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Sauron Stuns In New “Rings Of Power” Season 2 Teaser

POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR THE RINGS OF POWER SEASON TWO AHEAD!

Specifically targeting those viewers who couldn’t make it through The Rings Of Power‘s slow-paced first season, the teaser trailer for the epic fantasy series’ upcoming second season promises high-octane action sequences, thrilling drama, and stunning visuals that the most expensive show in the history of television has to be able to deliver consistently (and probably shouldn’t need to convince anyone that it can). The drastic shift in tone is due at least in part to the fact that, in-universe, the character of Sauron is out in the open now and The Rings Of Power can finally employ him in its marketing campaign, instead of having to conceal their charismatic antagonist behind various red-herrings.

Charlie Vickers as Sauron in The Rings Of Power, wearing a black long-sleeved robe with ornate gold embroidery and a wide gold belt, standing surrounded by long-haired Elven warriors wearing armor and holding swords to his throat. He has long blond hair.
Sauron | youtube.com

Charlie Vickers returns as Sauron’s “fair form”, casting off the drab and filthy rags he wore while disguised as the human Halbrand throughout season one, donning new and more richly-embroidered garments of black and gold, with long golden-brown hair and pointed ears to fit the part of an Elf. There are several shots and lines of dialogue in the trailer that seem to indicate the writers are trying to follow the story as sketched out by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Silmarillion, in which Sauron posed as an Elven emissary from Valinor named Annatar to gain access to the powerful forges of Eregion and seduce the great jewel-smith Celebrimbor. In The Rings Of Power‘s non-canonical version of events, of course, Sauron (as Halbrand) already weaseled his way into Eregion and assisted Celebrimbor in making the Three Rings before Galadriel made him leave, so unless Elves are just totally face-blind, it’s hard to believe that the new hairstyle and fit will fool everyone in Eregion. Even if they don’t realize he’s Sauron (because Galadriel kinda left that part out when she told everyone that Halbrand was gone), surely they’d question how Halbrand turned into an Elf overnight?

Or maybe not. There’s a shot in the trailer of Celebrimbor, in his forge, shielding his eyes as a figure strides toward him through parting clouds, silhouetted against a bright white light, which I initially interpreted as the sunlight breaking through a hole in the wall, with the clouds being the smoke of war. But rewatching the footage, I feel that the imagery is heavily evocative of how The Rings Of Power depicted the light of Valinor, and of the cloud-wall surrounding the Undying Lands to the Uttermost West that rolls back to allow the grey ships of the Elves through. I would go so far as to bet that this scene is from the very first episode of the second season, and demonstrates how Sauron will get away with his ruse, by appearing only to Celebrimbor as an angel (for lack of a better word, and because that’s essentially what Sauron is, or was, before his fall). Remember, Celebrimbor was quite taken by Halbrand, and benefited greatly from their brief partnership, so Sauron may choose to keep the man’s face specifically for that reason. Maybe he doesn’t even have to set foot in Eregion to continue his corruption of Celebrimbor. Imagine your guardian angel secretly trying to lead you to your doom, now that’s the kind of dirty trick at which Sauron excels.

I am most intrigued at what Amazon apparently doesn’t consider a spoiler – you’d think that the shot, near the end of the trailer, of Sauron standing amidst the ruins of Celebrimbor’s forge, still wearing his fair form, but encircled by sword-wielding Elves in armor (including Celebrimbor himself, who appears to be missing his left hand), would be giving away a major plot-point, but if it’s not, that means that the writers might still have a few tricks up their sleeves, and maybe all is not as it seems. What is plain to see, however, is that the kingdom of Eregion is under siege by Sauron’s forces, and the aforementioned shot, as well as one of Celebrimbor frantically dumping rings (presumably the lesser Rings of Power) into the flames where they were made, strongly implies that their defenses will not hold.

The city of Ost-in-Edhil in Eregion. It is night. Flaming missiles are being launched from catapults set up on side of a river at the walled city on the other side.
The Siege of Eregion | youtube.com

Before then, we can expect to see Eregion’s craftspeople reach the pinnacle of their creativity and innovation under Celebrimbor’s guidance (and Sauron’s instructions, whispered in his ear), with two more sets of great Rings, seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone and nine for mortal Men doomed to die, forged alongside the Three, which are safely – and secretly – situated on the hands of King Gil-galad of Lindon, the Lady Galadriel, and Círdan the Shipwright (the latter a character we have not met in any prior adaptation of Tolkien’s works). We catch a quick glimpse of Peter Mullan’s King Durin III holding what is very likely the Ring given to his clan, inset with a rough blue gemstone. No sign of the Nine, that I could find anywhere in the trailer or in the accompanying behind-the-scenes feature released on YouTube, but it may be that Sauron will come into possession of a great many Rings and then begin distributing them amongst Men in the third season.

