WHEEL OF TIME EPISODE 7 REVIEW - A Step Back in The Right Direction (EPISODE SPOILERS)

[@CharlieJ69]

The Battle of Blood Snow scene is by far my favorite in the series so far

[@rickkopfler8447]

I just got back from Spider-Man which was great and I mention this to show that I’m not beyond the suspension of disbelief. However, as the father of five kids that was dumb. How about another maiden is helping the mom off the battlefield and they are accosted by the group of soldiers. The mom stops to deliver the child while the maiden does the exact same beautifully shot fight sequence while the mother delivers the child. Everybody dies and Tam finds the child crying in the snow. Epic.

[@P.HATHCOX]

@@rickkopfler8447 actually that's not a bad rewrite of the scene 🤔

[@TheJordanK]

@@rickkopfler8447 that would be awesome but you don’t really get to choose ideal situations during a battle. Also you underestimate what the maidens of the spears can do and how not super great the Illian soldiers are 😂. But also I might be different I don’t really expect realistic fight scenes in a fantasy show.

[@Osyrous]

@@TheJordanK underestimated is right. A few months ago when those apartments in Florida collapsed. A mom literally carried her child out of that rubble after having broken one or both of her hip joints. Any text book, even your own experiences, should tell you that’s impossible. The Child would’ve weighed at least 70 pounds, plus the moms weight crunching down on her broken hip joints. That is nuts, but true. My take away, it shows how absolutely savage the aiele are, and the lengths humans can go through to survive. The wheel weaves as the wheel wills and we don’t get to decide how events play out just the decisions we make. Shaiel chose to Fight.

[@MarielaQue]

Thank you for you comments. I will say, this season has a pacing problem. Hopefully, season 2 will address that.

[@wbsc56]

100% agree, you can tell they are trying to show off and cram backstory in. I hope it finds it's cadence next season.

[@Magnums_Chronicles]

Best cold open ever + best way to introduce the Aiel to both non-book readers and fans of the books. I would have loved to see more Loial, and have the Black Wind say his insecurities and doubts about himself out loud for the audience to hear. I loved getting to see Lan’s “family” and the evolution of his and Nynaeve’s relationship and them hooking up the night before going to the Eye of the World where she might possibly die because you know she’s not leaving the man she’s falling in love with. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with the love triangle between Rand - Egwene - Perrin. In fact I find it refreshing because…(who am I kidding)…unless it has a major payoff in the future, I don’t believe it was needed. This is probably what Brandon Sanderson was talking about some of the changes he didn’t like. I thought Min was ok. I particularly liked the first time she had a viewing it was triggered by seeing the most powerful Taveren in the world as a baby, and here she was seeing him again 20 years later. I’m grateful that we got to see Tam’s fever dream after being injured by Narg, and Rand finding out he was adopted. I look forward to going back and rewatching the entire season again with this new information to watch for subtleties in Rand’s performance based on this new info.

[@shaneducholke364]

I instantly felt that Min has always been frustrated when people ask her visions for them and probably multiple times a day. She may also have an issue with the tower ams helping an Aes Sedai since she was in Tar'Valon. The brown sisters probably studied her a lot. You will notice when talking with Rand, her attitude was completely different. Now that she knows she is a part of Rand's future, almost every other vision moving forward has to do with Rand and keeping him safe. The only thing that surprised me about Min is she was older than I thought since in the book she is only about 5 years older and she looks 10-15 years older

[@swedishdad]

It's not a love triangle, and it's not even about Rand or Egwene. Laila appears to have been jealous of Egwene, and thought-for whatever reason-that Perrin had a thing for her. This appears to have strained their marriage. Machin Shin exploited that-and Perrin's understandable guilt over doing what he did-to make Perrin suffer. Perrin's firm statement that he's never loved any other woman but his wife seems genuine, and I'm pretty sure they're setting up his long-term arc of learning to not take on guilt and self-doubt. After all, he's about to get a seemingly very jealous girlfriend very soon.

