Wheel of Time Season 1: Full Spoiler Review

[@wanderer1273]

"Things can't just happen because we think they'd be cool. They need to make sense within the world" - couldn't say it better myself! The linking scene in episode 8 is a good example of breaking that rule. These ladies are way too powerful and Egwene shouldn't be able to "resurrect" Nynaeve. It lowers the stakes and takes the gravitas out of the show. IMO, it'd work better if Nynaeve couldn't channel in that moment at all. It would set her on this arc and made her two previous channeling scenes more meaningful.

[@projectmertle9625]

See, you know that moment for Nyneave would have been great because you actually understand and read the books. I'm fully convinced Rafe, while he may have read the books, really didn't understand, or even care for them.

[@wertigon]

For me, that linking moment made sense, plot wise. Execution wise, they failed. Here is how I would've handled it; - The women link up. Trollocs charge. Things start blowing up. Not as much, or as fast, or even as deadly as they did in the show. They manage to take down the first wave. - Then, a second wave comes in. The channelers are starting to show exhaustion, but manages to fell most of them. A few run past only to get pierced by crossbow bolts. - A third wave breaks through, and the channelers are now visibly spent. One is, literally, burning out on the ground, spasming as the burn effect eats her alive, as the third wave comes menacingly closer. Amalisa sees this, and hesitates. Is it better to sacrifice her life now, or retreat to fight for another day? - Agelmar, not dead, has finally rallied his troops from the fortress, and charges the trollocs from behind. Lady Amalisa, seeing her brother in grave peril, makes a decision. She draws everything she can hold, burning out the second woman, and a large weave engulfs the trollocs. They burn to cinder in seconds, sparing Agelmar and his guards. The cowardly trollocs still surviving break and flee in every direction, with the few surviving Myrdraal unable to rally them back into a killing frenzy. - Amalisas corpse fall down, dead. Agelmar stares in shock and horror, rushing to the place she fell. Egwene and Nynaeve look at the burnt out Amalisa, exhausted from the ordeal, burnwounds visible but otherwise all right. The scene fades as Egwene or Nynaeve passes out, as Agelmar grieves over his dead sister. Perhaps add in Moiraines echoing words about Manetheren, too... :) And, to really spice it up later, this could be used: It turns out the particular way Amalisa used to link was a variation used by the Black Ajah. It, too, was a trap to remove powerful channelers from the light, either by distraction or burning them out. Amalisa, unable to see her brother die, at the very last moment turned to the light and sacrificed herself. Although that could be way too corny. :)

[@devlin76]

@@wertigon Sounds great. Unfortunately they filmed the girls in front of a green screen away from the actual Fal Dara location after the fact. They only interact with CGI shadowspawn because of the filming limitations after the lockdown.

[@wertigon]

@@devlin76 Yeah, I think this kind of reshoot could be done with a green screen without too much work, most of it CGI. But you are correct in that it probably would have been a much more satisfying finale with the entire cast and non-COVID pressure. :)

[@evansteiner8627]

Yes! Nynaeve's entire arc for the first half of the series is based around her block. They basically wrote that out of the show entirely. If they try to go back and write it in now it will be totally unearned due to the times we've already seen her channel.

[@evansteiner8627]

Oh man, totally agree. They could have saved SO MUCH TIME if they just had Stepin go berserk when Kerene died and charge the Ghealdans.

[@merc9nine]

They needed to show the gay wedding. I mean funeral for his beard. Same thing.

[@CriticalxMiss]

Or use the cold open in ep 6 to show him dieing, and have M&L dialog throughout the episode speaking about it

[@rodneywillett6316]

That's exactly what I was expecting. Like in 300 when that one soldier sees his son get decapitated by the Persian cavalryman.

[@makoygaara]

It was a stupid move on the showunner and writers. Wasting time and money when they could have shown character developments on the 3 boys.

[@Nyet-Zdyes]

When you look at how much time was WASTED... you can't turn around and say that it's Amazon's fault for not giving Rafe more time... time to waste. It's like... Student - "But, Teacher! My dog ate my homework!" Teacher - "Well, maybe you shouldn't have wadded it up and given it to him to play with."

[@jefferickson5833]

Who the hell wants an adaptation of a story they love that isn't about the actual plot of that story? I expected The Lord of the Rings adaptation to actually be about The Lord of the Rings. I don't think I had unreal expectations just because I expected this show to be actually about the book. You are allowed to like whatever show you like and I think If you loved how GOT ended then you'll love this adaptation.

[@elpsykongroo8308]

This 1 for 1 adaptation straw man already got old long back. Literally no one expected that. The math is simple, for a book adaptation Subtractions to the books have to be made, Changes (to certain backstories, personalities, etc.) have to be REALLY justified as being WAY BETTER than what's in the books, and their own Additions simply shouldn't be made since that takes away the excuse from the Subtractions.

[@aldan7812]

Yeah - I followed it all from the start, I wasn't expecting a 1-1 retelling of the story. In saying that, it seems beyond stupid to have strayed so so far from the core mechanics that make up the greatest story ever told, and there's a reason 90 million copies of this book have been sold worldwide. So I expected changes, what i didn't expect was this bastardization of the lore - I think this can mostly be put down to whoever is making the editing decisions on these episodes - the things they have chosen to leave in, and the things they have chosen to cut or replace tell a clear story. And it is not an encouraging one looking forward. It's funny, I just picked up the Eye again after watching through the season multiple times to really try and identify where they have gone wrong and it really is in the lore changes. Eg the simple choice of just having a Moiraine that is sketchy on the prophecies has made a HUGE change to the mechanics of the decisions, and the relationships around her. And lets be frank, S1 was the Moiraine show, not the eye of the world. Which I thought was going to be fine, gun actor, makes sense right - but it has seriously detracted from the story and I guess that's why RJ wrote this book from inside Rands head mostly. We lost the charm and replaced it with cut in sections of future politics and stuff and you have to question why. It really has been an exercise in robbing Peter to pay Paul - and this is never a good idea lol, and hey should bloody know that. So there are clearly problems in the production team, I read Rafe's OG script for EP1 - and minus the smut, that felt a thousand times better to me. So Rafe's vision is not the problem, it's just the things being cut from his vision are leaving something that is not really the wheel of time at all unfortunately. I think it started well, I still enjoy the start but it really went off the rails after ep4 and unfortunately didn't find them again. I think the Dragon mystery again, seems good ie it hooks new viewers, I know in my family this seemed a positive early on but again, you have robbed Rand to do this. And he is, you know, the Dragon. Or supposed to be at any rate but you would hardly know, and now with the stakes being shot to shit with that last episode you don't really need him anyway. So - it has problems - I hope they address these, because there ARE some good things like you mentioned, the casting is great, the acting has been great too - imagine what these guys could have done with some better writing - but they need to give Perrin his bloody Axe pronto, stop shading Mat as a degenerate, let Rand be Rand, show Eggys brilliance more and pull back Nyn from this unfortunate Mary Sue place she now finds herself in now. And yes, if we could get some of the real Lan back in that would be great too. Moiraine is fine, she's different but she is good - we just have to get out of her head pronto because her distrust of the prophecies is ruining the story at this point. Oh, and if you are going to choose to age up the characters, please, for the love of Bela, get rid of the freaking teen drama.

[@YipYipss]

Well said. Its kind of funny that the most true adaptation so far is the Winter Dragon lmao

[@Nobnoxious]

I’m starting to think the point of hiring sarah Nakamura was just to make absolutely sure they were sh!ting on the books. It’s like they didn’t understand it and if they did they hated it and wanted to change it.

[@abcarlson3293]

@@Nobnoxious never understood the point of her...

[@Nobnoxious]

@@mrk5834 I think it’s all about emasculating masculinity. I think that was a primary focus of these writers. I think that desire trumps all other desires, including telling a coherent story. It’s all very Woke of them. Their eyes are opened, they understand that all the wrongness in the world is the fault of masculinity(especially white men) they will help fix it by attacking all aspects of masculinity within their own show. It’s amazing how wrong philosophies create awful art.

[@robinirie98]

@@mrk5834 Did us book readers know that Rand was dragon? I just finished a reread and I do not think that is the case. We knew that Rand was "the one" but we did not know why. At no point did Moraine discuss the DR with anyone of them. I think the show should have followed the books in this regards. Have Moraine and Lan discuss between them that one of them is probably the dragon but still keep it away from them. That way you still get the mystery gimmick. Jordan said he was inspired to write the story because he wanted to explore the idea of being tapped on the shoulder and told that you are the prophesied hero. The show broke this from episode 1. I couldn't get my head around why they - especially the boys - were so chilled with the idea of being the Antichrist.

[@ianohlander]

