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September 5, 2023

“The Wheel Of Time” Season 2, Episode 1 – Vindication For The First Season’s Flawed Finale

**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.

I wrote once that The Wheel Of Time‘s season one finale was a necessarily messy episode of television, having to hurriedly clear pieces off the board and wipe it clean so that season two could jump into a new game in a new setting (narratively and thematically as well as physically), and no longer be burdened with the consequences of working around COVID-19, star Barney Harris’ sudden departure, and the occasional incoherence of the source material itself, which piled up in the back-half of season one and threatened to bog down what was otherwise an enjoyable, fast-paced trek along the margins of Robert Jordan’s expansive world. Nearly two years later, I am pleased to report that my prediction has come to pass, as surely as any of Min Farshaw’s foretellings. The Wheel Of Time hits the ground running in its second season specifically because of the dirty work done in season one, episode eight.

Fares Fares as Ishamael in The Wheel Of Time season two, wearing a dark coat, kneeling in short grass while holding the hands of a small girl wearing a red and blue dress. Behind them looms a massive Trolloc, man-shaped but with the face of a boar, with antlers sprouting from its head. It is night, and fog is rolling in. — Ishamael at the Darkfriend Social | telltaletv.com

The choice to depower Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) at the Eye of the World, controversial at the time, is one that forces Pike to resituate herself in her character’s fundamentally altered body and mind, and to which the Oscar-nominated actress responds enthusiastically by punching jagged holes in the façade of unreadable micro-expressions and mannerisms that Moiraine was accustomed to using as a shield, gaps in her defenses through which her raw humanity now spills in angry torrents, deliberately aimed to hurt the one person staying and trying – in his eyes, harder than Moiraine herself has ever tried – to patch up her wounds, who will continue to fail and hurt himself in the process as long as he refuses to acknowledge that these wounds run far too deep for him to heal; her loyal Warder, al’Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney). The more Lan tries to force Moiraine to talk through her grief, the more she pulls away from him and the wider the rift between them grows. They can’t get on the same page without the Bond to guide them in the right direction, and so in the first episode’s final minutes Moiraine runs, deeming it safer for them both if she does, only to have all her fears and doubts confirmed when Lan follows and nearly kills himself to protect her. The devolution of what once seemed an indestructible relationship founded in mutual trust is the episode’s central through line, around which all other plot-threads must loosely swirl, reflecting how the characters find themselves being buffeted by the winds of change to far-flung corners of the world at the beginning of season two.

But the wind lifts each of these threads and binds them to the others before episode’s end in a sequence that appropriately brings the Wheel of Time almost full-circle, as Bel-Tine lanterns last lit on the fateful night before the Emond’s Field Five left home – a year earlier, in-universe – now flicker once again on a stream in Arad Doman where Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) makes camp alongside Shienaran soldiers, on the stone windowsill of a room in the White Tower where Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden) and Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoë Robins) find fleeting moments of comfort amidst their grueling training, and on a street-corner in the scaffolding-encased city of Cairhien where Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski), the Dragon Reborn, waits patiently for madness to consume his soul. Dónal Finn’s Mat Cauthon, meanwhile, makes do without a lantern in the White Tower dungeon where we find him languishing, months after he abandoned his friends to go after a cursed dagger. Wherever these places are in relation to each other and Emond’s Field (and, for the viewer unfamiliar with a map of the Westlands, there really isn’t any indication), this scene forcefully reiterates that home is never far from any of our main characters’ hearts, and that right now, more than anything, they yearn for what they’ve lost.

