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Fate And Free Will Clash In “The Wheel Of Time” Season 2, Episode 2

MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME, SEASON 2, EPISODES 1 – 3 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.

“The Wheel doesn’t want anything. It can’t. Any more than a river or the rain can want something. It’s people who want.”

Those words, spoken in The Wheel Of Time‘s first season by Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) in rebuttal to Logain Ablar (Álvaro Morte)’s whimpered insistence that the Wheel “wanted” him to be the Dragon and the carnage he left in his wake was therefore unavoidable, have never sat right with me, and I think I have finally found the words to explain why while mulling over the events of the second season’s second episode, Strangers And Friends, which brings each of the main characters to something of a turning-point in their respective arcs where they realize that all the “wanting” in the world will avail to nothing if the Wheel of Time never gives them opportunities to assert their agency in the first place, and the Pattern, the complex product of the Wheel’s endless turnings, is practically inescapable for those unlucky individuals called ta’veren who find themselves woven into positions where they are responsible for holding the Pattern intact through the duration of a crisis. Even if they were somehow able to make a choice of their own free will, they would never know, because the Wheel would simply course-correct and keep turning. The Wheel doesn’t want, it can’t, but it was set in motion for a purpose by its Creator, and it will serve that Creator’s purpose as long as it is not prevented from doing so by the Dark One.

Natasha O'Keefe as Selene in The Wheel Of Time, sitting outdoors at a table underneath a wooden sign for her inn with a painted crescent moon. She has long black hair, and is wearing a dark blue robe over a lacy black dress, holding up a cup.
Selene | polygon.com

For some, like Logain, fate has convenience as a shield, an excuse for dark deeds, but accepting foregone conclusions is not in our human nature, and most of us would become enraged or inconsolable if we could analyze our every action to discern which we made freely and which were made for us with the express purpose of guiding us to an end – and we don’t even live in a universe where a Wheel of cosmic proportions periodically requires something of us, at least not as far as we know. And maybe it’s for the best that we remain blissfully unaware of our metaphysical surroundings, because for Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) it’s the knowing, as much as the impending madness brought on by channeling the tainted male half of the One Power, that has him on the verge of collapsing every day.

As Rand sees it, the Pattern should be done with him. He defeated the Dark One at the Eye of the World, and Moiraine let him leave so he could safely isolate himself from his friends before going mad and killing himself, as he was sure he would, sooner or later, when he first touched the True Source and felt the madness clawing into his head. And yet…five months later, he’s still alive, still mostly sane, and still haunted by recurring nightmares of the man he believed to be the Dark One, but was actually Ishamael (Fares Fares), strongest of the channelers derisively named Forsaken who served the Dark One before the Breaking of the World. The Rand we meet in episode two is one who is still just tentatively starting to accept that he might have been granted a few more months, weeks, or days in the world to do some good, and is now realizing he doesn’t want to work up the courage to face madness and death a second time. But the harder he fights to bring his powers under control, the more the madness grows within him. And no one can help him, not even the enigmatic innkeeper Selene (Natasha O’Keefe) who sidles up to him in his moments of doubt.

What Selene offers Rand, however, is the physical affection he desperately craves but wouldn’t dare to ask for from anyone he truly cares about. Although their arrangement is sexual in nature, it is not exactly a romance, and I’m surprised (but then again, not really) that some reviewers interpreted it as one when The Wheel Of Time goes to great lengths to make it evident that Rand is with Selene for reasons of his own, and vice versa. Now, there is a moment in episode two during a candid conversation between the two where something in Selene’s eyes suggests she’s disappointed in Rand when he admits he’s only with her to try and forget someone else, but she merely sighs and assures him that if that’s the way it has to be, then she’ll gladly help him to forget. She confesses to fantasizing he’s someone different as well, someone she wants to remember. Will we ever get clarification on that? Perhaps.