This is really well reasoned out. Truth is, there have been things along the way that made me a bit uncomfortable (and I *DID* expect there to be changes- all I wanted was that the characters be true). A few changes I didn't like (Perrin killing his wife being a major problem that, frankly, introduces FAR MORE trauma than an emotionally introverted and emo character like he didn't need anyway. Like Brandon Sanderson, this could have been effectively done if it was Luhan. Another way would have been the Trolloc kill his wife and he go into berserker mode and be covered in blood. Also, Perrin not killing any WC's. His guilt for this also carried through and gave him a connection to them. Valda may not let him go because of the golden eyes, but having him kill a couple while escaping would have done nicely. Instead, he seems to be aping Hodor in his shuffling around. He just stands there looming. Maybe he was in the wolf trance. BUT- AND THIS IS CRITICAL- if they aren't going to follow the books with the reason that this needs to appeal to non-readers, then THEY CANNOT DEPEND ON IN BOOK EXPLANATIONS FOR PLACES WHERE THEY JUST FAILED TO EXPLAIN!!! This is cheap and frankly, insulting, as if they are creating an adaptation that is going to deviate significantly- and they have- they have no expectation that book explanations are sufficient. The metaphysics and rules have been changed.) But other than the love triangle of Perrin, Rand and Egwene (which, seriously? One single sentence of Perrin's in book 1 while they are running from the ravens does not count as a basis for such a thing. It's so juvenile and is just another example of manufactured drama that is, frankly, a hallmark of lazy writing- which is inexcusable given the source material provides plenty of drama to select from. People make comparisons to CW shows all the time, which can be unfair when their claim comes primarily from the fact the EF5 are young. But in this case, with a stupid love triangle, it is warranted) I was pretty much very happy with episode 7. A bit clunky in the Dragon reveal, esp since we have had so little characterization of the EF5, but over all I was glad of it. They did the best they could without Mat/Barney which wasn't their fault. I was prepared to love 8 and instead, from the moment it began, my unease grew and grew. The entire mischaracterization of Lew Therin's decisions- which Rafe said we never saw on screen but was pivotal- was frankly unforgiveable. It completely removed context or balance to the situation. I don't have faith they will retcon this or rework it so it hews closer to the source material. Not really. A bad taste at the beginning that didn't get better with the portrayal of Agelmar, the Amalisa linking, all the death fakeouts, and the power ramp ups. The only redeeming feature was Rand's battle at the Eye. Much better (though I would like to see Rand defined more than simply by his relationship with Egwene. Despite a mention of Tam, there appears none of the inner struggle he felt over his parentage. Instead, his agency and decision making is firmly grounded in his relationship with Egwene.) Rand and Ishamael's interaction was brilliant. Was a much better way to depict the Eye. But overall, knowing how little they focused on the EF5 characters when they could have taken time from Alanna or Steppin to still give time to characterize Moiraine and Lan (the big actors) along with the EF5 ones. Frankly, from a show perspective, we have been given LITTLE reason to care about them beyond Nynaeve (and her only because of her relationship with Lan.) They took the limited time they DID have and used it in stories that, in the end, played no role in the season as a whole. So your giving it a LOWER score AFTER it was done makes sense. Because it makes the Steppin-Kerene storyline- as good as it was- something that simply couldn't have been afforded. The warder bond has played little role, esp in the end, since Moiraine masked it (again, with no explanation). They've changed the metaphysics just enough that we can't just assume book explanations (nor should we be required to. The same criticism goes with the Extras. Love them, totally. But they can't depend on in story contradictions or events to only make sense if you watch this extra thing right here.) Building the world and setting up the series was a laudable goal. But they also needed to tell a consistent story so that WE CARE what is going on. We invest time and mental energy in made up worlds because we love the world and the people in it. Somehow, BOTH OF THEM feel shortchanged in this simply because they didn't use their time budget properly. I agree that covid had a huge impact, as did Barney leaving. And so some of that is completely excusable. But much of these complaints stem from writing (and more importantly, editing) mistakes that started in the beginning. Episode 1 needed 2 hours, no question. But frankly, it needed better writing. The cold open frankly was laughable and didn't add anything. It would have been better to start with Rand and Tam as in the books, then introduce Moiraine. In the face of the tension of the cloaked watcher, her introduction woudl have been MUCH stronger and portentous. It would have serviced the show leads and still have made sense. IT would have avoided the dumb "rumors of 4 taveren" line. It wouldn't have made the cold open look like something from Hercules and Xena (which I loved back- in the 90s! They still has a place in my heart. It showed me a tv series for WOT could be done and I often would daydream while working about how one could breakdown the books into seasons.) Rafe seems to be a bit like George Lucas. A good visionary- sometimes. The music is amazing, the opening credits, the costuming and sets (though they need to look lived in and worn down. There is no sense of age. He needs to work on the lived-in look that Lucas pioneered and makes SW, and shows like the Mandalorian, look so good.) A lot of good things. Ep 7 cold open was GLORIOUS!!! But he can't write to save his life. And his characterization is weak. He needs to be the showrunner- not direct or write. Get a consistent team of writers (not just one or two good ones and then weak ones.) The biggest weakness is the one you point out. You can't create events simply to look cool. They have to make sense. Frankly, a producer who can push back and force him to think about the story logic would work. Gary Kurtz did that with George Lucas. Without that, I am concerned it's going to keep happening. They have already leveled up the supergirls' power (and their ability to do complicated things without thinking) and healed what was close to death. scaling that back wont be easy (and I fear has already diminished what made Dumai's Wells so freaking cool.) They need a soft reset on some of this stuff. I will watch season 2 but I don't feel the same fire or excitement only because I fear the problem is the approach of the showrunner himself and the casual way they deal with plot. Those things have to change or I don't see what will be different. I am hoping no covid or a new Mat will help. But the problems run deeper with how the showrunners choose to approach things and how respectful they are of consistency and logic and the material.

[@Shr3dd3r2k8]

Agree 100% You can blame COVID and Barney for some of it, but it's apparent that Rafe's influence should have been felt a lot less. Episode one cold open? That narration had me thinking that they changed Moraine into a Red. Then they doubled down on that with the cold open for Episode 8. The season was bracketed by this "Men stupid. Men bad. Men should just serve women." message that hurt the show in a lot of ways. Steppin saying he was nothing before Corenne was bad enough, but then to hear Lan say that same thing about Moraine? Really? Also really dislike the aging makeup applied to Rosamund. Totally unnecessary, and very distracting. Her whole outfit was pretty terrible, TBH. She's already much taller than her book character, so she loses the "Tiny but fierce" aspect, but then they got to go and give her shoulder pads? Then Siuan's speech about it being "HER WORLD!!!!" Enough said. I could go on and on about this. They're blame-shifting - but hopefully they aren't ignoring the complaints completely. I wasn't expecting a 1:1 adaptation, but I WAS expecting the characters to be recognizable. Not these mirror world versions. If they started season 02 with Rand at a Portal Stone, seeing the events of Season 01 as a possible path to be avoided, well. It would be janky but at least there's precedent. At the end of the first book he spoke of leaving. He carried that into the beginning of the second. And when he actually tries to leave, the Wheel weaves him in tighter. I don't see how they're going to get that particular nuance into the second season. I'd be seriously happy if they'd scrap their Seachan designs and start over, but I think I could write paragraphs on that one final scene alone. Honestly, I thought I was watching M. Knight's Avatar. I was wondering if there was a blip on my prime video stream. ugh. Lol. I guess I should stop. I just wanted to agree with you!

[@xanidustheall4755]

I agree with all except the eye. I kind of like the way they made it just a play for Rand to break the seal, but the prophecies being fulfilled by him slaughtering the trolloc army to save everyone and showing him fighting in the sky were the things that made TEotW so powerful. It's what really hooked me. They could have still thrown in the "it could be anyone" thing because no one knew that the dragon had to be male since it was 3000 years later along with the prophecies just to keep their guessing game going for the series, but it killed a lot of what is WoT for this series by doing that.

[@Shr3dd3r2k8]

@@xanidustheall4755 Fighting in the sky is at the end of The Great Hunt

[@xanidustheall4755]

@@Shr3dd3r2k8 I could have sworn that was that battle, but it’s been since the last book has come out that I read the series. It’s all just kind of jumbled together, but I do remember the end of the first books battle being where it hooked me.

[@Shr3dd3r2k8]

@@xanidustheall4755 He bipped to Tarwin's Gap and destroyed the trollocs. Agelmar sees him at a distance, and the stories start to spread. (They didn't quite make out who it was) Then he bips to the room Ishy kept ahowing them in the dreams and cut his cord. At the end of the second, he battles Ishy and it gets projected into the sly, with the Seanchan destroying Geofram's Whitecloaks, and in turn being deatroyed by the Heroes of the Horn. That time, everyone sees who it is which sets up the third book where he goes to tackle one of the harder requirements to be the Dragon Reborn, in order to prove or disprove that its him.

[@celestial9]

For the cast, I would also give a shoutout to Josha for Rand. His face and eyes can switch from hard and stubborn to soft and caring in an instant, without barely moving a muscle. Also English is not his native language and this is his first English speaking role. He has a lot of tough scenes ahead of him and I’m excited to see what he does with it.

[@mrar5053]

I agree! He was a very positive surprice for me actingwise. Waiting to see him go crazy 😄

[@TooMuchFood89]

He came to the forefront very nicely in episodes 7 and 8. I wish he had more development throughout the season. I’m all in for Josha as Rand. His ability to show micro expressions is outstanding.

[@aliciasorenson3807]

I agree! He was a standout actor for me more than any other Emonds Fielder.

[@smaug1234]

I think he did great, I think that the editing and lack of time really did not live up to the job any of the actors gave.

[@jan-willemvandijk3850]

He needs to get to the gym for future seasons too, but since he's so young it might happen naturally, like Miguel in Cobra Kai.

[@EAN743]

This is my biggest problem with the show , that makes me have no good will for it : a certain trend in the show, ------ Men that had been intentionally derailed : Abell Cauthon : from a respected member of the Village he became a deadbeat Dad and a cheat. Mat : from a prankster that is actually competent he is a lazy thief. Perrin - From a Brave man that is afraid of hurting people but will if needed to : to a broken man that killed his wife and let Padan Fain take the Horn. Tam : the amazing Veteran blade master that took multiple Trollocs and led the rest to a wild goose chase . to a man that could not defeat a single Trolloc. Bran al' Vere : no longer mentioned to be the Mayor. Lan : Did not know of Moiraine "Tell" , did not defeat a Fade , failed to properly protect Moiraine in Emond's Field. Did not teach the boys how to fight. Aglemar : from the most honorable lord in the books , that deeply respected Aes Sedai and was considered a great soldier and general , he became an arrogant fool that died from the first Troloc that reached him. Thom : The master gleeman role was greatly reduced, and now he is also a thief. Rand : Champion of the Light that killed one forsaken wounded another and decimated the Trolloc army in Tarwin gap ,and was resourceful in the journey , he is now the guy that still apparently fell to Ishamael trap , in the end, and did little else in the show. most of his motivation in the show is in relation to Egwene. Lews Therin Telamon - Leader of the forces of The Light that choose a desperate measure to save the world, turned to a prideful person that seemingly brought the world to ruin out of his own pride. Women that had been intentionally derailed : Natti Cauthon : became a drunk. ----- Thats not just incompetence. that is an agenda.

[@dbeaton1111]

Totally agree with everything on that list. The WoT show is an agenda-driven bait and switch. All the changes to the story have been in one direction. A fella might think that Hollywood hasn't learned from remake bombs like the female Ghostbusters, Ocean's Eleven, Charlie's Angels, Captain Marvel, the latest Star Wars Mary Sues, and so forth. And when they fail again, they're going to, again, blame the audience.

[@Pook500]

Wow. Great list. I may not watch season 2 now. I overlooked quite a bit of that in my own frustrations with other aspects.

[@TheHumbleMarksman]

Nailed it. The show is the inverse of the books and it is a bad copy. It’s like your favorite taco place starts selling frozen burritos and you have high hopes but they garbage, over priced, and vegan.

[@DameTara]

I give it a 5/10 I really didn't like that all the men were portrayed as weenies and the woman as the greatest mary Sue's. The book is about how so much can be accomplished by working together. That is not shown in the show at all.

[@jemmo357]

I think Rand finally got some adequate power ups at the end (I actually really like his story in episode 8) but Mat and Perrin have been almost completely ignored over the season. To be fair, in the book they don't have much in the way of actual power (Perrin finds then refuses his wolf powers; Mat is largely a pain in the ass or sick from the dagger) but they really were sidelined in the show in favour if the women.And yes, Nynaeve and especially Egwene are dangerously close to being Mary Sues at this point. We need to see them failing more.

