WOT on Prime Episode 7 - SPOILERS

[Thalia]

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one then. It just felt like a natural evolution of the change they made with Perrin to me. I don't think he even has a crush (though I can see why people think the opposite). It was cliche, but it also came at a point where they were all fraught, and people do squabble about petty things in those situations. It's the lasting touch of machin shin's evil as well, I suppose. They are all fighting to prove their doubts aren't true, and seeking comfort too. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. I didn't feel like it felt particularly shoehorned.

Agreed about not liking information being withheld to preserve mystery. I enjoyed this episode immensely, and like the series as a whole, but if we're being critical I think they leaned waaaay too hard on the 'who is the dragon' angle. But my biggest gripe with that is that they have gone ott on the prophecies being unreliable (which I actually like, to a degree) to introducing a "seer" who sees the future in the penultimate episode, whom Moiraine has known since a child. Why didn't Moiraine take the kids straight to Min? Why not even suggest it as an option before now? I mean we could suppose Moiraine doesn't believe her visions 100% either but it seems kinda weak if she also believes these are legit snippets of the future. Min's vision about Tam raising a baby born on dragonmount wasn't even remotely vague, and corroborated Gitara's vision. Where does that leave any uncertainty? Rand and Nynaeve were the only orphans in the Two Rivers, and Nynaeve's the wrong age. Which doesn't even cover Rand's heron-marked blade.

Unless Min never revealed that vision? Which just seems entirely too convenient, but there we are. If that's the case I think they should have made it clearer that Moiraine doesn't have that information.

I think I would have preferred it if Moiraine was sceptical but did work it out early on, and just evaded ever saying who she thought it was because she wanted Rand to figure it out for himself, and come forward willingly. A willing dragon is more likely to save the world than join the DO after all, and having them all tag along as potential dragons gives her the chance to assess Rand's character (as well as ascertain the best ways to manipulate him before he knows who he is, and give him the grounding of people from home to protect). There were times I thought she did suspect, but then she always refuted knowing so heavily it seems unlikely she really did.

/rant

Rand is visibly the most affected after machin shin, and he's also the only one shown to dwell on it in Fal Dara. I think the viewer is absolutely supposed to assume it's about Egwene until we find out the rest later, but at the same time his reaction is a little over the top for it just being that. In fact it's totally odd. We know Rand and Egwene's relationship is fragile but they also just spent the night curled up together in the ways. He might be afraid that what machin shin said about her love is true, but her behaviour shows different at that point, and should have been enough to reassure him quickly enough once they were out. Like we already said though, it verged on way too subtle.

I'm really looking forward to the finale though. Especially whatever they do with Ishy. My money's on us getting a bigger indication of the Seanchan invading from the west too.

EDIT to address your edit: I don't think they will do that. There's certainly no indication they'll do that. I agree it'd be dumb. Honestly, I don't think it's a triangle at all, just resolution to Perrin's marriage woes.

[Ascendancy]

The Ways:

Loial states that Machin Shin feasts on the soul and is quite afraid of it. We saw only a glimpse of what Machin Shin does through the voices. Based on what he says, it implies that the soul is endangered based on its feasting. To me, that’s like an Ijiraq! The Ijiraq feast on the one power, but MS feasts on the soul and distracts you through the voices to just stand there while it consumes you. MS was supposed to devour, and I like this interpretation of what it does when it finds people. The x-ray says that “many people believe” MS consumes your sanity. Scary stuff.

I love how Moiraine says she wouldn’t let Mat within 100 leagues of the DO. Great explanation, I presume, for Barney’s writing out of the show.

Can we talk about that set?! The basalt columns are incredible. The behind the scenes for ep 7 talked about their making those sets, and I really appreciate how they used as much realistic effects as possible without it being 100% CGI all the time. Those are some of my favorite natural formations in the world (our world), and it just feels so alien and bizarre yet familiar. I thought they were brilliant shapes for the bridges and islands of the ways. Then the flickering lightning showing background out into infinity was super cool.

Lan says something is following their party and then there is a distant growl. I don’t know if at that point it’s Padan Fain or the sole trolloc that shows up later on. After the trolloc is thrown over the wall and the group flees to the Fal Dara gate, we see a quick flash of Padan Fain standing back along the way. It’s chilling and awesome.

it is clear though that they need Loial to read the guide-post to show them the way. Moiraine and Lan were absolutely useless there, suggesting that channelers and ogier collaborated or perhaps traveled together early on.