With the exception of Rand, who doesn’t appear again until episode two, each of these characters, and Moiraine and Lan, face challenges in the premiere that test how far they’re willing to go, and what they’re willing to lose, to become the heroes they need to be if they’re to have any hope of winning the coming Last Battle – and no one is feeling the pressure more than Nynaeve, the most powerful channeler to train at the White Tower in a thousand years, who has subconsciously developed a ‘block’ that prevents her from channeling except in moments of extreme anger, fear, and sorrow. Every Aes Sedai in the Tower craves the prestige that would come from being the one to break Nynaeve’s block and guide her to greatness, making all their efforts to help seem insincere, but the one who finally coaxes a reaction out of her during a particularly brutal session is also the one Nynaeve trusts the least; Liandrin Guirale (Kate Fleetwood) of the authoritarian Red Ajah, a woman who represents everything Nynaeve detests most about the Aes Sedai and their White Tower.

To say that Fleetwood is a standout from the first three episodes would be an understatement. She is utterly electrifying, and no one on The Wheel Of Time, with the exception of Fleetwood’s frequent scene-partner Zoë Robins, is more deserving of critical recognition for their work this season (and we will talk about Robins in my review of episode three), though all the cast are perhaps equally worthy and there are several others I’d single out for praise in the first episode alone, including Madden, who brims with charisma; Rutherford, who has settled comfortably into a middle-ground between learned stoicism and innate vulnerability after being emotionally paralyzed by the narrative for much of season one; and the delightful pairing of Meera Syal and Nila Aalia as exasperated eccentric Verin Mathwin and playful flirt Adeleas, Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah who inject energy into Moiraine’s slow-paced storyline. Dónal Finn, who I will highlight in my review of episode two, quickly joins the likes of Robins, Fleetwood, and Pike with a performance I can only describe as enthralling.

With the younger members of the cast having each developed a strong, distinctive acting-style and synergizing effortlessly with each other and the veterans of stage and screen who surround them, the responsibility of carrying The Wheel Of Time can now be shared more evenly amongst them all, and I’m sure that after dedicating so much of her time in recent years to the character of Moiraine, there must be a part of Rosamund Pike that welcomes the opportunity to take a step back and proudly witness that transition occur. With that said, she is likely to continue serving as the series’ iconic mascot as long as her name alone can pull in new viewers, and it would be criminal in any case to neglect an actress of her caliber, or even expect her to be content with the relatively small and insignificant role her character plays in The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, the second and third books in Robert Jordan’s monumental fourteen-volume series. Finding an appropriate balance going forward will surely be the hardest task facing showrunner Rafe Judkins, though to date, fleshing out Moiraine’s storyline with material derived from the prequel novel New Spring, including information about her early years that sadly never became relevant in the main series, has proven a satisfying workaround and opens new pathways that ultimately connect her back to Rand and other characters.

The very notion of changes to the order of events in the books is understandably nerve-wracking to some, and blasphemous to others, but while there are major changes, each and every one has been made with the essence of the characters in mind…and what’s more, even changes that could not have been avoided are executed in such a way that they could not feel more organic. For example, it’s Perrin, instead of Rand, who has the closest relationship with Ingtar Shinowa (Gregg Chilingirian, quietly exceptional in the role), and while on the surface it’s a change that could seem random, a product of circumstances more than anything else, a closer reading of Ingtar’s words to Perrin near the end of episode one as the two discuss Padan Fain (Johann Myers)’s motivations for joining the Dark reveals that it’s an exquisite adjustment made to service both their arcs in ways I can’t wait to explain after the season finale (no spoilers in the comments, please!). And remember, this beautiful scene wouldn’t exist were it not for Perrin being the one to awkwardly run into Fain in Fal Dara last season solely because someone had to fill Mat’s place.

Dónal Finn as Mat Cauthon in The Wheel Of Time, lying on a wooden bench in a dimly-lit room with his head leaning on the armrest, tears rolling down his cheeks as he stares at a flickering candle-flame in the foreground. He has brown curly hair and a beard. He is wearing an olive-green coat over a greenish-brown tattered shirt. — Mat Cauthon | cosmopolitan.com

And that brings me to an even better example, which is, of course, Mat’s entire storyline this season. While it was never planned or predicted that Barney Harris would leave The Wheel Of Time midway through filming season one, necessitating that his character be written off the show temporarily with a myriad of clumsy excuses, you wouldn’t guess it from the way it’s been gracefully handled in season two. I feel safe in stating that there’s nothing Mat does in the first three books that would have more perfectly illustrated to the audience exactly who he is and everything he struggles with than what Judkins came up with as a hasty backup plan for his character. To pull that off, as well as the recasting, in the middle of a pandemic, must have required a coalescence of imagination and ingenuity Hollywood can never hope to replicate with an AI.