Still geographically removed from Middle-earth’s problems but not far enough to protect them from the fallout, Númenor, the greatest kingdom of Men in Middle-earth, is seen in the throes of religious strife following the death of the old king and the return of his daughter Míriel from a crushing defeat on the battlefields of the Southlands with wounds to both her body and her pride. Míriel remains faithful to the traditions followed by generations of Númenórean monarchs before her, but there are many, even in her own court, who believe that the time has come to shrug off the burden of their old oaths to the Elves and the gods in Valinor. An Eagle of the West, regarded by the Faithful as heralds of the god Manwë, alights in the Court of the Kings, and Pharazôn, Míriel’s advisor, approaches the bird with sword unsheathed. Míriel is tortured by visions of a leviathan, some Lovecraftian horror with the face of a goblin shark and the body of a squid, rising up from the depths to swallow her and the island nation whole (I was deeply disappointed with the sea-monster in season one, so this, whether it’s a real creature or merely a metaphor for Númenor’s impending demise, is the shot that got me most excited for the new season).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the map, Elanor Brandyfoot and the Stranger trek through the lands of Rhûn, trying to piece together a more accurate picture of where the Stranger came from and where he’s supposed to be going by following the trail of the Mystics, the only three people in Middle-earth who knew who he was. Though the Stranger incinerated their flesh-and-blood bodies in the first season using his magic, and they evaporated into a swarm of butterflies, it seems we’re not done with the Mystics just yet, or perhaps, with the organization of which they were a part. A woman with bloody hands, wearing similar clothes to the Mystics we’ve seen already, is seen standing in a temple with sandstone pillars, while butterflies swirl around her. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I remain convinced that the Stranger is not Gandalf but one of the two enigmatic Blue Wizards, and that the Mystics are disciples of the other, who arrived in Middle-earth long before him. I say this because one of the very few descriptions Tolkien left behind of the Blue Wizards mentions that they founded “secret cults and magic traditions” in the East, which aligns so perfectly with everything we know about these Mystics, it’s aggravating to think that there are actually other alternatives.

Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor, wearing a dark red velvet gown, walking down an ornate flight of steps into a room of his forge, filled with smoke and a hazy golden light.
Celebrimbor | youtube.com

Something fascinating that The Rings Of Power is doing (and not getting enough credit for) is diving into these corners of Tolkien’s lore that no one else has dared to touch, and expanding the general audience’s understanding of what Middle-earth can be. Don’t get me wrong, the writers have made their fair share of choices and changes, some of which have rubbed me the wrong way, but it’s that exact willingness to think outside the box that makes The Rings Of Power so enjoyable for me, because I genuinely never know what to expect. A wizard falling out of the sky into a nomadic tribe of proto-Hobbits, hints of romantic tension between Galadriel and Sauron, apocryphal origin stories for mithril, and now the rumor around town is that Tom Bombadil could show up in season two – yes, that Tom Bombadil, the same singing, dancing, bright yellow boot-wearing character who’s been cut out of every previous film adaptation of The Lord Of The  Rings because he would have been too bizarre and random for people’s minds to process. Whether they can pull that off is anyone’s guess, but you’ve got to respect that a show this expensive, whose creators have every incentive to stick to played-out stories, is still taking the path least traveled and not once apologizing for it.

Trailer Rating: 9/10

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“The Wheel Of Time” Season 2, Episode 6 – Just Give Madeleine Madden The Emmy Already

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME SEASON TWO, EPISODES 1 – 6, AND BOOKS 1 – 3, AHEAD!

This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the series being covered here would not exist.

Nearly the entire ensemble cast of Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time are deserving of Emmy-award nominations and wins for their work in season two; and in a fair and just world, where awards-show voters actually respect the fantasy genre, they might have a chance. Realistically, it’s a long shot. Practically the entire cast of Game Of Thrones were nominated every year that the show was running, and still only Peter Dinklage ever took home a trophy for the role of Tyrion Lannister (four times, which in my opinion is simply egregious when Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Maisie Williams were all right there). Thrones‘ critically-acclaimed spin-off House Of The Dragon and Amazon’s grandiose Lord Of The Rings prequel The Rings Of Power have eight and six Emmy nominations, respectively – neither of them for their qualified casts. So The Wheel Of Time, with its relatively smaller fanbase and cultural impact, definitely faces an uphill battle.

