Wheel of Time: Damane Show Only
September 16, 2023 3:47 PM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Moiraine and Rand flee for their lives. Egwene and Nynaeve encounter a new foe.
Moraine asks for advice! Amazing.
Moraine asks for advice! Amazing.
I think... Ok, so let me start by saying that I'm enjoying this on the one hand, on the other hand it feels like it's suffering from too many factions and enemies and such on the other hand. Like when I sit down and chew it over for a bit, it starts to make sense and become clear, but in the moment there's an awful lot of "ok goddamnit who the hell are these Binkie Ajah now?" going on.
Like, last season it felt like there was a degree of - wait are we hoping that the Dragon _will_ deal with the Dark One, or are we cheering for the Dark One to win so the wheel of time will stop repeating itself sorts of stories that I suspect were better handled with internal dialog in the books while in the show it sort of feels like they bring up the question and dash off to the next thing as fast as they can because they only have 8 episodes to fit a whole books worth of stories into.
posted by Kyol at 8:52 AM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Like, last season it felt like there was a degree of - wait are we hoping that the Dragon _will_ deal with the Dark One, or are we cheering for the Dark One to win so the wheel of time will stop repeating itself sorts of stories that I suspect were better handled with internal dialog in the books while in the show it sort of feels like they bring up the question and dash off to the next thing as fast as they can because they only have 8 episodes to fit a whole books worth of stories into.
posted by Kyol at 8:52 AM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
If it helps, I've read all of the books (and reread many to prep for new releases), and I recall just enough to be perpetually confused by the show and to feel like... yes, that's the correct feeling.
"Who are these guys now?" was a bigger issue in the books (for me) than it is here, although I seem to recall some sort of glossary at the back. There were even more guys and it would be sometimes thousands of pages between times that any particular one appeared!
posted by Acari at 2:47 PM on September 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
"Who are these guys now?" was a bigger issue in the books (for me) than it is here, although I seem to recall some sort of glossary at the back. There were even more guys and it would be sometimes thousands of pages between times that any particular one appeared!
posted by Acari at 2:47 PM on September 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
I am here for the Boozy Librarians.
posted by Faintdreams at 3:26 PM on September 17, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by Faintdreams at 3:26 PM on September 17, 2023 [9 favorites]
Trying to remember all the who’s who is crap. As is trying to figure out where the fuck everyone is.
My kingdom for a “zoom between places on a map” when we’re switching characters. Or at least some sort of indication in the opening credits (a la GoT)
posted by coriolisdave at 8:23 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
My kingdom for a “zoom between places on a map” when we’re switching characters. Or at least some sort of indication in the opening credits (a la GoT)
posted by coriolisdave at 8:23 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ok, so let me start by saying that I'm enjoying this on the one hand, on the other hand it feels like it's suffering from too many factions and enemies and such on the other hand.
Without spoiling anything, this is still rather light in terms of factions/characters/locations compared to the books. But if you read the books as they came out (multi-years interval between books), it was kinda similar. I swear sometime you'd come across a character and go, Oh I haven't read about that guy in 10 years!
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:26 AM on September 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Without spoiling anything, this is still rather light in terms of factions/characters/locations compared to the books. But if you read the books as they came out (multi-years interval between books), it was kinda similar. I swear sometime you'd come across a character and go, Oh I haven't read about that guy in 10 years!
posted by WaterAndPixels at 11:26 AM on September 18, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yeah, and I can't tell which is worse - a firehose of new characters and factions and settings and alliances all dropping nonstop (we only have 8 hours to fit it all in!), or the author going "hey, remember these guys? _I_ just did! here's a couple of chapters...."
posted by Kyol at 11:33 AM on September 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Kyol at 11:33 AM on September 18, 2023 [1 favorite]
My kingdom for a “zoom between places on a map” when we’re switching characters. Or at least some sort of indication in the opening credits (a la GoT)
If you use the X-Ray feature it'll have a thing saying where the scene is taking place in addition to the pictures of the characters along with the actors' names. I don't know if it's there for every scene or not but I've noticed it a couple of times at least.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:59 AM on September 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
If you use the X-Ray feature it'll have a thing saying where the scene is taking place in addition to the pictures of the characters along with the actors' names. I don't know if it's there for every scene or not but I've noticed it a couple of times at least.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:59 AM on September 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
Concerning the Librarians (Brown Aes Sedai) it was so refreshing to see a Little Person in a part where them being a Little Person has nothing to do with their inclusion in the scene/drama.
