Review of S1 E8 of The Wheel of Time, “The Eye of the World.” Spoilers for the episode and light spoilers for the books.

One of the stories as old as time is: a good guy fights a bad guy. And in order for this to work, we have to know what each guy wants, and what makes their desires good or bad. The earlier on in the story that we understand these elements, the more we invest in the outcome.

Unfortunately for The Wheel of Time TV series, it’s only in the season finale that we get to know very much about our central hero and villain and what they’re fighting about. And honestly, it’s hard for me to care.

The show very clumsily attempts to connect Rand as the Dragon Reborn with Lews Therin Telamon, the original Dragon from millennia past. It tries to say that the Dragon has always been at war with the Shadow. The trouble is, it doesn’t really show us anything resembling a war. More so, there’s a series of polite fights.

CHEERS

We get a flashback to the Age of Legends. Very cool see the AOL. Basically it’s Coruscant, but built by magic. WOT is not simply epic fantasy, it’s a sci-fi dystopian fantasy.

Cool to hear Old Tongue, and have to read subtitles. Gives it a unique feel of a time and place far away. The jewelry and costumes are cool. LTT wearing the same multi-finger ring that we later see Ishamael wearing is interesting. Lots of theories about what that is. 

It’s neat to see a close-up of Lews Therin’s dragon pin, in the shape of Dragon’s Fang. The acting by LTT and Latra was good. I believed their passion. And this is the more nuanced view of what caused the Breaking. “If you help us, we won’t fail,” he tells her. This is the truth of the matter. The Fateful Concord is what doomed LTT.

A little background here: in the Age of Legends, the world was at war with the Dark One, who was trying to break free of his prison. Naive Aes Sedai had accidentally drilled a bore into said prison, and the Dark One began corrupting people en masse. The world was at risk from falling entirely into evil. The Aes Sedai were divided about how to defeat the Dark One. They split into two main factions, and ultimately, Lews Therin led his faction of The Hundred Companions to bittersweet success: they “caged” the Dark One, but the male half of the One Power was corrupted.

And the entire world broke apart because the two characters in this opening sequence couldn’t come to an agreement. It’s a sobering lesson.

The Blight was creepy, especially how we see that it swallowed young men. It’s growing and advancing. There’s more to the Blight than a creepy forest but it worked for me.

Seeing the Seven Towers of Malkier, overrun by the Blight. It’s a foreshadowing of how Fal Dara and other kingdoms could also fall. 

We “finally get a conversation” between Rand and Ishamael (the figurehead of the Dark One). And I think I like his characterization. Very smug. 

Despite my complaints about how Nynaeve gets co-opted as a plot device, I really like her characterization and her care for others. And I’m so glad we get Lan’s romantic lines to her from the book. It’s one of only a few passages of dialogue that’s been word for word.

Nynaeve has several great lines that are true to character, like: “We’re no one’s but our own.” She’s a good representative of the Two Rivers spirit. It’s very similar to Texas culture.

Uno is great. He’s got the same sailor’s mouth from the books and pretty similar eyepatch. Agelmar is willing to fight and die at the Gap. The battle is pretty exciting. 

Fain’s entrance was a boss move. He’s legitimately scary. Especially because he’s the one guy who’s not scared of Myrdraal. They are his minions, not the other way around.

They are going with a different characterization for Fain compared to how he is at this point in the books. But I like it. Sort of like Aaron Burr from Hamilton.

Rand finally has some gumption at the end, and has this great exchange with Moiraine:

“Tell them I died.”

“I cannot lie.”

“You’ll work out a way.”

Rand knows that channeling will drive him mad, and he doesn’t want to hurt anyone he loves, so he goes off on his own. Very true to character. It’s borrowing a little bit from the beginning of The Great Hunt.

“This wasn’t the Last Battle. I fear it was the first.” Great closing line by Moiraine. The episode should have ended there, rather than tease the Seanchan invasion. 

GROANS

And here is where I unfortunately have to inform you, dear reader, of how and why nearly every other creative decision in this episode was terrible.

From the recap: “Whoever of you goes to the Eye and is not the Dragon Reborn will die.” Not book canon, but also not justified by anything in the show so far. And doesn’t bear out in the end. It’s a totally cheap plot device that fails to deliver.

Lews Therin Telamon was not called the Dragon Reborn, just the Dragon. He obviously hadn’t been reborn yet. Latra was not the Tamyrlin. LTT wore the Ring of the Tamyrlin. He’s even wearing it in the show! He was the head of the Aes Sedai, not her. They’ve gender swapped the role for no reason.

