Wheel of Time: Seeds of Shadow Show Only

March 21, 2025 11:18 AM - Season 3, Episode 3

Nynaeve and Elayne begin their hunt for Liandrin and the Black Ajah.

Also, Mat kicks some ass.

posted by Kyol (13 comments total)

This one really felt like the end of the initial three episode arc with Liandrin and the other black ajah retreating to where Liandrin's son was born and researching the loot they got out of the tower, Nynaeve and Elayne doing some private investigations, and Lan and Moiraine hoofing it off with the Aiel. Putting pieces into position for the rest of the season, maybe, but clicking through the video to remind myself what happened I don't remember any particular ah-hah moments.

Although I think this was the episode where my wife expressed doubt that Mat (as portrayed in the series, at least) would have been successful at bedding bar maidens, so there's that. I think he's a fine lovable scoundrel-y rogue-y type, so I'unno.

I'm ambivalent about show only / books included / "freeform spoilerville", I only tagged it as show only because the first two seasons were. If people want to discuss how this is diverging from the books, I'll gladly ask the mods to remove the spoiler conditions label. On the other hand I suspect the hardcore book audience may have given up on it by now so it might be moot?

The books were always the whole ding-dang shelf above the Heinlein books teenaged me preferred. I think I got burned on Dragonlance early on so I was ambivalent about long running fantasy novels.
posted by Kyol at 11:27 AM on March 21

I was looking forward to seeing Mat vs the Princes and enjoyed how he took them both down fairly easily. Although I was surprised he called his staff a bo (the subtitles had it as bow).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:40 AM on March 21

And here is where I'm mildly hoist by my own tagging petard, I wasn't clear if that's because Mat is actually a longtime staff enthusiast, or if he's calling on the same ancient wisdom that's got him speaking the Old Tongue and blowing the horn and whatnot.
posted by Kyol at 12:01 PM on March 21

We've never (?) seen him practising with a staff, and he was speaking the old tongue on his way into the ring.
posted by Acari at 12:30 PM on March 21

I swore I created a post for this episode so thank you for picking it up, Kyol!

I want to say he may have used a staff in the first season...but I honestly can't remember it. Clearly, even if Mat had experience with a staff from home, he probably would have needed a power boost from the Horn to take down two princes who on level to practice being warders.

Liandrin's home isn't great, bob. I don't remember how deep Liandrin's character was presented in the books, but I appreciate they appear to be thoughtful of her past experiences.
posted by Atreides at 12:42 PM on March 21

I swore I created a post for this episode so thank you for picking it up, Kyol!

Ah no worries - there wasn't much happening in this episode, but I wanted to get it out there before the big All Will be Revealed 4th episode.
posted by Kyol at 12:57 PM on March 21

Although I was surprised he called his staff a bo (the subtitles had it as bow).

To clarify, he said that he knew how to use a bow (as in with arrows) and quarterstaff, or at least that he used to.
posted by bettafish at 1:01 PM on March 21 [2 favorites]

Sorry if that comment seemed brusque, as a [partial] book reader I couldn’t figure out how to elaborate further without bringing my book knowledge into things! The Mat vs Galad+Gawyn fight is much beloved and heavily discussed among the book fanbase and was one of three sequences I was particularly excited about getting adapted (the other two being ‘Sing for Manetheren’ from season 1, and most of 3.04). Overall I really enjoyed it — there was one change that disappointed me a bit but which I think makes sense for the slightly different characterization of the show characters.

The Gaebril set-up/reveal was really well done — I knew the twist was coming, but I hope show only fans had fun trying to figure out his whole deal. As with all the Forsaken so far, Nuno Lopes’ performance really elevates the generic creeper that Rahvin was in the books ti to a character I actually enjoy watching.
posted by bettafish at 1:19 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah - I kind of went "well, everybody is having a half pause when they meet him, clearly he's a darkling or whatever" but I couldn't figure out if it was Ishy reborn or someone new until the meeting in the wine cellar.
posted by Kyol at 1:34 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]

Which I mean I kinda felt bad about, like "not all handsome middle aged dudes are Ishamael", but a) this show has recast people before, b) it's been 18 months and c) like if he's the dark one, putting on a new skinsuit ought to be the least of his problems / powers.
posted by Kyol at 1:52 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]

Some things are different than in the books -- which is fine, whatever -- but one thing has definitely not changed: I don't care about Perrin in either version.
posted by mookieproof at 2:32 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]

I like Perrin, but yeah, of the three friends, he's probably the least interesting.

The Gaebril set-up/reveal was really well done — I knew the twist was coming, but I hope show only fans had fun trying to figure out his whole deal. As with all the Forsaken so far, Nuno Lopes’ performance really elevates the generic creeper that Rahvin was in the books ti to a character I actually enjoy watching.

Agreed!
posted by Atreides at 7:58 AM on March 22

Perrin was always my favourite. Everyone else gets crazy powers, and he's doing his best with his powers of Smell Good and Dream About Wolves.
posted by Acari at 8:10 AM on March 22 [1 favorite]