I am convinced that you have undoubtedly spent more time analyzing the show than the writing staff spent writing it in the first place.

"This is dumb." This extremely accurate statement can be applied to this entire show and every single decision they made.

More time was spent on Lan’s relationship with the other warder who died than his and Nynaeve’s relationship.

This episode reminds me of how excited I was before the show came out, and how much that hope was dashed so irrevocably by this point.

Nynaeve's tracking "tell" is honestly one of the biggest eye roll moments this season for me.

A long-standing critique of Jordan's writing is the way he handles romance, and the Lan-Nynaeve relationship is one of the most frequently cited cases of seeming sudden and jarring. Personally, I'm fine with the subtle clues that Lan is falling for her throughout the early half of book 1, but be that as it may, he did it miles better than the show did. The writers apparently think you can just pull a line out of the books ("I will hate the man who marries you, etc. . . ") and insert it in any scene, and it works.

I love how Nynaeve is better able to track Moiraine than Lan, a man who's been her constant companion for decades. What "tell" could Moiraine possibly have that Lan wouldn't have already figured out.

So, the way angreal and sa'angreal actually work is that they basically increase the threshold for how much of the Power you can draw on and hold befors it kills you. It's not an energy reserve or a multiplicative factor for channeling, it just raises your capacity for safely holding larger amount of the Power. Can't wait to see your Season 2 reviews! I really look forward to these, and your critques are helping me revise and improve the nascent story ideas I have of my own. Keep up the fantastic work!

The writer of this craptastic episode was the actual Showrunner, Rafe himself.

Spoilers ahead. The books fix it for you. It’s explicitly stated that another woman taking control of a circle can not burn you out. Also it’s utterly impossible to revive someone from dead with the power. It’s such an important and powerful theme in the books.

The "linking" that Lady Amylisa performed broke so many lores of the Wheel of Time world. It's what tipped me over the edge from extremely agitated to full on ginger rage beast mode 😅 I can't even put into words what was wrong with this (and the aftermath and magic healing phoenix tears of Egwene) 😡😡😡

The cold open is very loosely based on the conflict detailed in the in-world historical document "The Strike at Shayol Ghul", which does not appear in the books but was published as a supplementary bit of lore. However, the cold open changes almost all of the details of this bit of lore (very, very minor lore spoilers follow): Firstly Lews Therin was the one who wore the ring of Tamyrlin and stood first among the Hall of Servants (Age of Legends Aes Sedai). This scene should take place around a hundred years after the Dark One was freed into the world and 10 years after the beginning of the War of Power, where the forces of Light and Shadow faced off for the fate of the world. By the end the Shadow was winning, and there were two competing plans for trying to turn the tide. One was taking a strike force into Shayol Ghul in order to re-seal the Dark One's prison which was championed by Lews Therin and supported by the male Aes Sedai. The other involved using powerful sa'angreal in order to cordon off the forces of Shadow and give the forces of Light time to re-group. This was championed by Latra Posae Decume, a prominant female Aes Sedai. The other plan had all but failed when LTT unilaterally decided to lead the Hundred Companions to Shayol Ghul in a desperate attempt at ending the war before all was lost. While he was successful, the Dark One was able to taint Saidin in the process, driving all the men who were present at the sealing of the Bore mad and ushering in the Breaking of the World.

I think I’ll be happy with the show if Rafe finally comes out and tells us that he actually never read the books and his love for them was all a lie.

I must say I quite enjoy your slow descend into madness, lol. Looking forward to your take on the second season.

The problem with Perrin is he was intentionally written this way. He is meant to be morally strong and straight… this is important for his journey in later books. I guess his character was too boring for tv (or the writers haven’t read the book (take your pick)). But now his story is ruined😔

Sorry this took so long. It was a pretty boring review, so I was struggling to jazz it up. Also, took a day to take care of a sick niece, another day to do an animation for my friend GeekyOlHog's hogCAST #23, and then I was also battling copyright stuff again. But here it is! See you again for Season 2, Episode 1 (I'll be filming ASAP...hopefully before Friday). GAHAHAH! I just noticed that I missed a repeated "Anyway that's all I got for now" at the very end. Lol! I have no idea how that happened. Oh well.

just for future reference....anytime you start a question with "did anyone in the writing room think?" The answer is NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Insert Michael Scott Meme.

in the books Agelmar Jagad is one of the "Great Captains". 5 men who are commonly regarded as the finest military tacticians alive. they are, in no particular order. Agelmar Jagad, Pedron Niall, Gareth Bryne, Davram Bashere, and Rodel Ituralde. in the course of the books we, and the other characters, find out that (REDACTED) is better than all of them.