Madeleine Madden as Egwene al'Vere in The Wheel Of Time, standing in a dark room wearing a large golden collar and breastplate, all of one piece, over a long-sleeved gray dress. Her dark hair is pulled back into a braid. Her face is bloodied and bruised.
Egwene al’Vere | moviesr.net

But its arsenal includes at least five actors who stand a cut above the rest of their peers, who might actually have a chance at a nomination if Amazon campaigned them aggressively. We’re talking Oscar-nominee and Emmy-award winner Rosamund Pike (whose phenomenal performance in season one, made up of countless microexpressions and miniscule yet purposeful mannerisms, was quite frankly snubbed); Zoë Robins (who anchored the series’ best episode in her fragile depiction of rage and vulnerability), Peaky Blinders star Natasha O’Keeffe (who, besides being delectably monstrous in her role, also confidently models the costume department’s finest assortment of outfits, from ostentatious black leather to sophisticated pantsuits); Tony-award nominee Kate Fleetwood (who plays The Wheel Of Time‘s most complex character and has some of the best lines of dialogue), and of course, Madeleine Madden. It’s Madden, I think, who has the best shot, given the overwhelmingly positive reception from critics and audiences to episode six, Eyes Without Pity, which hinges on her intricate, multi-faceted portrayal of a woman beaten into believing she is less than human.

The episode opens with Madden’s Egwene al’Vere being dragged by a leash to the so-called “kennels” where the Seanchan keep damane (women who can channel the One Power), and that’s arguably the least of what she endures over the next hour of brutal psychological torture inflicted by her sul’dam, or handler. The golden collar placed around Egwene’s neck, called the a’dam, immediately restricts her from channeling except when her sul’dam permits it, and sends her into full-body spasms if she tries to hurt her sul’dam, or touch anything she intends to use as a weapon against her sul’dam. The a’dam – and by extension the damane – is controlled through a matching golden bracelet worn by the sul’dam, which also cannot be touched by the damane. The sul’dam seemingly never has to touch the One Power herself to manipulate its use by the damane under her control.

These rigid rules are clearly laid out and demonstrated for Egwene and the audience in an episode which masterfully expands on a single sentence in The Great Hunt, where Egwene recounts being unable to touch a pitcher of water for three days straight because she once thought of breaking it over her sul’dam’s head. Madden delineates every emotion that passes across Egwene’s bloodied face and through her trembling hands as she’s made to reach, again and again and again, for the pitcher, causing her to convulse in pain; the initial anger and sense of injustice at her situation, giving way to hopelessness and desperation, the wave of relief and even pride when she succeeds, followed by disgust at herself for feeling that, and worst of all the paralyzing doubt that maybe this is what she is, what she deserves to be, what she was meant to be. Egwene is unbreakable, so we’ve heard, but this episode tests that theory and utterly shatters the illusion that anyone can stay entirely sane and self-assured under this kind of ceaseless physical, mental, and emotional duress. The seed of doubt, allowed to germinate in a person’s mind, can break even the strongest and proudest – as is confirmed when we see Maigan (Sandy McDade), formerly of the Blue Ajah, now glass-eyed as she sits in her cell, emotionlessly repeating back to herself the rules of being a damane – and the Seanchan are particularly good at planting those seeds and nurturing them.

The scenes with Madden’s Egwene, heartwrenching as they are from her perspective, would be not much more than traumatic if her scene-partner – her sul’dam Renna (Xelia Mendes-Jones) – weren’t equally formidable and complex. Reading the books, I pictured Renna as just shy of stereotypical: nauseatingly bubbly, speaking down to Egwene in a cheerful American Southern accent, treating her as one might a miniature poodle. People like her exist, and they’re terrifying, but her dehumanization tactics are exaggerated to the point where it’s almost too easy to write her off as unrealistic. The television series did something ingenious with Renna, not by making us feel for her (never that; Renna is herself a victim of brainwashing as well as its perpetrator, but that by no means absolves her of guilt), but by showing us how her inhumanity is rooted in the most easily exploited human emotions – because she’s not merely coming from a place of callous disdain for Egwene, but of genuine disappointment in her for not understanding that the Seanchan just want her to serve her true purpose, and that she will be happy when she learns to be obedient.

The Seanchan rank high amongst author Robert Jordan’s most original creations, and the depiction of them in the adaptation – from their customs down to their costumes – is not lacking. If the Roman Empire were ruled by Texans from the future, that would be the Seanchan. Their High Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams) governs the captive city of Falme from a chaise lounge in the palace, where she entertains minor nobility by showing off the “exotic” Westlanders she’s reduced to the position of da’covale (essentially slaves) in her household, including Ingtar Shinowa (Gregg Chillingirian) and the Ogier Loial (Hammed Animashaun), the latter of whom she pulls out as a party trick, demanding that he sing for her…and not just any old song. Treesinging, the ability to manipulate the growth of plants and other living things with one’s voice, is a Talent now exclusive to the Ogier. This marks the first time we’ve seen Treesinging onscreen in live-action – though the animated Wheel Of Time: Origins shorts released alongside season one did briefly touch on it – and it’s mesmerizing both visually and sonically. Suroth, however, soon grows displeased with the attention being on Loial, and interrupts him with demeaning applause and shrill laughter.

