Wheel of Time S3

[TheSword]

5th episode out. A hard act to follow 4 but some interesting things happen. I like that Elaida is shown to be more the nasty piece of work she is. Love her story arc so much as a villain.

They went with the polygamy thing which was unexpected, I thought that they’d chose another path. I’ve just realized that hunter in Emonds Field was Faile… doh. A good mix of action and world building with Tel’aran’rhiod.

 

[OB1]

5th episode out. A hard act to follow 4 but some interesting things happen. I like that Elaida is shown to be more the nasty piece of work she is. Love her story arc so much as a villain.

They went with the polygamy thing which was unexpected, I thought that they’d chose another path. I’ve just realized that hunter in Emonds Field was Faile… doh. A good mix of action and world building with Tel’aran’rhiod.

This show feels so confident right now. Loved episode 5 and thought it was a great follow up to 4, slowing things down while building on the repercussions.

I take the Aiel as more polyamorous than polygamists and that they are a fairly good representation of the former, so was glad to see that made it in. Also glad that they let the sail maidens wear tops. It's one of the facinating things I'm discovering with Jordan in that he is both ahead of his time with many depictions of men/women and sexuality while sometimes stumbling into 'male gaze' territory and other times seeming timid to explore some themes. Finding that the show is modernizing some of that in all the best ways.

Edited to add:
Wow, right after I wrote this I found an amazing article from The Hollywood Reporter, exploring the queerness of the WoT series in an interview with the showrunner. Great, great read

‘Wheel of Time’ Showrunner on Expanding Show’s Queer Universe in Season 3 and the High Fantasy Genre: “It Was Worth Devoting My Life To”

 

[Dioltach]

Did anyone else have no clue what was happening in the last 20 minutes or so of Ep. 5? It was too dark to see what was going on.

 

[Stalker0]

Another pretty solid episode. The only thing that was weird was when Egwaine tried dreamwalking for the first time, and they were like "you want to be somewhere just believe your there, its that simple".

And then she did it, and the two wise ones freaked out, and went to Egwaine later "why did you leave the temple!!!???". I'm like "um, that's literally what you told her to do, what did you expect her to do?"

I am assuming that ability is supposed to be difficult, and so the fact Egwaine did it so quickly was what caught them off guard, but they don't cover that, so the scene came across as a bit comical.

 

[Parmandur]

Another pretty solid episode. The only thing that was weird was when Egwaine tried dreamwalking for the first time, and they were like "you want to be somewhere just believe your there, its that simple".

And then she did it, and the two wise ones freaked out, and went to Egwaine later "why did you leave the temple!!!???". I'm like "um, that's literally what you told her to do, what did you expect her to do?"

I am assuming that ability is supposed to be difficult, and so the fact Egwaine did it so quickly was what caught them off guard, but they don't cover that, so the scene came across as a bit comical.

Yup, in the books Dreaming is a nigh-mythical lost art thwt barely anyone knows how to do (and importantly no Aes Sedai) and Egwene turns out to be a genius at it.

Just comparing word count to screentime, the show is naturally ar a disadvantage to fully establish details like that, which is unfortunately inevitable no matter how it is approached.

 

[Lidgar]

Just caught up through episode 4, plan to catch episode 5 tonight.

I read all the books when they first came out (so you know how long that took...), so my memory of them is not great. I've also held off reading anything on the internet comparing the TV series to the books, as that's a fruitless path to go down IMO.

So far I think season 3 is on par with, if not better than, season 2 (and definitely a step up from season 1). I like how they are handling the divergence of the many story lines - really challenging given how many meandering paths the books took.

In season 2, the real highlight for me was Egwene's plight against the Seanchan (Madelein Madden's performance in particular stands out). Real anguish there that Lanfear is now using against her.

For this season, I get feeling the emotional punch is going to come from Perrin. There's quite a development in his character arc ahead if I recall correctly. Glad he met Faile.

I sincerely hope they renew the series for a 4th season. Would be amazing to see the Battle of Dumai's Wells (talk about an emotional punch). Here's to hoping.

 

[Stalker0]

Yup, in the books Dreaming is a nigh-mythical lost art thwt barely anyone knows how to do (and importantly no Aes Sedai) and Egwene turns out to be a genius at it.

Just comparing word count to screentime, the show is naturally ar a disadvantage to fully establish details like that, which is unfortunately inevitable no matter how it is approached.

yeah had a feeling it was something like that. its one of those cases where just one more line of dialogue could have cleared things up, like the two wise ones look at each other and exclaim "no one ever picks up dream movement that quickly", and then boom now we have context.

Its true that TV just has to cut a lot of little details, but often just one line of dialogue can at least give the acknowledgement "yes this is a special thing for our character", its not as good as a page, but a line is an acknowledgment, a lack of one is an ommission.

Ultimately no big deal to the plot long term.

 

[TheSword]

Looking forward to tomorrow’s episode. Having a feeling we will be seeing something very big in the white tower.

 

[Ryujin]

yeah had a feeling it was something like that. its one of those cases where just one more line of dialogue could have cleared things up, like the two wise ones look at each other and exclaim "no one ever picks up dream movement that quickly", and then boom now we have context.

Its true that TV just has to cut a lot of little details, but often just one line of dialogue can at least give the acknowledgement "yes this is a special thing for our character", its not as good as a page, but a line is an acknowledgment, a lack of one is an ommission.

Ultimately no big deal to the plot long term.

Sometimes it's because they're specifically making the series for those who already know the story. Sometimes it's just accidentally left on the cutting room floor. Finally, and the most likely, is that the people making the show have no real idea of what context is important.

 

[Parmandur]

Sometimes it's because they're specifically making the series for those who already know the story. Sometimes it's just accidentally left on the cutting room floor. Finally, and the most likely, is that the people making the show have no real idea of what context is important.

I think the dhowrunners know it important: a bit of 1 and 2 in play, I reckon.