Sister, never mind that your analysis is on point and brilliantly argued, your video production skills (or team) is bloody brilliant! Damn... This is so entertaining! 🎉

I've really enjoyed watching you progress through the stages of grief throughout this series. Ep.1 was so optimistic, then an increasingly angry set of "why did they do it this way?!" And finally exhaustion and back to a bit of optimism.

"Knowing the writers of this show, I suspect subtle, but significant changes have been made" Yeah... subtle... that's the word we were looking for...

0:36 In your defense, I think the writers on season two also hastily grabbed the 3rd book when they were trying to get the second.

4:15 I believe the intent of this scene was to show the opposite of the message you saw. The show uses very obvious and cheap tricks to try to show that Lews is not a good person and shouldn't be trusted. Its has him try to convince the woman he is talking to that they should go with his plans, then it shows him get angry/aggressive and trying to shout at her, then it shows that he woke up and scared the child that was in that room for some reason. These are all cheap tricks to try to frame him in our minds as someone that is less than worthy or trustable. They show that he isn't a civilized person or that he is a conniving kind of person. Either way I feel like this scene was a bit of character assassination as even the actor said the showrunner explained it as he was playing the guy who did everything wrong and messed up the world... which is not the case in the books.

A friend of mine answered on an Instagram story I posted, saying that I had started the 8th book of the Wheel of Time. He said flat out that he disliked series. I took a deep breath, let the wheel turn for a few seconds and answered him that the series is nothing like the books and he'd better started reading them.

The reason the show runner called it another Turning of the wheel is because Brandon Sanderson (The writer who finished the series after Robert Jordan passed) read the initial script for the first couple of episodes and said he couldn't call it an adaptation of the wheel of time but to be nice he head cannoned it as another turning. This basically gave Rafe carte blanche to write what ever he wanted. Then there was reshoots. Seriously read the leaked script for a video it is so bad.

The thing with Lan and Nynaive is that they stole a line from the book without the context Lan would never be with Nynaive because he thinks he's doomed to die. The "I will envy the man you are with" was because he thinks he'll just break her heart if he is with her, so he deliberately stays away Problem is... because they are already having a relationship, it feels like hes leaving her rather than refusing to be with her in the first place

"Not sure why he doesn't just teleport." That cracked me up :D

In response to various comments about the show not making sense (the Sa'angreal, teaching Egwene, Nyneave tracking Moiraine, etc), the show wants to be different from the books, but they're not actually putting in the work for the show's story to stand on it's own without relying on book knowledge to help people understand what is going on. That's the long and short of it. In the season 2 promotional stuff, they're not even calling it an "adaptation" anymore - it's referred to as a "reinterpretation." It's their right to make a "reinterpretation," but they need to: A) Not lie about it being an adaptation; and, B) Make sure that their "reinterpretation's" story can stand on it's own. Standing on it's own story, season 1 does not make sense under any real scrutiny, from any honest person.

Book finale overall: Dark One's plans are thwarted, two Forsaken defeated, Horn of Valere recovered, army of Shadowspawn destroyed. Clear win. Rand in finale: Defeated Aginor, showed off his potential in One Power, destroyed army of Shadowspawn, saving Agelmar forces in the process. Also, found the nerve to consciously confront the Shadow. Clear progression. S1 finale overall: Ishamael liberated, Agelmar army destroyed, Horn of Valere stolen, Moiraine stilled, Rand is gone. Not even close to win. Rand in S1 finale: did practically nothing, but if he was one to liberate Ishamael, then he actually did more harm, than good. And his big revelation was that Egwene doesn't want him. Eh? Why, Lisa, why?

You stated exactly what I noticed about the characters in the show. In the books, they have so much depth and believable growth, but the show writers have made them all unlikeable, one-dimensional, and have left little room for growth. Robert Jordan already had a rich world, a nuanced and logical magic system, a fantastic plot, and beloved characters to draw from… the work was done for them, and all they had to do was portray it on the screen. Instead, the show has the feel of a teenage drama written by a 13 year old.

I just wanted to say thank you for your reviews. I started reading this series as a teenager in the 90's. I've read all the books several times. For awhile I would even re-read the entire series over with each new release. I admit that Jordan had his flaws as an author but overall he created a rich world filled with characters I love. To see the destruction of his IP is very painful to me. Your reviews have just the right mix of humor and frustration to provide some much needed catharsis. Again, thank you!

it's so nice of the writers to rewrite the men sacrificing their lives and minds to imprison the darkone knowing they didn't have enough power without the women who were too afraid (and spoilers suspected something) after a long long war, started when lanfir board through the prison, and changed it to "look a man bet he sucks... yep" it's like pottery it rhymes

I’m fully into believing this entire tv series is a money laundering scheme. They spent so much money, but where did it go? Not to the writing, the sets, the costumes, the directing, the special effects.