The two of them are having a polite fight about an abstract physics theory in peace time. Rather than a desperate debate as the world falls apart from war. Latra has read the books, though, it seems, for she knows way too much. And if she really did theorize about the taint on Saidin being a tragic result from Lews Therin’s plan, why be so polite in her disagreement? Preposterous.

“We will remain, to pick up the pieces as best we can if you [fail].” Unreal. The taint on Saidin ends the entire world as they know it. But whatevs.

Having this debate between only the two of them, in a living room, fell flat. “We’ve had this debate.” Presumably in the Hall of the Servants, with lots of other Aes Sedai joining the argument. Show that instead. This scene looked so low budget.

Perrin being afraid to follow Rand into the Blight, set against Egwene’s boldness. Then Perrin being afraid to fight to protect others. He’s been emasculated by this show. Completely out of character. The showrunner Rafe Judkins may not have made Perrin gay, but he’s certainly made him a wimp.

Lan never learned about Moiraine’s “tell” in the twenty years they’ve been together, but somehow Nynaeve figured it out after barely meeting her. And Nynaeve never really explains it. It’s another “Nynaeve Ex Machina.” Then Lan asks, “You would let me go without you?” When has Lan ever needed anyone’s permission?

The show keeps doing this kind of thing: knock a man down to elevate a woman. Frankly it’s more insulting to women.

In the books, Amalisa was not a channeler, much less an Accepted. In The Great Hunt, it says of her, “She had never as much as been to Tar Valon.”

Amalisa keeps repeating “The Gap will not hold.” Agelmar finally admits to her that she was right and he was wrong, saying, “We should have asked the White Tower for aid long ago.” That’s a 180 from the books. He begged Moiraine to fight at the Gap with his army, saying, “An Aes Sedai is worth a thousand swordsmen.” Once again, the show changes the story and demotes a man to promote a woman. It’s becoming so predictable.

It seems like a minor detail but it’s annoying how sweaty Moiraine is. Aes Sedai all know this one weird trick to keep from sweating. It would be so much more interesting to show this in contrast to Rand’s sweatiness.

Moiraine told Logain that he was a candle next to the sun compared to the Dragon Reborn. Then we saw Nynaeve channel in all her glory. But when the actual Dragon Reborn channels, it’s pretty lame in comparison––and he even used a sa’angreal, a 100x multiplier.

Speaking of, why did Moiraine have a sa’angreal that would work for Saidin? Does this mean she (correctly) knew all along the Dragon Reborn would be a man? If so, then why all the misdirection about the DR possibly being a woman? Or is the show trying to say that a sa’angreal can work for both Saidin and Saidar? Why is the show deliberately fudging the most central elements of the story canon?

There hasn’t been any explanation of Saidin and Saidar, much less even a mention. Why? The reason why Moiraine can’t teach Rand to channel, as he requests, is because male and female magical power work entirely differently.

The logic behind Tel’aran’rhiod, the Dream World, is completely broken. If you die in TAR, you die in real life. Just like in The Matrix (as opposed to Inception). Even small injuries persist. The show even established this with Rand’s TAR dream in Ep 2.

No explanation yet about the significance of the heron mark.

LTT took the Hundred Companions with him––technically 113 men––not 99.

Why did Moiraine allow Rand to sleep? She told him not to touch anything. Seems like sleeping next to a cursed tree would be a bad idea.

“When we get there, what’s our plan?” I’m wondering the same thing, Rand.

No Blight creatures. No desperate fight against them led by Lan, and fought by all. There’s just no tension at all to this version of the journey through the Blight.

The Eye of the World is not the Dark One’s prison, and it’s not decrepit, but an oasis in the midst of the Blight. It’s also not supposed to be deserted, but guarded by the Green Man. It’s not empty, but a pool full of pure Saidin. One of the important items the pool contains is a heartstone seal on the Dark One’s prison, which isn’t explained at all. It’s also too big in the show. The seals are supposed to fit in a pouch.

“What is this place?”
“We have no idea. Every record of its existence was purged from the White Towers libraries by Darkfriends.”

Ummm, are the Darkfriends the screenwriters??

Moiraine says the Aes Sedai have no idea what the Eye is, because Darkfriends burned the records, but she also “knows” that it’s the Dark One’s prison. And that whoever is Not-The-Dragon will die there. What?

Agelmar charges a wall, and then dies inside. Terrible, nonsensical ending to one of the top five generals in the world.