Outstanding actors working from an excellent script could convince the audience that any four walls are a palace or a prison, but The Wheel Of Time is an epic fantasy greater in scale than almost any other, and that wasn’t always evident from the first season, which could only afford to visit three or four primary locations across eight episodes, with about the same number of outfits for each main character, or fewer. But an evidently sizable expansion to the series’ budget has allowed the production designers, costume designers, hairstylists, makeup artists, and propmakers in every field and art-form to go absolutely wild this season, filling every nook and cranny of this world with detailing pulled straight from the books. The White Tower, so obviously a single soundstage decorated slightly differently for various scenes in the first season, now feels like an entire ecosystem nestled in the beating heart of Tar Valon, itself much larger and more vibrant this season. The women of the Aes Sedai not only dress like actual people instead of being restricted to the color of their respective Ajah, they also dress fabulously, in patterned silks, laces, velvets, and furs, bedecked in precious stones and metals – everything I was missing from their introduction in season one, essentially. If costume designer Sharon Gilham alone walks away with an Emmy for her work this season, it will not be enough but nor will it be undeserved.

On a similar note, the CGI has improved substantially between seasons and the ‘weaves’ constructed by channelers from glinting threads of the One Power are far more intricate now, containing colors besides cloudy white, including vivid shades of gold, silver, and amber. These threads wind differently for each woman (and man), some as vague and ethereal as ribbons swirling in a breeze, some as sharply defined and precise as the razor-edged cord of a garrote. Nynaeve, because of her block, tends to channel messily when she channels at all, and her weaves are loose, ragged. Liandrin has a dexterity with the Power we have yet to see matched by any channeler save the Forsaken Ishamael (Fares Fares), her weaves forming long, thrashing whips. And Egwene…well, Egwene has been teaching herself to channel without the use of her hands, and we finally see her do so in episode three, though her weaves of sinuous flame are easily extinguished by Liandrin. It’ll be quite interesting to see how Moiraine uses the Power, assuming she’s unshielded by Rand or Siuan this season (I have no doubt in my mind she’s shielded, not stilled, as she seems to believe).

Even with an increased budget, however, I would never say that The Wheel Of Time relies at any point on its CGI, and in fact the continued use of practical effects wherever possible is perhaps one of the series’ most exciting and endearing qualities from a filmmaking perspective. In the first episode’s climactic action sequence, Moiraine is ambushed on the road by three Fades, the most vaguely humanoid of Shadowspawn. Bereft of the abilities she would ordinarily use to fight back, she hides for a moment to weigh her options, draws a knife, and begins stalking her unseen enemies through patches of shadow on the ground. The resulting battle is shot and choreographed to seem totally, brutally grounded, something I think is largely attributable to the fact that you can feel the presence of every actor and stunt performer in the scene, the weight and impact of every sword-thrust, kick, and hit. The Fades feel like a real threat because they are real, making their unnerving speed and strength more incredible, and their weaknesses more believable.

