The Wheel Of Time (Amazon Prime) TV Show • Page 29

My wife who's a non-book-reader also is really starting to get into it and is annoyed that I have been working and we haven't been able to watch it more. I think she was 50/50 about watching any more after Season 1 ended.

 

Season 1's last or last two episodes were really disappointing for my non-book reader self, but the hype in this thread makes me want to catch up to the new ones. Not sure I remember most of the plot

 

They’re killing this season. The Seanchan and Lanfear are just absolutely perfect.

 

This is the episode Egwene finally became Egwene.

 

Siuan with all the fish references. It’s the little details like that which make me so damn giddy at how much better this season is.

 

Verin and Alanna are just perfect. I’m so happy.

 

I loved the momentum this episode had - everything and everyone was in motion. Can’t wait for the finale - I really hope Amazon allows this thing to continue to its planned end. I really enjoy how it keeps me guessing as a book reader while still feeling true to the world.

 

As we get towards the end, I'm really into this season now. I think there are still some missteps, and I really don't like or understand where Mats arc is going, and it's like he's a totally different character with none of the 'cheekiness' or charm, but I'm mostly enjoying each episode a lot. The special effects, sets, and overall flow and tone are all miles better than season 1 and I am not shaking my head in annoyance as I once was. My wife (non book reader) is loving it and is as eager as me to get to each episode.

As cliché as this complaint is, I think the show has been updated to reflect modern fantasy and television standards, where most characters exist in the gray area. Wheel of time was at it's core, good vs bad, light vs dark, and I think they probably thought that would play corny and have added ambiguity and moral quandaries that didn't exist in the book (at least not as much).

Agreed. The cutting between characters and locations this episode was extremely well done and flowed in an exciting manner.

Also for anyone that didn't know, there are behind the scene snippets for each episode (just found them after this last episode and will definitely go back and watch them all).

 

What a finale. Whoooo. That was everything I wanted and hit all the beats it needed to from the books.

 

Yeah, I absolutely loved the finale and this season as a whole.

My very minor complaint for the final episode was just that Ingtar's sacrifice didn't really land (he maybe bought them like 3 seconds and basically went out like a chump), and really his character in general just felt like a nothingburger, but I absolutely loved how the storylines for all the main characters came together and how they all teamed up by the end, and all of their big moments were so great.

Egwene going toe to toe against Ishamael and holding her own! I thought it was great that Egwene gets herself out of her seemingly impossible situation vs being saved by someone else. Loved Lan & Moraine dropping their bickering and teaming back up as well. Rand being smitten by Elayne in the middle of everything else going on at that moment got a chuckle out of me, but not in a bad way.

I think one of the shows biggest strengths for me is how they are handling The Forsaken so far. Ishamael and Lanfear are both incredible characters this season.

 

Sorry to keep bombing the thread, but I'm thinking back over the last few episodes of this season, and there's no actual indication in the TV show that Ingtar is even a Darkfriend at all, is there???

I was very disappointed in the resolution to his storyline here given how incredible and resonant it is in the books, but if they dropped that entire aspect of his character anyway, then the resolution to his storyline here makes more sense, even if they did do him dirty just in regards to his fighting prowess as a Shienaran lord if nothing else.

 

I think, given how many introduced characters end up being Darkfriends this season (Lanfear, Liandrin, and Barthanes being the revealed ones; don’t want to spoil some of the major ones if you don’t know, but iykyk), it made narrative sense to just let him be normal since he’s one of the “changed their ways darkfriends.”

 

Yeah, that makes complete sense. I do kinda wish he went out with a little more of a bang though. I know they had a lot of balls up in the air at that point I time, but still.

 

Oh yeah, totally. One of those huge moments in the book just glossed over here.

 

I didn’t know how they’d handle Falme because I always found it a bit confusing in the books, but this is incredible. I am so beyond happy with this season. They really stepped up the game across the board.

This is the world I fell in love with twenty years ago, in just a slightly different font.