In the meantime, Rand begins working his way through the ranks of the caretaking staff at a depressingly decorated sanatorium in Cairhien that houses patients from all over the Westlands, including veterans of the local Aiel War and male channelers gentled by the Red Ajah. As we soon discover, it is also where Logain has been residing for the past several months; not at the White Tower, as in Robert Jordan’s books, which means the fan-favorite character may play a different role in the story going forward, but the explanation given in the show is that Logain comes from an exceptionally wealthy and influential family in Ghealdan (canonically accurate), and they arranged more comfortable accommodations for him to live out his last days, still watched day in and day out as Siuan vowed he would be, but free to swagger about the gardens and boast that he used to be a Dragon. Rand’s only hope for enduring the madness or avoiding it altogether now rests with Logain, certifiably a madman.

To my surprise, the tender scenes between Rand and an elderly patient at the sanatorium (played by Nasser Memarzia) did far more to engage me in his storyline than any amount of watching him grapple with the Power after leaving a generic bully lying bloodied in an alleyway, though I feel it’s a matter of personal preference and Stradowski being at his most convincing when his Rand has a faint remnant of his sweetly rugged former self to cling to and build around.

A group of soldiers standing in front of a stone building, looking up at a black-cloaked faceless corpse nailed to a wooden door several feet off the ground.
A Fade nailed to a door | moviesr.net

On the other side of the world, Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) is struggling to make sense of his own rare abilities, which manifest primarily as golden-tinted afterimages crowding any space where violence has been done and blood has been spilled, disorienting the somewhat squeamish young blacksmith. In the books it’s Rand, following the trail of Padan Fain, who comes upon a farmhouse in the land between Shienar and Cairhien, and stumbles into a looping vision of the previous occupants being slaughtered, while in the show, this moment has cleverly been repurposed for establishing Perrin’s wolf-senses, and the setting moved to the small village of Atuan’s Mill in Arad Doman that becomes the site of our protagonists’ first brutal skirmish with the Seanchan invaders introduced in the closing moments of season one.

It’s an excellently choreographed action sequence that uses to its advantage the diversity of fighting-styles and philosophies amongst its participants: Perrin is a follower of the pacifistic Way of the Leaf and reluctant to kill or hurt even his enemies for fear of becoming more wolf than man, while the Shienarans take great joy in combat and the Seanchan have a callous disregard for anyone occupying the land they believe to be rightfully theirs, matched only by their monstrous treatment of female channelers, whom they collar and leash like animals. These women, the damane, have had their agency stripped away from them and placed in the hands of women called sul’dam, who claim to be unable to wield the One Power themselves but can manipulate its use by others.

Outside the White Tower, channeling may still be dangerous for both women and men with the ability, but for someone as strong in the Power (and as strongly ta’veren) as Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoë Robins) or Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden), none of the options before them are free of risk, because their options are limited at this point to what moves them both closer to becoming the most powerful and second-most powerful Aes Sedai, respectively, that the Tower has seen in a thousand years, something of which their teachers are eager to remind them at every opportunity – particularly Egwene, who understandably tires of hearing that her power is incomparable to Nynaeve’s, and that there’s no closing the gap. In need of a shoulder to cry on, she turns to the Tower’s newest Novice, Elayne Trakand (Ceara Coveney), the Daughter-Heir of Andor, who is true bestie material.

Elayne’s lofty titles are dropped into casual conversation with great weight, as if they should mean anything to the majority of non-book readers, who have no way of knowing yet, without a map to refer to, that Andor is the largest kingdom in the Westlands, encompassing the Two Rivers and a hundred other towns and cities, or that its current Queen, Morgase Trakand, was once a Novice at the Tower herself and is now attended by the powerful Red Aes Sedai Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan, soon to emerge as one of The Wheel Of Time‘s greatest antagonists. With the title of “Daughter-Heir” only vaguely defined and none of the political tensions between Andor and neighboring nations established, Elayne is likely just a princess to most viewers, but hopefully that changes if and when the show traces her familial connections to various other characters on the show. Regardless, she’s immediately endearing and cleverly written not to come off snobbish or entitled.