Elsewhere in Falme, Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoë Robins) and Elayne Trakand (Ceara Coveney) lay low and investigate the secrets of the a’dam itself, working on a bracelet and collar stolen from the Seanchan by Ryma (Nyokabi Gethaiga), an undercover Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah who leaves a large and lasting impression in just a few minutes of screentime. Gethaiga has an extended action sequence near the end of the episode that is not only imaginatively choreographed, with Ryma reversing Yellow Ajah-specific Healing weaves to blind, burn, and break attacking sul’dam, but laced with some of the episode’s most poignant, quietly devastating moments, as she begs her injured Warder Basan (Bentley Kalu) to kill her before the Seanchan can get their hands on her; too late, ultimately, to prevent either his death or her collaring. Nynaeve, watching from the window of the safe-house where moments before Ryma helped her channel through her Block, is deeply affected (and perhaps inspired to join the Yellow Ajah herself one day?).

Nyokabi Gethaiga as Ryma in The Wheel Of Time, from the shoulders up. She is wearing a brown vest over a bloodstained yellow floral-patterned blouse, and has a gold collar around her neck. She has dark hair piled up on top of her head. She is sobbing.
Ryma | Twitter @QuoteOfTheWheel

There’s a stark contrast between Ryma’s understanding approach to Nynaeve’s Block and how Aes Sedai at the White Tower pressured her to follow their methods, berated and beat her when those methods inevitably failed, and wrote her off as a lost cause because they ultimately decided they couldn’t mold her into what the Tower believes an Aes Sedai should be: cold, distant, aloof. From Liandrin Guirale (Kate Fleetwood), if nothing else, Nynaeve learned that the myth of Aes Sedai detachment from the world is just that, a myth, and that even the most seemingly heartless woman at the Tower only is the way she is because she was forced to leave behind something she loved. But the Tower in its current form is an unsustainable and self-destructive institution, rooted in exploitation and manipulation. Liandrin literally swore fealty to the Dark One because underneath her frigid exterior, she’s still human, and she can’t let go of her son, the only thing that’s ever been hers. But through encountering Ryma, Nynaeve may be realizing that there is another way forward, that this is not how the Aes Sedai have to operate, and in fact they cannot if they are to survive the upcoming Last Battle.

That brings us to Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo), the current Amyrlin Seat, under whose reign the cracks in the Tower have only continued to spread, growing wider and deeper. Siuan has done her best to bridge the divides between conflicting Ajahs and assure her political opponents that she knows how to bring the Aes Sedai intact through this latest catastrophe, but it’s also been seven episodes since we last saw her fulfilling her duties as Amyrlin, and in that time the Tower has only fractured further. Aes Sedai sent unprepared to deal with the Seanchan threat, captured or killed; Accepted and Novices kidnapped on Tower grounds; rumors swirling of a secret eighth “Black Ajah” made up entirely of Aes Sedai sworn to the Dark; and all of it met with apathy from the Amyrlin and her administration. To be clear, I would not personally have written Siuan, one of my favorite characters in The Wheel Of Time, to be this removed from goings-on at the Tower, but I understand there was likely difficulty in getting the busy Okonedo back for season two, and her slim screentime then had to be narratively justified. We’ll get into my problems with Siuan’s (mis)characterization in my review of episode seven.

For the time being, I just wish we could have seen more of what Siuan was doing that necessitated her being away from the Tower for so long in-universe, because the “visit to Caemlyn” excuse has been used twice now, and even I, as a book reader, have no clue why Siuan would be spending more time in Caemlyn than in Tar Valon with the Last Battle imminent and the Dragon Reborn counting on her to rally support for him amongst the Aes Sedai. Queen Morgase, Elayne’s mother, is in Caemlyn at this early stage in the story, but more importantly, so is Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan of the Red Ajah, Morgase’s advisor and a future antagonist. Is it possible that Siuan is receiving advice from Elaida on matters related to the Dragon, behind Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike)’s back? It would certainly explain her own hostile attitude towards both Moiraine and the Dragon, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski), in episode seven, without removing her agency entirely; which would be the case if she were under Compulsion, say.

Moiraine, by now accustomed to giving Rand directions from the passenger seat of their little clown car, begrudgingly trades her preferred place at his side for the far less comfortable backseat in episode six, as Rand stops to pick up the Forsaken Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) in the World of Dreams, trusting her judgment over Moiraine’s. There’s a fascinating push-and-pull dynamic between Moiraine and Lanfear, these two highly intelligent and calculating women; the one with Rand’s best interests (arguably) closer to heart never as effortlessly sincere-sounding as her (ostensibly) self-serving rival despite being bound to tell the truth at all times. It’s an interesting commentary on how women are expected to make themselves more “approachable” if they want to be listened to…but not too much so, or they’ll be demonized for it.