Lan with his hood up in the ways was jaw-dropping cool.  

The voices:

Each one to me says the thing that the person fears the most.
Moiraine’s: “you’re wrong about everything.”
Egwene: “You’re nothing.”
Perrin: “You wanted Laila dead and out of the way because you loved another woman more than your wife.”
Rand: “Egwene will never love you as much as you love her. She left you once before.”
Lan: “You cant protect her.”
Nyn: “You’ll hear their screams… lost everyone.. you’ll be alone again.”

Plus each “voice” of MS is in that screechy sound but the actor that plays the character is also part of the voice melded with MS. So its like MS touches the soul and finds the thing you fear most and then you hear your own voice in your head tell you.

Obviously Rand has something else that’s said to him. But the thing that’s said first is about Egwene. Meaning to me he fears losing her more than anything, even more than being the DR. To me, by this point, he already knows, but he hasn’t come to accept it yet. Later on, when the group is walking through the city of Fal Dara, Egwene tells Rand to forget about the whispers. That none of them are true. And Rand looks at her with this pang of an expression that to me is interpreted that he knows one of them is true…

As soon as the exit the gate back into the real world, there’s a close up of Moiraine’s hair and you can see blue thread wound around her hair that is pulled into the clip at the back of her head. Super subtle but what a very cool addition that nobody would notice otherwise except paused and super close up.

Right before they walk away, Moiraine looks them all over. She’s very red-eyed. Everyone is red-eyed except Rand who has actual tears streaming down his face. I think Moiraine right then knows its Rand and knows Rand knows. Because I expecting her to say something about the wind’s words being untrue, or don’t listen to it, or it was a lie to frighten you. But she doesn’t say that. She says to put what was said out of their mind. Because she suspects that the wind said something to one of them (rand) about their fears like it spoke to her. Maybe that’s overthinking it, but I thought it very intentional that Moiraine didn’t comfort them. She said to put it out of mind.

Fal Dara:

Holy TOPKNOT batman! I was so happy to see Uno and the boys. With their shaved heads and topknots.

The city itself is incredible. The walls upon walls upon walls suggests that the people could close up deper in the city if it is compromised. I loved the surrounding landscape. It was absolutely just like I imagined it to be. The entire aesthetic inside the palace is just absolutely breathtaking. It’s beautiful but functional. The windows are made for firing arrows and defense, but also beautiful and artistic.

They went for the symbol of Shienar everywhere, flags, livery. The swooping black hawk on a field of blue and white. Then the same black hawk that’s on Agelmar’s back was just sick cool. Lord Agelmar’s sigil for himself is 3 running red foxes, which are carved onto the back of his Lord’s seat. The foxes are also on the banners behind his lord’s seat. Super cool distinction that the swooping hawk is everywhere that is “shienar” but the 3 red foxes are everywhere that is “Lord Agelmar” – they didn’t have to do that on the show and none would have been the wiser. Big tip of the hat to the set designers and Rafe for being super-fans.

So I gotta acknowledge some serious characterization of Lord Agelmar. He is proud and defiant that he does not need an Aes Sedai. He gives her a long speech. He antagonizes his sister for writing letters to Tar Valon about how bad it is. But as soon as Moiraine mentions the Ways, Agelmar looks horrified. The others turn to look at him to see how he will react, and instead of being defensive, disbelief, nothing, he issues the order to do as Moiraine says and block the waygate. His is honorable and wise. That was such a borderlander thing to do. Love love love it.

Speaking of the sister, she is definitely giving off creepy vibes. We don’t know if she is good or evil, or anything about her other than she might have a beef with the White Tower for being put out as an Accepted.

Next, Padan Fain pops out of the waygate. The x-ray says something about waygates can be permanently locked. That to me indicates that 1) Padan Fain can open a waygate without the use of the one power, and 2) how could it be locked if it only relied on the one power to open it? I suspect there’s more going on with waygates than we know so far in show. Also, kudos to Padan Fain’s swagger as he hops down the steps. He has so much character in him and we don’t even see his face. Brilliant.

Moiraine sending the Red Ajah after Mat was interesting. I am guessing that it is to either distract the Reds from the rest of her group or to make the reds take an interest in Mat, which would ultimately result in his full healing. What happened to the dagger anyway? Lan wrapped it up in a blanket. I assume they took it to the White Tower for safe-keeping.

