Gary Again

Man I hope they follow through on this, I think they have done a great job showing how Moiraine doesn't need power to stand up to Foresaken or be effective and then how manipulative and strategic she can be, it would be really cool for her to use the game of houses to get over on Lanfear and it would land harder because of how much Lanfear craves power to get beat by someone less powerful. Also I'd just add that I dig the Lanfrear/Moiraine dynamic in the shows when Moiraine asks if Lanfear really thinks she would hurt the kids to get them to do what they need and Lanfear said that's the only thing I like about you was just chefs kiss such a great line. I also think they are doing a great job with Rand/Moirane distrust in that scene I could understand both of their points of view and they both seemed reasonable and they are basically at 180 degrees to each other. I also liked how they just calmly had a conversation but there was no good common ground for agreement. This just struck me as a great and realistic way to cover this distrust and neither one of them is bad or wrong/right they are just coming at this situation from two different points of view and they fundamentally aren't able to come at it differently.

The scale hasn't been a big problem for me up to now but once the Aiel get involved it does start to bother me because that is a important point in the book is how vast those armies are in relation to the wetlands so if it's like 30 guys vs 20 guys that just isn't going to be as impressive as if you see a massive wave off Aiel come racing down a mountain or something like that. Like the end of this season I think they need grand scale for Rand being presented to the Aiel and when Randland armies start seeing Aiel they need to have that grand scale to drive home the WTF are we dealing with here moment. Not really sure what the problem is either people have been using CGI to duplicate extras to create massive armies for decades so it should be doable but the fact that they haven't demonstrated they are able to do it has me a bit worried. They are amazing on the visual effects though so I really can't understand why this would be an issue just I agree they have had really limited scope on everything they have done so far. The two Rivers stuff looked really good to me but again that is smaller scale than what I think they will need when stuff really starts popping off.

The columns are complex but I think they did a good job explaining it and while I would have liked to see the other visions they would have just added to this complexity without being necessary to the main story. We really don't have to see the maidens be created we can just see the fact that they exist and it really doesn't matter too much how it started where every step in the chain that they showed was needed and I like that approach because it's complex enough. I'd also say it seems like the thing that is confusing people isn't so much the Aiel story it's the last flashback with Mieren breaking the hole in the bore and they mention that earlier in this episode but I don't think they did a lot to set up the dark one's prison and the bore so I think this threw people for a loop and then Lanfear being there and mentioning LTT to Rand's ancestor. This is all directly from the book though so I don't think there is any way around this confusion I'm just glad they showed it and I thought they did a great job I was kind of shocked I was actually seeing it on screen it's such an iconic moment. I wish we got the full vision too with the shock lances and Ogier warriors but again that probably just makes things more confusing when there is enough going on. What I hope happens is if they film some of these scenes and even if they don't make it into Amazon's time constraints eventually we get an extended edition like LOTR where it has a lot of this extra stuff added back in. I'm not sure how realistic this would be but it would be cool if they did it like a directors cut.

One thing that really struck me after episode 4 is how much the audio added to the ring and bore scenes I think in both cases the visuals were amazing but the audio also added a lot. I think the casting and costume departments rightly get a lot of credit but I think the audio crew have also been amazing throughout the series. Some of my favorites have been in season 1 where Rand touches the seal and the music softly disappears, weep for menetheren I thought was amazing, the audio when they enter Shadar Logoth reminded me of the audio in the ring and bore scenes and really added to the otherworldly feel and I was surprised they tried to do the song and I thought they did a good job with it having a good and peaceful feeling to it.

Yeah I could see them having Mat do that in Tanchico to give him something while Nynaeve/Elayne deal with the black sisters. I hope they still do the doorway because I do like that part and then later in the books. I agree Mat didn't do too much but one part that always resonated with me was when stuff starts to go down and Mat just jumps on the rock and is ready to throw down against an insurmountable amount of Aiel, it was one of the cool Mat really is ride or die moments in the book. With Rhuidean you are right Rand came back in the books and the fog was up so they may still do that and the lake and I hope they do and I think that is the better water part. I was more thinking that part with Mat where he turns on the fountain but it wouldn't have worked as well with Avi unless you had her be insulted and they probably didn't want to go funny. I wonder if they are going to do the merchant caravan they still could and I liked it. I also liked how Rand kept making comments about not trusting them and everyone is like alright Rand sounds good. I ended up watching again and just some unrelated stuff was I loved that they gave Mat's knife scene to Moraine and I liked his incredulous look and then she pulls out another knife. I thought the speech about hiding his face and her Childs face being on a killer was really powerful scene. I didn't catch that the wagon was "futuristic" in the breaking but that was a cool touch. I feel like Latra's necklace may replace the wand as the big bad white tower sa'angreal and I like that as the wand may be a bit too Harry Potter. I don't mind a wand but I could see why they may rather go in a different direction. Looks like they have a gem for each Aja so that's why I was thinking it may be the Amerlyn sa'angreal or maybe that is the one that the wonder girls find but it seemed to have an Aja theme to it. One that I thought was cool was when the child asks his grandfather how they will get over the spine and he says together fits really nicely into some of the things Rand grapples with later. Also really liked Lan's comment about it taking a lot of practice to think about nothing and I liked how they did that whole flame and void part. Overall it is kind of shocking how much they packed into that episode but it felt well paced.