In the real world, Rand is mostly paired up with Dónal Finn as Mat Cauthon; the first time that Finn, who replaced Barney Harris, has shared substantial scenes with one of the main cast (although he had fantastic chemistry with Zoë Robins and Marcus Rutherford’s Perrin in the mirror-world). He and Stradowski are easily believable as lifelong friends, and their reunion is moving. Min (Kae Alexander), who by this point in the books has already resigned herself to falling in love with Rand because he’s ta’veren, is in close proximity and dissuades Mat from staying with Rand because of what she’s seen in her prophetic visions, but – oddly – doesn’t encounter Rand at all, meaning that general audiences will have gone another whole season not realizing they’re fated to be romantically involved. And I don’t know if they’ll meet again until season four, roughly halfway through what was initially planned to be an eight-season series.

I’m of the possibly controversial opinion that Rand and his first love Egwene are uniquely magnetized to each other, and I think it’s evident from their brief meeting in the World of Dreams, a meeting facilitated by Lanfear, that The Wheel Of Time always had its most powerful romance in this coupling of two characters that can never be together because the books put them on diverging paths. Even Lanfear herself can feel the electricity racing in the air as Rand and Egwene reach for each other across the very fabric of reality – the pained half-smile on her face betrays her stomach-turning realization in this moment that Rand’s heart will never be hers, that she’ll gladly make Egwene suffer for it, and that in so doing she’ll hurt Rand too.

Natasha O'Keeffe as Lanfear in The Wheel Of Time, sitting with her legs crossed on a black stone throne in the middle of the desert. She is wearing a black dress that leaves her left arm bare, thigh-high black lace-up boots, and a black leather harness. A black lace crescent-moon headdress sits on her head. She has short jet-black hair.
Lanfear | winteriscoming.net

I have nothing else to add or reiterate except that the acting on this series really is phenomenal, and it’s not hyperbolic to say that several members of the main cast – Madeleine Madden most of all – deserve Emmy nominations, at least. I’m not expecting much (awards show voters being pretty notorious for watching very little television in general, much less high fantasy), particularly this year with the long gap between the second season’s release and awards season, but I remain hopeful that as The Wheel Of Time gradually gains popularity and becomes more mainstream, it will grow harder and harder for awards shows to justify shutting out the cast entirely. Either way, I’ll keep clamoring.

Episode Rating: 9.5/10

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Nynaeve’s Accepted Test Begins In New “Wheel Of Time” Clip

SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME BOOK TWO AHEAD!

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Every day from now until September 1st, fans waiting with bated breath for the release of The Wheel Of Time‘s second season can seemingly expect to be treated to a full scene from the first three episodes being released on social media, each one focusing on a different member of the series’ large (and ever-expanding) ensemble cast. Yesterday, it was a conversation between Rand al’Thor and Logain Ablar, Dragons true and false, in the “sanatorium”, described by Josha Stradowski in interviews, where Rand will be working, undercover, to help male channelers gentled by the Aes Sedai. It was a good scene, very well-written and well-acted, but today’s scene is more special to me personally. The Accepted Test of Nynaeve al’Meara is not only one of the most iconic sequences from The Wheel Of Time‘s second book, The Great Hunt, but from the entire width and breadth of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series, which spans fourteen volumes and a prequel novel.

Nynaeve al'Meara, wearing a white dress with a wide leather belt, standing framed between the stone pillars of a silver archway standing on a dais in the center of a round stone chamber underneath the White Tower. Candles burn in sconces on the far wall. Behind Nynaeve are Sheriam Bayanar, Leane Sharif, and Liandrin Guirale.
Nynaeve al’Meara | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

And The Wheel Of Time‘s showrunner, writers, and actors have actually done it justice; evidence alone, if you ask me, of why they deserve everything the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have been asking for, because this was no easy feat. Although not every line of dialogue has made it into the show’s version of this scene, all but a few of the actresses’ lines are lifted either directly from the book, or with only the most minor tweaks. The scene opens with Nynaeve, wearing Novice-white (because in the show, I believe she does choose to train as a Novice for Egwene’s sake), warily approaching the three silver arches standing on low daises arranged in a semicircle in the White Tower’s basement. She asks what they are, just as she does in the book, and receives a similar, arguably more informative, answer from Sheriam Bayanar, the Tower’s Mistress of Novices, and Liandrin Guirale of the Red Ajah, who has taken a suspiciously active role in Nynaeve’s training. Below, I’ve quoted the passage from the books, and highlighted in bold the parts that made it into the show, with original dialogue in parentheses. Please forgive my rather, uh, messy presentation.