The problem with Perrin and Egwene is there is ZERO romance or romantic tension between them in the actual book series. And he doesn’t start off with a wife that he kills. This is all extraneous BS that the show is pulling out of their nether regions.

It cracks me up everytime you call the blight dagoba. The blight in the show looks nothing like how its described in the book, but thats consistant for the show.

Having Min's visions be able to be wrong completely breaks lore. Everything she see is supposed to come true even when she doesn't understand the vision. Attempts to change what she sees will only lead to making it happen.

There was no way for Moiraine to tell. An angreal is a tool. There was no way for her to know how he would use it. This whole change to the plot is painful. It is terrible. Mary Sues save the day after dumb men couldn't do anything right.

Evil Guy not having black tainted magic is actually lore-accurate because the male Forsaken are protected from the Dark One's corruption, because naturally it would not be very useful for the Dark One if his most powerful agents died from insanity.

The power scaling in this show is now forever broken. Viewers can never take trollocs seriously knowing that just 5 untrained channelers can wipe out entire armies. There are thousands of channelers in the world , the dark should never again pose any threat.

Ah Amazon. When the fake copyright strikes fail, try the ol’ 3am premiere trick. Joke’s on them: people around the world hate this show.

Omg I had to watch this review twice. The beginning is so hilarious. You are amazing. I appreciate all of your work on this. I hope to see you go into season 2 of the show.

If it makes you even more angry... Remember back to the prologue of ETOW. LTT "wore the ring of Tamylrin" and stood "first among the servants"...

By the way, all of your video edits in this episode have been hilarious, particularly all the DBZ stuff 🤣🤣🤣

In the books, the characters have to fight off the desire of always embracing the One Power cause when they channel the world becomes alive, more vibrant and coloful, and when they stop channeling the world seems grey once again. In fact, they miss the Power and crave touching it when they know they cannot do it.

I laughed while watching your previous video when you jokingly said the eye of the world is probably just going to be a big hole in the ground.

Another problem with the sa'angreal... if she didnt know it was going to be a Man... why does she have a male sa'angreal in the first place? Also, our conclusion in our reviews, the prologue of episode 1 with the sa'angreal was a reshoot where they added this object back in at the begining because they invented it for E8 and then realized it never existed before that.

it's funny how the writers of the show wanted to have big dramatic character moments, but by deciding to change everything they never got a single one right. But then again, I find that these writers are Malicious, Vindictive and Incompetent. They deliberately want to destroy and subvert Robert Jordan's work to "fix" it by dismantling everything about it, but they do not have the skill to replace it with anything even half as worthy as the original story.

So they way linking works is this: The people who will form the circle, aside from the head of the circle, open themselves up to the Source as though they're about the reach out for it but they restrain themselves from touching it (yes, it's supposed to be difficult because they stick themselves in this intermediate state), and the head of the circle reaches for the Source THROUGH the people in this intermediate state (same way they reach through angreal/sa'angreal for the Source). This amplifies the combined power of the channelers linked in a Circle, though to a lesser extent than even an angreal of lesser strength I believe, which is why Amalise can be useful in the Circle because in the show she's portrayed as being too weak to attain the shawl, but not so weak that she's hardly capable of channeling at all. Edit: additionally, much like with almost all angreal/sa'angreal, channelers in a Circle cannot be forced to draw so much power that they burn themselves out, and burning out just removes their ability to channel, not kill them.

Not that I enjoy others misery, but I love this video if made me smile while working. Smile knowing there are honest youtuber reviews out there

"No monsters in the blight." Sadly, the real monsters were in the writing room.

The opening scene is not spelled out in the series itself. It is more heavily explained in a short story that was released called 'The Strike at Shayol Ghul'.

Your comment about thinking that the writers/showrunner think the books are too complicated for the show to properly convey is probably right. But, if they felt that way, they should never have been allowed to create this travesty.

It took 10 seconds before I laughed out loud. I think the opening music choice really captures the enduring glory of this episode! :D Laughed again at 22 seconds when you did the boink sound

Omg that linking scene I can't stop laughing, now I'm imagining all the book scenes with that style of linking and it's so ridiculous, like you-know-who at the last battle with their crew, the entire hilltop would just look like a rave 😂

They truely believe that Nynaeve is just behaving like an independent woman. They think that all ofbus that dont like her, are just insecure and uncomfortable with strong woman.