Min:

World-weary Min is a big fave of mine. Book-Min was not a fave of mine as she just fell flat for me. I already like this Min better. I loved her appearance and attitude. Regarding her backstory, it seemed like she was a child in Tar Valon. I watched her explain her “first vision” multiple times to try and comprehend. I’ve come up with a few ideas about the first vision.

I have the same questions as you all. Moiraine says she’s known Min since she was a girl, so within the last 20 years. Suggesting Min is 25-30 years old. Given that Rand and co is maybe 25, Min shouldn’t be much older than him.

I loved the way they showed what Min sees. The golden eyes and blood on the chin was pretty obvious. What in the world is Rand and the baby he’s holding? Is it himself he’s holding? The baby he would have had with Egwene had they stayed and married? Is it symbolic of him caring for the innocent and the guilt he will carry?

I wish we’d seen the white flame with Egwene. That one is clearly referencing her future as Amyrlin. The question is did Moiraine understand what it meant? Min didn’t get it, but Moiraine should recognize a white flame. Finally, Nynaeve’s being a ring of gold. I am guessing that is her marriage to Lan? Or simply that she will be Aes Sedai? I feel like that should be obvious, but I’m probably forgetting something. The four of them being linked also seems obvious. Either through being ta’veren or just the pattern using them all, it’s clear their stories are intertwined.

The [not] love triangle:

Manflesh had an interesting take on this. As soon as Rand and Egwene started snuggling in the Ways, he looked over at me kind of confused and said, “Wait, are they still together?”
I thought a moment, and said, “Yes why do you ask?”
He responded with, “I thought she was with the wolfman guy now.”
And knowing I’d read this conversation on here before, I asked why he thought they were together. He explained they seemed really close before and just thought they were. Then during the confrontation between Rand and Perrin, he started chuckling and saying he thought something was going on with Egwene and Perrin. Otherwise, afterward he came to the conclusion that they weren’t an item after all. He didn’t seem to mind the drama.

The love stuff:

The Lan and Nynaeve scenes were so sweet. No special comments other than Lan was sweet.

The big reveal:

To start this off, Manflesh did a man-squeal at the end of this sequence and said he had chills. He even knew it was going to be Rand going into it, but he still said it was incredible and was all fired up for Rand afterward.

I liked the before and after of Rand shooting the arrows and missing the mark and returning later with presumably the flame and void and hitting the bullseye. Angry Rand is a thing. The intensity on Rand’s face was incredibly moving. I can’t wait to see him go Darth Rand later on. It’s going to be amazing. The glimpses of the taint on his channeling is scary and heartbreaking, knowing what it’s going to do to him.

We finally saw the fever-dream with Tam in the woods. It was hard to hear, so I watched it with closed-captioning to make out everything. Then there was the finishing up of the cold-opening. Seeing Tam take her hands and her flash of gratitude, it was so moving.

That leads me to my 1 gripe. The thing that bugged me endlessly and now I can never unsee it.

When the soldier comes up to Tigraine, we know it’s going to be Tam. He stands above her that moment and there’s this moment of tension. I held my breath and Tam takes off his helmet. This was the face I saw. I just wanted to see a young kickass looking blade master Tam. It was pretty disappointing what or how they de-aged him. I know it's a huge deal to de-age an actor. But I'd rather they just cast a young guy instead of what they did. It didn't look like Tam. It looked weird. Didn't like that. 

Finally, the Blight. At first I wasn’t sure what I thought of the vine stuff. But the more I think about it, the more I love the idea of it. The blight seems very invasive for sure, like it is something like a fungus growing on top of the land, infecting it and moving across it. I never could get a good image in my mind of how the blight advanced and stuff, but I like this.

Blood snow:

Tigraine was a fucking beast. Behind the scenes said that they found the stuntwoman in Prague, red hair authentic and everything, and it took 5 days to film the sequence with this amazing camera that is apparently super rare or practically unheard of to use in tv. It definitely felt more like a movie. Wow. Best fight scene ever. Manflesh said that it was his favorite fight scene of all time. Which is saying something. The previous best fight scene in his opinion came from Netflix’s Daredevil and held for the last 6ish years. The combo of Tigraine going through the emotion, fear, and pain of labor while kicking Illianer ass just left me speechless. The fighting with her spears was incredible. The stunts and camera work. Even the snow they did that on was so beautiful and just.. I can’t believe how incredible that scene was. I’m so glad we got to see Tigraine.