[@JonasGrumby-OO]

If 5 untrained women can link and destroy the largest trolloc horde of the age, why would you need a Dragon? The White Tower? Training? Look at what 5 neophytes can do? Can you imagine what the hundreds of Aes Sedai can do? If Lews Theron was an arrogant ass living in utopia and recklessly destroyed the world instead of acting in desperation because all was nearly lost, why would you want him? Egwene can raise the dead with no training. She’s literally Jesus; the Dark One has no chance Just let the women handle it and kill Rand immediately! The guys dangerous and reckless. Don’t believe that? Tell it to Agelmar. He and his boys were needlessly killed. They should have gone and played golf. His underpowered sister and her friends could have saved his life by just telling him to sit down. There: doesn’t matter if you’ve read the books or not these choices are objectively stupid and that’s just one quick example. If you love this, then by all means enjoy. I won’t give them the satisfaction of another click for producing stupid crap.

[@daroe2340]

In the end, the role of the dragon in the last battle has nothing to do with him killing trolllocs, and Egwene creating the opposite of balefire and sacrificing herself to save reality makes here totally the “Jesus” figure in the books as opposed to the “Rand survives in a brandy new specially magic body” which is kind of a cop out.

[@maudley]

@@daroe2340 *last book spoilers* brand new special magic body?? Rand yoinks ishamael's body. That is some of the softer magic in the series, but iirc there's a bit of Brando Sando explaining what exactly happened there. From what I remember, it was something like "the soul that wanted to die linked with the dying body, and the one that wanted to live linked with the body that also wanted to live." At least get things right.

[@seanharrison3482]

They massacred my boy Agelmar.

[@bluelight17]

Episode 8 was a mess from start to finish and covid isn't an excuse. From LTT being the Dragon Reborn and an arrogant that wanted to imprison the DO for apparently no reason at all (the world looks perfectly fine), to that nonsense linking scene. Plus all the random fake out deaths. I honestly have no faith season 2 will drastically improve...

[@xaco18]

I think alot of theese issues is that we have a showrunner that got a few episodes of Chuck and Agent of Shield on his resume. He doesn't have the experience and the skills to adapt a huge book series(yet atleast). We see it in the writing, pacing and in the choises he makes when he doesn't get what he feels are right. 8 episodes is enough to adapt the eye of the world, but not when you add more side characthers and cut out most the development your main characthers need. To be quite honest, I don't really think they will make a better job on the 2nd season. Because it's not just about the money. I hope that they will make a better job, but only time will tell.

[@Darm0k]

The Stepin stuff was so unnecessary. Season 1 is not when we needed this kind of development about the warder bond. It feels like they put a bunch of lore stuff into a hat and pulled one out just so they could have something extraneous to develop. Season 1 should have been far more focused on the journey of the EF5.

[@amandadadesky5192]

As a recovering writer, I feel the Stepin situation had to have been originally written with more episodes in mind. It feels as if it was meant to set up audience expectations for Moiraine being Stilled in the last episode and what that could do to both her and Lan in terms of psychological trauma. We saw the worst case scenario for the bond between Warder and Aes Sedai being broken, so when the penny dropped regarding Moiraine being unable to touch the Source, and thus unable to fix their bond, viewers would then go, "OH, SHIT, what's gonna happen to our badass duo now that the bond is basically GONE?" This is especially true when paired with seeing the effects of being cut off from channeling we saw in previous episodes, though non-readers would not know the differences between men and women being cut off from the Source just yet. It had the potential for some good dramatic tension, as well as character development, since Moiraine keeps making what can be considered rash decisions, like masking the bond multiple times throughout the season, treating it likes its no big deal when it kind of is. Unfortunately, that setup was way too drawn out for the truncated episode order. It should have been cut down, or cut altogether. Yet another case of executive meddling screwing up a good thing.

[@Darm0k]

@@amandadadesky5192 you're probably right. Seems like most of the shows problems can be traced to having too few episodes. Unfortunately, I doubt that's going to change for later seasons. I'm a little worried for the later seasons when they have even more storylines to condense. I think a lot more will be cut than we expect.

[@amandadadesky5192]

@@Darm0k Your concerns are definitely understandable. That said, I can see a successful path forward IF they stop trying to stuff a whole book (or more) into a single, 8-episode season. Only time will tell, but given the example of HBO offering GoT many more seasons, and the showrunners basically going, "lol, NO", I'm hoping Amazon's entertainment division might learn to give stuff room to grow, be it with longer seasons, or just more seasons in general.

[@dbeaton1111]

@@amandadadesky5192 Saving the world from the Dark One? Hah! Forget about making that believable, let's fix our gaze on the Lan - Nynaeve, love toy/warder sex in the city thing. The writers never would have spent so much much time with the silly Stepin pounding fist on chest angst unless they were serious about using it. Brandon said that Moiraine was stilled, and if that's true -- or even if it's not, considering the talk Moiraine had with Alanna about transferring a warder's bond -- it's a good time now for Moiraine to give Lan to Nynaeve, so he can be her Hot Tub Honey. What could be more perfect in their woke universe than to have their own Two Rivers Mary Sue bond a hunk who feels it's an honor to be summoned on a "service call" whenever his Mistress desires. I have to wonder if the writers don't already know that they are way over their heads, and now that the plot is incoherent and broken, they feel they have to concentrate on romance. How else to explain the ridiculous Rand/Perrin/Egwene love triangle?

[@joetichenor3635]

@@amandadadesky5192 it would be ok if they had tried to shove the entire book into 8 seasons, but, instead, they decided to add completely different things that never happen anywhere in any of the books, well, just because

[@davidlavin4774]

I'd score it much lower overall and I think it does come down to the expectations you mentioned. I don't think anyone expected a page-for-page adaptation. There were always things that needed to be cut, or consolidated. And I like some of the additions (e.g. Logain scenes). However, I did expect the pieces they did keep in the show to be consistent with the books. (The changes at the end w/ Mat aside). The cold open to episode 8 was not true to the lore of the books. Because of the "who is the dragon?" thing, Rand and Perrin were criminally under-developed. Why were Lord Algemar and his sister (?!) given so much screen time in episode 8? I would have rather scene more development of the relationship between Rand and Lan (which is completely missing from the whole season).

[@ph5541]

The "who is the dragon" mystery was definitely a bad decision. I said from the get-go, half the audience has read the books and already know and it will most likely be spoiled for the other half before they even get to the reveal. So you end up with an incredibly underwhelming reveal at the expense of much missed development for half the main characters. Maybe they felt they could get away with it since they were already picked up for a second season, but it certainly hurt this season.

[@davidlavin4774]

@@ph5541 Additionally, it hurts Rand's arc as a character. The main point of the first few books is him coming to acceptance on being the Dragon. His going to Tear in book 3 is half a "it'll be over with one way or another" kind of thing. Having Rand just go to Moiraine at this point and go "I'm the Dragon" is cutting out a while lot of the point of what Jordan was trying to do.

[@mplovecraft]

@@ph5541 It's a matter of taste, of course, but I didn't think the reveal of the dragon worked very well either. I didn't necessarily think that it was a bad idea with the mystery, aside from the potential lore problems, but it wasn't enough of a pay off in the end.

[@Pook500]

My 12 y/o daughter is a huge fantasy fan. I actually bought her the WoT series to read. I really really wanted this to be "our" show. Glad I watched first before diving in as I had heard they were trying to GoT it. It disappointed me they "adulted" the movie, when it didn't need it. The story is far richer than what they did with it.

[@MrHATING101]

i agree it sucked , kinda liked how dark the white cloak depiction was though

[@Vialle1014]

The first novel has 3 main characters - Rand, Matt & Perrin …. The first season has 3 main characters - Moraine, Nynaeve & Egwene. I can not express my disappointment with the last 2 episodes; the destruction of the lore & magic system and the reduction of the boys roles in the story so far. Plus loosing Barney 😭who was outstanding as Matt (even with the horrible way they changed his backstory)

[@raze667]

This..... Is really true. In the first book the boys are the main characters. In the show they're footnotes.

[@OutcastPyros]

This has nothing at all to do with wheel of time so stop calling it that. I cannot believe they would do Mat so dirty. Horrendous.

[@Carabas72]

Calling Mat and Perrin main characters in the novel is a bit of a stretch. They're barely characters, especially Mat.

[@OutcastPyros]

@@Carabas72 clearly you read a completely different set of books than the rest of us if you didn't think Mat and Perrin were main characters.

[@Carabas72]

@@OutcastPyros We're not talking about a set of books. We're talking about just The Eye Of The world alone.

[@organicod2438]

How was LOTR able to cover 3 books in ~9 hrs and WOT couldn't cover one book in 8 hrs? It's not about more episodes, it's just bad writing and directing. 4/10 No amount of good acting can save bad writing. Most who will like the show will not have thought too much about the inconsistencies. If they went deeper into it, they'd start to realise the points you made.

[@UnraveledDreams]

The show Is just one of those terrible realities Rand had to live through when using the portal stone. "I win again, Lews Therin!" On a serious note: Yeah the power creep is too much! There is no more room for Nynaeve to grow. And Rand with an item that enhances his power 100X hardly glows half as bright as Nynaeve... SMH

[@davidconlee2196]

Haha maybe this is how I will view the series from here on out.

[@forrestdorman4870]

You can’t have the male character ever outshine the female. Just a rule.

[@TheTrueFriend.]

DUDE YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY XD , I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK READING YOUR COMMENT XD

[@merc9nine]

Been saying that same thing since episode 1.

[@johnfadds6089]

So Egwene channels a weak ass fireball at Valda. Next she resurrects the dead. Maybe she'll make the Dark One her pet in the next season. Nice character progression!

[@greghilton1375]

I think they changed too much. Perrin deals with the wolf world for the entire series of books. Without Elyas introducing Perrin as well as the viewers, none of those wolf scenes make sense. The waygate never struck me as a waygate. The way they changed how the waygate was opened disregards what the ways were made for. They were made for the Ogier, not for channelers. Now only someone who uses the one power can use the ways. How does Perrin get back to the two rivers to battle the orcs let alone how do the orcs get to the two rivers in the first place??? After watching the first season, I feel like I wasn't watching the Wheel of Time, just a cheap copycat.

[@ph5541]

I agree the season as a whole is worse than the average of episodes. Episode 1 and 8 were, by far, the weakest (I thought 8 was a train wreck). When you start weak and end weaker, it's hard to say the season was actually good. I would say your 6.5 was a bit generous. I would have gone 5. Not bad but mediocre for sure.

[@ChristmasLore]

Those episodes, that most rated low, were both written by Rafe... I'm at 5 too.