[@gryphonshire]

I loved the cold open of the Blood Snow. Tigraine. Far Dareis Mai beyond compare, who else could have fought like that in your condition? The symbol for Fal Dara is Black Hawk. That makes me think the feathers on Lord Agelmar are hawks', but you may be right that they are from crows - spies of the Dark One. I don't understand the love triangle thing either. Makes no sense to me other than to drive all the characters to separate from one another. I was glad that we finally get to meet Min. She's aged up like the rest of the characters. The way they show her visions is good. I liked her chemistry with Rand. I've no doubt that Moraine shielded her Bond with Lan as soon as Nynaeve entered his bedroom. Long before Rand figured out he was the Dragon Reborn. Moraine didn't want to share Siuan with Lan, I'm sure she wouldn't want Lan to share Nynaeve with her, right? 🤭

[@222damien]

first aiel fight on the wot show, was on my birthday. happy days, the ginga ninjas are coming.

[@JordanS215]

In the book, the Blade master was bested by a farmer with a quarter staff, not a spear.

[@42DangerVision]

Yes! That story was also in one of the Amazon animated shorts "The Greatest Warder."

[@davidr80s]

cant wait to show this when its all done..i found myself shouting at 12.30am as a grown man..weird but what a roller coaster :)

[@shaneducholke364]

The love triangle was pulled from later on the the series where Perrin had romantic feelings for Egwene when they were young but Rand and her were already planned to be promised to each other and he was to shy to talk to her. He then found a way to love him as a sister. I didn't like it but it allowd to show how when Ramd is emotional he is a terrible shot but when he enters the void, he can't miss. It worked to push that point and everyone soon got over it.

[@Freelancer_1960]

@3:45 It was Hammar who reminds the trainees of the only person who ever defeated Jearom (the greatest blademaster of all time), a farmer with a quarterstaff.

[@shaneducholke364]

No mention of Moirane sending message to the Red Ajah about Mat? That blew my mind

[@robertgregorio4358]

There was no lead up to Rand finding out he was dragon reborn. He just woke up one day and in few mins he figured I am the dragon reborn.

[@timvyfvinkel4542]

In the books the bladmaster the Warder referenced lost to a farmer with a quarter staff

[@oneconsulting8431]

RJ took it from The book of five rings by Miamoto Musashi a Japanese legendary swordsman.

[@oneconsulting8431]

Miamoto only lost one duel of 1000 against a farmer with a quarter staff. RJ knew Japanese history.

[@terrymetzger9909]

A favorite scene of mine from The Dragon Reborn. Mat is still a little wobbly from just being healed from the dagger and can barely keep his feet after winning the duel. It's the beginning of him being a badass in battle. Later on, I think after he kills Couladin maybe, Rand remembers Thom saying something about Mat having the fastest hands he'd ever seen.

[@adeparkerjp]

Min was always difficult and dry. It is her base position. She only softened up later when she realizes her future (no spoilers.) Her later viewings give her understanding of the big picture and why she needs to stick around. My daughter is a non book reader, first of all Min is her favourite character now, secondly she realised Rand was the Dragon Reborn when she saw the red hair. Awesome episode, but your right the love triangle was a folly. Perrin never had feelings for Egwene except as a village friend and he always knew she was going to marry Rand, very odd decision to write that in, when they could of done more character growth elsewhere.

[@davidjones272]

You are definitely not remembering Min totally correctly (in my view), she's always taking the piss out of Rand and numerous other characters. She's also very prickly with any number of Aes Sedai through out the series, sometimes outright hostile. I thought her portrayal was good.

[@mEmory______]

I was OK with the triangle thing because it is based off something in the books. Perrin literally says he loves Egwene. Although I dont think it was in the sense that it created a triangle. Personally I liked how it resulted in Egwene and Rands moment together. But thats just me lol. Maybe im just wierd.

[@the_well-known_stranger2275]

I believe his words were “like a sister”.

[@mEmory______]

@@the_well-known_stranger2275 yeah I was thinking that, it's why I said it was based off it. BUT as I remember and what I heard others say, he stumbles Iver that part before concluding that Rand has always been "with" Egwene.

[@davidjones272]

I don't think it's intended to be serious in the show, it was an old crush that was simply used as a point of tension. I would be shocked if it's taken any further, it possibly won't be discussed again as it was largely resolved in the episode.

[@Bacchian]

@@davidjones272 Perrin erupted and was ready to fight Rand after he criticized Egwene. So I'd prepare to be shocked.

[@michails9808]

My only problem with this episode is I was left with a lot of questions about Min . Not her character per say , I thought she was portrayed well but then again I know that she ends up falling in love with Rand but I just cant see them getting together in the series . They seemed completely distant and she is way older than he is in the series . When Rand comes to speak to her in the bar , in the books , she sees a vision of them together .IDK... then again they might just prove me wrong in season 2

[@FragRaptor]

I don't see the triangle as a love triangle I see it more as a family where perrin is more of a brother to rand/egwene. Though I'm still not a fan of pushing the rand/egwene relationship a little too much.