Predictions for Ep 8:

Manflesh is so excited for the next episode. He stated that if the next episode is the fight with the dark one, and this is the end of the book, what happens in the rest of the books??? To which I prompted him to recall that the only reason they’re going to the Eye of the World was bc of the Amyrlin’s dreams. What did that tell him? He said it seemed a little suspicious… Like maybe it’s not what they think it is.

I assume the rest of the group will catch up to Moiraine and Rand before they all get to the Eye. I hope to see some scary blight monsters along the way. The skull in the vine was wicked awesome. It reminded me of annihilation, which was a great movie btw. I hope to get some more horror type elements like that.

There was a leak that possibly Ishy’s actor was revealed early. I don’t know if that’s true and havent’ investigated, but I really hope we see a showdown with Ba’alzy and a couple of forsaken. I want to see Rand use saidin, get the dragon banner, etc. I’m not sure if that will be the whole episode or if the Eye showdown will be the first half of the episode and the second half of it is taking Rand to another location or proclaiming him the Dragon or maybe introducing the Prophet. Don’t know.. But I can’t wait for next week!!!!!!!

Cons to episode:

Wish we had longer in the Ways. But honestly other than walk, not sure what else could happen there besides walking and talking. I like what we got. Maybe if it had felt like more time had passed. But it just seemed like they got in, walked like 50 meters, sat down, then walked another 50 meters and boom, done. 

Padan Fain. I hope we get something that wraps up his plot in Ep 8 that shows us some kind of payoff for his following them around all season.

The Michael Myers Tam mask face.

[Thalia]

Min

In the show Rand and co are 20, and Nynaeve is 26. Since MIn sees futures it must have been more than 20 years ago she had that vision around Tam, so I would say she's around 28-30.

I agree that the white flame was Egwene. I think the gold ring for Nynaeve was Lan's Malkier ring.

The baby I think is Min's, it had black hair. She was very quick to say "it just looks like a baby" and I assume it's why she didn't tell Moiraine she knew Rand was the dragon. It's our first hint she knows their threads are tied.

I thought her "rainbows, carnivals, and three beautiful women" line was very well done too. She says it like a throwaway joke but all those things will be true.

Loial and the Ways

The set was amazing. I think Moiraine says it's only a day's walk, and they divert early to Fal Dara as it's closer. It did feel quick though, like they only crossed that one bridge.

My problem with Loial isn't that he wasn't integral, it's just disappointment that so far he feels like a throwaway character. I think this comes down to them having to cut so much for the 1hr slot, as well as being limited to 8 episodes. I really hope future seasons are given a bit more breathing room.

There is a suggestion that in the flash of Padan Fain you can see he is holding something that might be leaf-shaped. I think they made the wrong choice by having Moiraine open the gate. Which is not to say that it's bad, it's just my opinion. I keep seeing an image of Moiriane, Loial, Lan and a giant map, so I guess a scene was cut that explained a bit more in ep6.

I loved that the trolloc looked bloodied and emaciated, like it had been lost all that time. Alongside all the other wonderful details you noticed, that attention to the small things has definitely been a joy to see.

I keep asking my husband if he remembers who Fain is, as early on he got him confused with Valda. He remembered it's the peddler from the beginning. During this episode the penny finally dropped that Fain is a baddie *facepalm*

I also wonder what the payoff will be for Fain now. There's no dagger to steal. Maybe he already has it, I dunno. He must have seen Mat on the hill? If Fain does have the dagger, maybe Mat will have followed and will be in Fal Dara for season 2?

Fal Dara and Mat

The set felt lived in and authentic. I didn't notice the details with the liverey, how wonderful! I've seen some people complain about Agelmar's characterisation (that he was initially hostile to Moiraine) but I agree with you, I thought he was well done and it succinctly showed there was trouble with the blight. He was proud but not stupid.

I think Moiraine sends the Reds after Mat because she knows they will be relentless in finding him, especially Liandrin who will recognise the name. If he has the dagger he will be a danger, and if he is the dragon she has to ensure he isn't turned. She may hope that Suian will also realise who it is. I think/hope we will see the final healing.