The cold open is weird 1. If the Dark One isn't imprisoned, why isn't he trying to break the Wheel and destroy The Light? Is he choosing to chill out at home and just...do nothing? And did LTT just decide one day to do it? In the books the Dark One and his followers - the Forsaken to name a few - were busing screwing everyone over, but if the Dark One wasn't influencing the world, then why are there Forsaken? 2. LTT is refered to as "The Dragon Reborn", but as far as we know the only 100% confirmed Dragon is LTT so how can he be "Reborn"? In short, the show sets up LTT as a person who decided to do something extremely risky and arrogant for no other reason than he thought he could do it. In the books the Bore is sealed by necessity - The Dark One broke free and had to be contained. Oh, and there was no Tamyrlin during The Age of Legends - but in the prologue to EoTW we do hear about "The Ring of Tamyrlin" which LTT wore.

I can't really answer your question about the Dark One being free without spoilers because I think it is at least 2 if not more books before we understand what happens at the end of each book and what is going on with the prison.

Thank you! You have no idea how much you helped me through emotional and psychological turmoil with the TV series. Hearing your thoughts was a blessing. I am not... We are not alone. We are not mad for repeating over and over how incompetent is the writing. Thank you for the constant mantra "Just shut up and listen" while you continiued your struggle to say "No! I will pay attention to the script!" This mantra was said to me countless times when the one thing I do differently is to pay attention. Only to pay attention what they are showing us, what they are telling us, what they are writing. Nothing else. We are not mad for that. We just want competent storytelling.

1:02:12 Perrin was also afraid of turning feral through his wolf powers.

Rafe hates the source material. He hates Robert Jordan. He hates the characters, and he hates the plot.

Your reactions and reviews have been great 😆👍 Keep them coming. I'm not watching season 2, though I'm watching youtube reactions and reviews so i know what's happening, but I will definitely keep watching your content 👍 You did a great job of making a "drab review" funny and entertaining while critiquing the shows flaws.

OH SNAP! (Haven't even watched yet) [Craig Robinson gif]: "This is so excitin'" 😁🤘🤘

Happy to see you finished this... also sorry. For you. For having done this to yourself.

Well that put in words exactly what I was feeling at the end of Season one. Amazon have put out a video to hype up season two. I sat through it, but it was the usual rubbish. It had the actors, the writers, and the editors all saying how much better it was than Season One, and how much they were being faithful to "the intent of the books". The only part of it that made the time I'd spent on it worthwhile was when the series editors confirmed to the host and each other that Amazon went with Rafe because they had specific instructions on how they wanted him to re-interpret the books for their audience. This isn't Wheel of Time, it isn't an adaptation of Wheel of Time, nor is it fan fiction of Wheel of Time. Its a new story from Amazon that is ripping off the Wheel of Time in the worst kind of plagiarism. I've watched the first three episodes of Season Two and it's already worse than Season One. I won't put any spoilers. As you say not only is the butterfly going mad, but apparently has amnesia for most of what happened in Season One. I'll just state I've had to stop watching for my health. I was starting to rant at the TV, so I've gone back to re-read the books. I don't want the information in this show to be the last thing in my head about this series.

A big problem is that the show runners tries to throw in things from the book, but forgets that it makes no sense. Like a teacher showing a difficult mathematic answer, but gives no information on how he got to the answer. So when Moraine says "dont touch anything" it comes from the books, as the blight is deadly. When Rand accuses Moraine for having plans within plans it is partly because Tom tells them to be vary of the aes sedai and that what they say isnt allways what they mean. And Moraine keeps almost everything from the boys. She is trying to figure out what the dark one wants with the 3 boys. She doesnt know that one of them is the dragon reborn, all that she knows is that if the dark one wants something, she will do anything to prevent it, even killing the boys.

Te crazy thing is they made it very public that they have a “book expert” on their staff to make sure they’re following the spirit of the story or whatever.

