WoT S1E2: Shadow's Waiting

I recently watched S1E2 of the streaming series The Wheel of Time, entitled Shadow's Waiting. In this episode the "kids" from Emond's Field (in the TV adaption they're aged-up to 20 so it feels wrong to call them kids like in the books) continue fleeing their home flight with Moiraine and Lan as Trollocs and Myrddraal chase them. They face additional peril from Whitecloaks and the ancient evil of Shadar Logoth.

I've structured this blog as Five Things, but I'm going to try a different approach to spoilers here. I'll split out spoiler-y parts from things that aren't really spoiler-ish. You can see the whole blog without spoiler cuts by clicking the title.

1) Holy Shit, Whitecloaks are Evil

The episode begins with a cold open in a Whitecloak camp. ( Spoilers - and torture warning )

2) Victory at a price; Why Aes Sedai are distrusted— again!

In S1E1 I wrote about a scene that uses the rare "victory at a price" theme and also illustrates why Aes Sedai are distrusted. Another such scene comes in this episode, at Taren's Ferry. ( Spoiler )

3) What the Dark One doesn't know— and we're not supposed to know, either.

( Spoiler: Why nightmares matter )

4) "Sing of Manetheren" = All the feels

During their voyage across the steppes below the Mountains of Mist the Emond's Fielders sing an old song, "Sing of Manetheren". The lyrics are melancholy and sparse (link to Wheel of Time Fandom Wiki), and the villagers don't really know what it's about. Moiraine tells them the true-life history of their forebears, and it's an enormously sad story.

5) Shadar Logoth: Wondrous and Creepy. Things Left Out.

Shadar Logoth is an ancient city whose architectural beauty is surpassed only by the creepiness of its total lack of life. The shows skips over lots of scenes and places in the books to get the gang here, but once they do... wow, the production team clearly spent some budget on this place. It's a visual feast, and the foreboding tone is spot-on. They still cut it short for time, though, and in doing so raise some concern about how they'll portray the lasting effects of what happens here. In particular, ( spoilers from the show and the books )

Worse to me than whether this nit was left out is a huge missed opportunity I see here. Showrunner Rafe Judkins has said he's telling "the story of the whole series", not a linear, scene-by-scene story of the books. What's the missed opportunity? Show Padan Fain.

( Spoiler about Padan Fain from a few books ahead )

It's December Already?!?

It's hard to believe it's December already. I feel like I've finally accomplished August, maybe even September. It's not later than October already, is it? D'oh! Even my fingers have rebelled the past few days, seizing up at writing the dates 12/1, 12/2, etc. as if to say, No, that can't possibly be right.

The weather this week hasn't helped with my problem of December denial. Yesterday it reached 70 here, and both Tuesday and Wednesday saw highs of 73. (These are 21-23° C.)

The one thing that does remind me it's actually December already is how it gets dark early. "Wow, it's got to be after 9pm already," I've thought several times after looking at how dark it is outside. Then I look down at my phone and I see... Nope, it's only 6:15. 😣

WoT S1E3: A Place of Safety

In WoT S1E3, "A Place of Safety", the main characters are split into three small groups following their escape from a deadly horror in the previous episode. They try to reunite while continuing their mission. Along the way they face new dangers as the reach of the Shadow grows.

In watching this episode I was struck many times by ways the streaming series diverges from the books. As I've noted before, different doesn't mean bad. I judge each change for how it helps or hurts characterization and the story. Some changes work pretty well! Here are Five Things about changes in S1E3:

1) I knew it! The sacred bath-cave appears again 🤣

I've expressed surprise at the sacred bath-cave of Emond's Field in S1E1. It's something totally out of left field that's not in the books. I knew that given the directors spent time and money creating it for one scene— showrunner Rafe Judkins has stressed in public conversations that there's a tight economy on how many locations can be portrayed, and lots of things from the books must be cut— that if they built it once they'd certainly use it again. And they do.

( Spoilers from here on )