While Egwene and Elayne have sleepovers in each other’s rooms and sample strong alcoholic beverages brewed with the One Power via experimental weaves, Nynaeve has no one to turn to for shelter and thus finds herself coerced into taking a guided tour of the Tower’s seven Ajahs with Liandrin Guirale (Kate Fleetwood), who exploits their time together to try and make Nynaeve see the benefits of taking the Trial of the Arches, which all Novices must pass before being “raised” to Accepted and presented with a Great Serpent ring, albeit one bereft of the colored gemstone that Aes Sedai wear as a visual marker of their chosen Ajah. As Liandrin explains, with that disarming hint of genuine passion and pride in her voice, Accepted are permitted to learn from the Ajah of their choice – Healing from the Yellows, diplomacy from the Grays, spy-craft from the Blues, and so on. Sadly, our time with the different factions is limited to brief glimpses into the workings of the Yellow Ajah hospital, where Nynaeve discovers that the incurable illnesses of her village are easily treated in Tar Valon.

Madeleine Madden as Egwene al'Vere sitting across from Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand in a small room with stone walls, lit by candles burning in niches. Both are wearing gray aprons over long-sleeved white gowns, and wear white boots. They are raising glasses filled with a light-orange beverage, and smiling.
Egwene al’Vere and Elayne Trakand | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

For Nynaeve, however, that’s the only time on the tour that’s not wasted. She has no interest in the Yellow Ajah as an organization, but the first time she ever consciously channeled was to Heal the Aes Sedai and Warders wounded, some almost mortally, by Logain in season one, and she channeled again to protect her friends in the Ways. Long before she knew what she could do, she was drawn to the life of a Wisdom, and never regretted sacrificing companionship for the privilege and honor of protecting the people she loves. The duties of the Yellow Ajah come closest to aligning with her own desires, and it’s only after seeing the work they do that Nynaeve starts seriously considering the Trial of the Arches. She makes up her mind after following Liandrin later that night (having clocked the Red sister stealing poisonous herbs from the hospital), and realizing that even the cold and emotionless Aes Sedai have people in their lives besides their equally enigmatic Warders they would do anything to protect.

Liandrin’s happens to be her son, a man about eighty or ninety years of age, whose long-overdue expiration she has staved off with toxins that Nynaeve warns her will only cause him more pain. We don’t know what the Tower would do about it if they found out, but we can reasonably assume (and Nynaeve certainly does) that a lot of Liandrin’s more…questionable choices are the result of trying to hide her precious boy and keep him alive as long as possible, at least until she finds something else worth living for. How far will Liandrin go for her son, and who will get hurt in the process? That question has been answered in the latest episode, but I wouldn’t dare spoil it for those who haven’t watched yet. The long, tumultuous, and often uncomfortable emotional journey viewers will take alongside Kate Fleetwood’s Liandrin, for whom you can’t help but feel a begrudging form of admiration and respect despite all the writing on the wall telling you not to trust a single word that leaves her permanently pursed lips, is something you must experience for yourself – and if, by the end of it, you don’t understand why I am adamant that Fleetwood deserves an Emmy nomination for her work here, well, I can’t change your wrong opinion but know that I will judge you for it.

Seemingly central to Liandrin’s schemes is Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn), whom we learn has been imprisoned at the Tower for months now, but is digging an escape-route through the wall of his cell that eventually leads him to…an adjacent cell. Disappointing for him, but great for us viewers, because it facilitates a meeting between Finn’s Mat, who has a genuine warmth and sense of humor that Barney Harris, in my honest opinion, lacked, and Kae Alexander’s Min Farshaw, a charismatic bartender born with the unenviable ability to see pieces of the Pattern like images attached to people – sometimes cryptic, sometimes frighteningly clear. Mat has refreshingly little interest in learning his fate, however, and Min has no inclination to tell him what she sees; a vision of him stabbing Rand with the cursed dagger from Shadar Logoth, something that has no precedent in the books. Whether you interpret it as platonic, romantic, or playfully erotic, the palpable chemistry between these two is no joke (personally, I want them to kiss before the end of the season, but that’s just me).