“Ter’angreal do many things, child. Like angreal and sa’angreal, they are (from before the Breaking, made during a time when women could create objects from the One Power itself) remnants of the Age of Legends that use the One Power, though they are not quite so rare as the other two. While some ter’angreal  must be (are) made to work by Aes Sedai, as this one must (like this one), others will do what they do simply with the presence of any woman who can channel….We don’t know why they were made. We dare use only a handful of them, and the ways in which we do dare to use them may be nothing like the purposes the makers intended. Most, we have learned at our (great) cost to avoid. Over the years, no few (Many) Aes Sedai have been killed or had their Talent (been) burned out of them, learning that.”

– The Great Hunt: Chapter 23; The Testing, by Robert Jordan

As you can see, with just a few tiny alterations, excisions, and additions here and there, that entire passage has made it into the show. And with just one new line of dialogue, the show not only clarifies what ter’angreal actually are for general audiences (without sacrificing any of their mystery in the process), it also subtly establishes that the art of creating ter’angreal is lost to the Aes Sedai of the present day, as well as signaling to attentive viewers that Liandrin is a highly unreliable narrator (possibly Jordan’s favorite writing-device), because her implication that only women ever created ter’angreal is, well, totally in-character for her but simply untrue. That’s good writing right there.

Nynaeve is taken aback by the mention of women burning out, having almost experienced that fate worse than death in the first season, and asks if they expect her to just walk into the arches after that. Leane Sharif of the Blue Ajah, who was not present for this scene in the books, responds to her with a line borrowed from Sheriam, to say that they know how the arches work; entering them brings a woman face-to-face with her greatest fears, which Nynaeve can keep secret to her grave, if she wishes. Dividing the dialogue between these three women helps to break up what would otherwise be a very long and exposition-heavy monologue from Sheriam, giving the scene a little more dynamism, and providing Leane with screentime she was sorely lacking throughout the first season. It’s Sheriam, however, who still delivers some of my favorite lines in the scene.

“Two things I (we) will tell you now that no woman hears until she is in this room. The first is this. Once you begin, you must continue to the end. Refuse to go on, and no matter your potential, you will be very kindly put out of the Tower with enough silver to support you for a year, and (but) you will never be allowed back.”

Kate Fleetwood as Liandrin Guirale in The Wheel Of Time season one, wearing red and brown, with her long white-blond hair flowing down her back in a mane of intricate braids, standing surrounded by similarly-dressed women in a rugged landscape.
Liandrin Guirale (center) and members of the Red Ajah | arstechnica.com

I genuinely did not expect most of this detail to make it into the show, but I’m so glad it did, because the rock-solid worldbuilding of The Wheel Of Time is one of many reasons why it’s considered a fantasy classic, and while the first book had to be slimmed down a great deal to work as a season of television, with much of that rich detail subsequently being shed for the sake of new fans and casual viewers, the second season won’t suffer from those same limitations and is free to delve deeply into Jordan’s world and mythology. But of course, these words aren’t merely decorative. They hold great relevance for Nynaeve, as she has been looking for an escape-route from the Aes Sedai, and now one is being dangled right in front of her. And at the same time, this entire scene is quietly setting up future storylines involving certain characters who actually took that escape-route.

“Second. To seek, to strive, is to know danger. You will know danger here. Some women have entered, and never come out. When the ter’angreal was allowed to grow quiet, they – were – not – there. And they were never seen again. If you will survive, you must be steadfast. Falter, fail, and…” Her silence was more eloquent than any words.

These lines are intriguingly delivered by Liandrin in the show; further evidence that she is beginning to care for Nynaeve, or have concern for her well-being at least, something that never occurred in the books. I’m all for this change, if only because it gives the phenomenal Kate Fleetwood much juicier, more compelling material to dig into as an actress, if her character isn’t innately cold and callous, as seemed to be the case throughout the first season. Obviously, she’s Aes Sedai, and Red Ajah at that, so there’s a lot of calculating going on behind her eyes, but the Aes Sedai are still human at the end of the day, and they ought to have human vulnerabilities. I look forward to later scenes between Nynaeve and Liandrin that build off this dynamic.

“This is your last chance, child. You may turn back now, right now, and I will put your name in the novice book, and you will have only one mark against you. Twice more you will be allowed to come here, and only at (on) the third refusal will you be put out of the Tower. It is no shame to refuse. Many do. I myself could not do it, my (the) first time here.“

Leane steps forward to speak these words. Again, I can’t help but marvel at the fact that so much of this monologue made it from page to screen. I don’t care in the slightest that it’s Leane in the show, not Sheriam, who declined to take her Accepted test once. It’s never going to be relevant again, I suspect, but what it does is it gives viewers a little bit of background information about Leane that they can use to start forming an attachment to her, which is important because she’s important, more so than Sheriam I’d argue.