It was especially great to see an older Little Person because differently abled people who are older, are rarely seen as actors outside of ~serious~ drama explicitly about them - on a negative way.
posted by Faintdreams at 5:21 AM on September 19, 2023 [6 favorites]
It was especially great to see an older Little Person because differently abled people who are older, are rarely seen as actors outside of ~serious~ drama explicitly about them - on a negative way.
posted by Faintdreams at 5:21 AM on September 19, 2023 [6 favorites]
Concerning the Librarians (Brown Aes Sedai) it was so refreshing to see a Little Person in a part where them being a Little Person has nothing to do with their inclusion in the scene/drama.
That was a really nice thing to see. This show does a pretty good job for inclusion from Day 1. I'm also loving the Brown Ajah even more in this than I did the books. I may misremember, but I feel like this Verrin, at least how the actress portrays her, is a bit more lively.
In most excellent news, we get to meet Aviendha!
YES. Aviendha is one of my favorite characters and my memory is so confused in terms of her meeting Perrin in the no-name town. The Aiel in general are pretty bad ass and so far, I'm glad to see the adaptation drawing fully upon that bad ass status. Hearing about "toh" and "dancing the spears" and so on was like smelling your favorite meal for the first time in forever in an adjacent room.
I concur that some kind of geographical note would do a world of wonders. For reference, the Seanchan(sp?) have taken Falme (sp?) which is a costal city on the far west side of the continent on a peninsula. Here is a map (that I'm pretty sure doesn't contain any spoilers) and was the first map included for the books (apparently by the decision of the editors, not the author): https://atlasoficeandfireblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/wheel-of-time-map.jpg
If you look at it, you'll notice Cairhien is on the other side of continent (so to speak) brushing up against the Spine of the World mountain range (on the opposite side is where the Aiel are located, i.e., the Three Fold Land.) Tar Valon is just to the northwest of it. There's no scale in this map, though I think one is offered up in later maps that came out.
posted by Atreides at 6:57 AM on September 19, 2023
That was a really nice thing to see. This show does a pretty good job for inclusion from Day 1. I'm also loving the Brown Ajah even more in this than I did the books. I may misremember, but I feel like this Verrin, at least how the actress portrays her, is a bit more lively.
In most excellent news, we get to meet Aviendha!
YES. Aviendha is one of my favorite characters and my memory is so confused in terms of her meeting Perrin in the no-name town. The Aiel in general are pretty bad ass and so far, I'm glad to see the adaptation drawing fully upon that bad ass status. Hearing about "toh" and "dancing the spears" and so on was like smelling your favorite meal for the first time in forever in an adjacent room.
I concur that some kind of geographical note would do a world of wonders. For reference, the Seanchan(sp?) have taken Falme (sp?) which is a costal city on the far west side of the continent on a peninsula. Here is a map (that I'm pretty sure doesn't contain any spoilers) and was the first map included for the books (apparently by the decision of the editors, not the author): https://atlasoficeandfireblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/wheel-of-time-map.jpg
If you look at it, you'll notice Cairhien is on the other side of continent (so to speak) brushing up against the Spine of the World mountain range (on the opposite side is where the Aiel are located, i.e., the Three Fold Land.) Tar Valon is just to the northwest of it. There's no scale in this map, though I think one is offered up in later maps that came out.
posted by Atreides at 6:57 AM on September 19, 2023
Forgot to add, our groups now in play in this episode:
Seanchan (sp) - the folks from over the sea, who leash women who use the one power. The leash gives their handlers control over them. They have currently taken over Falme as their beachhead to the rest of the continent with plans to unite the world under their flag to fight the Dark One in the final battle.
Aiel - Aviendha is our first Aiel, her people live in the "Aiel Wastes" as the westerners refer to it, but to the Aiel people, the Three Fold Land.