 

I would have to re-watch to be sure which scenes but there seemed to be a few moments where another character would mention something about dark friends or forsaken or maybe Fal Dara where the camera goes to Ingtar and he looks VERY uncomfortable so I think they may have been giving book fans a nod there without making it a plot line for the show.

 

I don't want to come off as negative about it - it was a phenomenal conclusion to a great season. I loved it, and my non-book-reader wife was completely riveted and excited by the end. She triumphantly screamed out loud when Mat blew the horn of Valere, and she was so fired up when all of the main crew got back together and fought together, like when Perrin was helping block Egwene with the Hero's shield. It did very well by the big characters, which is what is important.

 

Moghedien is fucking perfect.

 

They’ve got me so excited as a book reader with that reveal at the end. It’s like I get little nods to all the time I’ve spent in the world, but get to keep guessing, too?

I think it’s interesting they’re using the whole “one seal per Forsaken.” Which six got released? Not doing all thirteen? I feel like if you’re only doing six more, you’re kinda stuck with Demandred, Rahvin, Asmodean, Graendal, Sammael, and Moghedien? I guess? They’re all kinda important.

 

I remember reading somewhere that they are doing 8 instead of 13, but I can't find it anywhere now.

 

I guess that would make sense. At some point I feel like I heard Rafe had planned to tell the story in 8 seasons. Not sure how you get 2 books a season to finish it, but I’m along for the ride happily at this point.

 

I struggled with Season 1 all the way through, and was probably about 60/40 on it by the time it finished. I will say though that I think more time in their world - like how Rafe was pushing for extended runtime on the premiere episode but got shot down - would have gone a long way towards helping me enjoy it more. The drastic changes from the books threw me for a loop and felt disorienting and the breakneck pacing didn't leave me with enough to sink my teeth into. I enjoyed the hell out of the second season all the way through and even think it got better and better as it went.

 

Wow, what a finale. I got chills multiple times. When Loial made that speech about being this age's heroes of legend and when Mat blew the horn of Valere, his quarterstaff skills and using the old tongue!!! Aaahhhh. Also, I was angry when they killed off Uno earlier in the season because he's some good comic relief but I loved how they brought him back. I cried when Hopper died and I got teary at some point again during the big reunion. I was nervous too at how a tv show could show the dragon proclaiming himself in Falme because the sky fight in the book is weird, but they way they did it was beautiful. CHILLS GUYS, I GOT CHILLS. This really captured how I felt reading the ending of The Great Hunt.

 

Some internet sleuths have pieces together it’s five I mentioned and Semirhage instead of Rahvin. I suppose that makes sense considering which one is a stronger plot point for Rand and that you could cut the Morgase plot lines entirely.

 

FINALE SPOILERS AHEAD.

Happy to see all the positive reactions in here, but I'm a little bit more lukewarm. There were some great moments, but it also just played out a bit corny with everyone ending up together in an 'Avengers assemble' kind of moment. I also feel that in the show, they haven't explained the Ta'Veran aspect very well, so instances of coincidences like this, that played out well in the books, don't land on the show and the finale came across as convenient and contrived writing.

- Mat's arc was a little rushed and jumbled this season, and I'm not sure the horn was ever explained well enough either for that moment to land for me. The old tongue, the heroes of the horn - I can imagine non book readers being like 'wut...'. (though comments above may have me rethinking this).

- Also, I still don't have any emotional attachment to Perrin and I really didn't care at all about hopper. Not enough time spent there for that to have been meaningful death and relationship.

I think that's the biggest challenge - It IS a corny book series, and it's full of fist pumping hooray for the heroes moments, good triumphs over evil, and it's proving challenging to have that work for TV. They are making it grittier and amping up the violence and sexual nature of the relationships, but then you have moments like the grand finale that are at odds with that tone.

It was much better than S1, and I think I'll like it more on reflection and a rewatch, but still not entirely sold on this being THE adaption I wanted and that the choices they've made when deviating are the best ones. The only thing that puts me at solace with it, is looking at the 15 books on my shelf and understanding how long the series is, and how much just has to be cut to get it to work.