Finally, Liandrin comes back with the one and only line in the entire scene that’s completely new, as far as I can tell. “If you are doing this for someone else, you will fail,” she tells Nynaeve, with an expression of genuine compassion once again flitting across her steely features. “Do this for you, or not at all.” Is she…trying to protect Nynaeve? After all, if Nynaeve passes the Accepted test, she comes one step closer to being “raised to the shawl” and made a full Aes Sedai, and with her raw power and status as ta’veren (able to bend the weavings of the Wheel of Time around her) there is nothing the Dark One and his minions will not do to prevent the White Tower from weaponizing her. It also sounds like this is a continuation of some conversation Nynaeve must have had with Liandrin earlier, where Nynaeve must have revealed (or Liandrin must have discerned) that Nynaeve came to the Tower primarily to protect Egwene, though she herself is still opposed to the Aes Sedai and distrustful of her own abilities. Again, it’s surreal that it’s Liandrin bringing this up, but I’m not at all upset.

Zoe Robins as Nynaeve al'Meara in The Wheel Of Time season one, sitting outside on a cliff-edge above water, with her long dark hair pulled into a braid falling down her back. She is wearing a dusty-green tunic. She is smiling faintly at something off-camera, to her left.
Nynaeve al’Meara | vaguevisages.com

Silence falls after she speaks, and the camera lingers on Zoë Robins’ Nynaeve, in whose dark, expressive eyes you can catch glimpses of all the emotions swirling within her – fear, frustration, curiosity – before they finally coalesce into steady determination, and she speaks the words that start the trial: “I’m ready”. She’s passed the point of no return, and now we must wait until September 1st to follow her into the arches. But hopefully we won’t have to wait that long for the next clip from The Wheel Of Time! If the pattern holds, tomorrow we could see either Egwene, Perrin, or Mat, followed by Moiraine and Lan, and then perhaps Elayne, Aviendha, and Min. On the one hand, I don’t want to see that many scenes from the first few episodes before the season premiere, but on the other hand…I kinda do, and I definitely won’t be able to resist watching them if they’re out there. Who are you hoping to see next? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!

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Lightning Round-up: What I Watched The Week Of August 7th – 13th

Something new from me today, a compilation of bite-sized reviews for films and TV shows I watched in the past week that I probably wouldn’t be able to review otherwise. I can’t assure that I’ll have one of these posts going up every week, but I wanted to test out the format after considering for a long time how I could review a wider variety of titles without feeling the pressure to write a specific amount of words about each one, or get bogged down simply trying to find images. So without further ado, here’s my “Lightning Round-up” for the week of August 7th to 13th, 2023.

*  – A title I’ve previously watched

(left to right) Yeom Hye-ran, Jo Byeong-kyu, Yoo Jun-sang, and Kim Sejeong in The Uncanny Counter, all wearing black suits, standing in an alleyway filled with blue mist at night.
(left to right) Yeom Hye-ran, Jo Byeong-kyu, Yoo Jun-sang, and Kim Sejeong in The Uncanny Counter | pueblerino.info

The Uncanny Counter (Netflix). The premise: an unconventional family of grim reapers in the business of rescuing souls from evil spirits and leading them to the afterlife lose a member in battle and recruit a teen boy to help take on their greatest threat – a powerful demon being maneuvered by political forces. The sixteen-episode first season is a perfect blend of heartwrenching drama, endearing humor, compelling intrigue, and low-budget special effects, anchored by emotional performances from all the main cast, Yeom Hye-ran in particular. The second season (airing weekly on Korean television and on Netflix, with five episodes released thus far) is tonally inconsistent with the first, and devotes entirely too much screentime to new characters that range from uninteresting to downright grating, but Kang Ki-young and Kim Hieora are genuinely brilliant additions as the season’s primary antagonists, bringing an effortless ferocity to their action sequences, which are longer and more intricately choreographed this season thanks to a higher budget (at the cost of a few episodes). This is probably some of the most fun I’ve had watching a television series this year.

Lee Si-Young carrying Park Na-rae on her shoulders in Zombieverse as they run through a parking lot at night pursued by zombies.
Lee Si-young and Park Na-rae in Zombieverse | undeadwalking.com

Zombieverse (Netflix). The premise: contestants must work together to survive a zombie apocalypse on the streets of Seoul, South Korea. I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far, but I could tell you from the trailer alone that this is the kind of show designed and destined to become a viral sensation (EDIT: I wrote this paragraph earlier in the week; checking back in, it seems that Zombieverse has indeed acquired a large and loyal fanbase, though many viewers are casting doubts on its claims of being “unscripted”, so I was partially right). My anxiety spiked when, at the end of the first episode, a stunt double playing a zombie was seemingly run over by a car and “killed”, along with a passenger in the vehicle. I’m assuming there’s safety measures in place to prevent anyone being seriously injured in the gory chaos? I’m rooting for contestant Lee Si-young, who kept her wits about her in a crisis while most of the others panicked and fled.