The season’s primary antagonists, Ishamael and Padan Fain, are relegated to small roles in the suspense-driven first episode, which allows our anticipation to grow with each passing moment that we know and the characters know that they’re just off-camera, observing quietly. Fain is one of the book series’ most terrifying villains, his deeds in service to the Dark downright stomach-turning, and I feel that was captured in the early scene where Perrin and the Shienarans come across the wreckage of a Tuatha’an caravan and the bodies of several Darkfriends killed by Fain for no other reason than to whittle down his competition. Perrin’s wolf-senses allow him to relive the carnage as it happened (interestingly, the girl that he sees escaping the massacre, whose fate is still unknown, is the very same girl who befriended Ishamael in the cold-open), further deepening his distaste for violence, his discomfort in his own body, and his distrust of Elyas Machera (Gary Beadle), the golden-eyed “sniffer” who shares his abilities. While it would have been nice to see Elyas in the first season, holding off his introduction meant effectively isolating Perrin, giving him more legitimate reasons to build barriers between himself and the wolves that we’ll see him topple gradually, reluctantly, over the course of this season.

If there is any cause for concern to be found in the first episode, it is the absence of Sophie Okonedo, who appears to have only filmed an episode or two as Siuan Sanche, the Amyrlin Seat of the Aes Sedai, greatly reducing both the amount of time we can expect her to share with Egwene and Nynaeve this season (if any), and her potential future involvement in storylines at the White Tower that…revolved around Siuan in the books. With the character of Elaida yet to be introduced, however, it seems those storylines may not be established at all until season three, which I think is a terrible mistake. Then again, if Mat’s character arc could be resuscitated and restored to full health in the span of a few minutes with Dónal Finn, I have faith that Sophie Okonedo and whichever extremely talented actress is cast as Elaida can convince me of their decades-long rivalry in no time at all.

Madeleine Madden as Egwene al'Vere in The Wheel Of Time season two, standing before a table in a dimly-lit kitchen, wearing a gray apron over a long-sleeved white gown. — Egwene al’Vere | polygon.com

In short, the first episode of season two finally elevates the series a step above season one – and above most of the competition – in every way. The Wheel Of Time is even more epic and more thrilling in this Turning, its cast even stronger, its worldbuilding even richer. There is no comparing the two seasons, really, because the difference is night and day, and I say that as someone who enjoyed most of the first season and still rewatches my favorite episodes, three, five, and six, frequently. Season one was good, at times great, and offered fleeting glimpses of what The Wheel Of Time could be. Season two is phenomenal television that finally lives up to what was promised, and doesn’t waste a second of screentime in doing so.

Episode Rating: 9/10

August 23, 2023

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.”

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!

August 2, 2023

The Wheel Of Time Quietly Released The First Scene Of Season Two

**MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME, BOOKS ONE THROUGH THREE, 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.

There’s no particular reason you should be aware if you aren’t obsessed like I am with The Wheel Of Time, but last night, Amazon Prime Video quietly released a full scene from the epic fantasy series’ upcoming second season, attaching it to the very end of the season one finale as a sneaky surprise for fans rewatching the series. The scene in question is an iconic one from the prologue of The Great Hunt, the second book in Robert Jordan’s original fourteen-volume series of novels. Over the years, fans have taken to calling this scene the “Darkfriend Social”, as it depicts a group of cloaked, hooded, and masked Darkfriends mingling in a remote manor as they await new orders from Ishamael, leader of the Forsaken, following his confrontation with the Dragon Reborn at the Eye of the World.

A courtyard outside a tall stone building, with round stone discs standing on pedestals placed at the corners of cobblestone paths. It is nighttime, and only a few torches are burning in sconces on either side of the front door. Ishamael, wearing black, is leading a small girl in a red dress by the hand down the front steps into the courtyard, where three towering Trollocs, roughly man-shaped but covered in fur and with horns and tusks protruding from their faces, stand silently watching them, as if awaiting orders. — Trollocs attend the Darkfriend Social | ign.com

In the book, this scene is viewed exclusively through a keen pair of eyes belonging to “the man who called himself Bors”, a Darkfriend we learn by the end of the chapter is a Whitecloak Questioner. The adaptation takes a different approach, turning the camera on a young girl who is playing by herself in the courtyard, but rushes back inside after encountering Trollocs and scurries under the table around which a multitude of Darkfriends are seated silently, wearing veils to conceal their identities yet still unconcernedly (some might say carelessly) giving away clues as to their ethnicities and social standing through the shifting of black silk to reveal the long lacquered fingernails of Seanchan Blood, or a Great Serpent Ring on a black-gloved hand, or the brightly-colored skirts of a Tuatha’an woman. The man who called himself Bors is seemingly also present, unless a pair of distinctive white gloves belong to another member of his zealous organization. And the peddler Padan Fain, in brazen defiance of Ishamael’s instructions, actually uncovers his face.