[@Pook500]

All the women were "Mary Sue'd", and the men were emasculated and given poor arcs. The books have such a balance of powers (almost like balance is a main theme of the series). I will watch season 2, but I dont have much hope. I wanted this to be great so much. I was pleasantly surprised at the casting, but the Fain actor was the top one for me. That dude exudes casual menace. The lack of a Perrin arc was very disappointing. The actor who played him really surprised me in how I started to really "see" Perrin in his role. Amazon kinda fumbled imo, and I think Rafe is Rian Johnsoning this series. The book series is already great, it doesn't need a "re-imagining". And wtf is up with Emo Lan? It would have been so much more impactful to have Stoic Lan through at least 1 full season (while wreaking havoc on his enemies) and then to watch how Nyneave breaks those barriers to reveal Lan has feelings.

[@makoygaara]

From a character described by Robert Jordan that could make a stone sweat, that they transformed into a show us your physique gym guy.

[@KJ-nv9uz]

I like how nynaeve tells lan how to track moiraine....

[@efeozdural1857]

The curiosity of the book fans drove up the viewing numbers for the first season so Amazon/Sony has enthusiastically filmed a second season. There will probably be more episodes, more screen time and fewer production problems but book fans will be even more dissatisfied after the second season because the main problem is the woke agenda which the show creators are pushing. They will continue to make structural changes to the plot, making male characters less important, more useless and making female characters more important and overpowered. They will have problems with getting the plot smooth without holes because they don't have a lot of time to get the story right and they will be straying from the book pretty far so they won't be able to rely on the books too much. As a result we will continue to see strong plot armor, confused magic system rules and no power balance at all. Also the new female characters being introduced will probably be even more powerful and important than Moiraine and without any kind of power balance they will seem completely insufferable. The second season will not do as well as the first but they will film a third which will tank. We might get a fourth season but if we do, that will be the last one.

[@georgeanderson5093]

If they don't fix Season 2 then that will end the series. hopefully HBO will try later on, I'll wait.

[@ShameenYakubu]

@@georgeanderson5093 they can’t fix this and they don’t want to. Season 2 will be just as bad if not worse

[@fiend91206]

The lazy writing / writing to plot really makes me question Rafe’s leadership. Did they even listen to Sarah or does she not know what’s going on? If she’s supposed to help the spirit of the books then I think it was a pretty big miss.

[@amandadadesky5192]

The ending scene with the manufactured tsunami was definitely disappointing as all get out. Part of me wishes episode 7 had been the last episode, tbh, as it was such a strong episode in general.

[@kevinwilson4126]

A lot of people have commented on the wave being used to take out the little girl as a commentary on the Seanchan but I like the big wave. Though it does make me wonder if the Seanchan damane are going to eat the Sea Folk Windfinders, either way for both Seanchan and Sea Folk I could see waves like this used to help speed their journeys along over seas. I feel like if anything the kid was there for scale.

[@merc9nine]

There were no strong episodes, just stronger episodes than the others. Every single episode had something, that totally broke the world, nevermind the immersion.

[@markmartin5817]

I thought the same. Should have ended on 7

[@thedarkonestaint6105]

There's been no rules established yet for the one power. Which is a shame because the hard rules are so excellent.

[@ShameenYakubu]

They’ve ignored the lore but haven’t replaced it with anything

[@bakaacarn6167]

9:13 "We need time to let the main characters breed" A very different turning of the wheel indeed.

[@amandadadesky5192]

🤣🤣🤣

[@dudeguyman3920]

I personally think that telling the eye of the world in 8 hours is more than enough and they failed at it in most ways IMO. 8 hours is the combined run time of the extended editions of fellowship of the ring and the two towers and you're telling me that it was impossible to tell this story in that time? I politely disagree. We didn't need a full Stepin episode or a Siuan and Moiraine backstory this season. And those two episodes where the longest of the bunch without adding anything of real relevance to the season 1 plot. I think they should have reserved those storylines for later seasons and just made Stepin commit suicide at the beginning of ep5 as that would basically show the viewers the same thing without wasting 60% of the episode on that. Did they want to show the emotional side of Lan? Sure, make him cry on Agelmars funeral or something because he was a father figure to him, that way we would be more emotionally invested and it would make way more sense. And yes I know that it was a funeral ritual etc. but it didn't come across very well. And don't get me started on episode 8. that was one of the worst climaxes I have seen in my life, and that's saying something. The ending of the eye of the world is very controversial in this community but I personally think that they managed to convolute it even more. All of this is coming from a guy who enjoyed this season and was a fervent defender of the show. I don't care about changes at all, it's just that this writing is very poor at times and it's something we need to acknowledge and hope that they improve upon in the next season. But the pessimist in me thinks that if they have managed to fuck up one of the simplest books in the wheel of time in terms of story structure the probable case is that they just bit off more than they can chew. Thanks for the review Nae'Blis I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[@MrTophes]

Everything you said is spot on. it focussed too much on the wrong things. Game of Thrones seasons always have a strong opening, and a strong ending. this had neither.

[@armandog3335]

Yea....I'm not sure this show runner has the experience or expertise to run a show of this depth. Hell I would have taken D&D at this point. When they have stuff to rely on they did a good job.

[@zionssuburb]

Yes, this.

[@paulg5376]

There’s no getting around the fact that Amazon, Rafe Judkins, and the writers absolutely butchered this season. And it’s not about the budget, look what the Witcher accomplished with half the budget of WoT! That was a very compelling & well-crafted show, despite existing on a world with much less depth than the world of the Wheel of Time. I agree that the acting was great, but that’s even more of an indictment on the show’s creators, who wasted all of that talent with so many poor decisions on the broad direction the show would take. Also agree that the biggest failure was the complete lack of realism, and I’m not optimistic that this can be corrected after such an abysmal Season 1. This season deserves a 2 out of 10 rating. Not because of all the changes from the books, I expected changes. But the season was a failure because of the terrible writing, flawed strategic vision, and incompetent execution. CGI for a show with a budget of $150 million+ shouldn’t look so much worse than than the CGI in a show with half that budget. There’s no excuse.

[@crookedevolution]

Spot on! The writing was the weakest part, which stings given it's a book adaptation. I have hope that things like visual effects, production quality, editing, sense of place, etc. can be improved, but I'm not so optimistic that they can leave the poor writing decisions behind. I agree that most of the acting performances were good, but oftentimes the direction was questionable and I felt they were misusing the talent at their disposal. I can't go higher than a 6 for this season, even with the context of the challenges they faced. There were just too many fundamentally poor choices. But I also don't think it's irredeemable.

[@georgeanderson5093]

Writing was the downfall and Rafe was writing the worst episodes. Hopefully he leaves the writing alone next season. A 6 is more than fair since Ep. 8 brought it below average as a series.

[@valleyheartadventurecompan3466]

The argument that there "just wasn't enough time" to give the MAIN CHARACTERS any sort of development is completely illogical. There was plenty of time, Rafe and his "writers" just decided to focus on unimportant side plots. The whole series (assuming it makes it past season 2) will suffer because of these choices. Also, when we are finally supposed to get huge character moments (like Rand at Tarwin's Gap) Rafe pawned off those moments on unimportant side characters. It makes absolutely zero sense. I was so upset after the finale that I went and mapped out the entirety of the season one that I would create if I were showrunning. It was cathartic. I encourage everyone who feels the same to take a couple of hours to do this. Believe me, I know there is more to writing and show-running, but with the money they had, they could have done something similar. I made changes of my own (like skipping Baerlon because of rumors of high Whitecloak presence there) that would cut down on the number of locations necessary to film. I also gave the Lan, Nynaeve, and Moiraine sequences a bit more time than they did in the books. Kinda spoilers: I also added Thom’s nephew’s stilling as a cold open, the bloodsnow (probably the best scene from the shows), and Logain’s assault on Ghealdan. Like the show, you still see the Winternight attack as the cold open of Episode 2, as the climax of Episode 1 is the attack at the farmhouse (the show absolutely did Tam dirty...he's a freaking blademaster and he can't kill one trolloc?) and the fever dream. We lose the pointless, “who’s the dragon” nonsense that did nothing but distract and keep us from connecting with the characters we should connect with. This made what should have been epic moments in the show fall flat. “Oh, this redhead that I have spent all of five minutes with is the dragon? Neat, I guess.” I still got it mapped out at 9 episodes of around an hour each. You still get the story and characters you love, and you still get some changes necessary for adaptations. It wasn’t that hard to at least map out a story that is true to the heart of the books. Rafe and crew really bombed on this one. I don’t even think I will be watching season 2.

[@funkyd3321]

The "amateur" production values should be mentioned. This is objective stuff, so I don't know why it is never mentioned. Example; The lighting. Far too many times, a scene is shot in tight spaces with flickering candles as a light source, but obvious electric light reflected off actors faces. The poor lighting makes sets look cheap. The Witcher (Netflix) is a good example of lighting on sets.

[@williamholt8326]

One of the worst "adaptations" ever made. When all you keep from the books are names and basic plot, it is no longer an adaptation but a show inspired by the books. Amazons wheel of time. Not robrlert jordans wheel of time. They changed almost everything from the books.

[@Ablon94]

the power levels bothered me a lot. Nynaeve healing...egwene healing...girls linkin with no training and destroying an army of trollocs, weak ass dragon reborn...

[@MrKevmomoney]

They needed the prologue too establish “the hook” to show the audience the stakes and the antagonist. What the dragon was and what he was capable of, why he was feared yet why he could save them all. LOTR set up the rings and battle of Sauron and GOT established white walkers north of the wall. All in under 7 minutes. They should of done away with this whole mystery of who the dragon reborn is and focused more on the mystery of how he is going to accomplish being the dragon without going mad. Plus the mystery on how the other main 4 characters are going to come into their own… hint an earlier episode introducing Min and her prophetic visions “seeing a Ruby Dagger above Matt’s head.” Sloppy writing that appeared to check off Hollywood woke/diversity boxes. Whether it was giving the girls Rands act in episode 8. Having Egwene magically off camera free herself from restraints to stab the Whitecloak while Perrin just freezes and does nothing. Lord Algemar’s sister just crassly talk down to him. Nyneave sleeping with Lan then just ditching him saying I got to go be an Aes Sedai, and the whole “oh the dragon could be a boy or a girl.” All this just seemed like cringey woke messaging changed to make a narrative and not to further the storyline. In fact it takes away from further plots where we watch the women really work to come into their own. Loose adaptation of the magic. Saidar and Saidin not even really touched on. Really makes me think that they don’t wanna focus on the binary gender difference of the magic system. Watching this the rules are: if your really sad and you really really want it then magic will happen!!! I’m tired of hearing everyone explain how it’s an adaptation and not going to follow the books. Yes I was expecting to having a Tom Bombadil like character (Green Man) tossed out. But the radical changes on this are way too much and the plots and plot holes are way to convoluted. As far as I see they wasted 90 million dollars so we can watch a pregnant Aiel woman kill a bunch of soldiers. 4/10 from me!