Rand’s temptation from the Shadow is wanting a domestic life with Egwene? What does that mean? The Shadow loves the nuclear family? Or is that Rand doesn’t want Egwene to be a stay at home mom? I get that Ishamael is tempting him with “making the world in his image” but this is kinda weak. This is the central conflict between the Dragon Reborn and the Dark One??

“What about what she wants?”
Ah, so that’s the answer to the question of why Rand was being tempted in this way. It’s so he could deliver this line. This is Judkins remaking Wheel of Time in his feminist image.

Ishamael’s consciousness can’t be in two places at once, and neither can Rand’s. You’re either in the Dream World, or real world, but not both at once. The show keeps using “fuzzy magic” like this to try and make a scene interesting. But this is a core betrayal of the “hard” magic system of WOT.

When Ishamael cuts Egwene, it should have shown the weaves. And he’s willing to just let Moiraine hold a knife to Rand’s throat, rather than channeling her away?

The Horn of Valere was just there in Fal Dara the whole time. Rather than at the Eye. Anybody could have stolen it. And someone would have, because Fal Dara had Darkfriends. It also makes no sense to say, “It’s for the Dragon. Without it, they wouldn’t stand a chance.” How were they supposed to get the Horn to Rand? How did Yakota even know Rand was the Dragon? And they really wouldn’t use it with the city about to be overrun? Surely it would tempt someone, like the Ring of Power did in LOTR. Plus they never even show the Horn.

Ishamael saying, “Don’t fight it” and to “open yourself like a sieve” is how female channeling works, not male. It would cause Rand to die. But he doesn’t seem to want to kill Rand.

Rand’s use of the sa’angreal is so pitiful compared to Amalisa’s channeling. But it’s also powerful enough to break the Seal under his feet. The Seal is made out of unbreaklable heartstone. And that’s not how it was broken in the book. Rand didn’t break it, the Dark One did. That changes the meaning entirely.

We didn’t get to meet any of the (other) Forsaken at the Eye.

An Accepted linked with weak or inexperienced channelers wiped out 20,000 Trollocs. This is not only unbelievable, it stole Rand’s moment of glory from the book. And even here in the show, he had a 100x sa’angreal! In the book, he had the entire power of the Eye at his disposal. It took all that power to wipe out the Shadowspawn army. These five women are more powerful than that? Why even have a White Tower and have Amalisa complaining about needing their support? Just throw a handful of women against the Trolloc hordes. Anyone at all. No problem!

Egwene brought Nynaeve back from the dead. The One Power cannot do that. It’s firmly established in the books. There are no “Life2” spells. Compare this moment to Book 3 when Rand tries to bring a murdered girl back from the dead, but only creates a meat puppet.

The show is breaking its own logic, and more importantly the hard limits that the books establish about the One Power. And what makes the books great are these limits. The magic system in WOT is more like sci-fi than fantasy. The show is making a mockery of this by treating it so whimsically.

Loial’s dead. Or not, pysch! Except he should actually be dead, because the Shadar Logoth dagger is worse than Trolloc poisoned blades.

Uno’s dead. Maybe? Judkins’ entire approach to character deaths is childish. In that interview linked above, he says: “I can’t wait to kill surprising people that are going to really pain book fans in their deepest heart of hearts.” But as my friend, Marian, says: stories are not supposed to “wreck” you.

Perrin realized the Way of the Leaf was dumb, but then did nothing about it. Why was he even in this episode? They’ve basically murdered him.

Moiraine has no plan at all. The “Dark One” (Ishamael) even calls her out on this. Also, it’s all terribly inconsistent. She wants Rand to seal away the Dark One, alone. But in Ep 1, she says that LTT and the other male Aes Sedai were arrogant for trying to do this alone. Which one is it? This is such hack writing.

What was the point of going to the Eye, anyway? How did that stop the Trolloc army?

How did Padan Fain know that Rand is the Dragon? Ishamael only just now found out.

No explanation to the significance of the shiny rock Moiraine is holding.

The Seanchan tsunami takes out an empty beach leading up to cliffs, and also a small child. Rather than Toman Head. Strategic how? Damane (enslaved channelers) wear ball gags instead of collars (magical devices called a’dam that control them). Probably a statement from Judkins about the evils of “silencing” a woman. Like what Agelmar did by interrupting and “mansplaining” things to Moiraine.

Besides the odd political overtones, there’s really weird costumes and spikes on the ship. They look like Mad Max villains.

