Elder_Haman

Perhaps they had been instructed not to. Remember, the Dark One has plots within plots within plots. Often, he likes to break things, wait for them to heal a bit, then break them again. The attack is meant to sow panic and discord and suspicion. That will leave the Aes Sedai brittle and easily led into becoming pawns in the Dark One's later designs. If Siuan is dead, for example, there's no need for her to be deposed. The Tower might unite behind their martyred Amyrlin or their martyred Keeper. (Incidentally, this may also be the reason for the slow walk to the center - perhaps they were ordered to make sure everyone knew exactly who they were. The remaining Sisters are meant to believe that they know the identities of all of the Black sisters when, in fact, there are more still hiding among them.) Granted if this is the explanation, it would help to make that explicit at some point.

My big takeaway from this discussion is that there is near universal agreement that this sneak peek was of pretty solid entertainment value and that it has inspired a sense of optimism and anticipation for the series. In that sense, mission accomplished!

You're correct. And there is plenty to criticize as regards the writing on this show. But this ain't it.

Please name a show in the sci-fi/fantasy/action genre that gives us 100% realistic action scenes and requires no suspension of disbelief. Just one.

No, it isn't. This is disingenuous. The point being made is that in fantasy/sci-fi/action genres, there are many things happening that are 'unrealistic' or where characters have plot armor or they get rewarded (or fail to be punished) for foolish decisions. As a general rule, we as viewers suspend disbelief. I'll take "Reacher" as an example, since I just watched it last night. Reacher sneaks out of his window on the third story of a mansion, scampers across the roof, shimmies down a drain pipe and manages to make his way off of a well-guarded property without being seen, then manages to get back in the same way, racing the head of security who is coming to check on him. The whole premise is ridiculous. A house full of people will certainly notice a huge man running on the roof and climbing down gutters. Roof tiles would be damaged, storm drains would be bent and would not hold the weight of a 250+ pound giant human. And that's just a single scene in the show. It is silly? Yes. Is it believable? Not if you spend more than 2 seconds thinking about it. Is it entertaining? Yes. And the same can be said for nearly every show that fits into one of these genres.

It is used for all sorts of things, I'm sure. The Yellows use it to heal and cure disease. It is likely used to assist in building and irrigation projects (though we don't really hear about that much). But for the most part, as of this Turning, the power isn't put to much use beyond theatrics. It is hoarded and studied and leveraged but not much used because it doesn't much need to be used. To the extent that it does need to be used, it is the Greens that are using it for war and the Reds who are using it for "policing". The Blues use it to remain unobtrusive while they carry out their personal missions. The Black on the other hand, is being trained for just this type of encounter, which is why they can be so effective so quickly. It's shock and awe and the others simply aren't ready for it.

@Mailman you entirely dismiss how shocking this attack would be. Most of the sitters would be in shock trying to process how and why women they knew for decades are suddenly using the power to attack. Responses would be incredibly slow as they try to work out what is going on. Think about it. This starts as a trial for a rogue Red. Only Siuan knows she will reveal Liandrin as Black. The revelation of her as Black alone would be a huge shock. The Mother admitting such a thing exists would be a massive revelation by itself. Then Liandrin holds the power. The reckless act of a woman caught? What is happening? “Join me?” In what? Why are those sisters getting up? What are they doing? Are they going to help Siuan? Did they really just do that? Why? Was it a mistake? All of these questions would be banging around in their head - about people they know, like, and trust. These types of things can freeze even highly trained people (see the Uvalde shooting). Why is it so surprising to you that a room full of women who never imagined such thing (the Black Ajah) was possible and believed themselves to be the world’s greatest power - absolutely untouchable in the heart of the Tower - would struggle for a minute to react appropriately?

Yeah. But Moiraine is a unicorn.

Correct. This is book accurate. Aes Sedai are not used to combat in general. The Greens are the battle ajah. The Reds have to be able to go after men who can channel. And the Black are the Black. To this point, the other ajahs have no reason to learn battle magic. And they obviously would be taken completely by surprise by that level of violence in the heart of the Tower.

And a couple may have decided to sit this one out. Remember they are purposefully organized so they don’t all know each other and are being run by different masters.

Fomenting chaos and strengthening her position, I imagine. She'll force out the truth - that the man who proclaimed himself Dragon left willingly with one of the Forsaken. Siuan will explain what she did, of course. But that will only prompt questions: why were you there? why didn't you notify the Hall? how did you let him escape? Siuan is weakened, the Reds rise. Liandrin has control of the Reds. My question is why Liandrin caves so quickly. She doesn't even try to challenge Nynaeve. I guess she figured they would just swear her on the oath rod?

It's the part before the other Red sisters arrive that is the bothersome part. They are banging on the door. But they are screaming in near panic. Once the Reds get there, all bets are off. You have potential enemies on either side. Look, it doesn't ruin the whole thing or make the scene bad or anything like that (at least no more than it ruins any show that has an occasional clunky bit of acting or chunk of bad dialogue) but it certainly wasn't good. And again, there's certainly some reason to think that certain bits were cut out. The whole issue could be a result of poor audio editing. I have no idea. Whatever the case, it was a lowlight of the clip. There were plenty of highlights.

It wasn't the smoothest execution, for sure.