Mat’s approach to life is to pretend he’s dodged the weavings of the Wheel of Time entirely, and to avoid looking too long at his own reflection, which would show him he’s bound up in threads of the Pattern as tightly as a fly in a spider’s web. The confidence he gains from thinking that only strengthens his resolve to escape the White Tower dungeons, but leaving the confines of his cell is exactly what the Wheel expects of him and has taken into account already. He can’t escape, not really; no one can. And if he and the other four ta’veren have it especially bad, they are not alone in feeling helpless. Moiraine, once the most self-assured character on the show, is trying to come to terms with the fact that, at this critical juncture, she’s expected to do something not in her nature and surrender to the will of the Wheel. She’s seen the threads that bind her; seen even further, all the way to the brink of the abyss where she’s being pulled, swiftly and inexorably. She’s prepared for that. What she can’t cope with is the thought of anyone being dragged down with her, because of her.

Meera Syal as Verin Mathwin in The Wheel Of Time, sitting in a chair outdoors with a smile on her face. She has gray hair bunched up on top of her head, with loose curly strands falling around her face. She is wearing a silk brown dress clasped at the front with a large golden teardrop-shaped brooch, over a white blouse with long, frilly pleated sleeves.
Verin Mathwin | nerdist.com

And thus we come to the most painful scene in the episode, in which Moiraine dismisses her Warder, al’Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney), after nearly twenty years of service. It’s for his own safety, which he can’t bring himself to comprehend through anger and frustration, but Moiraine doesn’t tell him that, or try to assure him of anything. She’s very much like Rand in that way. They are both extremely protective of the people they love, and see themselves as inherently unworthy of receiving that same love and protection in return because anyone close to them is in danger of being hurt, possibly by their own hand. When Moiraine tells Lan they “were never equals”, Lan interprets it one way but Moiraine, I think, phrased it as she did specifically so she could lead him to a conclusion at odds with the truth: that in her eyes, she was never deserving of his loyalty, because for as long as she’s known Lan her only purpose in life has been to serve and protect the Dragon Reborn, and, as was pointed out to her by the alarmingly perceptive Verin Mathwin (Meera Syal), there is no telling who she’ll have to hurt or kill to help the Dragon achieve his victory over the Dark One at the Last Battle. She knows she can’t bring herself to hurt Lan and that he would all too willingly sacrifice himself if it were ever necessary, so rejecting him is the only option left to her.

The unfortunate consequence of this choice is that it sets up an aimless subplot with Lan and Alanna Mosvani (Priyanka Bose), the Aes Sedai to whom Lan is handed for safekeeping like a parcel by Moiraine, that begs for a swift resolution. Alanna’s sensuality and apparent openness juxtaposed with Lan’s stoicism and silence could have provided insight into both their characters as well as entertainment, but I feel that The Wheel Of Time is perhaps focusing too hard on establishing Alanna before it has the need, or the ability to do anything particularly meaningful with her. Until Lan inevitably returns to Moiraine (and, short of killing him herself, which she will never do, there is nothing she can do or say to prevent that from happening one way or another, because the Wheel has willed it), this storyline was bound to drag – but we will discuss that in greater detail another time.

The philosophical questions raised in episode two are unlikely to be definitively answered in our lifetimes, much less in this season of The Wheel Of Time, but the speculative answers put forward in the pages of Jordan’s books offer arguably less comfort than the uncertainty we endure. In the world he envisioned, certain events must happen and ultimately will happen in every Age for as long as the Wheel keeps turning, but they cannot happen on their own, therefore requiring that the people statistically most likely to make the “right” choices are spun out into the Pattern at the “right” time to ensure said choices will be made, as anything else could potentially lead to the breaking of the Wheel and the dissolution of the Pattern.