[@shaneducholke364]

That's not what Naynaeve said ams she even apologized after shows it was much deeper than that

[@Freelancer_1960]

The "love triangle" was always just in Nynaeve's mind, one of many misconceptions by someone who thinks they know more and better than everyone around them. As for Laila, I think perhaps she had a failed pregnancy (when Perrin goes to her at the forge, he holds her tenderly from behind and is seen caressing her lower belly, and her face is badly masked emotional pain). I also think that she is obviously the least popular female in the village, opposite end of the spectrum from the innkeeper's daughter, and feels constantly out of place, which explains her not congregating with the others.

[@Mathmaticalfuninthesun]

It's hard to decide between 4, 6, and 7 on which is my favorite episode because they all had some great moments. I think 6 is my favorite by a hairs breadth.

[@Djp1989]

What about in the beginning of the episode they do a catch-up as to what happened and they show a snippet of a scene with mat and padam fain. But they don’t show that scene innth episode?

[@minecraftguy9706]

I think because the ways were made of hexagon pillars then as they're decaying it slipping down at different rates giving the jagged column look

[@mattwharton120]

Blood snow scene was amazing I screamed till I was horse 😆

[@msj7872]

A human being couldn't possibly be more distracted than a woman in labor and she still kicked ass.

[@mobetter2705]

I agree with you about Min, she was a tad too abrasive, more than she needed to be.

[@GarrettMerkin]

You got a point. Min was a big ball buster right from the get go in the books. Books made it more in jest while the show makes it seem more, as you put it, abrasive.

[@michaels6935]

This was also my favorite so far.

[@Hamish_Whitehaven]

Extremely satisfying episode for me, finally the guessing game,"who is the dragon" is over, now the writers can concentrate on important things.

[@Papazian25]

I totally didn't get the love triangle thing. Complete mystery. It didn't bother you that Lan said that he "had nothing to die for" before meeting Moraine? That's a huuuge change of Lan! He literally had only something to die for before they met. That sentence was really jarring for me.

[@gnome_de_guerre]

Also wtf is with Moirane sticking the Reds on Mat?

[@AWDarcy]

Cool reviews, this was better episode than 6 and that opening was badass. The weird love triangle was jarring and pointless. So relieved they actually left Rand as the DR I was beginning to worry.

[@MarielaQue]

So many highlights from this episode.

[@msj7872]

If this is all that comes from "the love triangle" I can live with it. You can make a very weak argument that it helps move the narrative forward, but I agree with you, I don't think it was necessary. Funny. My favorite scene from the series, The Red Snow, and my least favorite, The Awkward Unnecessary Love triangle, were in the same episode.

[@tw7998]

Words cannot express how much i enjoyed parts of this episode. It was not perfect but i loved it overall..only part i did not like was perrin/egwene

[@Freelancer_1960]

Min's portrayal isn't terribly divergent from the books. Min in the books is abrasive, less than perfectly trusting of Aes Sedai, specifically less than deferential to Moiraine (though she is willing to help). She constantly insults the Two Rivers folk as uncultured, especially Rand (for personal reasons of course, she doesn't like her fate determined for her). There are things to criticize about her scenes (when viewing Egwene and Nynaeve she says; "A white flame, and a ring of gold", I know the writers want the ambiguity there so that Moiraine thinks both are referring to Aes Sedai futures for them, but far better if she described the heavy gold signet ring, so that Moiraine would be forced to face what she already suspects. For that matter, I hate the Lan/Nynaeve scene where he describes his departure form Malkier as being "smuggled" by one man, and never speaks to the things which were sent with him. Certainly they won't have Lord Agelmar provide that info as he does in the books, but someone should.

[@Freelancer_1960]

Lord Agelmar's portrayal is a direct anti-patriarchal insult. Having him be a petty, selfish, inconsiderate oaf who openly humiliates his own sister, is just horrifying compared to the truly noble Agelmar Jagad of the books, a man who deferred to Moiraine's presence and needs, who treated Lan as more than an equal. FYI, the symbol of Shienar is a stooping Black Hawk, not raven nor crow.

[@edwardphippen8102]

Shouldn’t the Maiden have had her veil up?

[@vazanthameyers8847]

Min was always like that in the book - to me.