Integrity and moral values (edit: whatever the moral values of a given character or book society may be) are a HUUUUUGE part of the morality play aspects of the books. Rafe&co seem to me to have taken on the show project *specifically* to vilify anything and everything they see as "conservative" (whether socially or politically)

The producers of the show: *"Just shut up and enjoy the show."* that is legit the attitude they seem to have on this kind of crap, and I had to laugh every time you said it to keep going with the review. Great video, loved all the edits, thank you for taking the extra time to do so, they make it oh so entertaining. I believe other people have commented about some of your questions, but I'll make an attempt as well. In the books, you find out a little at a time about the various items and tools that have been made using the One Power. Sometimes they will mention an item that has been imbued with the Power while it was being formed and that gives it special properties such as never needing to be sharpened in the case of a knife or sword--they may never DO anything really special, they just ARE special because of how they were formed, like Cuendillar. These are always ancient items from before the Breaking of the World because that Talent has not shown itself in any channeler since the Age of Legends. After that, there are two other categories of tools that not only are created using the One Power, they always so something special on top of that. As (sort of) shown in the Amazon series, angreal and sa'angreal always help a channeler use more of the One Power than they could ever use naturally and sa'angreal are basically just super powerful angreal; the way they are used is a channeler will reach THROUGH the angreal/sa'angreal and pull the Source into themselves, they don't channel into the angreal/sa'angreal, and some angreal/sa'angreal can only be used by men while others can only be used by women. Now ter'angreal are interesting because these have soooooooo many different functions depending on each individual ter'angreal. Some of them can only be used by channelers and require the One Power to be channeled into them while others can be used by regular people who don't have any connection to the One Power at all. At the beginning of the series, all of the ter'angreal in existence have been there since the Age of Legends, because again, the Talent for creating ter'angreals had never shown itself in any channeler since that time period, OR no one knew they had the Talent/knew how to use the Talent. Now, one special ter'angreal I'd like to mention is one called a Well that a channeler DOES channel into to store some of the Source a little like a battery. They were designed to be used in places like the Stedding where the One Power cannot normally be used--just wait til you read about the town of Far Madding, it gets really interesting anytime that town is involved. Believe me, I have oh so issues with the sloppy disconnected dialogue, super angsty/teenage type romance storyline, illogic and inconsistencies in character's actions and attitudes, the list goes on. But like you said in this video. I'm in this for the long haul--I have to see how badly they butcher such a great book series the farther along they go. I really wish that people who actually cared about the source material had been in charge of this show. When I think of great adaptations, the number one I always point out are the four movies in The Hunger Games series for book accuracy. While there were a few things from book one I would have loved to see, like the mutts in the arena having the dead tributes' eyes to super freak out Katniss, I think the first movie did a pretty decent job. The studio probably told the writers and directors that the movie including credits had to be less than 2 and a half hours, which is probably why it's about 2 hours and 20 minutes. From there, once the studio knew it would be profitable, they probably told the writers and director they would be okay with the rest of the movies being very faithful to the books even if that meant they were longer/broken into two parts, or the writers and director approached the studio and pointed out how well the first movie had done and asked the studio to allow them the extra time and resources to more faithfully adapt the books. However it went down, I am sooooo satisfied with how The Hunger Games movies turned out and I could watch them a million times and never get tired of them because they are that well written, directed, acted, etc on a budget of less than $500 million for all four movies. I am soooo sad that a studio spent $80 million on an 8 episode season, which is basically the same budget as season 7 of Game of Thrones--each episode of that season cost an average of $10 million per episode so about $70 million total for the seven episodes, and it doesn't look nearly as good as Game of Thrones did, it isn't even as well written as season 7 had been--and since that was one of the seasons without a book to adapt from there were definitely issues, but none as big as The Wheel of Time series has. On another note, **Dripping with sarcasm:** I can't wait to watch The Rings of Power and see how the half a *BILLION* dollars spent on that show's first season measures up to the crapfest that was Wheel of Time Season 1. Gonna watch that show before diving into The Wheel of Time season 2--I need a break from this crap to watch some other crap...

Just a quick one about Min and what she saw etc without going into heavy spoiler mode. Min can't always interpret what she sees correctly as she doesn't know the scenario or the actual time it will happen. We get this a lot in the books. It could be the next day or years from now. As I'm sure you know now you've seen some season 2, Rand didn't actually go and battle the dark one at the end of this episode. PS. I'm determined that Agelmar is another fake out death 🤞 He is one of the 5 great captains and he plays an important role in the last battle. To kill him off now would just be bizarre 😬

24:57 you're not missing anything. Not only has Moiraine not demonstrated plans within plans within plans. She can't even orchestrate a single plan that makes the least bit of sense. I mean... Her plans: - Find the Dragon Reborn + but she never identifies the dragon reborn for sure while she rushes toward a confrontation that requires the Dragon Reborn. - bring the Dragon Reborn to the White Tower + Why? Unless trollocs were trying to bust down the gates, bringing him close to Reds is the worst possible option - and would reveal her scheming with Siuan. - weaken Liandrin so she can't pull strength from her only ally in her mission + instead weakens herself *and* her ally in the Tower because she seems to forget that *she watched* Liandrin gentle a man without a trial in the opener for episode 1. - Find a way out of Tar Valon after the head of her Ajah told her to stay + gets exiled potentially permanently, creates a rift between her and her ally, *and* effectively revealed their scheming (but thankfully the other Aes Sedai don't appear to be able to put two and two together either 🙄).