This would be bad, we’re meant to understand, because no one’s choices would have any meaning then. But what meaning does a choice actually have, if the Wheel only allows those that either directly serve its goal or have no consequence, and can spin out ta’veren to “correct” the rest? What meaning is there in the Wheel itself, if it wants nothing, works toward nothing, achieves nothing in any Turning except its continued self-preservation? If humanity can never advance so far that all their progress can’t be reversed in the next Age, all their accomplishments reduced to the stuff of legends? If the so-called Last Battle between the Dragon and the Dark One only acts as a catalyst for further upheaval, and all the blood shed, all the tears spilled, all the sacrifices made by our protagonists, not only won’t prevent it from happening again, but rather, ensure it will? Is the promise of rebirth any comfort, if the world into which you’re reborn is still fighting the same war you fought in all your previous lives?

(left to right) Gregg Chilingirian as Ingtar, Arnas Fedaravicius as Masema, Hammed Animashaun as Loial, and Guy Roberts as Uno from The Wheel Of Time, standing with weapons drawn in a village at night. Ingtar, Masema, and Uno wear light armor.
(left to right) Ingtar, Masema, Loial, and Uno | imdb.com

I don’t mean to burden my readers with these and other questions that keep me up at night wondering what Jordan potentially found soothing in this unique interpretation of the cosmos, and I’m not trying to parrot the Dark One’s own talking-points (breaking the Wheel is his only solution to everything, and while it sounds revolutionary on paper, in practice, it would achieve nothing), but these are questions which The Wheel Of Time‘s writers should spare some further thought, seeing as they’ve expanded on Jordan’s themes in countless ways already and always with a care and consideration for the essence of the source material coupled with a desire to be forward-thinking that makes me genuinely interested in what they have to say through the retelling of this particular story. I’m not saying the protagonists should necessarily break the Wheel by the end of the series; I just think there are a lot of shapes that time could take and something as simple as adjusting it to a…Straight Line of Time, for instance, would solve a lot of this world’s problems.

Episode Rating: 8.5/10

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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!

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“The Wheel Of Time” Season 2 Release Date Revealed Alongside New Images

MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME SEASON TWO AHEAD!

Mark your calendars for September 1st, everybody. Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time is returning after a hiatus of almost two years, and its second season promises to be even bigger in scope, nearly rivaling The Rings Of Power, Amazon’s flagship fantasy series. The journey of our main characters, antagonists included, can be traced through eight new photos obtained by Entertainment Weekly that reveal stunning locations, magnificent costumery, jaw-dropping production and set design, and some startling team-ups. Let’s get right into it, shall we?

(left to right) two Seanchan women, Loial, and Ishamael, striding across a sandy courtyard in Falme between rows of Seanchan warriors and civilians. The two women wear long-sleeved rust-colored jackets and coats over teal blue gowns. The woman on the far left wears a sinuous metal face-mask. The woman in the center has her hair shaped into wings on either side of her head, and wears a golden mask covering her entire face except her chin. Ishamael wears a black vest over a white shirt and black trousers, while Loial, behind him, wears a light blue-green tunic.
(left to right) two Seanchan women, Loial, and Ishamael | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

This image of two unidentified but obviously important Seanchan women walking alongside Ishamael and Loial of all people seems specifically designed to generate heated discussion and fervent theorizing. It appears that the Seanchan have begun their invasion of the Westlands and what we’re seeing in this image is a triumphant procession through the streets of conquered and colonized Falme, the coastal city that hosts the climactic battle of The Wheel Of Time‘s second book (and presumably its second season). With that context, it becomes very likely that the masked woman occupying the center of the frame is the victorious Seanchan admiral, High Lady Suroth Sabelle Meldarath, a callous but clever villain in the books. The dead giveaway is the extraordinary length of her bladed fingernails, a sign of status amongst the Seanchan.