RAMBLINGS

Why can Egwene listen to the wind, but not Nynaeve? Did the latter already form her “block” against using the Power, as seen in the books?

I like the opening sequence more and more. Shows the serenity of Aes Sedai. However, there hasn’t really been any Aes Sedai characters so far that embody that same serenity. Too much Mean Girls going on.

Moiraine’s story about being abused by an Aes Sedai made me wonder if it’s Elaida? But she’s also giving Rand bad advice about how to channel. He’ll develop a block.

Apparently Ingtar was replaced by a new character, Lord Yakota. They even used ADR (automated dialogue replacement) to change his name when spoken. But why? He was a complicated character that played an important role in things going wrong at Fal Dara. He was the one responsible for letting Padan Fain into the castle, but these dots don’t get connected. It’s just kind of random how Fain strolled in. This Yakota guy even says, “There are Darkfriends inside our walls.” Would have been so much better if this line had been delivered by Ingtar. Yakota is just another “Red Shirt” though.

Speaking of Fain, how did he get Mat’s dagger? No explanation. Also, it was Mat carrying that dagger to Fal Dara that led Fain there. He could feel the curse on it from a distance. Fain was also half-mad by this point.

Moiraine getting stilled is a huge change and jump ahead. It’s rather appropriate, however, that Ishamael says, “What did you think would happen?” And it’s beautifully and horribly shown. I thought being stilled means you can’t even sense the One Power, though?

I get that Perrin is talking himself back into violence / out of the Way of the Leaf. But it’s really awkward. He’s being portrayed as whiny and wimpy. He should have picked up the axe and fought. There was no resolution for him.

It’s great that we’re seeing how women can burn out and die using the One Power. But I’m not sure the passive members of a circle can die. Another good detail was how Amalisa’s senses were heightened while holding all that Power.

Only the three boys are Ta’veren (people around whom the Pattern converges). The fact that Egwene and Nynaeve are not ta’veren actually makes them stronger characters. They don’t have “ta’veren privilege” so all their accomplishments in the books belong to them fully. But the show just had to make them ta’veren, because equity or something. The showrunner continues to misunderstand the meaning of things like this.

Fain says he sent the Trollocs to kidnap them, not kill them? Except the Trollocs did try to kill them all. This is why we should have had Narg.

Rand keeps “remembering” things from his past life as LTT. In the books, this happens as a result of prolonged channeling because of the taint on Saidin. He starts to hear LTT’s voice and even learns some things from him. I guess this process is happening a lot sooner than it did in the books? It was a mainstay by Book 6 (but I’m not sure when it started).

Pacing, characterization, motivations, cinematography…it’s all so weak. My wife, Naomi, said she would not have watched it at all, much less finished the season, except for my interest. Compare this to the other shows we enjoy, like The Crown, where every shot is a painting. Or even Madame Secretary, which despite being on the nose all the time with political messaging, is still funny with endearing characters. All that WOT has going for it is good actors and music.

Rand asked Min, “Do I make it back from the Eye?” And she says no. Well, he survived, but then wandered off who knows where. So apparently her answer wasn’t about him surviving, but where he would go next.

THEORIES

They are going to erase the division between Saidin and Saidar. Which would unravel the story. But the weird thing is how they’ve now shown the ancient Aes Sedai symbol. The other weird thing is that on the WOT section within the Prime Video app, there are all these Origin Stories shorts. And they’re all pretty faithful to the lore. I don’t understand why there’s such a disconnect, then, with the main show.

My guess is Rand will go to Tear next. I know about the hunt of the Horn, but I don’t think he’ll be involved. He’ll be on a mission to get Callandor. Books 2 and 3 will be combined into S2, at least for his story arc.

Not much of a stretch, but we’ll get the Seanchan invasion, likely right away. It’s a change from the book to see that so early. I am pessimistic they will stay true to the nature of damane being slaves, though. It’s too politically incorrect, especially since a similar story got cancelled.

I don’t think Moiraine will be stilled forever. It messes with too many plot threads. But perhaps it frees Lan to be bonded to Nynaeve. Their relationship is certainly getting rushed, so wouldn’t be surprising. If anything is going to get in the way, it will be Nynaeve going through training at the White Tower.

Speaking of: we never saw that iconic scene from the trailer of Egwene emerging from the colorful pond. I was thinking that was going to be a Two Rivers rite of passage, with foreshadowing of the White Tower’s Accepted test. So maybe this will show up in Season 2? But Egwene doing the Accepted test would be inaccurate.

We’ll get to see a Portal Stone world. Heck, this entire show is one.