The reason that Rafe Judkins does not want a binary magic system on the show, is because it does not account for non-binary people. In the books, Saidin and Saidar are opposites, Ying and Yang. In the books, only women can see the weaves of Saidar and only men can see Saidin weaves. The whole magic system on the show has been blurred, so that gender can be fluid.

8:54 lol, they've been doing this from the start! They keep going to sleep (or stopping) for absolutely no reason aside from inserting some contrived story element to move things "forward." - Moiraine and Lan go to take a bath and then bed instead of hanging out in the common room to learn things that night. - They stop to rest while running from the trollocs, then look out over the hills the Trollocs are coming from. - They wake up when a Fade finds them, run like 10 minutes, then immediately try to go back to sleep in Shadar Logoth *until night time* when Mashadar comes out. - Perrin and Egwene light a fire the morning after. He says he'll keep watch. And instead they both go to sleep until their fire goes out. - After learning Dana sent for a Fade, Rand and Mat run until morning, then spend *an entire day* helping out on someone's farm so they can sleep in an open barn the following night (and guess what? The Fade catches up to them since they were only 8 hours ahead of it and settled in for the next 24 hours). - Mat is doing not super great, but not terrible during the month it took them to reach Tar Valon. Then he lays down to rest and is deathly ill within two days. Nynaeve walks in, doesn't inspect him at all, doesn't ask Rand how it progressed, then tells Mat he needs to rest. - Lan's good buddy commits suicide while he was on suicide watch, and the following night Moiraine meets up with Siuan in Tear using a ter'angreal, and instead of coming back so Lan can sleep the night before their trip, she sleeps in the hut with her girlfriend, so he has to stand guard all night long. - Then they go to the Ways, and the very first guiding is damaged... So I guess that means time for another nap! - Then they get to Fal Dara, and instead of formulating a plan together, or going straight to the Blight - they just sort of stroll the city and hang out at a bar (yes, to see Min, but saving a few of their lives is useless if *none* of them know what to do). - Then this instance - and they've been traveling for maybe 3-4 hours after Moiraine woke up.

2:06 just getting into it, and I'm so excited! But quick point - there's no big reveal about the details around Lews Therin's foray into stopping the Dark One in the main book series. You get kernels of information throughout, but most of it comes from the companion book (Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time - colloquially known as the BWB, or the Big White Book of Bad Art). This book is best to read after book 5 if I remember correctly as it may spoil a few things (particularly in regard to the Forsaken). But there is a chapter on the breaking of the world and the Age of Legends with so much great info! It reads very much like a history book, where the historians still don't know everything, but they've got a narrative view about what happened during that time based on what little information they've been able to gather.

Lol love the Big Trouble in Little China clip 🤣!!! Such a great movie

Alright, finished watching... I feel like your final thoughts were very fair. You clearly did not like the show, but the reasons you gave were all legitimate and backed up. I am glad you like the books and hope you'll continue something with them even if you end up dropping the show for one reason or another. I feel like the, "it's another turn of the wheel," is a bullshit excuse. It's given in an attempt to deflect any and all criticism of the show into the, "it's just angry book fans complaining." A faithful adaptation (or something that at least appeared to be an attempt at one) could have easily fallen into "another turning of the wheel." This show is not that and has not earned the right to be called, "another turning of the wheel."

Woohoo looking forward to this 😂 In a sadistic kinda way as this episode is truly awful 😅

One of my favourite "so bad its funny" moments is the epic cavalry charge of the Shienarans from Fal Dara into their own fort at Tarwins Gap behind their own lines 😂. I think they were going for the charge of the Rohirrim in LoTR:RotK

Why'd you upload this at 1:30 in the morning? I was about to go to bed and try to have a healthy sleep schedule for once!

I was waiting for this one😁. The thumbnail alone was enough to tell me it was going to be a good.

Disagree about Agelmar's crow costume. Like maybe it looked cool, but remember: Crows and ravens are creatures associated with the Dark One...

