Wheel of Time episode 1: Leavetakings
Nov. 19th, 2021 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primeidealThis blog is about to become Wheel of Time: The Show: The Squee liveblog. I will spoiler-cut each episode, but be aware that this is coming from a (very enthusiastic) book fan, so there may be hints or references to later book events. If you want a completely un-spoiled experience, don't read.
-Is the first scene (based on blurbs I think this is Liandrin stilling Logain) weirdly pixelated for anyone or just me?
-It looks like it's just that one scene, maybe trying to represent Logain's state of mind.
-We see the madness with Logain (or whoever)'s friend egging him on to fight back...and then the friend isn't really there, oof.
-"Four ta'veren"? Did...did Moiraine just say "four ta'veren"? !!!!!
-Lan cracking a joke about the bath temperature to tease Moiraine into heating it up. Okay Lan would never, back in his day he had to bathe in the frozen ruins of Malkier uphill both ways, he's not going to be fazed by a little chill. But, uh, we've already got one bath scene down. Platonic bros platonically sharing a bath, even!
-I'd heard speculation about Leila being added as Perrin's wife who gets fridged in the first episode. First appearance: Leila stronk. She is a blacksmith. And...doesn't really like socializing? Okay.
-The kids love Padan Fain! His cart is very decorative and it definitely feels like the right vibe for "friendly travelling salesman who all the villagers appreciate." Excellent props/costuming work there.
-Mat swindles the barmaid out of her bracelet to haggle it with Fain, haha
-The vaguely vocalizing background music (in particular, the Rand and Egwene on the mountain scene, but also in general) isn't really doing it for me.
-Nynaeve the mysterious foundling baby, hahaha, this is like my genderswap AU--how sure are we that she's not the chosen one?!
-And then Moiraine needling her about her age, but also trying to research, while Nynaeve is barbed and "I will protect this village even from you if need be!" Their dynamic is excellent!!
-The dragon's fang symbol being made out of dead sheep by the Myrddraal, gross.
-The holiday festivities involve lighting farolitos for loved ones who have died. Which gives Tam and Rand a reason to have the "the wheel keeps turning, even though we mourn our losses, we make the best of this life and hope it can be a better future" chance that doesn't feel like a cheesy Dumbledore rehash way down the line! (Uh, spoilers.)
-Tam with the heron-mark sword, yesss. The discussions of "well we have to cut down on locations, etc." for some reason made me think Tam and Rand would just be spending the holiday period in Emond's Field and wouldn't go back to the farm? But that scene was great. (Even if we didn't have Narg the Smart Trolloc.)
-Moiraine and Lan tandem fighting, love to see it!
-Nynaeve gets carried off by Trollocs? Um...
-"There's three hundred more Trollocs after you so we're probably going to have another set piece fight in an episode or two, also one of you is the chosen one, let's get moving." -Moiraine "Are you out of your mind" - Mat. Pretty reasonable response. I'm not sure this part completely works for me, I feel like "what the heck, if one of us is actually Lews Therin Telamon reborn we're all going to be panicking and stressing about it the whole time" could be a problem. There's also the fate vs. free will thing--like, part of the reason I love book-Egwene is because she chooses to come along on the adventure, she isn't compelled to by fate. And I get that this version wants to be more explicit about "women and men are equal, not just 'separate but equal,'" so putting Egwene on the same ta'veren terms as the other three might be a better way to do that. But there are tradeoffs. Which again, makes me curious how and when Nynaeve will enter back into things.
Other things: Mat "Not A Bloody Hero" Cauthon just rolling his eyes and accepting his duty to look after his sisters. Leila...I don't feel like we got enough from her to care, unfortunately, this could be a level-one fridging. Maybe flashbacks? But right now all I really get out of her is that she and the Armorer from the Mandalorian should be friends.
-Is the first scene (based on blurbs I think this is Liandrin stilling Logain) weirdly pixelated for anyone or just me?
-It looks like it's just that one scene, maybe trying to represent Logain's state of mind.
-We see the madness with Logain (or whoever)'s friend egging him on to fight back...and then the friend isn't really there, oof.
-"Four ta'veren"? Did...did Moiraine just say "four ta'veren"? !!!!!
-Lan cracking a joke about the bath temperature to tease Moiraine into heating it up. Okay Lan would never, back in his day he had to bathe in the frozen ruins of Malkier uphill both ways, he's not going to be fazed by a little chill. But, uh, we've already got one bath scene down. Platonic bros platonically sharing a bath, even!
-I'd heard speculation about Leila being added as Perrin's wife who gets fridged in the first episode. First appearance: Leila stronk. She is a blacksmith. And...doesn't really like socializing? Okay.
-The kids love Padan Fain! His cart is very decorative and it definitely feels like the right vibe for "friendly travelling salesman who all the villagers appreciate." Excellent props/costuming work there.
-Mat swindles the barmaid out of her bracelet to haggle it with Fain, haha
-The vaguely vocalizing background music (in particular, the Rand and Egwene on the mountain scene, but also in general) isn't really doing it for me.
-Nynaeve the mysterious foundling baby, hahaha, this is like my genderswap AU--how sure are we that she's not the chosen one?!
-And then Moiraine needling her about her age, but also trying to research, while Nynaeve is barbed and "I will protect this village even from you if need be!" Their dynamic is excellent!!
-The dragon's fang symbol being made out of dead sheep by the Myrddraal, gross.
-The holiday festivities involve lighting farolitos for loved ones who have died. Which gives Tam and Rand a reason to have the "the wheel keeps turning, even though we mourn our losses, we make the best of this life and hope it can be a better future" chance that doesn't feel like a cheesy Dumbledore rehash way down the line! (Uh, spoilers.)
-Tam with the heron-mark sword, yesss. The discussions of "well we have to cut down on locations, etc." for some reason made me think Tam and Rand would just be spending the holiday period in Emond's Field and wouldn't go back to the farm? But that scene was great. (Even if we didn't have Narg the Smart Trolloc.)
-Moiraine and Lan tandem fighting, love to see it!
-Nynaeve gets carried off by Trollocs? Um...
-"There's three hundred more Trollocs after you so we're probably going to have another set piece fight in an episode or two, also one of you is the chosen one, let's get moving." -Moiraine "Are you out of your mind" - Mat. Pretty reasonable response. I'm not sure this part completely works for me, I feel like "what the heck, if one of us is actually Lews Therin Telamon reborn we're all going to be panicking and stressing about it the whole time" could be a problem. There's also the fate vs. free will thing--like, part of the reason I love book-Egwene is because she chooses to come along on the adventure, she isn't compelled to by fate. And I get that this version wants to be more explicit about "women and men are equal, not just 'separate but equal,'" so putting Egwene on the same ta'veren terms as the other three might be a better way to do that. But there are tradeoffs. Which again, makes me curious how and when Nynaeve will enter back into things.
Other things: Mat "Not A Bloody Hero" Cauthon just rolling his eyes and accepting his duty to look after his sisters. Leila...I don't feel like we got enough from her to care, unfortunately, this could be a level-one fridging. Maybe flashbacks? But right now all I really get out of her is that she and the Armorer from the Mandalorian should be friends.
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Date: 11/20/21 03:50 pm (UTC)Also just very into the costuming so far. The cold open w/ Moraine getting dressed in her Aes Sedai gear made me 10% gayer. The holsters! The shoulder pads!