[@mplovecraft]

Arguably one of the high points of the series, but not a $90M scene. I really do wonder where all the money went. They kept paying everyone during corona pauses and had to order more CGI?

[@davidconlee2196]

Overall, season 1 gets a 4/10 for me. I went up and down throughout the season. Episode 8 really wrecked the season for me. I was struggling to enjoy the season and I was hopeful that things would come together in episode 8. Instead, practically every aspect of episode 8 was disappointing. Rand facing Egwene's accepted test really fell flat for me. The climax of Rand doing a tiny burst of channelling "into the sa'angreal" to make the Dark One disappear was totally anticlimactic. The part with Nynaeve and Egwene linked with Amalissa to destroy the trollocs was incredibly dumb, including another fakeout death. They hadn't so much as mentioned the Horn of Valere all season, and then it turns out to be the whole object of Fain at Fal Dara (and presumably the season). They may as well have used a Perrin mannequin for his parts. I try to be more forgiving of the stupidity within Fal Dara because that seems to be the aspect most affected by Barney Harris's departure. Nynaeve revealing she knows Moiraine's "tell" so Lan can track her was beyond dumb, and made further so by never actually saying what the tell is. Although the reason they don't reveal the tell is because they couldn't possibly come up with something that Nynaeve would know and Lan wouldn't. This is just bad writing. Then the Seanchen show up as barbarians (rather than an uber-civilized empire) and make a pointless tidal wave into an (almost) entirely empty beach abutting steep mountains. From start to finish this was dumb. A great episode 8 could have made season 1 a 7/10 or 8/10 in my mind if it had been great. Instead I am left feeling that the writers are in deep over their heads and I am not optimistic that they can make this a great series.

[@jamesalexander958]

I haven't read the books since the mid 2000s, so I didn't expect a 1 to 1. I expected good plot, characters, dialogue, and to not break the way things work (magic etc). I give it a 3/10. It was cheap looking. The dialogue was usually random back in forth that lasted a couple seconds. Many times someone asks a question and get no answer. And then politics... There no explanation for some of the ridiculous changes that were made

[@MarekNowakowski]

I didn't mind the changes at first, but hated them by the end. There SHOULD be some major cuts, but instead we got added plots that we really didn't need in season 1. It's not that I minded seeing Logain and Tar Valon, but it pushed important character development out of the story. Caemlyn was important to the story. The white tower and Liandrin could wait.

[@MasterRahl221]

Going to Caemlyn in season 1 is not important to the story, and would have required yet another set, as well as casting actors for one episode and asking them to not take another job so they're available in future seasons which is not feasible. We will get the important stuff, Elaida's foretelling and Rand's first meeting with Elayne, in season 2.

[@MarekNowakowski]

@@MasterRahl221 I accepted the budget and casting explanation, but it doesn't actually make sense. Logain was still in the show, Siuan Sanche and Liandrin were added instead of Elayne and Elaida. Caemlyn developed characters, but it could be done differently. But they did Tar Valon instead, why?

[@MasterRahl221]

@@MarekNowakowski they're giving Logain a bigger role, and they want to constantly return to Tar Valon so building sets that they will reuse was a way to save money in future seasons.

[@crabby842]

@@MarekNowakowski That's a great point. I've heard budget and casting stated as the main reasons for going to Tar Valon instead of Caemlyn, but it doesn't really make sense. Maybe they thought that Elaida's foretelling would make who the DR is too obvious? They could've easily made it more vague, though.

[@crystalhamrick740]

Also, how is Rand supposed to become a blade master with no training? None of the 3 actual Ta'averen did any fighting. No sword training for Rand (except stabbing a Trolloc from behind). Tam, a blade master, can't defeat a single Trolloc on his own but Nynaeve can and then is able to sneak up on the world's best Warder and put a knife to his throat?! WTF! Perrin starts off killing Trollocs despite no experience fighting. He should have been shitting his pants. And Matt gets creepy black goo on his face from the Shadar Logoth dagger but other than that is a lying, thieving coward. Loial was a joke. He looked ridiculous, showed no Ogier personality and was barely bigger than Perrin. Lan is an emotional weakling who does nothing interesting in the entire season. Rafe is incompetent and childish as evidenced by his reaction to criticism by saying in a quote "I'll turn your favorite character gay because I can." What a terrible decision to make this buffoon the showrunner. I know Sanderson has to be careful with what he says because of his producer contact but I know he is disgusted by this show. And why have this "book expert" Sarah even involved. She obviously doesn't know shit about the books or isn't being listened to. Why is she even needed if you have Sanderson on board. They should have just named the show Eye of The Woke or the Woke Wheel of Time For Men Haters Who Think Everyone Should Eschew Hollywood's Value System. Hot steaming garbage. It won't last past season 3.

[@Nobnoxious]

Agenda driven and poorly written. I’ve gone from being elated at the idea of a wot tv show, to completely apathetic. 😞

[@CobraTrainer]

Your opinions are basically the same ones i myself have expressed in comments on previous episode breakdowns. Low character development, bad use of screen time, everything is rushed and low lore explanations and a bunch of lore breaking changes that causes concern for the future. So yea, basically agree with everything you said. I think the performances are fine. Though there are low points for sure. I think Madeleine Madden did not do such a great job in the final episode for example, her facial expressions when in the cirlce was... Less than convincing. Others such as Perrin are hard to judge because he had like 2 lines of dialouge lol and almost nothing to do this whole season. But if i compare the performances to like GoT or even The Witcher, i think WoT Falls short sadly. Also taking into account how absymal some of the production seems to be like the CGI and battles, i think 6.5 is a really high score tbh. It's a lackluster story with lackluster characters that is also badly produced,l it's hard to see this show had 10mil/episode budget tbh. Just looking around at other shows that's out there, it's hard to give this show more than a 4/10 in its current state.

[@ChristmasLore]

That's the thing. Other shows had to deal with the pandemic, fewer episodes, even actor's leaving (the Expanse: exact same constraints.). There's competition. And WOT simply doesn't hold up'. Madeline acting had been irksome to me since episode 1. She does belong more on a CW teen drama type of shows. Not the same level as the rest of the cast, by a long shot.

[@grahamwade5932]

5/10 for me

[@moneyburn]

Making the Aes Sedai and Moiraine the face of the show was a MISTAKE. Having the Dragon Reborn being some kind of mystery with 5 not 3 people was a mistake. The last episode was atrocious and I'd felt positive until that one. Changing the Horn location, who won the battle and the healing of Nynaeve back from the dead were stupid choices. Wasting a whole episode to talk about a dead warder, huge mistake when you could have been doing some much needed character building. I didn't expect the books but this was pretty poor TV. I'd say a 5/10 and I'm a huge WOT nerd too. You've already cut whole cities and major characters and then they kill other ones off too? How will you explain the 5 captains now or is it 4? How will you introduce Elayne or will you? These choices WERE HORRENDOUS by the writers. I wish Sanderson would take over the reins of this.

[@strat5520]

There wont be 5 captains. There will be like 2 men and 3 women and the women will have far more screen time, and convey and demonstrate far more power and capability.

[@adamlewis5700]

Couldn't agree more 5/10 is what I gave it simply because it's the WoT. It's bad TV and bad writing. A lot of poor choices.

[@Nyet-Zdyes]

@@strat5520 And the two men will be useless idiots and probably cowards, too.

[@fearsengar6341]

Overall I give the season a big fat 2. Terrible show. Absolutely gutted because I wanted it to be soooo good. This wasn't WoT. You could literally change the character and location names and with the exception of Ardihol you wouldn't recognise this as RJ's WoT. Unfortunately it seems like I watched something completely different to you Nae'blis because what I saw wasn't anything but terrible.

[@Tuonela0]

There is so much to say, I will keep editing this comment. Considering this season, talking about one-to-one adaptation when it comes to criticism feels like gaslighting and straw-manning. They completely blundered it with so many uninteresting additions and having poor writing.

[@greggsimmons3392]

I agree with you that they spent too much of their limited time on things like Stepin's arc - he reaction immediately after Corinne's death was enough from a world building persective. That fact that he got more screen/plot time than Loial was criminal.

[@mplovecraft]

It was very strange. It's like they had already taped those scenes when they got the notice that it was going to be 8 instead of 10 episodes. It's just crazy.

[@t20sgrunt36]

Season 1 as a book reader. 5/10 It was a mess. I feel a 5 is generous a lot of times. Fiance and Friend who never read the books said 6/10. Overall, it was a mess and silly a lot of the time. Especially the story, lack of consistency, lore oddities, dialogue, costuming, fight scenes, and the CGI. It just came across like a bad D&D TV movie. Some highlights were Mat, Loial's acting (not costume), Aiel Cold Open. So tired of the "more episodes" argument. Show runners made a conscious decision to add new items that took up time. Eg 2 episodes with all the Stepin crap.

[@spacedoyster7686]

I hate this show. It's terrible, no matter how it's cut. Given what they vomited on screen, I doubt it'd make a difference if they had one or one hundred episodes. They didn't make good use of the time they did have, so I doubt any extra time would have accomplished anything. For example, they wrote Mat out of the show by having him be a coward, instead of just having him stay in Tar Valon. Recovering from being healed from the Dagger is as good enough excuse as any to leave him behind, but they decided to drag him through the mud instead. I'm not sure what you mean by 'the characters feel right.' Most of them aren't even close to their book counterparts, Moraine especially. She's such an incompetent nincompoop in this show that I'm legitimately surprised she didn't get everyone killed in episode 1. She told the kids, and everyone in earshot, that one of them is the Dragon Reborn with no supporting evidence, she fails to provide and obvious excuse when asked what she's been doing outside of the Tower, gets the Yellow Ajah to heal someone she wants to keep secret when she's more than capable of healing, blackmails Linandrin with an empty threat, confirming to the other woman that her hunches about Moraine's charges are correct. She swears and oath on the Oath Rod that makes her true relationship with the Amerlyn Seat obvious to all who heard it, which was everyone in the Tower's leadership, despite wanting to maintain a faceade of hating each other, let a man who could have possibly been the Dragon Reborn wander off 'cus she doesn't like him, then has him hunted down out of spite, is told that the entire Emond's Field group has a shared destiny, yet only brings one to the Eye of the World because he claimed he was the Dragon Reborn, again, without evidence, and finally, thought it was a good idea to take the Dragon Reborn to fight the Dark One, alone and untrained. There's a reason I call her Moron.

[@MassiveCarbonFootprint]

Who paid you off? I had to quit your review about halfway through as it was so off base.

