Andrew and Lee continue watching The Wheel of Time—and it’s getting real

Andrew: If I had to come up with a Friends-style episode title for this week’s Wheel of Time episode, it would be “The One With The Dragon Reborn Misdirects.”

I’m not sure how much screen time or effort I really want the show to devote to the Great Mystery Of Who The Dragon Reborn Is. Changing who it is would vault us out of “adaptation” territory and into the realm of fanfic, so at the end of the day, I don’t really think the series is going to change it on us. But I will say that, if I knew nothing at all about the book series going in, the show is at least making a reasonable case that any of our five Two Rivers-ians could be the Dragon. And at least so far, the show is managing to do that in a way that is consistent with what we know about each of these characters’ long arcs.

Andrew: I am glad you mentioned the “taint” thing because if this adaptation keeps all the characters from talking and thinking about “the Dark One’s taint” all the time then I will be willing to forgive any and all other shortcomings.

The visual effect of the taint corruption on the One Power is probably my favorite visual effect in the series so far, strictly in terms of how economical and effective it is. You can still see the wisps of white, mixed in among the inky tendrils, but even before you see Logain’s madness manifest itself, it’s clear that something is wrong here.

That we’re meeting and talking to Logain at all is one of this episode’s two big departure points from the books—I believe we only spy him from a distance once in Eye of the World, and he doesn’t become a player in the story until a few books in.

We meet him because we’re inside an Aes Sedai encampment, which Moiraine, Lan, and Nynaeve have sought out so that Moiraine’s Trolloc-inflicted wound can be fully Healed. And the show uses this encampment to give us our first big dose of how Aes Sedai society is structured. We get a basic outline of the different Ajahs and their motivations, we hear about the Amyrlin Seat, we meet a few named characters from the books like Liandrin and Alanna. We physically move around a lot less in this episode, and the opportunity to take a breath makes the world-building and lore-dumping feel more organic and less forced.

I actually loved all the stuff with the Warders, since in the books you hear a lot about how they interact with each other but don’t actually get to see the kind of comradely backslapping that happens here.

Andrew: You have to do a lot of setup in a very short period of time to get from “Nynaeve would slit Lan’s throat” to “Lan’s throat being slit would make her so upset that she could channel” in two episodes, but I think they get there? Maybe I am giving them too much credit because I already have Lan and Nynaeve’s full relationship stored in my head, but it works.

I did also like the battle sequence we get here, which is pretty good at replicating what fighting with the One Power looks like in my head. Stopping a cloud of arrows in midair and then turning them around and killing your enemies with them? Badass. And appreciably different from anything you’d see in Game of Thrones.

Last little thing about the Aes Sedai camp I want to flag before we talk about the rest of the episode, but I am trying to get a read on Liandrin. Book readers will remember her as a relatively minor recurring villain. But by drawing so much attention to her so early on, I wonder if the show is planning on merging her character’s and Elaida’s? I guess we’ll see if and when Rand and Mat make it to Caemlyn.

Andrew: It might just be the Red Ajah leanings—based on the cold open for the series, I guessed that she was Elaida. If you’re going to pick one Red Ajah character from the books, she’s at the top of the list. My radar might be jammed by my residual surprise at seeing Liandrin so far from where she’s “supposed” to be. And this is probably going to keep happening!

Andrew: Well, now I can only imagine how the scene might have played if Logain couldn’t see anything. Just a lady coming in and yelling, her giant braid flying straight up in the air of its own volition.

Going to file this under “more info needed.” Male channelers in the books do get a sort of tingly feeling when women are channeling nearby, as I recall. The show could be playing that up. Or it could be a side effect of his madness. Or maybe the show has totally changed how the magic system works in ways we don’t know about yet! The series hasn’t precluded any of those possibilities.

But dang if this scene didn’t work for me. Show-Nynaeve is still toward the top of my Amazon’s The Wheel of Time Character Power-Rankings chart. But what is everyone else up to? We’re getting pretty deep into the “split the party” chunk of EotW at this point.

Andrew: Even though we savvy book readers (and possible some savvy show watchers who have noticed the camera linger on the knife a few times now) know that Mat is actually in the throes of KNIFE MADNESS.

Andrew: Yeah that was a moment of unexpected tenderness. In the books you don’t actually get to see a lot of moments of the three boys being actual friends, given how quickly and completely their entire lives change, and it’s one thing the show has been able to shore up with a few economical scenes.

The show does seem to be eliding over one of the more fun sequences in the book, though—Rand and Mat on the run, using some Thom-taught party tricks to entertain villagers at inns and earn their way across the countryside. Thom is probably the major EotW character who has been cut back the most in this adaptation, give or take a Padan Fain, which is too bad because what we do get of him I enjoy a lot.

Andrew: Later on in the series, Rand goes back to things like Thom’s flute to try and maintain some kind of connection to these more carefree (in retrospect! Only in retrospect) days. Given that we’re inside Rand’s head less, maybe the show will find other ways to do that. But I did find myself missing those scenes more than a lot of the others that have been snipped so far.

Andrew: You get to the important thing, which is Perrin Has Deep Misgivings About Violence, In Part Because He Is Afraid Of How Good He Is At Violence. It hits a bit differently in the show because he KILLED HIS WIFE AND THEN LEFT TOWN, rather than simply using the axe to deal with direct threats to his person and friends. But it’s there. I’m impressed by the costume and wagon design for the Tinkers, which are nearly pitch-perfect recreations of what is described the books. But these scenes follow the book pretty closely, and there’s not a ton to say about them.

Maybe it was the 8% ABV sugar cookie flavored beer I was sipping while I watched it! But this episode worked for me in ways that the first three didn’t always. I do think it benefits from slowing down, though I’m sure everyone will be on the run again soon enough. But I’m impressed by how well the show is (by and large, so far) capturing the essence of each character without being overly constrained by the exact scenes and story beats in the book. It does have to move fast, and it seems like Egwene and Nynaeve’s mastery of channeling (among our characters’ many other skills) is going to get developed way more quickly than it does in the books. But I did get a distinct “OK, when is the next one?” feeling as the credits rolled.