Wheel of Time TV Series Episodes 1-4 - Likes and Reservations

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 The following contains detailed discussion of, and by extension massive spoilers for, the first four episodes of the Wheel of Time TV show, and potentially the entire book series. I am not a reviewer - even if I wanted to tell you what I thought without spoilers, I don't have the training for it. You have been warned. 

What I Liked:

• The racial diversity (although see the reservations section for some complications). It's not really clear from the books whether anyone in Wheel of Time is supposed to be white except the Cairhienens and some of the indigenous Shandarans). I personally pictured Two Rivers folk as having about Madeline Madden's coloring or a little lighter, and while I would have expected a bit more homogeneity than is on display here, given how long the Two Rivers has been isolated, but that's clearly less of a thing in the show in any case. 
• The girls (well, mostly Egwene) being candidates for the Dragon Reborn. It was never actually that much of a mystery in the books - The Eye of the World is mostly from Rand's perspective, for one thing. The point was never to keep readers guessing, it was to draw out elements of character and worldbuilding through their reactions to the uncertainty, and adding Egwene to the mix is a delightful complication to that. It would be incredibly convenient for Moiraine if the Dragon Reborn were a young women, eager to learn, willing to be guided, easy to bring into the culture and priorities of the White Tower, and with no reason to fear the Red Ajah or the taint on Saidin. It gives a whole different tone to that first channeling lesson. 
• Mat's backstory. I know this is a controversial one. I've seen more than one post on social media mention the "character assassination of Abell Cauthon". My thing is, first of all, mostly in the one episode in which he's appeared, Abell is passive. We know he's failing to prevent the abuse Mat and his sisters experience, but that's about all we know. More importantly, though, this backstory makes Mat make sense. It gives a reason for some of his more irritating behaviors in the early books, which will hopefully make him more sympathetic, and explains as well his anxious hovering over Rand ("Do you have a headache? I think I have some willowbark in my saddlebags.") although we haven't seen as much of that in the show so far. Also gives him a reason to be good with kids. 
• Logain. Everything. The hair, the accent, the sincerity. Just perfect. Beautiful. Also what he says about Nyneave at the end of Episode 4 is a reference to something Siuan said about Rand in The Great Hunt. 
• Alanna's canonical poly-fi triad with her two warders, and the whole interaction between Rand and Dana where she thinks he and Mat are involved. Although I would love to see that assumption repeated by someone who isn't a darkfriend. 

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  The early establishment of Lan and Nyneave's relationship. We don't actually see much of their time together in the early books, especially their non-squabbling time, and Nyneave's irritability is less frustrating when we're not in close third from her perspective. 
  
• The greater religious diversity. Everyone here still is clearly part of the same religion, just like in the books, but we see more culturally specific practices in the show (Lan's thing in Episode 4, the added religious connotations of Bel Tine. disagreements about the nature of the Wheel (Logain and Moiraine), and a clearer sense of how the Way of the Leaf connects to the setting's religion. More generally, I liked Ila's articulation of how the setting's particular view of reincarnation can make very, very long-term thinking seem reasonable. 
• Moiraine having had a dog, and dogs reacting badly to Owyn. I'm all for getting rid of the weird "cats are female, dogs are male" binary from the books, although I hope there are still cats at the Tower. 
• Moiraine being unconscious for a solid chunk of the first 3 episodes, rather than arbitrarily refusing to answer questions. In the 90s, "wizard mentor refuses to explain anything", was practically mandatory, but it was always irritating and it hasn't aged well. 
• Mat's younger sisters getting low-key adopted by the al'Veres after he leaves, rather than having Egwene's book-canon younger sisters established and then never mentioned again after The Great Hunt. This is neater. 

What I Have Reservations About

• The Whitecloaks. It seems like they are going for a much less nuanced, more unambiguously evil version of the Whitecloaks, and within that context, replacing Byar with Valda makes a lot of sense, but I don't love the decision to make them more straightforward bad guys. I don't know how they're gonna handle Galad with this, and that makes me nervous because he's an easy character to get wrong. I have fucking questions about how they managed to capture and burn an Aes Sedai. This is not a thing they can really do in the books, much as they might like to, "live witches being notoriously difficult to hang". With Byar not so far having made an appearance, I don't know if they're just not including Dain or what. Clearly this show isn't hurting for queer rep, but I'd like to see them improve upon the queer rep that already exists as well. Actually not a bigot!Bornhald Sr. (or massive hypocrite!Bornhald Sr.) is...a thing.
• The tune Fain whistles also being in Shadar Logoth. It was not adequately legible for people who haven't read the books, and then it's not reinforced in anything resembling a timely manner. 
• The handling of black characters whose names are not Nynaeve al'Meara. Between Fain, Valda, and Dana, the villains so far are skewing black, and the black characters are skewing villainous. (I am not counting Egwene, for the time being, because I honestly have no idea if Indigenous Australians count as black for these purposes). Yes, Liandrin is the whitest person in existence, but she hasn't been revealed as a darkfriend yet. Fain is immediately sketch, and Dana and Valda respectively attempt and commit murder in the episodes in which they're introduced. Meanwhile on the non-villain side, Karene is the only one of the Aes Sedai whose death is timed so that she can't be healed. (The magical reversibility of death in this setting essentially operates on the 5 second rule). And then there's the thing with Perrin. 

