12-03-2021, 06:35 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-03-2021, 06:40 PM by Ascendancy.)
There's so much to say and I can't take the time to sit and write it all! Here's some of it..
Overall impressions:
Beautiful! I loved seeing the Tar Valon. It looked better on screen than it did in my mind. I loved everyone coming up to the area and seeing the tower loom in the distance. I thought the stones around the area to be road markers, but didn't look closely. Blood and ashes made me squeal! Loved that! The set did feel claustrophobic and small, but it reminded me of being in downtown/old Buenos Aires where the roads and passageways between tall buildings are narrow. It makes sense that the guys wouldn't see much of the city from within those narrow streets. I do wish for more set, but don't we all wish for more of everything? lol. What we did see was stunning though. Behind the scenes footage echoes the sets were really built out. The sweeping wide shots were CGI but that's okay. The set actually reminded me a lot of Minas Tirith, which is no surprise given it is also a white city with a white tower. Its known RJ pulled ideas from LoTR so its okay. I looooved the sweeping cultural diversity observed in Tar Valon though. The extras filling up the street, the goods and wares, the costumes. It represented that Tar Valon really is a cross-roads of everywhere. I appreciated seeing the ports at the north and south entrance of the wall too! Looked just like maps of the city. I noticed that the central bridges on the sides of the island were long, slender and sloping; held up impossibly without support. Then the upper and lower bridges on both sides of the island looked a little more man-made as they had more support arches beneath. I can just imagine all our characters walking through Tar Valon! I did spy many novices around particularly in relation to the parade. Loved the arm bands on their costumes as it was just gorgeous. I am glad we got a moment with Logain where he sees Rand and Mat sitting high on a wall (replacing the same scene in Caemlyn) and presumably Logain sees Rand glowing Ta’veren, which was the reason for his maniacal laughing. Lots of misdirection done by the director to make it seem like Mat was the culprit and in fact the DR.
Likewise, I hypothesize that we have seen only hints of the wolf-lore and building up of Perrin as a wolf-brother to maintain the mystery of the DR. Perrin is still in the running for that. If we emphasize too early in season 1 that he is special because he’s a wolf-guy, then the audience would rule him out as the DR. I bet we get way more wolf-world building in season 2 after (presumably) Rand is recognized as the DR at the Eye of the world. I asked manflesh about this. He knows who the DR is bc I’ve talked about it, and his response was a question: “is there something going on with perrin and the wolves?” Yep, manflesh. There is. Stay tuned. In that argument, manflesh loves Perrin. He also thinks the wolf thing is really cool and wants to see more of it going forward. So the hook has definitely set in. I imagine if they unloaded too much too fast, the lay-watcher wouldn’t be able to keep up. He also has no idea what’s wrong with Mat, but did notice that Mat seems a little “dark”. But so far he kind of thinks Mat is just being an asshole and hasn’t caught on that he’s “infected” with something nasty. The dagger is going to be a fun twist when its revealed to be evil for the audience.
Manflesh also really liked the warder stories. I am mixed on how much emphasis was put on Stepin, but I also understand why it was done. That storyline raised the stakes for all our heroes, gave us worldbuilding (omg the funeral ceremonies!), and gave us character insight for our main characters. So I support it. Besides, midpoint of every season on shows like there is always a sort of exposition-type episode. Lots of talking and not much actually ‘happening’ to move forward.
That being said, things did move forward. Nyn reunited with the boys. The whitecloaks were featured (manflesh really likes Valda’s evil-character and hopes we see more of him), and we set up the conflict for future Perrin vs whitecloak battles. Goldeneyes came out! Super cool too, and I really liked seeing Valda afraid of Perrin. He towered over Valda once Egwene burned his ropes off and felt huge to me. I loved seeing the wolves tear through the camp. Manflesh thought that scene was badass, but he thought for sure Egwene was going to be the one to save the day. While she kinda did by her tiny fireball (omg the poof of the tiny fireball was hilarious and so on point!), they did it together. I did notice that the whitecloaks were roaming the land within sight of Tar Valon. That is ballsy! I hope the Aes Sedai heal Perrin up before they all take off for Fal Dara. Egwene stealing the rings was awesome. Foreshadowing to her as a leader and Amyrlin as well as potentially pretending to be a Sister later on. I do remember that Aes Sedai rings are melted back down after their wearer dies. So seeing that happen was so symbolic and moving.
They are really de-emphasizing Rand this season. It makes me hopeful there will be a big payoff at the end of the season when Rand kicks Forsaken butt. Being Rand is my favorite, I am bummed we don’t have more of him, but I understand why he’s de-emphasized. The forsaken figures were incredible! I loved seeing that they are almost believed to be fairy-tales and superstition. Manflesh glossed over that part completely unaware of what is coming, but he did notice it.