But for all her wealth, power, and military prowess, Suroth is a puppet on the Forsaken’s strings, and in this image she may be flanked by not one, but two of the Dark One’s most dangerous lieutenants. I mean, obviously that’s Fares Fares as Ishamael on her left, looking quite dashing in a cleaner, more streamlined version of his season one outfit. But at her right hand, with eyes downcast behind a sinuous metal face-mask resembling a spider’s web, could that be Moghedien, the weakest yet most devious of the Forsaken? Sure, it’s infinitely more likely to be Alwhin, Suroth’s so’jihn or herald (herself an interesting character), but the thought of multiple Forsaken appearing onscreen together in season two, foreshadowing the chaotic tea-parties they’ll share in future seasons, is the stuff of my dreams.

There’s no mistaking Loial, however, even though the Ogier, who looms over the rest of the human cast, seems almost matched in height by Ishamael. I can’t even begin to imagine how he got caught up in this procession, whether he’s in Falme as an honored guest of the Seanchan or as their prisoner, and what this means for his traveling companion, Perrin Aybara, who ought to be somewhere nearby.

(left to right) Masema, Aviendha, and Perrin Aybara, standing in an alleyway between sand-colored buildings. Aviendha wears garments of beige and brown leather, with a gauzy hood and a black veil covering the lower half of her face. She wields a short knife in her left hand, and hoists a spear in her right. Perrin, carrying no weapons, stands with mouth slightly agape, wearing a gray-and-green leather vest over a faded red shirt and green trousers.
(left to right) Masema, Aviendha, and Perrin Aybara | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Ah, there he is – definitely in Falme, judging by the scenery, though clearly under very different circumstances. The veiled woman beside him in this image is Aviendha, played by Ayoola Smart, a member of the Far Dareis Mai, or Maidens of the Spear, warrior-women from the Aiel Waste who have recently crossed the Spine of the World in search of the Car’a’carn prophesied to lead all the Aiel. Leaked audition-tapes for season two hinted that Perrin would share the screen with Aviendha, but seeing as the two have virtually no relationship in the books, there was some confusion and doubt over whether this would actually play out. It seems we can now confirm that, for better or worse, Aviendha and the Far Dareis Mai will be teaming up with Perrin in season two, leading me to the sad but inevitable conclusion that she is probably taking the place of Gaul, the Aiel man whom Perrin rescues from a cage and befriends in the third book of the series. Bain and Chiad, two Maidens married to each other and to Gaul in the books, have also been cast, and will appear in season two.

Rand al'Thor, wearing a brown cloak and hood, with a sword strapped on his back, walking through a sandy courtyard.
Rand a’Thor | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

What keeps me hoping that Gaul will appear later in the series is that Aviendha can’t fill his role in the story entirely without literally being in two places at once – because her path leads back to the Aiel Waste alongside the Dragon Reborn, Rand al’Thor, at the same time that Gaul is headed in the opposite direction with Perrin. Speaking of Rand, we see him in Falme, flanked by banners bearing the symbol of the Seanchan Empire, cloaked and hooded, with his heron-marked blade strapped on his back. It’s impossible to say exactly what’s happening in this image without more context, but I’ll just point out that if Rand and Ishamael are in Falme simultaneously, I suspect there will be some kind of confrontation between them.

Egwene al'Vere, wearing a gray apron over a long-sleeved plain white dress, standing at a wooden table in the kitchens of the White Tower, organizing glasses and goblets.
Egwene al’Vere | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

On the other side of the continent, far removed from the threat of the Seanchan invasion, Egwene al’Vere begins her training to become an Aes Sedai at the White Tower…and finds it a far less enjoyable experience than she’d imagined, as the Mistress of Novices puts her to work in the kitchen alongside Elayne Trakand, the Daughter-Heir of Andor and a channeler almost as powerful as Egwene herself. Egwene is pictured here with an expression of barely-disguised annoyance, as if daring anyone at the Tower, Novice or Aes Sedai, to get on her nerves after another day seemingly wasted scrubbing pots and washing floors.