[@brandon7024]

in my opinion, too many major plot points are set up with contrivances. For instance, how was Moraine suddenly so certain that Rand was the dragon that she'd leave Nynaeve and Egwene? I get why Rand would think he's the dragon, but the only thing Moraine knows for sure is that the dragon reborn will be a channeler, so finding out that Rand can channel only makes him a candidate and no more so than Egwene or Nynaeve. In the books, it makes sense since she was certain of approximate age, sex, and channeling ability. Another contrivance is why would Siuan be iffy about a telling they witnessed that was so potent it killed the teller, and then legit bet the fate of the world on some a few dreams that Siuan had. also, the Aes Sedai being unsure about the veracity of the prophecy has some woeful implications for the order on a whole and the nature of prophecies. And then there's the apparent changes to Lew Therin. I mean, [Spoiler, I think] when that man decided to cage the dark one it was an act of desperation not arrogance, they were literally months away from losing the war. Not to mention the fact that he was right. If the women had been there to help him they would have successfully caged the dark one without the repercussion as it was the absence of the female half that made an opening.

[@Catrell]

I agree with everything you said except for one point. None of them knew that they would need the true power wielded in order to keep the dark one from tanning the one power in its entirety. If they had gone in without that info I think he would have tainted Saidar as well.

[@devlin76]

A couple of thoughts about Lews Therin Telamon. Overall I liked the cold open for episode 8. I was a little annoyed they made Latra the Tamyrlin, so the conversation could be presented as Dragon vs Tamyrlin for the new viewers. But it is not the biggest deal. And of course calling him The Dragon Reborn instead of just The Dragon. He was certainly one of the rebirths in the cycle, but I do not believe people in his time called him that. To me it was obvious this was supposed to be a private conversation after all the debates and votes had already happened within the Aes Sedai. So I took it as Lews Therin saying I am still going to do it, and Latra saying I still think it is a bad idea. I always got the impression from the books that Lews Therin was both desperate and arrogant. Robert Jordan has stated that if the women had agreed to his plan the results would have been the same. The Dark One would have been caged but the counterstrike would have still tainted the one power, except it would have been both Saidin and Saidar.

[@StrawMan1235]

Actually in AMOL it was the coating of the true power that prevented saidin and saidar from being tainted. Had he used both the first time they would have both been tainted and there would be nothing left of the world.

[@Ailthas]

@@devlin76 I have a theory that there were rewrites for that cold open and their idea wasn't supposed to be dragon vs tamyrlin, but tamyrlin vs amyrlin based on the actual word he says vs what the subtitles say. He's also wearing black like an ashaman while she wears white. Having it the way it was released makes people point out a problem but if my theory is correct it's a change that would play into a later point.

[@ericrees4183]

"Another contrivance is why would Siuan be iffy about a telling they witnessed that was so potent it killed the teller, and then legit bet the fate of the world on some a few dreams that Siuan had." Interesting possibility here - this level of reckless gambling (you fool: you gave a 100x sa'angreal to the Dragon, and he got duped into cracking the Dark One's seal) could provide a better justification for Siuan's impeachment than the one in the books.

[@robinirie98]

The quality of acting should be like the seasoning in your food. It's only worth remarking when it's off. Storytelling is what matters

[@TheHumbleMarksman]

The season was a failure as a male viewer. There wasn’t much “for me” - it was basically desperate housewives after episode 3. The first three episodes set up a promise it feel flat on delivering on the rest of the season. All my buddies think the same thing - a “boring show for women” - only thing that got me to the end was my love for WOT and the increasing sadness of how bad the adaptation was. Witcher 2 beat the hell out of this on every dimension - it’s embarrassing Amazon spent so much for something so confoundingly mediocre.

[@TheHumbleMarksman]

Also Egwene was not great. By Amazon going all representative and inclusive on towns - in an age where travel was super slow- they made every city feel the same. Wow another town where people of every race and religion are found that looks just like the last one. This wouldn’t bother me if the WOT world didn’t do it correctly. There are good and bad people from everywhere.

[@dfish7777]

5/10 The show was a failure, every single book reader I know that has watched despises the show worse then me. And the few non book readers I know like it but rate it pretty low in the fantasy world... pretty sad I wish HBO or Netflix had picked this up instead of Amazon. Amazon studios are pretty weak so far.

[@DebzZi]

My overall was 6/10...I enjoyed the show, but like you have concerns about some of the additions to the books whilst omitting character building true to the books. My biggest concern is the fact that the one power now seems to heal the dead without any stress or training required. It all just happens unintentionally. I worry where this will lead down the line.

[@xanidustheall4755]

I wasn't expecting a 1 to 1 adaptation from the books, but the rules of the world should have stayed mostly true. Saidin/Saidar should have stayed the same (not that they aren't, but it's not exactly spelled out except in X-Ray, I think), Nynaeve's block should have been more prevalent, Rand and Perin should have had greater roles in everything (especially that last fight, Rand should have saved the day in the last moment showing everyone that he was the DR), and they shouldn't have known that the dark one would taint Saidin (again, it's never actually called that).

[@martinkoev1642]

It's just a weak (very weak if u compare it to the books) series. No need for complex analysis or very deep dives. It's a bad show, not a good one. Hope they fix some of the problems in Season 2. My 2 cents...kind people, please read the books if u liked the show even just a bit. Best wishes y'all :)

[@eldadvg]

Dude what are you on?!? Thus is a crap tv show, regardless of it being close to the source material or not, its written very very poorly, amlost all the decisions they made were wrong, the one power is warped entirely, the girls can do what ever they want with it so far to bring people from the dead, and link at first try, all that with no training at all, the dragon reborn was not explained properly, the scene with lews Therrin was awful. Its just done bad....

[@anthonycrayne2835]

I wanted to like it. But ended up really disliking it by the end of ep 8. There were a couple scenes that were ok but it deviated too much. I was ready for changes but not like this.

[@abcarlson3293]

Season one sucked. They spent Way too much money to produce garbage...

[@nesaiamon8727]

This "adaptation" is total garbage. This is not the Wheel of Time. A 1 to 1 adaptation was never feasible, but this show is so far away from the spirit of the novels that it is beyond disappointing

[@RokujyuuyonShou]

Show was pretty much irredeemably bad for me. It's heartbreaking what they've done with the lore.

[@jonathanmitchell2040]

14:05 Now I'm secretly hoping that they'll have Rand shooting candy out of his eyeballs in future seasons. He's also a dragon after all, even if he can't fly or burninate King's Landing. Thanks a lot, Nae'blis.

[@VincentMeis]

I am glad that you mentioned Lan not fighting at all in the final episode but it is worse than that. Lan only had to fight twice in the whole season. He fought in episodes 1 and 4. From these fight scenes the one in the episode 4 does not even count in my opinion. He fights couple of guys and runs to the cave after 5 seconds. Also the fight with Moiraine in the episode 1 wasn't even supposed to be there according to Brandon Sanderson. He mentioned in the interview with the Dusty Wheel that it was his suggestion after reading the script for episode 1. He asked Rafe to make Lan fight together with Moiraine to show how Aes Sadai and her warder fight in a tandem. Apparently they did not even intended Lan to fight in there. Had Brandon not suggested it, we would only have that 5 second fight scene from the episode 4 for Lan in the whole season. He also asked Rafe to give Lan something to fight in the episode 8 but it was rejected. I am not opposed to changes if they make sense. I LOVED episode 4 and almost nothing from that episode was from the books. However, what I hate is bad writing. Regardless of if the writing follows the book closely or not. I am afraid that they do not understand the appeal of the books. They are making tons of unnecessary lore and character damaging changes and even the instances where they pick something directly from the books, the context seems often jarring to say the least. As an example let us see the scene from the episode 7 where Moiraine says that "the doubt is the first step toward surrender to the dark" after Perrin asks, how she can be sure that Mat isn't the dragon and they will not die for nothing (very legitimate question in my opinion). It seems completely idiotic coming from Moiraine as an answer to Perrin's question, especially when the TV show shows us all the time how Moiraine is doubtful about everything (especially about the dragon prophecies). This phrase about doubt is actually taken almost directly from the first book but it makes complete sense in there in that context. In the book Moiraine says it after Rand tells her about his dream, where Ba'alzamon told him that white tower would set him up and use him like they did with the other false dragons. In this context the phrase makes complete sense because it is about the doubt Ba'alzamon's words are sowing in Rand's heart. In the show context however, it is completely devoid of all logic. In the show the words basically mean "if you ask me legitimate questions, you are surrendering to the dark" whereas in the books it meant "do not trust Ba'alzamon's words, he is trying to sow mistrust between you and Aes Sadai". The other instance the show taking something directly from the books in the completely wrong context is the dialog between Lan and Nynaeve when he calls her a "Lioness" and tells her that he cannot be with her. In the books it makes sense because he explains to her that his fate is to die fighting the blight and he does not want to make Nynaeve a widow. Also they did not have sex couple of hours earlier. The TV show however makes it seem like Lan dumps Nynaeve for no reason after he just slept with her, making him seem like a total douchebag who was only interested in one night stand. There are many other cases of things like this. These examples show that they often cannot even make it right when they are directly copying something from the books. In my opinion they need drastic changes in the writing team. As it is right now, I cannot see anything changing in the positive direction for the season 2.

[@mplovecraft]

I really does feel like they don't understand the books. They might have read the books and they might be fans, but they don't seem to understand it. I feel for Sanderson. It must be painful to read the scripts and being asked what to possibly improve when everything is upside down.

[@merc9nine]

Episode 4 was bad writing too. It had a good opening 5 minutes at best.

[@merc9nine]

@@mplovecraft what makes you think they are fans? Because they said they are? That's a marketing tool to get actual fans to accept losong Survivor contestants as Executive Producer. The writers did not read the series. They may have read book 1 and read the cliff notes and wiki for books 2 and 3. There is nothing to indicate any of them are or were fans of the WoT story. There is only evidence that they thought it would make a good spoonful of sugar to help their SJW/Marxist propaganda go down

[@greggsimmons3392]

One thing that I would have liked to have seen even tiny bits of were Lan's training of the boys in fighting. Just a few seconds of sword practice / stances would have at least given viewers the impression that Rand was learning something. I was actually surprised that he managed to stab himself out of the dream!

[@KJ-nv9uz]

He learned 'sheath the sword' before learning it ( i joke)! Lol i always thought that's what it was... to st@b yourself in order to k!ll your opponent...apparently it's slightly different...

[@jonahdav9589]

Did Rafe write improvements or detractions compared to Jordan??? My view and many others is that Rafe and his team made bad changes to lore compared to Jordan's books, character changes making Matt dour, third wheel Perrin killing his wife in the fridge, and the women mary sues really added up. The changes to Rand were too much. Sex outside marriage in the two rivers was a shotgun wedding for most part. Add in location changes having Rand inside Tar Valon when he never entered the city until last book and should have instead been in Caemlyn...WTF. Also the woke choices on top of all this, yikes. The changes to existing couples Moraine/Tom, Gareth Bryne/Siuan Sanche. Terrible choices by Rafe. If these woke showrunners needed representation characters, make their own! Stop sex changing existing ones! The only surprise I had was that Rand was not gay in this non cannon Rafe version.

