Wheel of Time: Strangers and Friends Show Only

September 1, 2023 9:17 AM - Season 2, Episode 2

The Two Rivers youths forge new relationships, while Lan tries to mend an old one. Aes Sedai Allana is Unashamedly Poly.

Everyone whispers most of the time. When not whispering there are - Dramatic. Pauses.

The show revels in it's fight choreography.

posted by Faintdreams (16 comments total)

Lan's sex buddy: "You can't hurt me."

Me to Boyf: "Oh she very ded."

On this show - it feels like the arrogance of "I had my heart broken, you can't hurt me in any way" - is a precursor to the character having her neck broken.

Y'know?
posted by Faintdreams at 9:23 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Aes Sedai (alledgely) cannot lie, but they can word the truth to suit their needs.

Moiraine telling al'Lan that they were 'Never Equals' is a very specific wording, and after being her Warder for as long as he was, you'd think he'd stop and consider that.

I'm not sure how Moraine is portrayed in the books, I've not read them - but to me - on the show, she's becoming harder to empathise with.
posted by Faintdreams at 9:31 AM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Moiraine telling al'Lan that they were 'Never Equals' is a very specific wording

Given the dynamics between them, with her ordering him around constantly, and him playing the doting servant….. how is this news to him?
posted by coriolisdave at 1:47 AM on September 2, 2023

Yes there is a lot of whispering; closed captions are such a help.

I can see myself just writing "poor Lan" in every thread. STOP BEING MEAN TO LAN. Ahem.

I like the sassy princess. And look it's Min!

So Red Meanie is visiting her... son? Is he?

Rand is a very nice hospital orderly/carer, he's such a good kid (apart from the "whoops, did a murder" albeit richly deserved).
posted by Coaticass at 2:54 AM on September 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Fight choreography you say? I'm finding the action scenes really hard to follow.
posted by Coaticass at 2:56 AM on September 2, 2023

To quote myself:

"Moiraine telling al'Lan that they were 'Never Equals' is a very specific wording"

I took that to mean that Moraine cares for al'Lan so much that she can't share things with him because he is her liability.

They are not equals because the power dynamic is that he doesn't realize how much power he has over her.

She specifically isn't saying she's better than him.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:07 AM on September 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure how Moraine is portrayed in the books, I've not read them - but to me - on the show, she's becoming harder to empathise with.

I think this is true to the book, Moraine has always been on a mission above everything else.
posted by Atreides at 6:59 AM on September 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

I thought that Nynaeve would heal the old guy then and there as she had seen the pattern that the other Aes Sedai had used. Now that she knows where he is there's nothing stopping her from going back and doing it even if Liandrin isn't around.

Mat and Min meeting in jail was a twist I didn't see coming. Show Mat looks to be the farthest from the book character of everyone so far so it'll be interesting to see where his story goes. I didn't finish the book series so they could incorporate stuff from the later books and I'd have no idea it wasn't something that the show made up.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:15 PM on September 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

I want to say that Mat and Min travel together, along with another character we've already met in the books at some point. I just can't remember specifically when, if this is then, or if it takes place later but I'm also not sure it began in Tar Valon. The only thing I remember for 100% absolutely is the dagger being brought to Tar Valon, but that's it. Everything else I could be imagining, helpful, right?

I am very close to picking up the books again and reading through them. The first five or six are pretty fun reading, but then things begin to start to slog down as you get higher up until about the time that Robert Jordan must have realized he was running out of time and began making things really move (sadly, he did not finish the series before his death - it was finished by Brian Sanderson instead). I figure it may be fun (bad idea?) to have a better grasp of what the show is adapting, altering, or doing just a splendid job of portraying.
posted by Atreides at 2:07 PM on September 6, 2023

I am very close to picking up the books again and reading through them.

I’ve enjoyed following the Tar Valon or Bust podcast (I think it was mentioned here during the last season?) when rereading those. They’re now on book 9!
posted by brendano at 4:56 PM on September 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

There's a reasonably spoiler-free set of recap/commentary series from Unravelling the Pattern on YouTube- if you don't read the comments. He's only up to S2E2 so far with the specifically show-only videos. Strangers and Friends: Unraveled
posted by Coaticass at 7:22 PM on September 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

*Brandon Sanderson, who is fortunately a better writer than Brian Herbert :)
posted by Jacen at 6:26 PM on September 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

The set design on this show is incredible. I could write an entire piece about the food alone. Although the street vendor flinging a tortilla or fantasy flatbread at Rand did make me laugh.
posted by tofu_crouton at 8:27 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have enjoyed this show so far but with this episode it feels to me like it's really hitting its stride. Characters are developing, drama is building and the reveal at the end was a great 'holy crap' moment that just took the coming conflict to another level.

I rewatched the first season so I'm a little late to this one. The show's weaknesses are evident (mostly things like bad CGI, weird anachronistic costuming and so on). But it's great fun and way better than I remember the books. I lost interest around the first or second book. But the pacing of the show is great, and the imagining of the various fantastic elements feels convincing and true to the spirit of the books.
posted by natteringnabob at 7:40 PM on October 2, 2023

Verin was always one of my favorite characters in the books, and the actress here is killing it as well. Her arc is just great, even dumping exposition she's so fun.
posted by Carillon at 11:43 PM on October 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

I didn’t think it was possible to make me feel things for Liandrin, but the show has accomplished it! Now to see if they’re doing anything interesting with it.
posted by corb at 6:25 PM on October 9, 2023 [2 favorites]