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  The thing with Perrin. Let me start this part by saying that I have seen what Rafe had to say about it after, and I am not reassured.  I have no idea what could happen at this point to make Laila's death not a clear cut and frankly rather ham-fisted case of fridging. I'm also not sure I like where the show is going with Perrin's character if this is where they're starting. Rafe talked in an AMA about needing an "iconic moment of violence" for Perrin, and "whether he'll choose the axe or the hammer", but that was never really the thing in the books. Perrin's difficulty wit violence in the books is about rejecting the false dichotomy, which he has to do like three times before he can make it stick. It's about learning to apply his normal restraint and deliberation to violent situations, rather than hesitating until he either has no options left or is too caught up in the moment to make good decisions. But I must emphasize that even in the latter case, Perrin never just impulsively hurt someone he cared about. He was constantly worried that he would, but he never actually did, and that's kind of important. I have...concerns, also, about the big introductory moment for the only black man in the core cast being the brutal murder of his (white) wife. I know the going theory is that Laila was a darkfriend, but that's not enough on it's own unless maybe if Perrin's wolfbrother power set is being expanded to include a very accurate ability to sense who is and isn't a darkfriend. Even then I'd have concerns. I shan't say there's no way to make this work, but I will say that I can't see one right now. (I am saying my thoughts about the handling of black characters despite the fact that I am very much not black. For reactions of some actual black people, I enthusiastically recommend checking out Everyday Negroes's series of reaction videos on Youtube). 
• The rewording of the Three Oaths. Changing "man" to "person" in the second Oath is fine, and get's rid of the unused loophole for Ebou Dari marriage knives and the like. I'm more concerned about removing "except against darkfriends or shadowspawn" from the third Oath. This is a ways down the line, but it means they're going to have to either exclude or substantially change the circumstances of Elaida assaulting Egwene with the One Power in The Gathering Storm. She was only able to do that because she genuinely believed Egwene was a darkfriend. With the new wording, she'd have to believe her life was actually in immediate danger. 
• Are we gonna get Elyas at any point?
• The group sent to capture Logain. Why were only half the usual number of Sisters sent, and why only three strong enough to to maintain a shield. Why weren't the weaker Aes Sedai working in a circle to take a turn containing Logain, take some pressure of the others? All my thoughts here are, of course, predicated on the assumption that nothing is different from the books that we haven't already been told about, which is unlikely. It could have been bad intel concerning Logain's strength in the Power or indeed whether he could channel at all. Galina is currently Highest of the Red, so it's possible she was hoping to get Karene, Alanna, or even Liandrin (in the latter case, this would be some kind of intra-Black Ajah power grab, but that's a thing that happens). It's also possible that Galina, or Liandrin, was hoping for a pretext for Logain's extrajudicial gentling. In the books, this would have been going against Ishamael's orders, but the opening scene suggests that in this turning of the Wheel, the Vileness may have been allowed to continue longer. Heck, for all I know, people could have started getting out of the Bore a skosh earlier, and Galina, or Liandrin, could be taking her orders from Lanfear, who would certainly want a potential rival to Lews Theren gotten out of the way with as little fuss as possible. 
• The Aes Sedai being more overtly classist. I guess they're getting rid of the thing where girls who learn to channel on their own tend to just like, die. Which is fair. That one's actually and 80s trope, mostly, and the books never really did anything with it. But unless they're changing the thing where there's been an increasing shortage of channelers (which would raise more questions than it answers), I can't think why they would turn away someone who did exactly what, in the books, the Aes Sedai insist is the proper thing for a young woman who can channel to do. 
• Putting the Ajah colors on the tings. It's a cool visual, but there are multiple points in the books where Accepted are told to let themselves be mistaken for Aes Sedai on the basis of their things, and if the rings include Ajah colors, then Accepted, who have not yet chosen an Ajah, can't wear them. I can totally see Siuan giving the girls the rings early (and this could be interesting as far as Nynaeve claiming to be Green and then choosing Yellow), but it's untidy. 

That's what I got for now. I might post updates as new episodes come out, time permitting, and if not I'll do something about Season 1 when the whole thing is out. Expect a post about how Nano went sometime this weekend or early next week. Until then, be gay, do crimes, and read All The Thing!