My first time through I found the first episode a little bit clunky and cliched, but my second time through I catch more subtlety and character building than I caught the first time. One thing I have noticed: 

 

On these boards a great deal has been made about diversity in the show. Personally, if the show had an all white cast, that would be a negative to me. As a fan of the books I would try, but it would bother me. But What I see on the second go round is that casting has been about more than diversity. Almost everyone in the two rivers is of a quasi-dark complexion. It makes Rand stand out with his red hair. No big deal is made of this, but it is a quiet mark on him. Only Perrin's wife shares Rand's fair features.

 

On my first time through the second episode hooked me more than the first. I liked Moirain's conversation with Egwene, Matt really stands out as likeable and Shadar Logoth was cool. On my second go through, no improvement, but still fun.

 

I'm watching episode three now, but it's late I might not make it through.

 

Ok not replying to myself, just following up.

 

 Epsiode 3. I forgot how fun it is for Nynaeve to be a bad ass. Instead of being annoying  I feel like I know where she's coming from. I like that I can like this character.

 My thought on the diversity thing has always been that the Aiel are the single biggest homogenous culture in WoT, and by making everyone else in the Westlands a diverse mix, it will be a lot easier to find a large group of Caucasian actors in red wigs to play the Aiel in central Europe, than it would be to try and find a large group of, say Arabic, actors to play the Aiel, while making most everyone else except the Seanchan white.

The show is definitely better the more you watch it - I think that is because it feels quite frantic the first time through.

 

I think the diversity of characters in the show is a good thing - not something that I really find important TBH, but nevertheless good to see a mix.  More important to me is the character development. 

As long as the actor is good and the script is good everything else sort of slides into the background.

 

I think there are some stand out performances so far.

Rosamund Pike is superb IMO as Morraine, Barney Harris is just as good as Mat.

 

I am having trouble with Joshua Stradowski as Rand - his dialogue is somethimes hard to make out.  Having watched episode 1 five times, I still can't clearly make out what he is saying in his first few scenes.  Partly his accent I think but also bad sound production.

Didn't see much of Johann Myers as Fain, but he looks like he's really nailed the character.

I absolutely hate Nynaeve's character, not because of Zoe Robbins, but because the writing is appalling.

Looking forward to seeing Hammed Animashaun as Lioal - from episode 5 I think.

 

Generally hoping the show does a much better job going forward of developing the characters.

 

 

 

47 minutes ago, Maximillion said:

I am having trouble with Joshua Stradowski as Rand - his dialogue is somethimes hard to make out.  Having watched episode 1 five times, I still can't clearly make out what he is saying in his first few scenes.

As a non-native English speaker I find Josha's pronunciation easy to follow. His voice is slow and steady and clear. Daniel and Barney are the toughest for me. I use subtitles though so it's not a big deal. I may be biased because Josha is Rand for me. ?

6 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

As a non-native English speaker I find Josha's pronunciation easy to follow. His voice is slow and steady and clear. Daniel and Barney are the toughest for me. I use subtitles though so it's not a big deal. I may be biased because Josha is Rand for me. ?

Ears are unique?

 

 in the first episode when Rand is talking to Tam about the delivery of brandy and wool it was really hard for me to hear… also when he is in the Winespring Inn… but then everything in the inn I found hard to follow.

Edited November 25, 20213 yr by Maximillion

I also have found that the pacing is better on a second watch. Partly because I spent the whole first time through trying to think about what they would show next, or how things would be portrayed.