A few of the Darkfriends seated around the table might just be extras to fill out the scene, but most will reappear later in the series as antagonists. The Seanchan noblewoman is a character we’ve already seen hanging out with Ishamael in the trailer for season two and in various promotional stills, High Lady Suroth Sabelle Meldarath. The man wearing the black hawk of Shienar on his clothes is almost certainly [redacted], and the black-ringed Aes Sedai, though unidentifiable from a close-up shot of her hand alone, is probably [redacted]. I’m sorry to have to censor the names, but I’m doing it for your own good. As for the man who seems to be the man who called himself Bors (can I just call him Bors from now on? Does anyone mind?), I expect him to turn up again fairly soon, when the Whitecloaks invade Almoth Plain in season two. I’m oddly most interested in the nameless, faceless Tuatha’an Darkfriend, whom the little girl refers to as “Mum” while tugging on her skirt. She’s technically a character from the book, but not one that we ever see again:

“Merchant and warrior, commoner and noble. From Kandor and Cairhien, Saldaea and Ghealdan. From every nation and nearly every people. [Bors’] nose wrinkled in sudden disgust. Even a Tinker, in bright green breeches and a virulent yellow coat. We can do without those come the day.”

– The Great Hunt; Prologue: In The Shadow

There’s never any reference to Darkfriends among the Tuatha’an that I can remember from the books, and it’s hard to imagine what a Tuatha’an Darkfriend could even accomplish with that peaceful people that would help the Dark One. My out-there theory is that she’s some version of the extremely minor character Leya, a Tuatha’an woman killed in a Trolloc raid in The Dragon Reborn, who in this Turning of the Wheel will actually be responsible for leading the Trollocs to the Dragon’s location at some point. Or perhaps she was already responsible for arranging the confrontation between the Whitecloaks and Tuatha’an in season one, which resulted in Egwene and Perrin being captured and nearly killed.

(left to right) Madeleine Madden as Egwene al'Vere, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, and Daryl McCormack as Aram from The Wheel Of Time season one, standing in a forest. Egwene is wearing a purple-pink shawl over a red-brown coat, looking anxiously over Perrin's shoulder. Perrin is wearing a dark brown fur coat with a leather satchel. Aram is wearing a striped jacket in muted shades of red, blue and yellow over a white shirt with floral embroidery. — (left to right) Egwene al’Vere, Perrin Aybara, and Aram | dragonmount.com

Ishamael overhears the girl trying to get her mother’s attention and interrupts the meeting to crawl under the table and speak with her, telling her not to be afraid of Trollocs. He then takes her by the hand and brings her back outside to play, while the Darkfriends sit in awkward silence, all presumably glaring at the Tuatha’an mother from behind their veils. I don’t necessarily expect the girl to have any significance down the line, but it’s not inconceivable that she grows up to be the young Darkfriend assassin Mili Skane, whose small role in the first book was given to the original character Dana. Though I’d still prefer if Dana was simply resurrected and merged with Mili going forward, I wouldn’t mind this alternate backstory for the villain, who actually has an intriguing connection with Ishamael in the books. Either way, I wholly approve of Ishamael having an unpredictable paternal affection for some of his Darkfriends. He could be The Wheel Of Time‘s version of Silco from Arcane.