[@claytonaddison3451]

The power scaling is also one of my main criticisms of this first season. The women are too powerful and the scaling doesn’t make sense. It would’ve been 100x better to write in Rand killing the army rather than 5 weak / untrained girls.

[@vidarfe]

Rand is at least as untrained as the girls, though. And while Nynaeve and Egwene are untrained, they are anything but weak. They're both about as strong in the Power as women can possibly be. The circle was lead by Amalysa, who was too weak to become Aes Sedai but is Tower-trained. Nyn & Eg contributed the raw power, which they have in abundance.

[@jemmo357]

​@@vidarfe Using Egwene and Nynaeve as batteries is part of what I found annoying with this scene. It does nothing for their characters to take a back seat. At the moment four untrained channellers and a weak Accepted can take down a trolloc army. I'd accept that from Aes Sedai in a circle - or even one sister using Egwene & Nynaeve's combined massive power. But right now if what we saw sets the standard for non-Aes Sedai, a circle of full sisters will be able to vaporise the entire dark forces at Tarmon Gai'don!

[@adamlewis5700]

@@vidarfe "They're both as strong in the Power as women can possibly be" which still pales in comparison to the dragon reborn. Rand at full power can destroy anything and not even all of the Aes Sedai combined could have stopped him. Not giving Rand any chance to show his ability has been a huge oversight as both Nynaeve and Egwene had opportunities. It was poor writing and now the world is broken. If they ever need to destroy trollocs. Just hook Nyn and Egw up to Moiraine like batteries and they can destroy anything and anyone they want to. Moiraine will have better control and can sever the connection.

[@Nyet-Zdyes]

@@vidarfe Egwene is strong... but Nynaeve is even stronger... and Rand is even stronger than Nynaeve. Worse, they did FAR more than a BUNCH of TRAINED Aes Sedai managed to do against a FEW simple soldiers from Logain's army. As for Amalisa controlling the circle... with not enough power to be raised to even Accepted, it's unlikely she was EVER allowed to lead a circle... for the exact reason of what happened in the show... so she would NOT have had the experience or practical knowledge to lead a circle. As for Rand being untrained... yes and no. The story gives Rand a good excuse for being able to do things he shouldn't know how to do.

[@jortmaas5873]

I wonder when exactly the choice for 8 episodes was made. If it was (partially) filmed with 10 episodes in mind I can better understand the strange (let's be generous) editing. In general I agree with your assessment in this video. I haven't lost hope, but I'm not overly optimistic either.

[@ChristmasLore]

No. They knew before even beginning filming it would be 8. (Rafe explained it somewhere)

[@nashinplain]

You haven't noticed throughout the whole season, that men couldn't have a major moment? He literally took Rand's important moment in book one and gave it to untrain girls. They took Perrin's moment of killing white cloaks to Ewgene. Lan is a useless character who can't even track anymore and needs a woman to tell him how to track someone he knew for years. Alegmor is now a dick to Moiraine for no reason, so he had to die. Every strong male characters are a shell of themselves compared to the books.

[@jortmaas5873]

@@ChristmasLore well, I suppose that is that. Thanks for clearing that up. I guess we are left with some strange story choices, some of which would have belonged in a 20 hour epic, not a less than 8 hour cut.

[@bidossessi]

My expectation for this show was for it to be good enough to get my family into the universe, skipping the books. But when I started noticing issues right from ep 1, I got worried: - how does Moiraine identify the EF5? - why is fridging still a thing in 2021? - why is potentially being the DR so little of a deal? - how do we figure out who the DR is? To name a few. The episodes rolled in, and the show, while NOT answering previous questions, just kept adding new ones. By the time we got to ep 6, my Huh? list was long like a breadless day. But the most salient for me was still this: - why is no-one *seriously* trying to figure out which one of the EF5 is the DR? I couldn't get it. Nothing else should have been more important than that. And then Moiraine told us why, in Ep 6: "Because we know bugger all about how to identify the DR. So your guess is as good as mine." (in the Siuaraine sexy time scene). And I be like: Oh... And right there, I lost confidence in the show ever picking itself up. So now, I've retracted my personal investment, and suspension of disbelief. I just scoff at the lazy excuse of "unreliable narrator" that gets thrown around every time another plot-hole is uncovered . Something fun may come of it, but for me, this show is now B-television.

[@yafes_han]

I can't help my self for having a colossal dissapointment for the series. Mostly because of the last episode. I loved characters tough

[@TheDesertSpear]

Agreed. I have a feeling it will continue to go downhill and disappoint us all.

[@yafes_han]

@@TheDesertSpear Unfortunately I feel the same

[@hrbacon]

@@TheDesertSpear I disagree and am hopeful for a better season 2. I think the production challenges really hurt Tarwin's gap and the Blight. The 5 women destroying the Trollocs just seemed like a desperate move, like "we can't get extras for a huge battle scene, so lets demonstrate how powerful the one power can be" and without Barney, they couldnt do the horn/dagger drama much justice. The Seanchan scene was probably just spectacle for spectacle. Also, episode 8 was the only episode that Brandon Sanderson was not able to review the script on, and he said himself the whole Tarwins gap scene would have definitely had him pushing Rafe in a different direction.

[@Batemann1980]

Loved the characters? Personally I don’t know anything about them apart from moraine. Who I’m learning isn’t a main character in the books?

[@TheDesertSpear]

@@hrbacon they should have had Rand destroy all the trollocs... ya know, kinda like the books had him do LOL. Would have had all the spectacle they wanted and been way way way better for so many reasons. In the books, that is where people start talking about how the Dragon or even the Creator destroyed the trolloc army and saved them all

[@greensea66]

Completely agree with his thoughts on how much they scaled people's ability to channel too quickly. Way way way too fast.

[@Shr3dd3r2k8]

I'm hoping they back off on the anti-man message in Season 2. I don't usually give up on a show after one season, but this came close. Watching the three boys acting so cowardly throughout the season was rough. Especially Perrin, but I'm also heartbroken to see Rand being such a simp, and Mat just being completely unlikable. (Despite Barney's excellent performance.)

[@shannonmoore3057]

I do find it interesting that non-book readers generally have a positive reaction to the show. My co-worker watched it with her partner, who are both non-book readers, and they both really enjoyed it. I asked her if she guessed who the Dragon was, and she thought it was Mat or Egwene, and said her partner picked Rand straight away because he wasn't given as much prominence as the others early on, which he said was a dead giveaway. As a book reader, I was disappointed with the show. I knew going in that there would be changes, but there were a lot of world changes that I wasn't prepared for. However, I'm hoping they address some of the issues in season 2, and will continue watching.

[@KayoCity]

Please stop talking about 1:1 adaption. Nobody wanted or expected a 1:1 adaptation of the books. This is awful argument. This season was a complete abomination.

[@crystalhamrick740]

The show would be decent if you are a non book reader and approved of agenda driven forced diversity and male emasculation. As I book series fan, I can't understand how anyone approves of the show. It was a horrible adaptation, crapped on the millions of book fans and was an excuse to push the current political agenda. The books have so many strong male and female characters of different races. You don't have to weaken the male characters to empower the many great female characters. Making Mat and his family scumbags was a terrible decision. Perrin is weak and Rand had no character development. And aren't Egwene and Min supposed to be very attractive? Rafe and Amazon should have the Amyrlin enforce a harsh penance on them for completely butchering the story, doing a horrible job of world building, ignoring the rules of said world, providing very little action(none from the 3 main characters) and wasting time on pointless character arcs of irrelevant characters. I give it a 2 out of 10 and only that high because of the blood snow scene in episode 7. Less virtue signaling and more Wheel Of Time story was needed. These fools thought they could write a better story than Jordan and failed miserably. It hurts because this is the only screen adaptation we will probably ever get and I so wanted it to be good. Instead it is a steaming turd. Currently in my 10th or so re-read and it only makes the show's failure more glaring. Witcher season 2 is significantly better. Blood and Bone is better. Game of Thrones up to season 5 was infinitely better. Every episode of WoT I watched angered me to the point I couldn't enjoy it.

[@strat5520]

Lets just acknowledge that the "TRUE SOURCE" of almost all the problems is also the elephant in the room: Woke Intersectional Bullshit. That is the reasoning behind screwing the males out of scenes, dialog, power dynamics, everything and also the reason behind most lore changes, Mary Sue-ism, and source changes. Then there is also bad writing and normal issues. BUT, a lot of the causes of the bad writing is due to changes for the former reasons which led to having to insert the bad writing; If these underlying things werent changed there wouldnt have been need for the bad writing to exist. If you look at the big picture, it ALL stems from the oil slick TAINT that is their Woke, Intersectional BULLSHIT

[@kyleeisenhauer5501]

In my heart I wanted a 1:1 adaptation. In my head I knew that wasn't possible so I just hoped for something close. What I feel I've gotten is nothing even close. They wanted 10 episodes with a 2 hour premier and got 8 episodes with A 1 hour premier. Instead of sticking close to the source material they invented stories out of whole cloth and ignored the lore almost entirely. Prime example imo is the episode 7 spat between Rand and Perrin. They aged the characters up to avoid feeling like a teen drama (I initially didn't like this choice but it actually made sense after thinking about it) then make it feel like a teen drama by inventing the conflict between Rand and Perrin. Or like what they did to Agelmar. They changed his character 180 degrees, not to even mention the episode 8 fiasco. For a crew of people that are supposed to be avid fans of The Wheel of Time they sure have decided to write this series in a way that feels nothing like what was written by Robert Jordan. I might give season 2 a chance but if they don't start narrowing the gap between the show and the books in the 1st episode or maybe 2, I'm done with it. 1/10 and they get the 1 because they did make, generally, good casting choices and trollocs I can root for in episode 1.

[@danielbrown4017]

I still blame Rafe a ton for how he setup this show. He knew that he wasn't going to get his desired 10 episodes and a two hour pilot. After watching the first season again, from bad editing, to bad writing, along with story plots that just weren't needed, along with just poor world building(defining the magic laws for one). I can't help but feel that Rafe is massively over his head. The amazing acting can only do so much. I have hope for the second season, but I'm no where near as excited as I was for the first. Hopefully they can clean up and polish a lot of these issues going into season two, because I think it's clear, us harping on there needing to be more episodes just probably isn't going to happen. I agree with your points completely and I personally give it a 6/10. Most of my book reader friends are similar to your and my views. That said if the second season is like this first season, it's going to be really hard to continue with it forward. Love the content bud

[@alexmckenzie284]

I would have rated the season much lower, based on all of the reasons you stated. Unnecessary scenes could have provided nearly 2 episodes worth of time. They could have created relevant scenes and character building. Their payoff came at the end of episode 7, causing episode 8 to fall flat. The attempt to balance the sexes felt clunky because the show runners didn’t understand the power each sex had in Jordan’s story. Sometimes less is more, even in world building. They should have spent each season world building, layer by layer. Such great acting talent and so much money gone to waste because Amazon insisted on too much spectacle instead of an exceptional, award winning show. I’d give a solid 3 out of 10.