The gripe

Haha, yes, I was also not a fan of the de-age, he barely even looked like the actor. His face looked doughy. Now I too cannot unsee Myers XD

Let's all be super glad they decided not to cgi the Aes Sedai ageless look

The Blight

That's a good point, about it looking invasive, I like that. I wondered if it might mean we will see the garden if not the greenman (though who knows, we still don't know who Steve is afterall ).

Episode 8

Masema has been cast for season 2, as has Ingtar (he was supposed to be the guy with Uno but the actor was picked up for the Willow TV series so couldn't do season 2, and they renamed him to a different lord). I think you're right the kids will go after Rand. I wonder if they'll be at the Eye though or if they will hold Tarwin's Gap.

I also saw the leak but haven't investigated, apparently Amazon released the episode stills early by mistake or something. I wonder if we'll see Ishy in flashback with LTT before the Eye (cold open maybe?). If there are more Forsaken my money is still on Lanfear and Asmodean. I hope we see more than just Ishy. I wonder if Ishy will "wake up" the LTT voice in Rand?

I'm super excited!

EDIT: there is a still of Fain by the gate holding the leaf, apparently it's in the episode stills though I haven't checked yet. I wonder if it was cut because of the changes to Mat. It actually makes me wonder if Moiraine channeling open the waygate was also part of the retcon, because if they'd used the leaf there would be no reason for Loial to insist the gate can't be opened again. And if we don't see the leaf when the group enters there's no point showing fain with one, viewers wouldn't know what it is. If that's the case I can live with it.

EDIT 2: So. I watched the waygate scene again, and I think it's quite possible that Moiraine channeling was a retcon change. She walks up to the gate on her own, and you can see Barney with the others in that shot. I can't really see on my screen to say for sure, but it does look to me like she's holding something up in her hand as she approaches. When she actually channels though, in the footage behind her everyone is standing completely still (and Mat is in exactly the same pose we see him in when he's left behind). Like, COMPLETELY still; the wind is no longer blowing, no one's clothes are moving, nothing. It's a still image. That suggests Moiraine channeling open the waygate was not in the original script; I reckon she was supposed to use the leaf. I mentioned above about an episode still of Lan, Moiraine, and Loial with a map; I wonder now if this was cut because it included Loial explaining about the avendesora leaf and there was no way to salvage the scene to omit it. No wonder Loial feels so add-on.

[Armande]

So I've watched again a couple times. While it's subtle, you CAN see the struggle on Rand's face. His overreaction, his declaration that he can't lose anyone else (thinking Mat- we haven't see him agonize over his perceived severing of his bond with Tam at all in the show), his telling Egwene to go to the WT as he knows she's not it, the warder comment (he told her this in book 1 or 2 as well). 

But MOST OF ALL, is the look of relief on his face when she tells him "if it is you, I will stand by your side no matter what." He closes his eyes in relief. This was the most touching thing I've seen, perhaps even more than Moiraine's vow to Siuan at the last episode. It was beautiful. Heartbreaking. He can now face the things he's facing knowing that he has Egwene. After spending the night with her, being reassured, he is able to relive everything.

Is Marc Rutherford channeling Jon Snow? Jeez, they have the same facial expressions and way of speaking. It's uncanny. Close your eyes and you can hear it. 

Josha does the same with Hayden Christiansen (who, I've always thought was a great actor. He had crappy dialogue and a terrible director. But even with that, I saw glimpses. Go watch "Life as a house" or "Shattered Glass" to see what he is capable of. Those roles- each different- show a great actor. It's sad he was pigeonholed because of SW. Natalie Portman, another great actor, struggled with that and had to fight to get out from under Padme Amidala.)

Even with the rewatch and shifting focus away from the triangle, it still sticks out like a sore thumb. Especially when you take into account the whole Laila not going to Egwene's ceremony, the obvious trouble in their marriage, the CLEAR shift to Perrin when Egwene lays down with Rand in the ways (initially, before they unleashed this story bomb, I thought it was him missing Laila, but on rewatch, it seems like more evidence that Perrin is carrying a torch for Egwene), and then Nynaeve's foot in mouth moment that seemed out of nowhere (when did we see them compete for her like a prize.)

Yes it seems to be resolved quickly, at least from Rand and Egwene's persective. And that is a beautiful moment, as I said. I've seen some commentary that there was a brief comment in the early books where Perrin says Egwene is like a sister, "well, er, not that, exactly, but...She's with Rand anyway..." but it was such a throwaway line and there was never any indication it was ever a thing. Like you see a friend's girlfriend and think she's cute and cool, and maybe, if things were different, you might have gone that way. But it's not an option and you don't really ever give life to that. That's how it feels. Not "competing over her" as Nynaeve says.