I thought they did a great job with it and I thought the way they showed the 3 rings was awesome and the visuals and sound combined to make things seem otherworldly. I thought they hit all of the important notes with both Rand and Moraine and I liked how they both shared that moment at the end. I liked how Rand played all of his ancestors and I like how there was a Mat and Perrin type when they went to take on the bandits I thought that was a nice touch. Also really enjoyed the Mieren part it was nice to see them talk, nice to just tie back to how long it's been and she's still the same person and then the dark one part was really great again I thought the audio they did here was really nice and added to the scene. Then seeing the breaking and start of the Aiel journey and the way they through in the modern shoes was cool. With Moraine I hope that some of those are actual scenes that we end up seeing, some should be choices that she shouldn't make but some should be the path that she has to take so it will be cool if they use some of those. Couladin was nice to see and Savanna as well. I kind of feel like maybe they chase the Shaido to Tear instead of Cairhen and if they do that it will be kind of funny if Mat kills Couladin without knowing who he is. Like what that dude was supposed to be a big deal or something? lol. Also looks like snakes and foxes isn't happening which I get that may be a bit too strange and also hard to do visually while eating up a ton of budget and not having that much to do with the main story. Makes me wonder how Mat is going to get his stuff. Maybe they do snakes and foxes just with Mat and he finds a door in Tanchico or maybe Mat just finds his stuff in Tanchico with the wonder girls. Too bad I really loved the scene in the books where everyone keeps stepping out of the red stone door lol like who didn't walk through this thing. One thing I missed was the buildings in Rhuidian being modern but then the shoe part was great so I thought maybe that was more powerful and they already kind of did the buildings with the season 1 flashback so overall it was fine but I thought that was cool how the Aiel live in them so maybe we still get that part. Also miss Rand pulling up water but there is a cooler scene with that later so again maybe we still get this part. I don't miss the Cheodan Kal too much it is kind of redundant with Callandor and this orb still gets the point across that the Aiel needed to carry that sphere to Rhuidian and I like how the tree grew around it I thought it was a cool touch. Overall I thought it was awesome and Rhuidian is not an easy thing to get across but I thought they did a great job and got the main points across well. The visuals of the 3 rings with Avi floating there were amazing that part really stands out to me and then the modern shoe for Rand's second to last vision was done really well also. I guess I'd add that the coming with the dawn looked beautiful as well great shots in general Rhuidian looked amazing.

I'm enjoying it so far and I think Rahvin is great, Morgase I thought they went a little too GOT with that whole thing but I like how they used that throughout the episode to set other things up. I think they did a good job making her ruthless but showing how much she cared for Elayne and she respected Elayne for standing up to her it was a nice moment. I also like how they are using that Cersi ness to make people wonder about Galad and Gawyn and the dynamic with Mat is hilarious and they paid it off well with the staff fight. I guess my one nit pick here is I think in the books Mat didn't whoop them because of his superior ancestral memories the joke was more that with extended range of the staff the sword skill didn't matter and a farmer that knew what they were doing could whoop any swordsman. I think he even put that in the history too where the best swordsman ever got beat by a farmer with a big stick lol. But still the entire arc of Mat vs the Princes was hilarious and this was a great payoff and I liked how Nynaeve started rooting for him. I also feel like they did a good job splitting and condensing the story lines I think they did a pretty efficient job of it. They have had some questionable changes in the past but I think everything here makes sense and each story has a lot going on. Rhuidian is just one of the best parts of the books, same with Perrin's return to the two rivers, Mat and the wonder girls and what happens in Tanchico should be good and I think each of these actors is also nailing it and then the white tower is set up well and I like Elaida and how they are setting all of that up. I think each of these stories is strong and will make good TV it should be a packed season. And interesting dynamic that the show has that the book doesn't is how much of what we see of Galad, Gawyn, Morgase and Elaida are what Rahvin set up with compulsion. That's a pretty interesting thing that didn't happen in the books but it's really interesting to me because all of them (and Elayne) could unwittingly be working for his benefit. It could make Rahvin more effective than he was in the books to have all of these people wandering around under his compulsion. I like that about all of the forsaken too how they are just sprinkling them in to the story organically and I hope there are some that are also already in the show that they haven't revealed. I think that helps drive home how insidious the shadow is. I also like how they are setting up Bornhald and Perrin where it isn't so cut and dry and there is a lot more grey area there. I think this is why they did the whole wife fridge is what was between Perrin and Bornhald in the books made the decisions too obvious and easy for Perrin, here there is a lot more grey area which makes things more interesting between them. Overall there some things I thought I would change but they don't bother me too much I think overall they are doing a lot right and it's shaping up to be a good season of TV. I don't know if they are going to pay off all of this in one year I think that may be a lot but it would explain why the pacing is quick they just have a lot to get through each of these.