Wheel of Time: A Place of Safety   Books Included 
November 20, 2021 8:31 AM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe

There are neither beginnings nor endings to the posts on Fanfare: Moiraine and Lan find help in an unexpected - and unwanted - quarter, as the separated villagers try to find their way back to each other, or at least to refuge. But they all soon learn how far the Dark One's reach extends.
posted by nubs (12 comments total)
 
With no trollops on the screen, this may have been the best episode so far? Missing Thom's mustache, but at least he's present. Felt like the show avoided giving the name of the lady at the inn as a long headfake for the book audience, hoping to make us think it was Min.

Rand breaking down the door that only three men could just makes it clear that we won't get the biggest deviation possible, and have the Dragon be Egwene, which would have been interesting. Not sure why they went all dramatic with the music at the end; we know the person in the cage is not going to be anyone we've seen before or know anything about.
posted by nubs at 8:36 AM on November 20, 2021 [2 favorites]


Well, they talk about the red hair on the Aiel and how rare that is, and the only redhead we’ve seen is Rand.
posted by curious nu at 1:30 PM on November 20, 2021 [3 favorites]


I binged the first three eps last night. It's been a long while since I read the books, but they seem to be close-enough that the shape of things fit my recollection of the shape of the books (minus the problematic female characterisations).

I really like the mixed-race castings, but I am slightly concerned that at least two (or was it three? I lost count) of the evil/corrupted characters were folks of colour. That's not a great look.
posted by coriolisdave at 2:31 PM on November 20, 2021 [2 favorites]


It's at least three. The Questioner and the barkeep, but also Padan Fain (who show-only folks won't know about those details yet). Looking at the casting, there are a few more.
posted by curious nu at 3:02 PM on November 20, 2021 [1 favorite]


This extended guitar solo is so odd. It reminds me of when Buffy would devote three minutes to an actual band performing at the Bronze.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:38 PM on November 20, 2021 [6 favorites]


I am slightly concerned that at least two (or was it three? I lost count) of the evil/corrupted characters were folks of colour.

I think they’re actually doing a thing where most of the people in the world are people of color and to be white is incredibly rare, which I think I like.

One other important thing: did you all notice Nynaeve’s braid flip being glorious? If it’s like that each time instead of a pouty thing I am SO here for it.
posted by corb at 12:13 AM on November 21, 2021 [5 favorites]


I think they’re actually doing a thing where most of the people in the world are people of color and to be white is incredibly rare, which I think I like.

Maybe? There are plenty of white people in the cast though - doesn't feel majority-PoC to me.
But if they are, seems like a perfect opportunity to make ALL the bad people whitefolx, then.
posted by coriolisdave at 12:59 AM on November 21, 2021


True, but there’s still time - the worst bad person we’ve seen thus far is Liandrin, who is cast as white, and I imagine that will increase as we leave this region.

I do feel like this episode is the one where it really hit its stride, and that’s probably why they released all three together.
posted by corb at 10:24 AM on November 22, 2021


Not that this is necessarily the best way to judge, but out of curiosity I counted up on IMDB and there’s a very nearly even numerical split between POC and white actors (some of whom aren’t till season 2, and some of whom didn’t have photos so I guessed by their names, so not exact). So much better than similar shows, but not actually majority-POC. Lots of diversity of ethnic background within those broad categories, which is nice.
posted by hippugeek at 10:35 AM on November 28, 2021


Thom is one of the things that most successfully feels like “a different turning of the Wheel” to me so far. He is not, to me, the Thom of the books, but I like this one quite a lot. And I can see why someone might fall in love with him later, if they choose to keep that.
posted by hippugeek at 10:38 AM on November 28, 2021


It’s a positive sign that this episode was quite good, even without Rosamund Pike carrying it.

I’m still very much not sold on the casting of Rand, Mat, and Perrin. Rand’s character and portrayal are just all over the place. Perrin is just…. broody. Mat is the only one that actually fits my mental image from the book.

Dana and Thom were both great.

Apparently queer people exist in this universe, and it’s not a big deal? (Mat seems like an excellent candidate for Chaos Bi)

So far, this is exceeding expectations for me!
posted by schmod at 7:49 PM on December 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


Shout-out to the line 'If I wanted a man I could find a better one'.
posted by bq at 5:20 PM on March 27, 2022


« Older Wheel of Time: A Place of Safe...   |  Dexter: New Blood: Storm of Fu... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments