Figs and Mice

Anyway we will see over the next two weeks just what they can fit in to the time remaining. I do expect the 2 Rivers battle to take up rather a lot of the running time so doing full justice to the Tanchico confrontation and the hugely important scenes at Alcair Dal feels to me in a bit of danger . Hopefully they can nail both ; but fitting anything else (like Red Door action) in strikes me as highly improbable. WAFO , eh ?

Time zones , eh ? I had already watched ep 6 when I posted...

Not really the issue , though... The question was whether Ishy should have been free to touch the world at all in that time frame. He wouldn't have been in the books ; but a lot of the detail as to his ability to partially escape his captivity isn't made altogether clear so I will give them a pass - more or less. As they are clearly intent on continuing to expand the Liandrin arc I don't mind the scene. The other thing about it is that seeing the actor back - even briefly - gives me hope that we may yet see Ishy back (even as "Moridin" , though having the same appearance may be a problem !)

Except with only two episodes left adapting those three events is going to be awfully compressed even if we don't have any other "additions" taking up precious time. Hoping they don't make a mess of the finale but not betting my house on them nailing it.

OK I enjoyed some parts of that one , with the proviso that the whole healing thing has got out of hand. (And I agree the Alanna stuff continues to be pretty ropey) . As expected , the Aiel girl stood in for the unfortunate casualty in Tear so that important scene for Rand has been executed. Moggy was fun , as was the "music" scene in Tanchico ... and glad to see Thom back at last. Not so happy with what they have done with Faile's backstory (unless that was indeed her giving out more BS ?) . And I have never liked the Egwene/Rand/Lanfear "triangle" stuff so hopefully this episode has ended that altogether. Still reckon most of the changes they've made are far from being improvements to the story , and in many cases render it a lot weaker. But on the other hand at least it gives those of us hardened book fans a bit of a bonus in that we never quite know what is going to happen next so an element of surprise has been added to the viewing experience 🙂 Two episodes to go. 2 Rivers battle to take up most of one , I guess . Going to be a bit crowded fitting the rest of book 4 in ...

Just on my third full reread and currently approaching the "slog" so I will wait until I have fresher recall before commenting in detail . But I think I remember generally enjoying all the books , even if one or two plot lines seemed to drag on a bit further than would have been ideal. Don't think I was too bothered about different characters' timelines getting out of synch ? They were all operating fairly detached anyway for a lot of the time and they didn't have smart phones so I guess what happened in one country wasn't going to be known elsewhere overnight 🙂 At least we got to view the whole picture by the time we finished each volume...

Can't see them getting all that done in three episodes. 2 rivers battle certainly ; Rand will surely have to set the Aiel off in all directions (and subdue Asmodean ?) ; and the characters in Tanchico will have to do something... Will that be any kind of resolution or could that be left as something of a cliff hanger ? But I reckon the Tower split - and whatever they do with Moiraine/Lanfear - will indeed have to wait for next season. Which makes sense anyway. And yes : the limited screen time for each season has been a problem from the start. Apparently not something that is going to change...

Corum Jhaelen Irsei from Michael Moorcock's "Swords" trilogy . He has a few things in common with Rand , (apart from losing a hand quite early in the story - he also loses an eye , but gets "magical" replacements for both) being something of a reluctant hero. And I have perhaps an even greater affection for his companion in much of his saga , Jhary a Conel - who also appears accompanying other heroes in Moorcock's multiverse. An always cheerful and self deprecating "companion to heroes" who wears a hat similar to Mat's but disdains any armour or military garb...oh and always carries a small cat (with flying abilities) on his shoulder 🙂 A fun pair to follow.

My wife has not read the books , and she appreciated a little explanation from me as to what exactly was going on . Devilishly difficult to depict all the stuff about the columns and rings on screen (hence the need to introduce a brief instruction from the Wise One before they entered). But I reckon they did a splendid job on this pivotal part of the story 👏 Overall , best episode in the whole series so far. And vital that they did in fact nail it as a "fail" here would have just about finally turned off a lot of us. Can't stress too much the importance of getting some of these key details right as they are far more essential than a lot of the minor irritations over more "disposable" changes. Feeling a lot more confident now looking forward 👍

And looking back to that incident in series one (since it seems to have rather taken over this thread 🙂) I had more or less forgotten about it (the FFH) - like a lot of the stuff in those underwhelming early episodes. Didn't seem to lead anywhere : but of course it does raise questions about the availability of "magical" means of travel - all of which had more or less been lost to the world at this point in time. Which is probably why it was subsequently " forgotten about" in the show too : the writers realised themselves that it hadn't really been properly thought out in the first place and was best ignored going forward. Just put it down to bad writing and move on , eh ?

Bit of a low bar to clear 🙂 But yes , I do reckon it is picking up a lot - despite , as DreadLord31 said above , having plenty of details we book purists can nit pick if we wish. So the only things I would really nit pick about the first three episodes are : the Morgase out-of-character brutality on her ascension to the throne (I presume that was intended to be actual history and not Gaebril messing with our memories !) ; and the rather unnecessarily violent arrival of the Blacks into Tanchico : both strike me as "shock spectacles" which make little sense and add nothing to the plot... For all they are shuffling the order of events about , they do seem to be moving closer to the main book themes. The dark characters are all good (getting more prominence than they did on the page , which is fine). It has meant Liandrin and Lanfear have arguably taken a lot of the focus off our heroes so far but again that is OK as long as they handle all the main arcs properly over succeeding episodes. And liking Faile's arrival (Mandarb joke and all ) But I am still missing Thom !

I get the cruelty and Semirhage connection : but I think the sneaky "effectively invisible" aspect of the grey men rather screams Made by Moggy , does it not ?

Probably best not to over analyse the fight scenes : they are intended to be spectacular but obviously not too bothered about being realistic. Can live with that in context of a "magic" tale. Though I must admit I do have a little trouble with seeing someone getting two swords stuck right through them , presumably collecting vital organs on the way , but emerging intact with a little magical help from her friends 🙂 That plot armour is powerful stuff...

Generally a quite entertaining episode...the show is getting better as it goes on (though it is pretty clear they are keeping only the bones of RJ's story and basically writing their own narrative ; probably going to wind up in the same place , more or less) Not that this is awful in itself : as long as it results in a compelling TV show that is fine - even if a lot of it disappoints many of us who were hoping for something a bit closer to the original. But I really didn't like the Morgase as brutal killer queen opening : unnecessary at best and surely undermines the whole business of a once much loved queen with a reputation for benevolent rule over a happy populace ... until suddenly this is overturned when she falls under the malign influence of Rahvin and acts in a manner that swiftly alienates supportive houses and general population alike . As others have said , looks like a cheap shock scene to inject a bit of GOT into the show. Gaebril messing with everyone's heads so he's seen as being around for ten years also seems a bit of an unnecessary complication but it is quite a cool idea so I don't have a problem with it. Expected to see a bit more of Egwene's trip through the Arches ? Maybe will do so later in flashbacks ? Or not... I didn't much care for her rudeness to the Amyrlin on the way out either ; but since she was my least-favourite major book character and hasn't won me any more in the TV show I won't lose any sleep over that 🙂 I am still in the category of only about... oh , 45% happy with the show (up from 40) but if they continue to improve will keep watching with renewed hopes...