[@joetichenor3635]

ok, I have to say you and I watched completely different shows. By your ratings 1. An adaptation of the novels (or an attempt at an adaptation of the novels) I would rate it a 1 out of 10 stars. 2. As an introduction to non book readers to this world I would rate it at 2 out of 10. It repeatedly mentions, or shows things, without ever alluding to them further or giving any explanations. 3. As a loose use of the source material that might not follow the plot but kept the characters, then I would still rate it at 1 out of 10. They did not maintain the characters but changed them a lot. Even Mairaine character was changed. Lan is now a weepy sad sack while in the books he was an stoic regal warrior. Mat was a likable rascal in the books while in this he became a thief that you can only pity. Parrin changed from a courageous gentle giant to a wife and baby killer that does not even appear much bothered by it. Hell, if future series follow suit then Matt's Band of the Red Hand will become a bunch of thieving, raping marauding pillagers.

[@gta2281]

0/10 they've shown absolute disregard for the source material. I feel bad for the cast but that's it. Before anyone jumps on me about book nazi, I never expected a 1:1 adaptation but Rafe promised a faithful one. If this dumpster fire is his idea of faithful I feel bad for his partner/spouse. I wish it had never been made. It doesn't deserve the Wheel of Time name. It needs to fail, flop and be forgotten so someone else can try again in the future.

[@hanklewis769]

i agree, absolute trash writing and direction

[@CriticalxMiss]

They also did not do alot with some of the scenes considering they only had 8 episodes Rand repeated the same line of Egwene left me so many times- when they could have started to reveal bigger motivations. The whole conversation with Dana could have been used to explain WHY he was feeling the way he did- hinting at the fever dream... Speaking of which, show Rand struggling through the forest with his dad sick (you dont have to hear the fever dream, just show Rand reacting to it). And dont get me started on the misuse of characters in ep 8...

[@ogar0524]

This show is not an adaptation it is fan fiction and unfortunately will likely continue to stray from the story. They have change the focus on the main characters giving major plot from one charater to another, and they have broken the magic system. Book fans will be disappointed because they have changed significant story arc and non book readers are so confused they struggle to stay interested. As for negativity I'm surprised you haven't heard any as most of my friends and family were very meh. We will need to subconsciously accept this is not WOT and just a good fantasy with no rules.

[@peterbaldelli2644]

Thank you Brother! That was a honest solid review and grade. I was struggling to watch your reviews because I felt you were being to passive about the obvious plot holes. I think idea give it a lower grade 5ish but I think you were more prepared for the drastic plot changes then I was.

[@scottpriddy1417]

Without using bad language, I would best express how I feel about this series by referring to This Is Spinal Tap and the review that they read for Shark Sandwich.

[@mickypea1]

I’m right there with you on the overall score. I have the same concern that you did about writing for the big moments - a la GoT later seasons. However, I’m not as positive about turning this around in S2 as you do given the people who made the decisions about this season are still there for S2. I did not expect a one to one adaptation and was ok with most of the show additions and modification to character background, timelines, and some plot lines. My biggest issue was about the inconsistent writing and not maintaining a coherent narrative. Two glaring examples comes to mind. First, the incoherent explanation (to downright obfuscation) of the duality of the One Power within the show contrasted with the clear explanation of Saidar and Saidin in the bonus material. Second, the cold open of Ep 8 calling Lews Therin “dragon reborn” after referring to the previous dragon as the original dragon in the bonus material of Ep 5. Then there’s the narrative problems. Eps 5 and 6 while interesting and entertaining set pieces - are just that - set pieces that allowed some actors to showcase their talent but brings the overall story arc to a screeching halt. Given they already had limitation of 8 one hr episodes, this decision by the show runners is baffling. And of course all of the contradicting world mechanics you mentioned. To be honest, I’m on the fence about continuing with this adaptation. I may just sit it out until several episodes are released and reviewed before jumping in again.

[@J.Schooley]

Amazon was supposed to "adapt the Wheel of Time books"...they failed. They would have been better off doing a 1 to 1 adaptation cause at least then maybe the non book readers would have some clue as to wtf is going on half the time. They rushed the first season to a point to where non book readers are so confused as to probably not tune in to season 2. The only people who are going to watch season 2 are the book fans and even most book fans didn't like the first season.

[@williamfreeborn1829]

Man, you nailed it with those big spectacles. I know it's quite a ways off but I was really looking forward to Dumai's Wells. Well, now, I dunno. With the spectacles they've already shown, will it be as big a deal as it was or will they have to take it way too far over the top?

[@strat5520]

It wont be anything like it should be, and this is for ONE reason: "On your knees, Aes Sedai!". This scene, and everything that went into it before and after is anathema to these people; They will never in 1000 turnings of the wheel allow Dumais Wells to be what its supposed to be: A pissed off man leader dominating women that have mistreated him, and standing up to force subserviance. It just cannot exist in this show. It would make their heads explode.

[@henriktronstad7050]

I went in to the season with the same outlook as you. I totally agree that the broken magic system and that they go for spectacle scenes are the most serious problems. I think they did fairly well to capture the characters. But I too miss time to breath for the characters, to get them developed. Unfortunately it seems like the show want to change scenes and add stuff rather than use things from the books. This makes me a little nervous also. Do they have the right instincts? I also did not like the twist about who is the dragon reborn at all because it didn’t get any payoff. After ep 7, clearly the best episode of the season, they had a chance to let Rand shine like a sun. The twist would have gotten a resolution if they would have focused more on TDR in ep 8. There were no need to spread the glory among the others! Rand had been pushed down all season. He was under-used due to the twist, as was Perrin. I feel like Nynaeve was the main character of season 1. I guess Rafe loves her that much. To me it undermines her awesome arc. Still many great scenes. Frustrating uneven season. I give it a 5/10.

[@brian42925]

At first I would have said pour more money into the CGI for future seasons but at this point use it to hire better writers

[@robertsalcido5518]

More like 3.5/10. And I doubt they get many rewatches at all.

[@jakeneilson6060]

Pretty much agree with everything you said. Though I would like to add that one of the lore changes they made that just doesn't work for me was the prophecy of the dragon reborn. Also going from 3 ta'verans in the book to 4 in show then to 5 was really dumb.

[@scottpriddy1417]

And it absolutely boggles my mind that anyone thought the characters in this show "felt" like the characters in the book. Especially Lan, Mat, Perrin, and Thom. They had more in common with one another than any of them did with their book counterparts. Like Show Thom is way more similar to Show Mat than he is to Book Thom.

[@nicodemogawronski2052]

I also think they should have had more episodes and they wasted time with some things like Stepen or Logain plot lines. Stepen could have been cut down and Logain could have been spread across multiple seasons. Also Liandrin, not really needed for Season 1...

[@joshuahutchins8369]

Didn't even mention one of my biggest gripes: they referred to Lews Therin as `The Dragon REBORN`. I have -so- many issues with that. Overall though I think these criticisms (and praises) are all valid!

[@smaug1234]

I have no idea why they decided to use reborn on him, but its not really world breaking.

[@Carabas72]

But Lews Therin really is just one of very many Reborn Dragons. He wasn't the first one. "I win again, Lews Therin" means that Lews was not the first ever Dragon. Where does this idea that there was never ever a Dragon before LEws Therin even come from?

[@maudley]

@@Carabas72 The Dragon was a title awarded to LTT during the war of shadow, but it is easily conflated with the champion of the light. Sure, the Wheel of Time is infinite and the Dragon has come countless times before LTT, but it is still not synonymous with the champion of the light.

[@london616]

Having watched your review, I'm very glad I didn't watch the series. I wasn't able to make it through the first episode, and I had so many upset feelings about it. I don't think that this series would have made me happy. Thankyou for your analysis, its always very fair and rational, and I appreciate your content a lot.

[@robertcarlyle4946]

Has the show runner and writers even read the books ??? pure garbage..at least they got names right

[@paulanderon8963]

The only thing this show got right was the character names everything else about it was terrible. I will not be watching the second series for various reasons. For instance when did Egwene and Nynaeve become T'averen, is it not good enough that they are considered to be amongst the most powerful channelers in 1000 in the age. Perrins wife?? not sure what faile will think. Liandrin being Elaida/Liandrin hybrid. Mass healing wow didnt see that coming. The whole episode about characters that are not even mentioned in the books. So many changes from the source material that it no longer even resembles the source material.

[@glenn.thought]

1. Acting - no complaints EXCEPT for Egwene's dad. 2. Script - inconsistent and awkward. Some worked, some didn't. 3. Special effects - no complaints. Looked good enough 4. Costumes - looked okay. A bit too new. It needed to look more worn in and broken down. Game of thrones did a great job at this. 5. Direction and Story - complete mess in the end. An 8 episode arc isn't enough time to have set up so many subplots. I hated the whole "who is the dragon hook". 6. Battle scenes - two rivers was okay. The rest ...face palm..I expected more from Warders with their Aes Sedai (Ep4) and the Shienar Army (Ep 8). 7. Magic - not a big fan of the one power use at the finale especially when Egwene healed Nynaeve. Eyeroll It was a dud.

[@ChristmasLore]

To me, Egwene is on par with her dad, acting skills wise...

[@myrlin7]

I’m shocked that you said almost everything I, myself, was thinking. Reader since 1st book was published, I went in with the same open mind and non expectations. I absolutely loved the show on screen for the most part. Like you, my biggest issues were the mess of episode 8, the lack of character dialogue between our MAIN characters and the loose “rules” of the channeling system. I did think they went a tad overboard on the warder episode and the “men are bad, woman fix everything” motif. They didn’t stick the landing and missed some good character opportunities so I was 6.5 overall as well. If 7/8 woulda hit better, prolly would been an 8. Still happy it was on screen and looking forward to more. They did great cinematography (pre Covid) and the actors mostly all nailed their lines. Plus cmon, who didn’t get goosebumps when they said “May the last embrace of the mother welcome you home” or when we saw Tar Valon?

[@EtzEchad]

I pretty much agree with you. I was very disappointed in this season. The only high point was the quality of the acting. That was excellent. I'd give this season a 6/10.