Cairhien - this city-state is where Morgaine is from and played a major role in the Aiel Wars about 20 years ago. (Aiel Wars you say? I won't go into the details, but approximately two decades before our story, the Aiel entered the western part of the continent in numbers and a major war followed - thus there's a lot of animosity, particularly in Cairhien toward them).
Children of Light - These were the religious zealots from season one, returning to show up after knocking the seanchan out of town prior to Perrin's return to bury his dead friend.
Black Ajah - the forbidden ajah, the Ajah who swore an oath to the Dark One, and in doing so, were freed from the Three Oaths that all Aes Sedai are bound to (including being unable to lie, etc.)
posted by Atreides at 7:09 AM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Seanchan (sp) - the folks from over the sea, who leash women who use the one power. The leash gives their handlers control over them. They have currently taken over Falme as their beachhead to the rest of the continent with plans to unite the world under their flag to fight the Dark One in the final battle.
Aiel - Aviendha is our first Aiel, her people live in the "Aiel Wastes" as the westerners refer to it, but to the Aiel people, the Three Fold Land.
Cairhien - this city-state is where Morgaine is from and played a major role in the Aiel Wars about 20 years ago. (Aiel Wars you say? I won't go into the details, but approximately two decades before our story, the Aiel entered the western part of the continent in numbers and a major war followed - thus there's a lot of animosity, particularly in Cairhien toward them).
Children of Light - These were the religious zealots from season one, returning to show up after knocking the seanchan out of town prior to Perrin's return to bury his dead friend.
Black Ajah - the forbidden ajah, the Ajah who swore an oath to the Dark One, and in doing so, were freed from the Three Oaths that all Aes Sedai are bound to (including being unable to lie, etc.)
posted by Atreides at 7:09 AM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
“Aiel - Aviendha is our first Aiel”
There was the flashback showing Rand's mother giving birth (aided by Tam, Rand's adoptive father), where we were emphatically shown how badass the Aiel warriors are.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:54 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
There was the flashback showing Rand's mother giving birth (aided by Tam, Rand's adoptive father), where we were emphatically shown how badass the Aiel warriors are.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 5:54 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]
[hastily scribbles in "in the present storyline" and runs away]
posted by Atreides at 10:41 AM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Atreides at 10:41 AM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
The Brown Ajah! I was worried that Verin thus far was not bookish enough. My memory of her was of a bit of a daft librarian type. I am so thrilled to see her nerding out with the rest of the Brown Ajah.
And the fight scene with Aviendha was so great it actually inspired me to workout.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:01 PM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
And the fight scene with Aviendha was so great it actually inspired me to workout.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:01 PM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I hope we're still going to meet Gaul!
posted by Carillon at 2:38 AM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Carillon at 2:38 AM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh man. Definitely here for Team Boozy Librarian. But also, I’m kind of into Ishmael having nuance and being kind of revolutionary on “this world is suffering”. I never thought to find myself having any sympathy for the Dark, but yeah, imagine you found a source of unlimited power and abundance and people were still insisting on monarchies and oppression…I could see it being somewhat upsetting. The “swords and queens” bit was valid. I’m here for Ishmael True Believer.
posted by corb at 11:47 PM on October 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by corb at 11:47 PM on October 9, 2023 [3 favorites]
the dark side has
the best cheek/jawbones - deadlier than any blade (lanfear!)
and
the best facial profiles - eybrows that could stop the wheel (ishamel)
ergo darkside ftw
posted by lalochezia at 8:03 PM on November 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
the best cheek/jawbones - deadlier than any blade (lanfear!)
and
the best facial profiles - eybrows that could stop the wheel (ishamel)
ergo darkside ftw
posted by lalochezia at 8:03 PM on November 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
Liandrin's cheekbones are also deadly.
posted by tofu_crouton at 4:57 AM on November 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by tofu_crouton at 4:57 AM on November 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
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In most excellent news, we get to meet Aviendha!
!!
Instantly a favourite.
posted by Acari at 6:35 AM on September 17, 2023 [4 favorites]