Nynaeve al'Meara, wearing a plain white shift with her hair braided, standing in a darkly-lit stone chamber, looking over her shoulder to the right with an expression of concern. Behind her stands a silver-gray arch with wide columns.
Nynaeve al’Meara | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Nynaeve al’Meara, ironically, is moving much more quickly through the ranks of the Aes Sedai and can be seen mentally preparing herself for the rigorous test that Novices usually undergo several years into their training, following which they may either be “Accepted” or be rejected by the Tower…assuming they survive. The test takes place in the basement underneath the Tower, between three silver arches which together form a ter’angreal (a tool or practical object made using the One Power), which allows the user to face a manifestation of their greatest fears from the past, present, and future. Panicking once inside the silver arches will result in a fate worse than death; being lost outside time and space in a labyrinth of nightmarish alternate dimensions. And mind you, Nynaeve hasn’t even had a full day’s training yet and she’s already been pushed to the front of the line for this abhorrent trial.

Mat Cauthon, lying on a wooden couch with his head leaning against the arm-rest, a single tear running down his left cheek. He is wrapped up in his thin, ragged green coat, and stares blankly at a candle-flame in the foreground.
Mat Cauthon | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Deeper still than the kitchens and the basement are the White Tower’s dungeons, where it seems we’ll find Mat Cauthon languishing in the care of the Red Ajah, Aes Sedai who punish the misuse of the One Power by men like Mat, who may not be able to channel but might be capable of much worse if he discovers that he’s able to manipulate the Pattern around himself, like Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Perrin. It’s uncertain whether The Wheel Of Time will continue to explore the idea, introduced in season one, that Mat is especially susceptible to the Dark One’s corrosive influence, or if that was only ever an excuse to get Mat out of the picture after the original actor, Barney Harris, abruptly left the series more than halfway through filming. Dónal Finn, our new Mat, sheds a convincing tear either for his current plight, or for the fact that he hasn’t gotten a costume change like the rest of his castmates.

al'Lan Mandragoran, wearing a black cape over dark walking-clothes, riding a black horse through a forest. He has a sword strapped to his back, and an expression of surprise on his face.
al’Lan Mandragoran | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

He can take comfort in the fact that Lan Mandragoran apparently hasn’t changed either, and is probably the least remarkable of the returning characters because of it. He’s riding a horse, through a forest. That’s really all I have to say.

On to Moiraine! The undimmed star of The Wheel Of Time, Rosamund Pike’s iconic queer sorceress returns to her hometown of Cairhien in season two with a stunning new outfit reflective of her noble origins and her description in the book. Moiraine does surprisingly little in the second book of the series, but her role in the show took an unexpected turn when she was shielded in the first season finale, losing access to the One Power and the Bond between her and Lan, her Warder. Returning to Cairhien, the one place in the world where she doesn’t need the Power or the help of her Warder to give her authority, is therefore a smart move for her and for the show, which is now presented with an organic opportunity to explore her character’s backstory and flesh out her relationship with the Damodred family, humanizing her.

Moiraine Damodred in The Wheel Of Time season two, wearing a wide-sleeved dark blue dress over a white shirt, with a blue-and-gold belt. A gold circlet is nestled in her brown hair. She stands in a dusty marketplace, amidst a crowd of people.
Moiraine Damodred | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Now that you’ve seen all the new images from the second season, I want to hear from you. Who looks the coolest (for me it’s the Seanchan), who could have used a costume change (Lan, sadly), and whose upcoming arc are you most excited for (Egwene, without a doubt)? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!