Yes, Nynaeve is wrong. Mostly. And her words were stupid (though after the Black Wind, explainable.) But the underlying evidence on Perrin's part- at least the way Laila felt about Egwene or his looking at Egwene longingly- Bah! I'm tired of talking about it. It bugs me and that's that. Stupid and unnecessary. Perrin being married didn't require him to be harboring longing for another woman to complicate why he killed her. I'd almost be joking to wonder if they are trying to turn Perrin into the wet blanket he was through most of the series by giving him ridiculous hangups.

Anyway, the ways. It bugged me a lot, but I think Barney Harris leaving really did fuck a lot of things up. Writing him out of the last 2 eps was going to be challenging from a metaphysical POV. One of the taveren not there. But they did what they could- if he was the dragon, there was no way he could be near the DO. It works. I think it is correct the Ways were changed so channeling needed them to be opened. That would explain why they couldn't just reopen it to get to Mat. The stills showing Fain and the Leaf are telling and you still wonder how Fain made it without channeling.

It's rough, honestly, and makes Loial superfluous, as the connection between the Ogier and the Ways has been completely removed, so far at least. This is a tough pickle and I don't envy them trying to get out of it.

I love Min and Rand. Yeah, she's probably 8-10 years older than him. Min was always older and, prior to Rand, liked older men (like the Warder she was around when she was with the Salidar AS Embassy in Caemlyn.) Older worldly men where her thing. But the pattern decided differently. Be interesting to see their relationship develop organically. Min and Rand were among the best couples in the books. And the series is doing romance wonderfully.

Someone suggested the circus she saw might refer to the foregaters storyline in Cairhien in book 2 when Rand was with Selene and Loial. The king of Cairhien paid handsomely for "circuses" (to borrow the term "bread and circuses" that referred to keeping the people happy and quiescent)- entertainers like gleeman, puppeteers, fireworks, jugglers, etc. They may pull Valen Luca's circus to Cairhien for this. (There's a theorylander, Felix Pax, who would love to see Luca again. This guy was certifiable but knew the books like the back of his hand and argued that Valen Luca was the true dragon reborn and pulled together the most amazing evidence for it. Brandon Sanderson responsed to his tweets that he would be disappointed. But you had to give it to the guy. He built incredible castles out of his evidence.)

Selene has been cast but I don't know who. I've seen someone post that Katie McGrath would be a great Lanfear. As you may have guessed, I'd TOTALLY be cool with that. ;-)

Who that kid is...man, that's tough. and doesn't fit anything in the novels that I can remember. Rand's kids were assholes, from Avi's visions. And they had dark hair. Maybe it IS Min's as was said. Or something Rand sees presented to him by the DO at the eye of the world. I don't think they are doing long term prophecies yet. Not until they show some being fulfilled. Egwene with the flame can be being AS and also Amyrlin later so that is ok. And LAn gives Nynaeve his ring fair early. Perrins eyes are pretty much done and his bloody chin can be anything but not like the broken crown or tinker with sword.

So my guess is the kid thing will be explained early. Could be a world of "if" reference or something like Egwene sees in her acepted test (she's married to Rand, etc). So it could be potential futures where the dragon faces a choice to be the dragon and try to live a semblance of a normal life.


And now I can't see Tam without a michael meyers mask., Thanks  asc ;-) I kept wondering if they de-aged. That one was rough. (Need that guy who fixed Luke's deaging in the Mandelorian. He as a fan who took disney's footage from the show and did it himself, posted on youtube, and it was seriously much better. Disney fucking hired him! That's how cool it was!)

The baby was all mushy and wormy too. Hopefully with more time and the pandemic winding down, the VFX get better. It's been over all fantastic, but the fails are noticable.

