Wheel of Time S1E1: Five SPOILER-y Things
Dec. 1st, 2021 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerLast night I blogged 5 Non-Spoiler-y Things about Leavetakings, the first episode of the Wheel of Time streaming series. Here, as a followup, are my spoiler-y thoughts about the episode.
When I first assembled the list of thoughts in order of appearance in the episode I had well over 20 things. I've stitched many of them together into related threads and gotten it down to just ten. 😂 Because I like the structure of Five Things I'll post them as Five Things, twice. Here are my first Five (spoiler-y) Things about Leavetakings:
1) The first scene is a Gentling
The series opens with a posse of Aes Sedai, all Red Ajah, pursuing a man who can channel and is going crazy from it. Is that supposed to be Logain? The facts of the circumstance don't quite line up with what I recall about Logain from the books... but I don't necessarily expect them to. (See my remarks on differences in books vs. screenplays in my previous blog.)
The thing is, though, whether it's Logain or some rando false Dragon, it's a weird place for the story to start en media res. The scene incorporates numerous elements we fans of the books know well but doesn't explain them on screen. Does this work for viewers who haven't read the books? I presume the showrunners are trying to appeal to such as audience— particularly since the first book came out almost 32 years ago.
Also interesting here is what one of the Aes Sedai says when sneering at the man. "When you touch the Source, all you do is sully it." (Paraphrased; from memory.) This makes me wonder whether the teleplay is changing from the books' cosmology of separate sources for men and women to something that's shared. That would be a MAJOR change!
2) The Dragon could be a woman?
Moiraine remarks to Lan in an early scene that the Dragon could be reborn as a woman. It's possible she says that because she's trying ensure she makes no assumptions that blind her to finding the Dragon, but if the Dragon could be a woman... well, would a female Dragon channel Saidar, the female aspect of the One Power? If so, there would be no taint and thus the risk profile around finding the Dragon would be way different. Combine this with what I noted above about another Aes Sedai implying that there is no male vs. female halves of the One Power, and this is a MAJOR change from the books with MAJOR implications on how the plot of the story will unfold.
3) 20 years old so they can have sex 🙄
In my previous blog I noted that the young protagonists are older than I thought the books implied. Specifically, Rand, Egwene, Matt, and Perrin are 20 in the screenplay. And the reason for that appears to be... so they can have sex. Yup, there's a fade-out, fade-in scene with Rand and Egwene that makes it clear they've just had sex. And not for the first time.
This disappoints me because it smacks of pandering to a low-brow audience. It's a given that, commercially, the streaming series has to appeal to an audience broader than those who've read a series of books that debuted 30 years ago. That means it has to be competitive with other streaming content. And the biggest hit streaming shows have been heavy on sex. Hawk and I had a running joke about the prevalence of gratuitous sex scenes when we binged The Sopranos recently. And Game of Thrones streaming series, likely the commonest thing WoT will be compared to, was downright raunchy. "Show boobs and sex as much as possible" seems to be the modern ethos. It's sad that this story, which in the books was a classic coming-of-age tale, seems to be stooping to that level.
4) Nynaeve's a foundling
The streaming series depicts a number of changes in characterization. One is that Nynaeve has as her backstory a mother who was turned away from the White Tower. This gives her additional reason to dislike/distrust Moiraine. It also sets her up as a foundling— and thus someone who fits Moiraine's profile of a possible Dragon Reborn! Moiraine later works out that Nynaeve is too old... though the look on Nynaeve's face in that scene suggests she may be misleading Moiraine about her age.
At the moment I like this change in Nynaeve's backstory. It more clearly sets her up as a woman who can channel. (It's partly hereditary?) Moreover, Nynaeve's understanding of how her mother was turned away from the White Tower suggests there's more to that story— based on what the books convey about women turned away from the Tower— that will surprise her when she learns it.
5) Perrinis was married 😳
I was going to write about other character changes first, but I need to address the changes with Perrin right now because they are bad.
In the first scene with the 3 boys together, Rand and Mat chide Perrin, "You're married." At first I thought this was a euphemism. Like, You're not chasing skirt at Bel Tine because you're married to your job. But then Perrin goes to the smithy and embraces a woman there.
Uhh, is Master Luhhan a gal now?!?! I wondered for a moment. No, that's actually Perrin's wife. He's literally married. And there's even a subtle hand signal that she's pregnant.
Maybe they're giving each protagonist a reason not to want to leave home, I figured. But then Perrin's wife— was she even given a name on screen?— gets hissy. She's quickly made an unsympathetic character. WTF? Ah, but it gets worse.
In the Trolloc fight Perrin accidentally kills her.
I'll write more about the Trolloc fight later, but OMFG. What a fucking train wreck in this scene. Not only do they change Perrin's character— the books are repeatedly clear that he's uncomfortable with romance; he's a counterpart to flirty, insincere Mat and doesn't pursue a partner until book 4— but then they give him an unsympathetic wife, and then they throw her in the trash less than 30 minutes later. Awful move, screenwriters.
