The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime

I'm surprised you both find it notable since...

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...we know it was actually Ishmael. I thought it made sense within the show to have this "Dark One" be a bit... underwhelming, since he will at some point be revealed to be a poseur. The real thing will be all the more climactic.

Yet again, I agree with you both over all; I felt this would have worked better as two-part or double length episode, which would have allowed it to have a bit more coherence.

ETA: And Merry Christmas to all! I'm still waiting for everyone to wake up.

 

I wasn't sure if they were going to do what happens in the book are not, about who Rand is actually facing. I almost put quotations around dark one but I thought that might hint at something.

But the key part stands, that I felt literally no real presence or menace, or even madness... All of which I thought would be a better more dramatic presentation.

Let me clarify one thing, and I hate when I do this. I stated I didn't care for the actor.. I should have stated I didn't like the characterization. The actor might be a be doing a solid job for what is written or for the direction of the scene. I generally try and separate it, unless I know enough of someone's work to see that they are phoning it in, or that I have never liked any of the performances for an actors career.

 

The actors/roles are visible on X-Ray.

 

A few more thoughts on reflection...

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The Forsaken males do not suffer madness from using Saidin; the Dark One protects them from it. As to menace, Ishmael is there to tempt Rand, not threaten him. Ideally the Dark One wishes Rand to join, especially at this first point of contact when the choice is still hanging in balance. Likewise, later on, Lanfear is The Temptress, both to Lews Therin in the past and to Rand in the present. The Forsaken are an interesting take on bringing Biblical temptations to life. I wouldn't have expected menace and madness at this point.

Several of the Forsaken were terrifingly horrible, and yet others I found myself eventually liking and hoping for: Asmodean, certainly, and Lanfear somewhat sympathetically.

I respect your dislike for the presentation, but I do feel the interaction between Ishmail and Rand was the spirit of the books.

 

I think there's a 99% chance we do get to see what happened after that conversation at some point in the series.

I don't have any positive feelings about the WoT novels, so I'm 'just along for the ride' with the TV series and intrigued to see where Rafe and his team take this Turning based on their mishmash approach to adapting the books and the stories that they left unresolved in the finale.

 

Did anyone else have that cold open not subtitled until they went in and turned on closed captions?

I was really confused the first time I watched it how it kept going on and on with no translation.

 

Yeah, but it was funny. The first time I watched I had the same experience. When I watched a second time today the subtitles were turned off but I still got the translation.

 

Oh, I don't doubt that. I just meant that we were not going to see them... it, soon I suppose, at least during this season. I think a lot of us book readers were expecting the scene from book 1 with this particular character, and as such... well, letting go of expectations is an ongoing process.

I got the translation while having cc off. This was while watching via my tv app, not on pc.

In unrelated news, I saw the animated lore shorts are now posted on the series's Explore page. And it looks like we don't have any for episodes 7 and 8. Maybe they decided not to continue them, and this is why there were not promoted much?

 

They came up fine for me, and I didn't have the captions on.

Would that be the prologue that didn't focus on the Two Rivers kids?

 

Yes, the one that (and I'm going by the wiki here) is called "Dragonmount".

 

Oh its definitely a personal preference.

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part of that is bias from the book in that the first forsaken we meet are the two who closest to the barrier and did feel the impact of the eons, unlike the ones that were trapped deeper in the bore, so they were a bit how shall we put it, nuts (one especially so). Now for the show, yes he's there to tempt Rand to make the wrong choice so being crazy wouldn't work, or wouldn't be that effective. But I still never felt that the actor portrayed a compelling, charismatic individual that would help over come months of nightmares about the "Dark one" or even the nightmare presented in this very episode. I can understand teh dismissive, insulted interaction he has with Rand at first, but those two also don't help into the narrative of needing to convince him to go against the nightmares and fears he has had for the months the show has taken place in. To sell that you need someone who's extremely compelling (or someone rather weak willed, and if that is what we are supposed to see Rand has then its more effective then I took it as).

Of course those are minor factors for the episodes, as I stated I thank the Rand and Morraine's scenes were my favorite of the episode, followed likely by Rand, Morraine and the "Dark One" (I still reference the character that way because that is how the people involved in those scenes reference him). And since they are the driving aspect of this episode (and the conflict) a big part of the driving force of the season, I just hold them to a much higher standard than the bulk of the scenes from the episode. And I wanted them to be as solid as possible. A Great performance can really help cover up weakness in other aspects of a production, and the ending (in the book and in the show) isn't exceptionally strong.

 

The Wheel of Time season 2 release date, cast, plot and everything you need to know

A bit misleading article title, since they only have a best guess of "spring or summer 2022." Still, a nice article that includes an interesting observation from Rafe:

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"Loial is not dead. He is alive and well and shooting in Prague. I wanted people to be a little on their toes, because real deaths are coming for characters that don't die in the books. We have to, because we can't hold 2,000 series regulars through multiple seasons. It's coming, and I want people to emotionally prepare themselves. The thought that Loial might be gone will hopefully start to get people emotionally prepared, but I couldn't. He's my favourite."

 

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I kinda think that Siuan will die. They gave her a closer relationship to Moiraine so that has impact on her character...

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Plus I think that relationship likely negates one that plays out in the books between her and Gareth...

 

I agree, that would be a big impact, but I could see it fitting right in without affecting the main story. Although...

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if they kill Min I will track them down and punch them numerous times.

 

^^

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Siuan dying early would raise the question of who will teach Egwene at Salidar though. My bet for a character to die will likely be Morgase. Her plot is not popular in the books, and cutting it still allows for the Andorian succession crisis to unfold as normal for Elayne. There's also a good chance some of the secondary characters will be sacrificed along the way. Returning to the topic of Siuan, I can see Leane not surviving the tower split, for example.

 

Have they said any more about why Barney Harris is being replaced? Nobody seemed to be saying much when they announced that he wasn't coming back.

 

No.

 

What I've read is that the series production paused due to COVID just before filming the last episode or two. The cast was away for months until things started up again. During that time away Harris decided not to return. My feeling is that it had nothing to do with the show, and the show runners are respecting his privacy.

 

Any new news on Season 2?

 

^^ There have been some casting announcements and leaks. Last I heard, they were filming episodes 7 and 8 but we don't have an estimated release date yet.

The last rumor I heard was that the character of Elyas had been cast for season 2, thought this is unconfirmed.