The scene ends on a strangely sweet yet suspenseful moment where Ishamael invites the girl to reach out and pet a Trolloc, which had me fearing the entire time as she caressed its face and bloody tusks that her hand would be bitten off, or that Ishamael would leave her there and lock her out. I appreciate that he didn’t, that he actually wants to prove to her that he meant it when he said Trollocs aren’t monsters for being part-human and part-animal, any more than he can reasonably be called a monster for existing in the space between good and evil. Ishamael in the books wouldn’t ever do that, because he’d be too busy running around yelling that he’s gonna crush the Dragon like a worm beneath his heel and then dramatically failing on three separate occasions to do so in just the first three books:

“”The place where you stand lies in the shadow of Shayol Ghul.” More than one voice moaned at that; the man who called himself Bors was not sure his own was not among them. A touch of what might almost be called mockery entered [Ishamael’s] voice as he spread his arms wide. “Fear not, for the Day of your Master’s rising upon the world is near at hand….soon the Wheel of Time will be broken. Soon the Great Serpent will die, and with the power of that death, the death of Time itself, your Master will remake the world in his own image for this Age and for all Ages to come. And those who serve me, faithful and steadfast, will sit at my feet above the stars in the sky and rule the world of men forever. So have I promised, and so shall it be, without end. You shall live and rule forever.””

– The Great Hunt; Prologue: In The Shadow

See what I mean? That’s just an excerpt, but that’s how he talks all the time, unnecessarily capitalizing every other word. It’s exhausting. In the show’s version of events, Ishamael comes across as more cool-headed and patient, less interested in killing the Dragon than in manipulating him into fighting for the shadow, which I think is a smart choice. There are plenty of other Forsaken whose job it is to be campy and over-the-top evil.

Ishamael in The Wheel Of Time season two, played by Fares Fares, wearing a black coat with white cuffs, kneels down to be on eye-level with a small girl in a red-and-blue dress. Standing between them, towering over both, is a Trolloc wearing bits and pieces of leather armor, covered in fur, with broken antlers and tusks protruding from its face. It is nighttime, and fog is drifting over the short grass through a courtyard filled with stone pedestals. — Ishamael | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Where are the other Forsaken, anyway? The large stone discs standing on pedestals in the courtyard outside the Darkfriend Social likely represent the seven seals on the Dark One’s prison that hold him and the Forsaken captive, with the one broken and lying on the ground being a miniature version of the actual seal broken by Rand al’Thor at the Eye of the World that released Ishamael into the world. On it is carved an ornate eight-pointed star containing symbols of the eight Forsaken in the spaces between its points: what looks to be a spider in a web for Moghedien, something that could be a moon for Lanfear, a guitar for Asmodean, and then a lot of squiggles and shapes whose meaning is still unclear. I believe that with one seal broken and the rest weakened, Ishamael will be able to release the other Forsaken into the world, starting with Lanfear, Daughter of the Night, and that will be the catalyst for much of what happens in season two.

Now you tell me what you think! Have you watched the new scene? Or are you saving the experience for when the season premieres? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!

July 21, 2023

The Wheel Of Time Turns Again In Season Two Trailer

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 of Time turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memory that becomes legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a trailer dropped. The trailer was not the beginning; there are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Official poster for The Wheel Of Time season two. In the center stands Moiraine, wearing a dark blue vest over a white blouse with a long blue dress. She holds a short knife. Her brown hair is unbound. To the right of her are Rand, with a shaven head, coiled in orange threads of the One Power; Perrin, wearing a dark green woven leather vest over a red shirt; and Mat, wearing a dirty olive-green coat with unkempt curly hair. To the left of her are Lan, reaching over his shoulder for the sword strapped to his back; Nynaeve, wearing white and staring defiantly at the camera; and Egwene, wearing white, with blue threads of the One Power winding around her. They are all superimposed against a large gold disc on a blue background. — The Wheel Of Time | escapistmagazine.com

And what a beginning. The first official trailer for The Wheel Of Time season two doesn’t pull any punches. With how long it’s been since the first season aired on Prime Video (and how much fantasy television has come out since then, including HBO’s House Of The Dragon, Prime’s The Rings Of Power, and two seasons of Netflix’s The Witcher), the aim of this marketing campaign is to be as big, bold, and distinct as possible, practically slamming the viewer with epic visuals, dynamic action, thrilling drama, and iconic moments lifted straight from the pages of The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, the second and third books in Robert Jordan’s best-selling series of high fantasy novels, supplemented in the show with enough new material to keep even veterans of the source material on the edge of their seats.