A lot of the problem with the Nynaeve/Lan stuff in season 1 is that this relationship is a SLOW burn in the books. It feels rushed and unearned in the show because it is. Both characters are very duty focused and it takes a long time for the subtle attraction (and the reframing of their duty) to convince them both that the relationship is worth pursuing even if they feel duty bound to set it aside. Lan's whole "I'll hate the man you love" thing is really powerful in the books because of it's timing and the build up to it, but the writers were so eager to put it on screen because it's a big emotional moment for both characters they had to blow it in the first season. As for Amalisa and her linking/channeling. Its plausible that she should be able to channel (maybe even with some skill) but not be an Aes Sedai. You'll read more about how women become Aes Sedai and learn to channel, and the second season has actually done a decent job of showing how that works (relative to season 1, so not a high bar to clear). But yeah, the audience certainly shouldn't be expected to know that at this point, and Moraine makes it pretty clear that Amalisa is weak and unskilled. Linking is poorly explained, and the fact that it's happening at all is stupid when it should be Rand wiping the Trollocs out. Egwene bringing Nynaeve back from the dead is hugely bad for reasons revealed in later books. Like major plot point in Rand's development and a small revelation on how the universe works, just thrown in the trash. It'll require either a big time retcon "Oh she was never actually dead", or they'll just have to skip over a big moment in Rand's development. Anybody's guess, and a waste of time either way.

It's striking to me how similarly Amazon handled WOT and ROP. In both cases if really felt like they were running from the same playbook-Buy rights to an existing popular IP, then intensively rework the material to force in character themes, plot elements, and tropes (love triangles/mystery boxes etc etc) lifted from other popular shows, and finally pour money on it like gasoline on a fire trying make it look like a "premier high-budget production" (they only arguably pulled this off in WOT's case). It's all corporate committee decision making from top to bottom, probably picked from a list of elements known to drive audience engagement... devoid of any respect for the material, artistic ambition or even particular concern for any level of internal-consistency-with a bit of in-universe window dressing to just BARELY tie it in with the IP. Total cash grab. The sad part is I'm still watching, because when else is WOT gonna get adapted in my lifetime?

I'm less than 15 minutes into this video and you are killing it. Absolutely KILLING it. The writing was questionable all season long but what the writers did in this episode was criminal. They have made so many changes to the foundational principles of the world that I can't find a dramatic reason for. The changes do not appear to serve the greater story in any way. They are also killing off people who played not insignificant parts later on. Not major characters for sure, but characters who serve a purpose in Jordan's novels. Honestly, most of the show has me scratching my head.

It's fundamentally impossible to carry out the story from the books based on the series. Things that are foundational to the world and story are changed in every episode, even in the first 60 seconds. Imagine if in Dune, Spice was just cinnamon, the worms were dog-sized, the Fremen were peace-loving hippies, the Harkkonnen were honest and noble, and the Bene Gesserit were celibate. This is the level of change as of the close of season 1. Just a shattering lack of understanding of the story, world, and characters. Edit, at the end: It is not another turning of the wheel, it is not another version. They changed a thing which is universal across all turnings, all worlds. The state of this thing is the state of this thing everywhere, everywhen. It cannot be changed and it still be the same universe.

6:56 I actually felt like they pushed the love triangle too hard. I mean, he ignored his wife the day before the festival because he was eyeballing Egwene all day and into the night. Then shares his coat, always trying to snuggle up to her without making it obvious. Then he's trying to protect her from the Tinkers (because he's transferring his thoughts about his wife to Egwene). All of these little moments just for a pointless love triangle were done instead of developing the relationship between all the Emonds fielders.

1:55:35 - 1:59:15 (and beyond) First, and likely more importantly, thanks for all that editing work. Seems kinda silly thanking an editor for editing well, but it takes talent to keep things lighthearted during a 2-hour autopsy of a trainwreck. So kudos, a thousand times over! Secondly, to your overall summary of the 3 perspectives, i'd say it's spot on. Additionally, there are 2 other voices that have cropped up here the last couple years (that I've noticed), and that's those who seem to really appreciate their "early access", and those who thought the Rings of Power was akin to debating Plato vs Socrates. Pretty large overlap, those two categories, funny enough. Anywho, thanks again for this entire series. Looking forward to your thoughts on the books as you make your way, and I hope you enjoy the journey! (Bonus theorizing, about what "Another Turning" might mean, but without spoiling beyond book 1's finale): With all the nods to Tolkien's Third Age, i believed the two series' respective "Third Age"s could have been different Turnings of the Wheel. A different Pattern, set with a different Weave, but a mirrored story. The reluctant, unlikely hero who must journey towards facing the evil one. A fellowship of various motivations and a shared goal. And some old folk with magic. It's just good storytelling, and that story will be told again and again. Maybe they're all "Turnings", so long as the Wheel keeps spinning? Still doesn't excuse bad storytelling, nor highjacking of characters, but could be interesting, maybe.