Great episode, minus one thing. ;-)

[Thalia]

Your initial interpretation of Perrin's longing look at Rand and Egwene in the Ways is the one I think is right (or it's certainly still the way I see it). It's pretty much the first time he's alone after having spent all that time with Egwene, and it's absolutely a reminder of what he's lost now Laila's gone. It's also a loss of emotional and physical intimacy, a loss of the friend he's travelled with over the past few months and confided in and been comforted by (as well as him comforting and protecting her in turn). That's a massive bond, and doesn't have to be anything romantic at all. Perrin's a wolfbrother. Connection to those around him is important to him. Unless he ever outright admits to Egwene or another character that he has feelings for her, then I think assuming he carries a torch for her is potentially a gross and unfair simplification of his emotions. If the characters were both portrayed as the same gender (or of mismatched sexual orientations) I'm curious if it'd still look like he was pining after her (to both us and the characters who accuse it), or if we'd just see a close friendship.

The Jon Snow comment made me laugh XD

After rewatching the scene where Moiriane channels open the Waygate (especially the fact the footage behind her is just an image), I'm convinced it was changed just to explain why they couldn't go back for Mat. I really think that they had intended to use the leaf prior to the covid break, and had filmed it too. I reckon they probably also had Loial's apprehension about using the Ways and explaining about the avendesora all in one scene, and since they couldn't use the leaf and still justify leaving Mat behind, they had to cut it all (sadly to Loial's detriment). Hell, it might even be why they skipped out on showing Nynaeve meet Loial in the library, if they also somehow used that scene to set down relevant worldbuilding. We've seen already how much foreshadowing they sneak into early scenes.

With the stills of Fain and the leaf, I think (hope) we will get a better explanation later. They can't really stop for it now AND cobble together an explanation for Moiraine channeling instead. I wonder if we will discover that Fain stole the leaf/it was missing or something, and they knew this prior to going to the gate. No time to film any of that for the episode, but I guess it serves as a retcon to tie up the loose end.

I hate it a little less for understanding the decision better. I do hope they make it up to Loial later though.

There's an interview floating about with Josha (Tvline maybe?) where they ask him about the baby vision, and his answer is essentially wafo, it will be explained. Min saw the kids he had with the others and always complained she couldn't see visions pertaining to herself, I think they've just changed that aspect. Actually, let me find the interview, it adds his interpretation of the "triangle" as well lol (doesn't refute it or anything, I just thought it was interesting to see how he played the scene from Rand's perspective). https://www.cbr.com/wheel-of-time-josha-...interview/

Ooh, I didn't know Selene had been cast, I am curious who!

You could tell the baby was cgi, but newborns are gross anyway, so it didn't look as horrible as Tam's face XD

But MOST OF ALL, is the look of relief on his face when she tells him "if it is you, I will stand by your side no matter what." He closes his eyes in relief. This was the most touching thing I've seen, perhaps even more than Moiraine's vow to Siuan at the last episode. It was beautiful. Heartbreaking. He can now face the things he's facing knowing that he has Egwene. After spending the night with her, being reassured, he is able to relive everything.

You know what, that also makes me sad because he makes a point of reassuring Mat he's there for him "no matter what happens" when they're in the Grinwell's barn (before the murder) and Mat ignores him. Then in Tar Valon, Mat asks him to make sure he doesn't end up like Logain, and Rand promises. But when he asks for the same thing, Mat gives an offhand 'you bet'

Watch Rand's expression afterwards. It cuts him deep. He was already contemplating it then.

I'm kinda looking forward to bingeing the whole thing together once the finale has aired.

[Mikhail]

Hehehe...

So someone posted this today.
https://twitter.com/SAghdashloo/status/1...qFplQ&s=19

Shoreh Aghdashloo is likely coming to WoT. She was in The Expanse and is a force. Thats her Twitter back and forth with Rafe. Cadsuane is mentioned but that was fan casting.

I don't know why, but this excites me more than it should.

[Thalia]

I saw that too. I've only seen season 1 of The Expanse, but she is the absolute highlight of it (along with Amos). All her scenes are perfection. She's true Aes Sedai material.

[Mikhail]

Hah! Amos is my favorite.

But yeah. She dominates. She could do Cadsuane.

Too bad she's too dark to be an Aiel. Because as any Wise One she'd kick ass.

[Jay Carpenter]

Words. So. many. words. 

I'm pleasantly surprised that the show is pretty good. The music and scenery are incredible. I could use more sword fighting. Unlike many others, I wasn't as big a Barney Harris fan as Mat than others. It was alright. But I'm kind of glad we're getting a new Mat. Perrin and Rand are thumbs up. Egwene is almost too nice and loyal. I'm ready for her to stand up for herself. Guess that's the Evelyn in me. hah.