Windigo

I had a different take than this, I think getting the back story of the Aiel, the bore and even the AOL Aes Sedai was important. I understand that it misses the lesson to take the brothers down a notch in front of others, but I think the change in the Mat quarterstaff scene had more impact without an audience, especially since we see Galad and Gawyn showing off in front of an audience, this way contrasted Mat with the brothers in a real way. This was classic book Mat who never fought for glory, accolades or rank.

Prime video prevalence is is strong, but Netflix is still at least 3 times the number of subscribers We do not know if it is Amazon or Sony that is considering pulling the plug, could all come down to their contract negotiations. I do not think there is any way in todays streaming market to get a GoT. GOT was HBO which had market saturation on streaming and cable. Today even if you have multiple streaming, finding out what is on or even finding things to watch is not easy, even social media is more distributed now, compared to 2011. With only 8 episodes with 2 years in between, shows like WoT are just going to struggle. All of the lets keep actor's and everything secret for 2 years? It is like they do not understand the building of a social media and fan following, they need to keep them engaged between seasons.

This is where it is so difficult to appease book readers. The books have so much depth and story with arcs and characters and everyone has their own favorite parts. The Tower politics, the Salidar arc and Aes Sedai power struggles are some of my favorite parts of the books, and I am thrilled to see them showing more of it, I was happy to see the Galad, Gawyn, Mat fight but would not have cared if they had not because it is not a scene that I ever felt a connection too or cared that much about.

On the Forsaken Lanfear specifically mentions, Moghidean, Graendal and Semirhage, and the boys. So there is no knowing that either Graendal or Semirhage are "girls", we just know they are not part of the "boys" I could easily see either of them as non-binary.

The healing power creep really is an issue. It makes me really wonder how they are going to elevate Nynaeve having better/stronger healing talents, unless they only focus on her healing the mind, which they have called out as limited. Show Season 3 Spoiler

I thought that Steppin attacking Logain was pretty much warders rage, and only by watching him and with the help of calming herbs was he on a slow suicide watch.

It is a smart move, Jordan had to backtrack for book 4 to build out the story of the People of the Dragon, It works in long form to have all of the culture and story described on the page, and the understanding of dreamwalkers may have told them to take the Stone, but for media it make's a lot more sense of why the Aiel go to Tear at this particular time, and to have the dreamwalking "magic" and things explained on screen. I think one thing I have found at least with myself, is I have hit the point where I understand the choices of the changes, so in addition to everything that has improved since season 2, my trust in Showrunners and the writers has increased. I can look at the changes and see how they fit, even if I still have to speculate and try and figure out what they mean.

I am not sure what you mean by warder rage that feels very book accurate to me? I agree they have leveled compulsion up from the books, but I do not see it as being out of possibility. How many there would have had any idea of him or the Andor Nobility anyway? For most it would just be a simple suggestion, It would only need to have been stronger individual compulsion for those like Leane and Siuan.

I caught the Leane pause on first watch, but it took a re-watch to catch how masterful that was played, with editor cuts of the brief changes and pauses when Gabriel is introduced, and when Siuan welcomes him out of character with a smile and warm greetings. I need to go back and re-watch the first interactions with Elayne, and when he I think he was mentioned in a previous episode.

It is all such great foreshadowing to what is to come, they are unprepared. They were able to show in 15 minutes of show how though many are strong individually, the tower which is supposed to be a line of protection against the shadow, has done nothing in 1000 years to build anything capable of stepping up to the task.

A month on a boat was mentioned, we do not know how long they were in Falme before getting on the boat, obviously long enough to free any Damne left behind ( Ryma). Morgase was a bit brutal, I did not like that they had them swear and then their families killed them, better to have them killed and new family head swear? I do see the set up though, as now those families have real reasons to go against Elayne, not just some off screen actions while a forsaken is in control of things. Egwene openly defying the Siuan, this felt odd but not out of character, in the books they just defy behind their backs. The show is more opening showing Egwenes core and unbreakable strength, she has agency of her own much sooner, and after Falme, it makes sense that she will not let anyone keep her down. They have also changed it up enough that Accepted and even Novices are older, It is more like College and Grad students than a highschool boarding school. There is also the book cannon on hierarchy and power levels, it took the wonder girls forever to understand in the books, but I see them pushing this foreword in the show.

The Hall battle did have problems, but I think after re-watching a few times that there are rational reasons for some (though not all) of it. Sitters are not necessarily the strongest in power, but politically. Other than Reds, Greens and maybe some of the Blues most would not have trained with offensive weaves against other channelers. Even those that hunt male channelers are used to a single channeler, and rely more on overpowering to capture, shield and or still. That moment of sitting while the other BA got up is understandable with book canon. How many times did an Aes Sedai make comments about whether they felt threatened, or their life was in danger before they could act? Only Leane, Siuan and Allana knew and believed that Liandrin was BA, anyone else would need to know that fact or feel threatened, even to protect Siuan, they would have to know that she was in danger Then we also do not know how many other Sitters could be BA and decided to sit out Liandrin's mess, but not fight against them?

I am really hoping that they are just holding this off for later, just enough mention of the dark one breaking loose, to foreshadow it can happen later. If they get enough seasons to complete the full story arc, and not have to end on some partial win against just the forsaken.