Rosamund Pike as Moiraine and Sophie Okonedo as Siuan in The Wheel Of Time, lying together in a wooden bed wearing red nightgowns. Moiraine is sitting up slightly. while Siuan is gazing up at her. They are in a low wooden hut with fishing-nets hanging from the ceiling.
Rosamund Pike as Moiraine and Sophie Okonedo as Siuan in The Wheel Of Time | pt.jugomobile.com

The Wheel Of Time Season 1, Episode 6* (Amazon Prime Video). The premise: Moiraine Damodred fights against time to free herself and her five young traveling companions from the intricate political machinations of the Aes Sedai before her plan to pit the Dragon Reborn against the Dark One is exposed in an episode written and filmed almost exclusively from her perspective. I stand by much of what I wrote regarding this episode in my initial review, though I would add that in retrospect, while it’s still one of my favorite episodes in the first season (purely due to Rosamund Pike and Sophie Okonedo’s phenomenal performances, which should have landed them both Emmy nominations), the writing is inconsistent – and noticeably weakest when it comes to fleshing out antagonist Liandrin Guirale, though if she lacks nuance, at least she’s never boring with Kate Fleetwood in the role, rocking her distinctive crimson get-up. And on that note, costume designer Isis Mussenden finally struck gold with her designs for this episode; Moiraine’s blue satin gown and diadem is iconic as far as I’m concerned.

Greg Hsu in Marry My Dead Body, wearing a white suit, sitting alongside a similarly-dressed mannequin beneath a red canopy in a darkly-lit room.
Greg Hsu in Marry My Dead Body | digitalspy.com

Marry My Dead Body (Netflix). The premise: in Taiwan, the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, a fervently homophobic police officer accidentally marries the ghost of a young gay man killed in a hit-and-run, and together they investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his untimely death in this zany, oftentimes heartwarming, LGBTQ+ buddy comedy. “Gayer than I expected, straighter than I would have liked” is probably how I would sum up Marry My Dead Body, which plays a cruel bait-and-switch on its viewers regarding the main character’s sexuality in just the first few minutes. And while it teases the idea of its male leads developing a romantic connection (almost having them kiss at a gay nightclub in a scene played not for laughs, but with surprising earnestness and intensity), this subplot trails off towards the end, leaving the exact nature of their relationship up to interpretation. I mean, I ship it regardless, but it’s a bit of a shame the film doesn’t fully commit to the bit, because Greg Hsu has excellent chemistry with costar Austin Lin that ought to have been utilized to the fullest. Still, Marry My Dead Body is a lot of fun and I enjoyed it immensely, particularly for how unabashedly raunchy it is in comparison to a lot of queer comedies that deliberately “sanitize” their characters and depiction of queerness for the sake of straight audience-members.

(left to right) Kato Ago Missile, Shin Dong-yup, Sung Si-kyung, and Cerestia Grown in Risque Business: Japan, standing on a street corner in Tokyo.
(left to right) Kato Ago Missile, Shin Dong-yup, Sung Si-kyung, and Cerestia Grown | netflix.com

Risqué Business: Japan (Netflix). The premise: across six episodes, comedian Shin Dong-yup and singer Sung Si-kyung aim to initiate more open and casual conversations amongst their predominantly Korean audiences about sex and sexual expression by exploring the vivid adult entertainment industry in neighboring Japan. I have so far found the series fairly enjoyable and occasionally illuminating, if somewhat limited in its scope and noticeably lacking perspectives from queer people in Japan (approximately 1 in 10 people in Japan identify as LGBTQ+, according to a 2019 survey). The second season, set in progressive Taiwan, premiering later this month, will hopefully help to make up for this deficiency and boost Korea’s own LGBTQ+ rights movement, which has made only slow progress in recent years. But the series has also received warranted backlash for talking extensively about the AV (adult video) industry without ever touching on the abuse and exploitation of AV stars, so there’s definitely still a lot of refinement to be done with this concept.

Han Ji-min in Behind Your Touch, wearing a white veterinarian's coat and looking down at her hands with a slight smile on her face.
Han Ji-min in Behind Your Touch | m.gohitv.com

Behind Your Touch (Netflix). The premise: a veterinarian in a small town is struck by a meteor that gives her the psychic ability to read the memories of animals when she touches them, unintentionally putting her into conflict with a recently demoted detective bored by life in the countryside. With only two episodes on Netflix so far, the new series starring Han Ji-min has already popped into the platform’s Top Ten, and for good reason; it’s fun, fresh, abundantly quirky, and clever, with charming characters. I’m excited to keep up with this one.

Pretty sure that’s everything. Have you watched any of the titles on this list, or do you plan to? Tell me what sounds most intriguing in the comments below!