That doesn’t happen until much later and only as a result of a major event.
I didn’t catch lan’s frustration. I’ll have to rewatch
I think book Lan would absolutely lose to 2 fades in the dark who are working together. Fades get to teleport from shadow to shadow. It’s seriously underutilized in the books, but it’s established early on.
Remember that the borderlands all have laws that require towns be lit well at night, in large part to prevent fades from doing their twleporting and doing sabotage. But also so that if they get attacked at night the fades are less threatening.
You forget he goes toe to toe with one of the best swordsmen from the age of legends and defeats him (though bad things happen to him after)
Also, if Mat can fight a Gholam to a standstill, Lan should havent have had trouble.
A Gohlam would shred a fade, no question.
Fain nails a fade to a barn door in the books.
I don’t think I’m out to lunch here
He very specifically does not beat Demandred. He does, in fact, lose. He wasn’t there to win though. He kills Demandred but was fully expecting not to survive the fight. Also, Demandred was interested in having a fair fight, and Lan had on a Medallion stopping him from cheating with the power. Against 2 fades at night he has NONE of those things, and the fades are free to teleport around him at will.
Mat fought the gholam to a standstill because he had the ONLY weapon on the planet that could harm it. If he hadn’t had that, he would have been absolutely shredded. But because of the Medallion, the gholam was holding back because it was afraid Mat could maim or kill it, which was something it had never faced before.
The fade nailed to a barn door because he had crazy mind control powers, he didn’t have to fight it. Fades will do what they’re told when ordered by someone they fear enough, even go into certain death.
I feel the opposite, but not because Lan isn’t an amazing badass. It’s because fades are hardcore, and wasn’t it 3 fades he fought (he chopped one’s head off while two more emerged from the shadows, I think) instead of just 2? I think the fades were just about right power-wise or maybe even nerfed a bit, to be honest. Lan could take 1, would struggle with 2, but 3? He did a pretty good job killing 2 of 3, tbh.
Three fades makes more sense. I saw him cut the head off of the one but it didn’t register that the third fade came out of nowhere. Still, look how they massacred my boy!
In the early books fades are really scary as you get further into the series, however they seem to get nerfed.
Yeah, fades are more easily killed by everyone in book 6 onward, I think. Maybe it’s related to the introduction of the gholam.
I just want to know if it feels like an improvement over the first season.
It was alright but ended up being backround television by the end of season 1.
Very much an improvement IMO, and I am someone who liked season 1.
Maybe a bit, but it’s still bad if you wanted something true to source. I don’t think I’ll be watching any more.
I think there must be something wrong with the writing for Selene because my wife seems to be taking her story (or lack therof) at face value, and I feel like that’s not really what’s intended. Like to me it seems great, but I feel like the audience is supposed to be screaming at Rand. Like isn’t it pretty obvious in the books that there’s something up with her? Maybe in e04?
Oh no I think that’s VERY deliberate. If you haven’t read the books and don’t know about Selene, it’s 100% their intent that you buy into her. It makes her big reveal MUCH more impactul.
In the book it’s more obvious, but it’s still not clear who she is. She is clearly not just some random noble woman, since she shows up in an alternate reality. But she is trying to make Rand think she really is just some helpless noble woman, and while the audience thinks something is up, Rand doesn’t.
Making it less obvious something is up for the audience is a good move IMO
I haven’t read the books, and it was pretty clear to me that I should be suspicious.
We get the opening scene of the foresaken/Ishamael talking about finding Rand. It stands to reason that it’s harder for him to remain hidden than he thinks, not least because Trollocs etc knew where to find him in S1!
Beyond that there’s a scene in Ep3 where she’s says something along the lines of knowing or being comfortable with what he is doing hike he’s weaving as they fall into bed. Not sure if that was a dream or something, but again, it’s pretty clear something is up but I have no idea what. It’s working pretty well from a writing stand point IMO.
Where is rand supposed to be? I have zero recollection of him working in a mental hospital.
I think its a merging of asmodean and logain. They just set it in a mental hospital with logain being crazy