[@gnome_de_guerre]

I agree, the show is doing Perrin dirty. I can forgive changes needed for an adaptation of mediums, but you have to keep the spirit of the characters the same.... The wife in the first place I was worried would change perrins dynamic and arc with other chars.... now this... just terrible.

[@0L0PES]

I hope they are setting up Perrin as a replacement for Gawyn and Egwene as a replacement for Faile. I was never a fan of Perrin's story in the book and it would be so interesting to see how they can make Perrin fit the Gawyn storyline.

[@shaneducholke364]

Moat ridiculous idea/theory I have ever seen. Perrin in the books is extremely important to the entire aeries

[@benbutler9282]

you are mistaken and confused about what you thought my friend. Perrin has no love triangle - that is not what was implied - Rand picked the fight as per TGH ch 3 - Friends and enemies - lol you all fall for the unreliable narrator - you should know better

[@GregoryWonderwheel]

The Imperial sigel is a Black Eagle, not a crow or raven. There's no love triangle except in the fevered & crazed fantasy of Rand.

[@terrymetzger9909]

Falcon, actually, I think Agelmar says to Moiraine something like "as long as the Black Falcon" rules here or some such

[@the_well-known_stranger2275]

Gotta say I’m not a fan of show Min. Can they pull a Mat and recast but not acknowledge it in the show? The actress acts nothing like Min, looks nothing like Min and is way too old for Min.

[@mitcharcher7528]

Min is three years older than Rand in the books. The actress is about four and a half older than the actor. So, nah, she’s not too old.

[@the_well-known_stranger2275]

@@mitcharcher7528 the actress is 10 years older than Josha (the actor playing Rand).

[@P.HATHCOX]

The Perrin, Egwene, Rand love triangle is pointless in my opinion too. It actually makes Perrin's marriage in the show worse. He's married to a woman who ends up dying in a Trolloc attack just minutes after we meet her. There's little time to get to know her or even care about her. But hey, that's ok because it turns out he has eyes for his friend Egwene anyways for...reasons. Leila's death is even worse now.

[@ailurus_fulgens16]

Yeah and it puts Perrin in a bad light, they really messed up his character, in my opinion. I'm really trying to look at the series as something totally different from the books and not compare the two, but book Perrin is the embodiment of loyalty and devotion. This stupid crush on Egwene ruined so much of that. Kinda sad tbh

[@phyllisthomas1500]

It's my favorite, I wasn't ti pleased regarding the nynieve and lan sequence but definitely my favorite

[@oneconsulting8431]

Reaction to Min but what about Aglemar? That was terrible. Mins portrayal was good.

[@JordanS215]

I hate the stupid love triangle thing.

[@MagicE13]

The Aiel fight scene didnt need so many wins, it became a bit 'video gamey'. I'm just going to say U-No...sorry. Too much talking and 'drama'...Lan and Nyneave 🙄. The love triangle 😑. More wasted time on the 'feels'. But the Wot elements seemed to shine through, unfortunately Rands discovery of being the Dragon Reborn was rushed or clumsily announced. Also Machin Shin was crap.

[@mattwharton120]

Blood snow scene amazing

[@MagicE13]

@@mattwharton120 Why wasnt that the opening shot of the 1st episode? That would have been a great opening for the series... Oh yeah I know...pointless "Who is the dragon reborn" bs...

[@shaneducholke364]

I disagree with you on every account. It couldnt be in the first episode because new viewers would be too confused whereas now that ha e a bit of an idea about that fight and the Dragons birth ams how Min was able to describe it though the vision she had as a little girl. For a series to last a long time, the show needs to develop relationships where people get invested. They have to make the show for the mew viewers because the only way to get through all the seasons is with their viewing support, without it, it would be cancelled in a few seasons and the hearts of the book readers would be broken

[@MagicE13]

@@shaneducholke364 Trust me the book readers are either not watching the show or are watching it like a train wreck, horrified and simply cannot look away. The only people keeping this show alive are the Red Ajah and Shadow Spawn.

