Wheel of Time Discussion - Spoilers(with book spoilers)

[Demetrios1453]

Been busy over holiday break so catching up on this thread now.

I found the end of episode 8 to be clunky and kind of confusing, which, if you've read the books is to be expected as the end of the book is also clunky and kind of confusing concerning what happens at the Eye of the World.

I thought the Seanchan looked cool.

I have high hopes Season 2, since that's when things really start happening. And we'll see things like (hopefully) Rand becoming an actual interesting character, as without an internal monologue, he doesn't have much going on in the show right now.

I also hope they sort of get Mat on track and make him more like the book version, who is fun and interesting, as opposed to the show version, even before he got the dagger.

Everyone forgets, that, other than the few chapters before Shadar Logoth, book Mat was a paranoid jerk before he got fully healed in Book 3.

 

[MarkB]

Everyone forgets, that, other than the few chapters before Shadar Logoth, book Mat was a paranoid jerk before he got fully healed in Book 3.

Of all the things to stay faithful to from the books, keeping one of your main cast unlikeable for two seasons doesn't seem like the best choice.

 

[Bolares]

Of all the things to stay faithful to from the books, keeping one of your main cast unlikeable for two seasons doesn't seem like the best choice.

I'd bet he would get a lot better after being partially cured by moiraine... It just coincided with the actor leaving the production.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Nyneave accomplishes more in the cosmic or metaphysical realm, Egwene accomplishes ridiculous political and military feats that feel like definitive Ta'veren shenanigans.

Egwene bends people to her will when they want not to be bent. Her ascension, capture, and asserting of command, in the latter books, is at least on par with Perrin.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Of all the things to stay faithful to from the books, keeping one of your main cast unlikeable for two seasons doesn't seem like the best choice.

Well, that's just character growth (and having a curse removed lol)

 

[MarkB]

Well, that's just character growth

And audience shrinkage.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Of all the things to stay faithful to from the books, keeping one of your main cast unlikeable for two seasons doesn't seem like the best choice.

They need to make a better effort at showing that he is cursed/sick or whatever is that is actually going on. Because if you know he's dealing with some kind of influence (and maybe trying to resist even) it means there is something to root for.

I thought the scenes in the Two Rivers with him and his siblings made him pretty likeable, but he stopped that very quickly..

I am not a book reader, so I don't know how well my ideas would fit the original story. But I strongly suspect there would be some ways to portray him more likeable while he's still more grim, dur and and contrarian...

 

[eyeheartawk]

I am not a book reader, so I don't know how well my ideas would fit the original story. But I strongly suspect there would be some ways to portray him more likeable while he's still more grim, dur and and contrarian...

There is. It was done in the books. My concern is that if he isn't a likeable character he doesn't have anything interesting happen to his character plot wise until the very end of the second book (that's incidental, really). He really only becomes plot relevant after a certain event happens in book 4. So that's a long way to stick with a character if he isn't interesting or fun to just watch hang around.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Been busy over holiday break so catching up on this thread now.

Just finished this show as well.

So ... things I like:

1. The scenery. Given that I was trapped in quarantine, seeing those landscapes was awesome. As a travel show, it's great. I'd go there! (On a sad note, in the Before Times, I was planning a trip to the wilds of Croatia and Slovenia ... which got cancelled. You suck, COVID!).

2. I really like Rosamund Pike and Danniel Henney and their characters.

3. I liked the actor and job done playing Mat. Okay, it was a little annoying at the end, and then he disappeared.

Things I don't like:

A. The special effects. C'mon. Sure, it's not all bad, but sometimes it looks like something I might have seen in the 90s on a UHF channel.

B. The pacing. It was six episode of slow burn (sometimes VERY SLOW) and then two episodes of OHMYGODHEREISALLTHEPLOTANDWAITAMINUTEITSALLOVERNOW. I cannot recall watching a show that was more poorly plotted.

C. Almost all the characters. Yeah ... this is rough, but if a show is premised around five characters that might be the dragon, and I don't care about any of the five, that's not good? As far as I could tell, their defining characteristics seemed to be who would be more stupid.

D. The pacing, again. Seriously, that last episode was just insane- but not in a good way. Having a big battle like that doesn't matter if the viewer doesn't care about the stakes, at all. And I didn't.

So, yeah. It wasn't a complete waste of time, but it wasn't good.

 

[Bolares]

Just finished this show as well.

So ... things I like:

1. The scenery. Given that I was trapped in quarantine, seeing those landscapes was awesome. As a travel show, it's great. I'd go there! (On a sad note, in the Before Times, I was planning a trip to the wilds of Croatia and Slovenia ... which got cancelled. You suck, COVID!).

2. I really like Rosamund Pike and Danniel Henney and their characters.

3. I liked the actor and job done playing Mat. Okay, it was a little annoying at the end, and then he disappeared.

Things I don't like:

A. The special effects. C'mon. Sure, it's not all bad, but sometimes it looks like something I might have seen in the 90s on a UHF channel.

B. The pacing. It was six episode of slow burn (sometimes VERY SLOW) and then two episodes of OHMYGODHEREISALLTHEPLOTANDWAITAMINUTEITSALLOVERNOW. I cannot recall watching a show that was more poorly plotted.

C. Almost all the characters. Yeah ... this is rough, but if a show is premised around five characters that might be the dragon, and I don't care about any of the five, that's not good? As far as I could tell, their defining characteristics seemed to be who would be more stupid.

D. The pacing, again. Seriously, that last episode was just insane- but not in a good way. Having a big battle like that doesn't matter if the viewer doesn't care about the stakes, at all. And I didn't.

So, yeah. It wasn't a complete waste of time, but it wasn't good.

I thought you'd rate higher a show where they cut the bard to only one episode. Tom is with them for a lot more in the book.