Loial was my favorite part of this episode I think. When I first saw him in pre-season pictures, I was very apprehensive of his look. After seeing it played out, I loooooooove his look and costume! I totally didn’t see tree-man at all, but instead I saw it as “ogre”-man. In fact, Rand called him an ogre. Manflesh thought he was an ogre, even my 6 year old son thought he was an ogre (like Shrek). Which is what I always assumed Ogier to be inspired by when RJ made them up: a combo of ogre + lotr (Clearly the green man is more like the LOTR Ents). I didn’t really see a woodsy type skin texture. I just thought it was humanoid *shrug?*. I bet the moustache helped with the prosthetic, particularly around his mouth and big teeth. The droopy, moving ears would have been sooooo hard to pull off and would have had to be CGI. When I think of those ears, I just picture “baby Yoda” and feel like it would have been a copy of that. Instead, they gave him big bushy eyebrows and a big moustache. I loved the flare of his nose and his eyes. Even yes his voice is “woodsy” and Ent like, but did you watch the behind the scenes footage? The actor really sounds like that! He has such a deep bass voice that I can just listen to all day long. Plus he’s huuuuuge! Plus he is literally just like Loial in real life: super jovial and uplifting. I am a huge fan of this Loial, which I find extremely humorous because I loathed book-Loial. He was always so embarrassingly “fantasy” (nerddom), annoying, stupid, and just felt like he was in the way. (sorry Loial fans!) Show Loial is such an improvement for me. I even love his kink-hair, which like I said before, I was very apprehensive about at first.
Travels of Jain Farstrider! It was a huge book! Rand in the library.. just like the scene in Caemlyn. Pulling the sword out. Gosh it was fun. I don’t mind at all we skipped Caemlyn. It’s for obvious logistical reasons. No biggie for me.
The white tower politicking was fabulous. The friendships and back-stories between the Sisters and warders was so fun to witness. Even manflesh asked if aes Sedai can be bad too because “redlady” (aka, Liandrin) seems pretty sus. (he has no idea of character names so the costume colors are very helpful to him picking out people).
The set of the white tower interior was beautiful to me. I felt that it was purposeful that it was cold and empty. The lack of things on the wall (seriously, who is going to drill a hole into Ogier-One-Power-built 3,000 year old marble?? Not me!) I found to be a startling contrast to what I always pictured in my mind; but that picture comes from decades of RP’ing and probably not very accurate! This felt cold because the Aes Sedai are cold, serene. It felt like a place of meditation, like a monastery. The Sisters are like monks in a Tower much like monks are brothers in their monasteries. The interior design drew inspiration from very beautiful, worldly places, and I just can sit and stare at it all day.
Well, all in all, I was fond of the episode. I’m eager to move on though and see some channeling Rand action. It’s building, and I can tell the tension is coming. I look forward to seeing the Hall next episode and the Amyrlin. I look forward to everyone sneaking out of Tar Valon to go to Fal Dara and the Eye. Going to be cool to see how the girls escape getting enrolled as novices.
Overall impressions:
Beautiful! I loved seeing the Tar Valon. It looked better on screen than it did in my mind. I loved everyone coming up to the area and seeing the tower loom in the distance. I thought the stones around the area to be road markers, but didn't look closely. Blood and ashes made me squeal! Loved that! The set did feel claustrophobic and small, but it reminded me of being in downtown/old Buenos Aires where the roads and passageways between tall buildings are narrow. It makes sense that the guys wouldn't see much of the city from within those narrow streets. I do wish for more set, but don't we all wish for more of everything? lol. What we did see was stunning though. Behind the scenes footage echoes the sets were really built out. The sweeping wide shots were CGI but that's okay. The set actually reminded me a lot of Minas Tirith, which is no surprise given it is also a white city with a white tower. Its known RJ pulled ideas from LoTR so its okay. I looooved the sweeping cultural diversity observed in Tar Valon though. The extras filling up the street, the goods and wares, the costumes. It represented that Tar Valon really is a cross-roads of everywhere. I appreciated seeing the ports at the north and south entrance of the wall too! Looked just like maps of the city. I noticed that the central bridges on the sides of the island were long, slender and sloping; held up impossibly without support. Then the upper and lower bridges on both sides of the island looked a little more man-made as they had more support arches beneath. I can just imagine all our characters walking through Tar Valon! I did spy many novices around particularly in relation to the parade. Loved the arm bands on their costumes as it was just gorgeous. I am glad we got a moment with Logain where he sees Rand and Mat sitting high on a wall (replacing the same scene in Caemlyn) and presumably Logain sees Rand glowing Ta’veren, which was the reason for his maniacal laughing. Lots of misdirection done by the director to make it seem like Mat was the culprit and in fact the DR.
Likewise, I hypothesize that we have seen only hints of the wolf-lore and building up of Perrin as a wolf-brother to maintain the mystery of the DR. Perrin is still in the running for that. If we emphasize too early in season 1 that he is special because he’s a wolf-guy, then the audience would rule him out as the DR. I bet we get way more wolf-world building in season 2 after (presumably) Rand is recognized as the DR at the Eye of the world. I asked manflesh about this. He knows who the DR is bc I’ve talked about it, and his response was a question: “is there something going on with perrin and the wolves?” Yep, manflesh. There is. Stay tuned. In that argument, manflesh loves Perrin. He also thinks the wolf thing is really cool and wants to see more of it going forward. So the hook has definitely set in. I imagine if they unloaded too much too fast, the lay-watcher wouldn’t be able to keep up. He also has no idea what’s wrong with Mat, but did notice that Mat seems a little “dark”. But so far he kind of thinks Mat is just being an asshole and hasn’t caught on that he’s “infected” with something nasty. The dagger is going to be a fun twist when its revealed to be evil for the audience.