There are definitely nits to pick. I think @Mailman hit on most of them. They're mostly things that are common to every action/adventure type show though. It also seems that some juicy bits may have been removed - hard to tell. The things that my grumpy teenaged son called out were (1) the warders at the door and the (2) discrepancy in the use of the power ("why don't they just cut the black ajah sisters in half like that?") I pretty much agree with the first point - they should have reshot that. The urgency in their voices does not match what they are doing - you're either pounding on the door, asking to be let in because you aren't sure what's happening or you are fully trying to knock the thing down because you realize there's an attack going on. This somehow tried to split the difference. Not good. As for the second point, I pointed out that the Aes Sedai are forbidden to use the Power as a weapon. This means that the vast majority of them have not practiced using the Power as a weapon. They don't know those weaves, which is why they fight more defensively. Four of your sisters started killing their friends and colleagues? Most of them would be in total shock. (This also explains Leanne's vicious, physical reaction I think.) My biggest question is about the weave used on Verin. Is this a sign Verin knew her protege was Black all along? If she did, it's curious why she would choose her to be in the vault at that moment...

This goes hard. I'm super pumped for the season now.

They could be. But I highly doubt it. The scenes are pretty recognizable as Tar Valon which would be a big fail from a set design perspective if they’re meant to be something else.

Remember though, Jordan established that there were fake Horns of Valere floating around all the time, so this isn't a huge problem for me. And I can definitely see Mat bragging about it to the ladies. This is the official Amazon summary for Season 3: This is a big reason that I'm reading these scenes the way I am. And it makes more sense than it being about Elayne for another reason: Elayne and Rand aren't going to be together much. Rand will be headed to the Waste, Elayne to Tanchico, so there will be precious little time for them to interact. On the other hand, Egwene will be learning the Dream with the Wise Ones. We know Lanfear loves T'a'R and manipulates Rand there. We know she looks directly at someone while she's mooching Rand on the rocks. And Rand has an already established relationship with Lanfear Creating the seed that Rand might choose Lanfear out of love would be a really smart choice to make in setting up for the remaining seasons. Having Rand fall in love with Elayne immediately would be 'book accurate', but would bring more of a Twilight love triangle feel to things. I just don't think that's what they're going for. But I could be wrong.

What reaction? He doesn't say anything. And it's not clear that the clip of Rand they show after Eggy says, "do you love her?" is even from the same scene. I think the look from Lanfear while she is kissing Rand on the rock is extremely telling - it's the same rock where Rand and Egwene had their tender moment in S1. Lanfear looks directly at someone with that little smirk on her face. I'm assuming this is where Eggy comes upon them in the dream. I agree that Egwene would be up in her feelings if Rand was with Elayne. And I'm not discounting the possibility entirely. But the question seems more incredulous than jealous. More like, "how could you possibly love a forsaken?" than "how could you be in love with the really cute princess?" But I could be reading it wrong.

Counterpoint: this season is about Rand drifting away from his friends into madness. Part of that is because of the Taint. But Lanfear, playing the long game, is pushing on those cracks. She will use the dream to lure Egwene in where she catches him with Rand, prompting the question. When you listen to the audio, Egwene sounds genuinely distressed by the thought that he does. Why would the thought of him loving Elayne distress her?

Interesting. Why? I felt like it was the first time we saw the real Mat from the books.

I think it is a reference to Lanfear, not Elayne.

Welcome! Just dive on in!! Don't be afraid to ask questions.

It seems to me that the trailer is cut strangely. I'll get to that. First Two Rivers footage is at :36 and it is unclear to me what the perspective is. Initially, it looked like a big gap in a barrier to me. Looking at it again, it's more of a makeshift barricade and there may be some elevation. I don't have the time to play with the light, but its really unclear exactly what is happening in this shot. (But Perrin looks savage) 1:46 villagers holding makeshift shields, spears and bills. What I took to be a very dull looking spear at first glance is actually a bill hook. This seems pretty spot on to the books, though I do note that all of the villagers appear to be women. 1:49 trollocs massing and making their way down a mountain road. A drop on one side, mountain face on the other making a natural funnel. There are barriers in the middle of the road. Good tactics. 1:51 - this is where I think it is weirdly cut. Dude yells "Archers!"; cut to shot of multiple people drawing. All the bows are pointed up in this shot - appropriate to an actual volley, presumably aimed at the trollocs who are all grouped up in the middle of the road. But then... 1:52 cut to a woman with her bow aiming straight forward. Then cut to "LOOSE!". 1:53 arrows flying in a volley. Then cut to dude aiming his bow straight forward and firing as trollocs and darkfriends rush in. To me, these seem like two separate shots cut together to make something that doesn't really make sense. But if you assume the "Archers, loose" part with a volley of arrows happens in one scene and then the straight shooting at charging trollocs happens later during the battle as they overwhelm the barriers, it makes more sense. The Aiel spears look bad though, I'll definitely give you that.

I feel like it is hard to get a sense of battle scenes from trailers because they are almost never presented in any kind of context or with any kind of flow - just jump cuts. I haven't gone frame by frame, but I thought the Red Tower battle looked a little cluttered but otherwise pretty nice. The Two Rivers battle looked good for the little time we got to see it. What didn't you like?

So Moiraine should have no more screentime? And it doesn't at all mirror the line at Dumai's Wells. It is prophetic in delivery, not a command. We have no idea what the context is.