[@shaneducholke364]

@@MagicE13 sorry, can't trust that at all. I have 5 non book readers watching every episode with me and they all love it. 4 like it better than the Witcher, the one that doesn't prefers the Witcher because there are more fights. 1 likes it better that GOT and 2 say it is even with GOT. I also know of 2 other families that are watching it and none are book readers and everyone of them can't wait until the next episode drop. I feel you are taking your dislike of the show and the changes and assuming nobody else likes it. The fact that WOT was just announced by Amazon to be the most watched first season in their history (even before completion) and that it is currently the most watched streaming show on any platform on the day or drops a new episode for 3 straight weeks, is a clear indication that the series is extremely popular and very successful. Of you don't like it, that's fine, but please don't make stuff up to try and support your feelings of the show. Of you dislike it so much, stop watching so we don't have to hear you complain and try to pass personal feelings I to false public perception

[@the_well-known_stranger2275]

Did you notice that made lord Agelmar an asshole. In the books he’s incredible respectful of Moraine and begs for her, and Lan’s, help. In the show he’s rude and dismissive of her, a change made for no good reason other than more trying to say ‘MeN BaD’.

[@davidjones272]

Pull yourself away from your snowflake sensibilities and antiwoke agenda for a couple of seconds and you'd recognise that there are obvious world building reasons for this minor change to a secondary character: 1) It demonstrates that there are constant tensions between political rulers and Aes Sedai in this world. Agelmar is an exception in the books, (even for a borderlander), almost everyone else is cautious or distrustful of Aes Sedai. 2)It illustrates that the Aes Sedai commonly interfere in the political situations of friendly countries and are regularly trying to influence them behind the scenes. This is important information. 3) Arguably it makes up for a massive book plot hole. Why do the Aes Sedai not garrison the blight themselves. If I lived next to the advancing blight and regularly had to fight off armies of Trollocs, I'd be pissed off that the green Ajah don't have a barracks there, what the hell are the Battle Ajah playing at? So no, it's got absolutely sod all to do with trying to say "men bad". Jesus, Agelmar remains polite and respectful throughout.

[@shumwaysays7770]

Who is responsible for Loial!?! So bad.

[@johnnyp6202]

My initial reaction to this one was maybe 5/10. I am not a book purist and liked some of the changes but they got to a point where everyone was at the gate that they could have kept it closer to the books but went in the opposite direction. I HATED the portrayal of Min. She is easily the farthest away from the book character and it was super jarring. Merging the ways and portal stones drives me nuts because with only the ways you lose a couple of very key developments in Season 2. Hated the look of the blight and hate even more that the Eye has a set location. It just feels a little off the rails to me and the changes in last 2 episodes have not been for the better. Also, looking back, we know more about Maksim than some of the main characters and that was a mistake. On second viewing I liked it a slight bit better but still maybe only 6/10. Eye of the World is unfilmable as is but TGH is almost like a movie script in plot, but it seems very little of TGH will be left either.

[@stephanhart9941]

I'm sorry but this is not Min. While the lady is not ugly she is not attractive enough to play Min! She couldn't fill out Doll Clothes, let alone Min's skin tight Breeches. I guess Min becoming a trend setting fashion icon won't be happening in the show. Call me shallow if you want but it's the truth, subjectively.

[@MagicE13]

Agree, not Min.

[@jexter7200]

Shallow

[@stephanhart9941]

@@jexter7200 Thank you. I resemble that remark.

[@Dave3Dman]

Not to mention she is almost old enough to be Rand's mother and will be well into her 40s by the end of the series lol

[@Aartsdalen]

Hopefully the producers realize that this episode has been so much better received because its the closest to the plot and feel of the books. Almost every added scene has been trash - episodes 5 and 6 were god awful. The material is there, you cant go wrong. The love triangle is so cheap and dumb and Perrin has had all his best moments taken away in the show.

[@av088r]

It's hard to rank these episodes becasue they are all so disappointing as a reader. The series has proven to be pretty unfaithful, ignoring, changing, or adding details like the love triagle in this episode. I don't expect it to be a shot for shot recreation but it could be much better. They throw in a lot woke stuff that adds nor value, and typically subtracts value. I was hoping for a fairly faithful adaptation like LoTR but instead we are getting a woke WoT fan fic, rewriting Jordan's world to work with today's PC culture. I don't hate everything but most of this show if pretty far off from the story. Far enough off that I think if you changed proper nouns you would not recognize it for what it is supposed to be.

[@sdarms111doug9]

Those are some pretty ratty looking copies of the books on your wall lol

[@ilpostino88]

Way too many ads

[@ramonacosta2647]

The opening scene of this episode was ridiculous woke garbage.

[@Dave3Dman]

Belongs in a Marvel superhero movie and even then it would be a stretch to suspend disbelief lol. Beyond ridiculous.