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Reviews
The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World (2021)
Solid end to a fantastic first season, can't wait for season two
This episode gave me a speech I've been waiting all season for. That's it, that's the whole review, nothing could ruin this episode for me after I got those lines.
Ok, no, that's not the whole review.
I greatly enjoyed this episode. There's the speech I mentioned at the start. There's the women of Fal Dara. *whistles* There's finally a confrontation that's been brewing all season. The arrival of what is sure to be (one of) next season's main antagonists put a huge grin on my face.
I do wish that the other showdown between two certain people had been a bit more spectacular, and the moment between two others right near the end had been... I don't know, I can't really put my finger on what I didn't like about it. My usual rating is a ten, because my enjoyment is always a ten. And here, it's pretty close. But not quite. So I give it a nine.
The Wheel of Time: The Dark Along the Ways (2021)
Rainbows and carnivals and three beautiful women
There are no words that can sum up how much I enjoyed this episode... but I'll try.
There are changes that are sure to enrage book purists, and I get it. Once again, they change the story. But personally, I loved the changes. LOVED them. This is exactly what I, personally, want. Same characters, same major events, but told in a new way. I love the books as they are, and I love the show as it is. I'm getting to fall in love all over again. This style of adaptation doesn't suit everyone, and I get that too. But I'm loving this ride I'm being taken on, and this episode is pretty close to edging out episode four as a favorite; I'll have to see how I feel after a re-watch.
There was only one bit in the episode I didn't like, which involved a message sent to Tar Valon. That wasn't enough to dent my overall enjoyment of the episode, though, not even close.
Enjoyment is once again a ten out of ten.
The Wheel of Time: The Flame of Tar Valon (2021)
Gorgeous
Gorgeous, that's exactly how I'd describe this episode. From the opening shot to the final one. From the acting to the plot. This episode has everything: politics, subterfuge, love, MTV's Dan Cortese (ok, got carried away there, sorry).
While it isn't my personal favorite (four is going to be hard to top, for me, but we'll get there eventually, I'm certain) I can see why so many of the early reviewers considered it the best of the first six. Once again, the show takes liberties with the source material, but stays true to the soul of the books.
Expecting really great things from episode seven.
The Wheel of Time: Blood Calls Blood (2021)
Highly enjoyable, looking forward to next week.
Episode four is still my favorite -- for very biased reasons -- but episode five is a solid addition to the series so far.
A number of wonderful Easter eggs for book readers, a small glimpse into the politics at the White Tower, and some much needed humanization of a character too many book readers misunderstand as completely stoic to the point of being nearly without emotion.
I can't say that Loial meets my full expectations, but I'm satisfied with the acting. There was one conversation that felt a bit too much like exposition for me to find it realistic, but it didn't pull me out of the moment enough to ruin it. My only real concern here is that I feel like a couple of specific characters are going to end up combined, which is a change I'm wary of, but am willing to keep an open mind about, should it come to pass.
Absent a list of objective criteria to base my vote upon, I must continue to base my votes on one metric: how much I enjoyed it overall. To that end, this episode is 10/10.
The Wheel of Time: The Dragon Reborn (2021)
Absolutely amazing, especially for fans of the books!
I loved the first three episodes.
Episode four blew me away.
Admittedly I'm biased, since my favorite character in the books is introduced in this episode, so the chances I wouldn't like it were already slim-to-none, but I'm still shaking as I write this. The visuals are amazing, the acting is fantastic, and I know I'm not the only book reader who was moved to tears at a certain, incredibly awesome moment right at the end of the episode.
If you liked the show, but weren't already hooked by the third, the fourth should do it. If you didn't like the show, give the fourth a watch, see if it changes your mind.
Next week can't come soon enough.
The Wheel of Time (2021)
Been waiting twenty years, did not disappoint!
I feel I should preface this review with the following disclaimer:
The Wheel of Time series is, hands down, my favorite. They are not just my favorite books, but my favorite offering in any sort of medium. This series has a number of die-hard fans who have been awaiting this production for years, or even decades. Many of us are approaching this show either determined to love it and see it succeed, or - for any number of personal reasons I won't speculate about here - determined to hate it and see it fail. We all see, to a large degree, what we *want* to see. I've gone into this show both willing and excited to be taken along on the ride, wherever it leads me, for the chance to experience my favorite series in an entirely new way, and I allow that it means I cannot be truly objective. I'm certain I have blind-spots, ignoring things in the show that I simply do not want to see. Likewise, so do those who have gone into this experience determined to see nothing but the negative. Please keep both of these things in mind when reading any review from fans of the books.
I have now watched the first three episodes twice. There was no way I was going to be able to accurately critique anything after the first viewing, because I was so wrapped up in just experiencing it. I loved every moment of it. The sets looked beautiful, the cast looked beautiful, the music was beautiful. The acting was just as I hoped it would be. Any anxiety about the spoilers I'd read prior to viewing vanished. I was fully immersed, and though it was someone else's vision, I had no doubt I was in Robert Jordan's world. When I finished viewing, I gave the episodes a day to settle before returning for a second helping. In the interim, I read quite a lot of reviews, both positive and negative: from professional reviewers, from those completely new to the Wheel of Time, but mainly from other die-hard fans.
Knowing what was coming, the second watch allowed me to be more critical; at least as much as is possible for someone with my level of emotional investment. I attempted to see the flaws others had seen in the reviews I'd read. For the most part, I couldn't. Or at least, they didn't have the same impact on my ability to immerse myself again and enjoy the show. The clothing could look more lived in, certainly, the channeling could look better, perhaps, but frankly I'm not watching for the clothing or the channeling, I'm watching for the characters. Characters I love. Characters who - though they've had details of their backstory or journey changed - were absolutely recognizable to me.
I also recognize that television is an entirely different medium from print. I completely understand why so many fans are upset by the changes made to plot or character, but I also suspect that very few of them have ever been involved in the production of a television show in any regard. We all have things we want to see on the screen, things we feel are vitally important to tell the story properly, but that doesn't mean those scenes will always translate effectively *to the medium of television*. This is why every film or tv show based on a book is, to varying degrees, an adaptation. Changes are necessary to tell the story in a coherent way, and those changes lead to yet other changes. My days studying film and television production in college are long behind me, a career path I ended up not following, but I know enough to know that whatever I think important for understanding or enjoying the marvelous world that Robert Jordan created, those actively working in television know far more than I (or most of us) do about how to successfully make a television show. Some may be unwilling to trust the vision Rafe has for the show, and that's fine, but I ask people to remember that we're only three episodes in at this point; far too soon in my opinion to declare it irredeemable. Also remember that the hefty budget per episode also comes with inevitable involvement from the studio. There's *no* way to make a show of this scale with complete creative control and freedom. That involvement may be too much for some, but I ask they keep that in mind when judging the writers for "butchering" the source material. But even were it possible for the creative team to have full control, we were *never* going to get a completely faithful, 1:1 recreation. We were never going to get even close to that. It's simply not possible.
I have no idea how this show will resonate with non-book viewers in the long run. I compartmentalize well, but not well enough to watch this show through such a lens. But as a fan of the books who has been hoping to see a televised adaptation since I began reading them twenty years ago, I am extremely pleased with what I've seen so far. Perhaps it helps that I'm also a fan of Douglas Adams and have had the joy of experiencing multiple iterations of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but the opportunity to see a story I love come to life in an entirely new way is something amazing. I look forward to watching the rest of the season, and expect only to enjoy it more and more with every viewing.