21:25 you are correct. It was never explicitly mentioned. This is another example of character moments not happening on screen. Lan and Moiraine never wonder about it. Perrin, Egwene, Mat, and Nynaeve never mention it (even though Rand was so surprised Tam had it that he was distracted from the trolloc that burst into their home). Thom never mentions it. Loial doesn't mention it when Rand is pointing it at him (while claiming he's an Aiel - and Aiel *absolutely never* use swords). Even the Whitecloaks don't mention it (when that would be remarkable when they were going through their things). It's also bizarre here that Ba'alzamon doesn't know that he got the sword from Tam, but does know who Rand's true parents are... There's very strange selective knowledge going on.

There are so many lore errors in the opening scene.

I **LOVE** your longer videos! You're very insightful on many of your points. This has been a master class of what not to do in our own stories. A few thoughts while watching: Spoilers, but women unable to see men channeling is a plot point later. Zero way they can do that bit now without major retcons. The butterfly effect is growing. You were right in your last video that the Eye is just a hole in the ground. Rand was done dirty in this episode. It would have been much cooler to see him drain the pool of Saidin to destroy the Trollocs instead of him holding a powerful artifact in snatching range of the DO. Death is one thing that can't be healed in the books, but for Egwene to do it robs another character of their story. "So what? Egwene healed death. Top that." Perrin isn't even in book 5 and still had more to do than TV Perrin. I also really love that you're reading the books. We would be curious to know your overall thoughts on major plot points as you go forward. Might be an idea for more videos?

uploaded 2 minutes ago and i am two minutes late 😂. i know what i’m gonna do for the next 2-3 hours

1:14:02 ugh, I love your explanation of Fain. It's perfect for how far you've read, but he's such a wildcard character in the books! He's a great chaotic neutral (or evil?) element.

(No spoilers in this comment) I'm sooooo happy that you recognized the dagger from Shadar Logoth. I've been waiting for this scene to happen basically since I started watching your reviews, hoping that you'd notice. In addition to how did Pain even get the dagger, I'll just point out that Pain definitely "killed" Loial (I already know you've seen season 2 so the quotes are not a spoiler!) with the dagger and that everyone else in that room is also dead (stabbed by the dagger or not). I have more to say on the topic, but I don't know how far into the books you are. This whole scene was just so frustrating even ignoring book knowledge.

So happy I found your channel. You’re doing the lords work

The Lews Therin flashback was terrible. They're living in a sci-fi utopia, and Lews Therin claims that he can do "what has never been done before" and seal the dark one. So the dark one has been free this entire time and has allowed humanity to thrive? There's absolutely no sign of a war, of the desperation that drove Lews Therin to reseal the dark one. Instead, he's just an arrogant prick who doomed civilization despite being told exactly what would happen from a woman who should have no idea what would happen. This scene undermines the stakes of the entire show and places the entire blame for the breaking on male arrogance, which is absolutely not the case in the books. They should've just keep the prologue from the eye of the world.

The "Lan is a player" check list made me spit my drink out hahahaha

For Mat and the dagger: Moiraine kinda heals him in Caemlyn, but can't fully sever the connection so Mat still carries it cause there's really no better place for it. Mat gets a second round when the amyrlin visits Fal Dara, the connection still can't be severed but they place it with the horn since the box is kinda like a puzzle box and isn't opened easily. The goal is to take evetybody, go to TV and fully heal Mat but Fain stills the box with dagger. So the rand, mat and perrin go with the group to retrieve the horn primarily to get the dagger for mat. I might have screwed up. If your confusion was with the dagger being in fal dara in the show....then yeah. I think most assumebfain stole it in TV since he was there hiding.

10:03 there's *so many* character moments happening off screen. When did Perrin learn Egwene or Nynaeve could channel? When did Rand learn either could channel? When did Lan speak a single word to Rand outside of stopping him from stabbing Moiraine? When did Perrin decide to follow the Way of the Leaf? I could go on.

I think the writers didn‘t read all the books. To be a writer for WOT you have to read them a several times, to be able to change things and unterstand the consequences for the magic system and the story 😢

Regarding the cold open, you may recall from the ACTUAL appearance of Lews Therin in the prologue to Eye of the World, that Ishamael said "Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin and summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion." Speculation among the fans is that Amyrlin Seat is a corruption over time, from the memory of the Ring of Tamyrlin.

Lan thinks he’s gonna die in the blight, that’s why he said that to Nynaeve