When I first assembled the list of thoughts in order of appearance in the episode I had well over 20 things. I've stitched many of them together into related threads and gotten it down to just ten. 😂 Because I like the structure of Five Things I'll post them as Five Things, twice. Here are my first Five (spoiler-y) Things about Leavetakings:
1) The first scene is a Gentling
The series opens with a posse of Aes Sedai, all Red Ajah, pursuing a man who can channel and is going crazy from it. Is that supposed to be Logain? The facts of the circumstance don't quite line up with what I recall about Logain from the books... but I don't necessarily expect them to. (See my remarks on differences in books vs. screenplays in my previous blog.)
The thing is, though, whether it's Logain or some rando false Dragon, it's a weird place for the story to start en media res. The scene incorporates numerous elements we fans of the books know well but doesn't explain them on screen. Does this work for viewers who haven't read the books? I presume the showrunners are trying to appeal to such as audience— particularly since the first book came out almost 32 years ago.
Also interesting here is what one of the Aes Sedai says when sneering at the man. "When you touch the Source, all you do is sully it." (Paraphrased; from memory.) This makes me wonder whether the teleplay is changing from the books' cosmology of separate sources for men and women to something that's shared. That would be a MAJOR change!
2) The Dragon could be a woman?
Moiraine remarks to Lan in an early scene that the Dragon could be reborn as a woman. It's possible she says that because she's trying ensure she makes no assumptions that blind her to finding the Dragon, but if the Dragon could be a woman... well, would a female Dragon channel Saidar, the female aspect of the One Power? If so, there would be no taint and thus the risk profile around finding the Dragon would be way different. Combine this with what I noted above about another Aes Sedai implying that there is no male vs. female halves of the One Power, and this is a MAJOR change from the books with MAJOR implications on how the plot of the story will unfold.
3) 20 years old so they can have sex 🙄
In my previous blog I noted that the young protagonists are older than I thought the books implied. Specifically, Rand, Egwene, Matt, and Perrin are 20 in the screenplay. And the reason for that appears to be... so they can have sex. Yup, there's a fade-out, fade-in scene with Rand and Egwene that makes it clear they've just had sex. And not for the first time.
This disappoints me because it smacks of pandering to a low-brow audience. It's a given that, commercially, the streaming series has to appeal to an audience broader than those who've read a series of books that debuted 30 years ago. That means it has to be competitive with other streaming content. And the biggest hit streaming shows have been heavy on sex. Hawk and I had a running joke about the prevalence of gratuitous sex scenes when we binged The Sopranos recently. And Game of Thrones streaming series, likely the commonest thing WoT will be compared to, was downright raunchy. "Show boobs and sex as much as possible" seems to be the modern ethos. It's sad that this story, which in the books was a classic coming-of-age tale, seems to be stooping to that level.
4) Nynaeve's a foundling
The streaming series depicts a number of changes in characterization. One is that Nynaeve has as her backstory a mother who was turned away from the White Tower. This gives her additional reason to dislike/distrust Moiraine. It also sets her up as a foundling— and thus someone who fits Moiraine's profile of a possible Dragon Reborn! Moiraine later works out that Nynaeve is too old... though the look on Nynaeve's face in that scene suggests she may be misleading Moiraine about her age.
At the moment I like this change in Nynaeve's backstory. It more clearly sets her up as a woman who can channel. (It's partly hereditary?) Moreover, Nynaeve's understanding of how her mother was turned away from the White Tower suggests there's more to that story— based on what the books convey about women turned away from the Tower— that will surprise her when she learns it.
5) Perrin
I was going to write about other character changes first, but I need to address the changes with Perrin right now because they are bad.
In the first scene with the 3 boys together, Rand and Mat chide Perrin, "You're married." At first I thought this was a euphemism. Like, You're not chasing skirt at Bel Tine because you're married to your job. But then Perrin goes to the smithy and embraces a woman there.
Uhh, is Master Luhhan a gal now?!?! I wondered for a moment. No, that's actually Perrin's wife. He's literally married. And there's even a subtle hand signal that she's pregnant.
Maybe they're giving each protagonist a reason not to want to leave home, I figured. But then Perrin's wife— was she even given a name on screen?— gets hissy. She's quickly made an unsympathetic character. WTF? Ah, but it gets worse.
In the Trolloc fight Perrin accidentally kills her.
I'll write more about the Trolloc fight later, but OMFG. What a fucking train wreck in this scene. Not only do they change Perrin's character— the books are repeatedly clear that he's uncomfortable with romance; he's a counterpart to flirty, insincere Mat and doesn't pursue a partner until book 4— but then they give him an unsympathetic wife, and then they throw her in the trash less than 30 minutes later. Awful move, screenwriters.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-02 10:15 am (UTC)Judkins responds:
Judkins's approach that some characters interpret ancient prophecy as needing to be taken with a grain of salt is fascinating. I give him credit for that. Still, though, his answer sidesteps the substance of the question. The Saidin/Saidar split is pretty hard-coded in the cosmology of story. Changing that is going to upend significant parts of the plot.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-05 05:52 am (UTC)