Manflesh also really liked the warder stories. I am mixed on how much emphasis was put on Stepin, but I also understand why it was done. That storyline raised the stakes for all our heroes, gave us worldbuilding (omg the funeral ceremonies!), and gave us character insight for our main characters. So I support it. Besides, midpoint of every season on shows like there is always a sort of exposition-type episode. Lots of talking and not much actually ‘happening’ to move forward.
That being said, things did move forward. Nyn reunited with the boys. The whitecloaks were featured (manflesh really likes Valda’s evil-character and hopes we see more of him), and we set up the conflict for future Perrin vs whitecloak battles. Goldeneyes came out! Super cool too, and I really liked seeing Valda afraid of Perrin. He towered over Valda once Egwene burned his ropes off and felt huge to me. I loved seeing the wolves tear through the camp. Manflesh thought that scene was badass, but he thought for sure Egwene was going to be the one to save the day. While she kinda did by her tiny fireball (omg the poof of the tiny fireball was hilarious and so on point!), they did it together. I did notice that the whitecloaks were roaming the land within sight of Tar Valon. That is ballsy! I hope the Aes Sedai heal Perrin up before they all take off for Fal Dara. Egwene stealing the rings was awesome. Foreshadowing to her as a leader and Amyrlin as well as potentially pretending to be a Sister later on. I do remember that Aes Sedai rings are melted back down after their wearer dies. So seeing that happen was so symbolic and moving.
They are really de-emphasizing Rand this season. It makes me hopeful there will be a big payoff at the end of the season when Rand kicks Forsaken butt. Being Rand is my favorite, I am bummed we don’t have more of him, but I understand why he’s de-emphasized. The forsaken figures were incredible! I loved seeing that they are almost believed to be fairy-tales and superstition. Manflesh glossed over that part completely unaware of what is coming, but he did notice it.
Loial was my favorite part of this episode I think. When I first saw him in pre-season pictures, I was very apprehensive of his look. After seeing it played out, I loooooooove his look and costume! I totally didn’t see tree-man at all, but instead I saw it as “ogre”-man. In fact, Rand called him an ogre. Manflesh thought he was an ogre, even my 6 year old son thought he was an ogre (like Shrek). Which is what I always assumed Ogier to be inspired by when RJ made them up: a combo of ogre + lotr (Clearly the green man is more like the LOTR Ents). I didn’t really see a woodsy type skin texture. I just thought it was humanoid *shrug?*. I bet the moustache helped with the prosthetic, particularly around his mouth and big teeth. The droopy, moving ears would have been sooooo hard to pull off and would have had to be CGI. When I think of those ears, I just picture “baby Yoda” and feel like it would have been a copy of that. Instead, they gave him big bushy eyebrows and a big moustache. I loved the flare of his nose and his eyes. Even yes his voice is “woodsy” and Ent like, but did you watch the behind the scenes footage? The actor really sounds like that! He has such a deep bass voice that I can just listen to all day long. Plus he’s huuuuuge! Plus he is literally just like Loial in real life: super jovial and uplifting. I am a huge fan of this Loial, which I find extremely humorous because I loathed book-Loial. He was always so embarrassingly “fantasy” (nerddom), annoying, stupid, and just felt like he was in the way. (sorry Loial fans!) Show Loial is such an improvement for me. I even love his kink-hair, which like I said before, I was very apprehensive about at first.
Travels of Jain Farstrider! It was a huge book! Rand in the library.. just like the scene in Caemlyn. Pulling the sword out. Gosh it was fun. I don’t mind at all we skipped Caemlyn. It’s for obvious logistical reasons. No biggie for me.
The white tower politicking was fabulous. The friendships and back-stories between the Sisters and warders was so fun to witness. Even manflesh asked if aes Sedai can be bad too because “redlady” (aka, Liandrin) seems pretty sus. (he has no idea of character names so the costume colors are very helpful to him picking out people).
The set of the white tower interior was beautiful to me. I felt that it was purposeful that it was cold and empty. The lack of things on the wall (seriously, who is going to drill a hole into Ogier-One-Power-built 3,000 year old marble?? Not me!) I found to be a startling contrast to what I always pictured in my mind; but that picture comes from decades of RP’ing and probably not very accurate! This felt cold because the Aes Sedai are cold, serene. It felt like a place of meditation, like a monastery. The Sisters are like monks in a Tower much like monks are brothers in their monasteries. The interior design drew inspiration from very beautiful, worldly places, and I just can sit and stare at it all day.
Well, all in all, I was fond of the episode. I’m eager to move on though and see some channeling Rand action. It’s building, and I can tell the tension is coming. I look forward to seeing the Hall next episode and the Amyrlin. I look forward to everyone sneaking out of Tar Valon to go to Fal Dara and the Eye. Going to be cool to see how the girls escape getting enrolled as novices.