Of course, it would be significantly easier to promote the series with assistance from The Wheel Of Time‘s showrunner and actors, but that can’t happen until the AMPTP agrees to pay writers and actors what they’re worth. Until then, SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are both on strike, and The Wheel Of Time is just one of many upcoming releases that will have to rely heavily on its existing fanbase for the foreseeable future (all the more reason for fans to stay informed and stay wary, because Prime Video and other AMPTP member studios could very well approach you with offers to advertise struck work for them, and accepting such a deal at this time would be crossing a picket line). As long as you’re not being paid by a studio to do any of the following, then by all means, go ahead and make fan-art, fan-edits, fan-fiction, fan-covers of Wheel Of Time‘s music, and cosplays.

Cosplaying certain characters might be tricky for the average fan, though, with how ornate and elaborate the costumes have become in season two. I am on record as having been critical of costume designer Isis Mussenden’s work in the first season: I did not think the glory and gracefulness of the Aes Sedai was ever reflected in their brightly-colored but otherwise dully unostentatious clothing; Ishamael’s suit was shabby and poorly-tailored, hardly fit for a man posing as the Dark One himself; and the Seanchan to me looked like they had just walked off the set of a 1980s B-movie. Sharon Gilham (Jamestown, The Nun) replaced Mussenden as costume designer on seasons two and three – which started filming earlier this year in Prague – and although Mussenden’s designs are still the basis for some of what we see in season two, it is Gilham who has raised the bar for The Wheel Of Time, and for the fantasy genre in general, with the extraordinary wardrobe of high camp regalia she’s assembled for the Seanchan nobility and the Aes Sedai.

(left to right) Alwhin, High Lady Suroth, and Ishamael, all riding in a palanquin with ornate metal railings and a canopy. Alwhin wears a rust-colored gown with frilly teal sleeves, and a mask of woven brass covering her face. Suroth, seated on a throne, wears heavier rust-colored robes with frilly teal sleeves, and golden epaulets, with a large tusked golden mask covering all of her face but her mouth. The first two fingernails on both her hands are extremely long and bladed. Ishamael, leaning on the railing, wears a gray shirt with a modern collar and high-waisted black trousers. — (left to right) Alwhin, High Lady Suroth, and Ishamael | polygon.com

A few of my favorite costume details include the breastplate of woven bone forming a many-pronged pair of jaws around High Lord Turak’s head, the tusked golden latticework mask and crescent-moon headdress worn by High Lady Suroth, the frighteningly long bladed fingernails that mark them both as members of the Blood, and their pleated scale-patterned gowns in shades of teal and rust and vivid orange. Liandrin Guirale looks phenomenal in a red dress similar to one she wore throughout the first season, but darker, with a patterned leather harness. Siuan Sanche, the Amyrlin Seat, dons a new gilded shawl, a coat made of small gold discs, and a crown that I’m almost positive was made entirely from the kinds of beautiful debris you can pick up off the floor of an arts-and-crafts store: a smorgasbord of fabric flowers, metallic leaves, gold lace, and silver baubles that look magnificent when stitched together and placed on Sophie Okonedo’s brow. But of course, it’s Moiraine Damodred who makes the strongest impression, wearing a beautiful shirt of tight-knit white fabric under a blue silk robe with a bejeweled diadem in her hair, now hanging in loose ringlets after the fashion of Cairhien.

I could ramble on about the costumes and hairstyling for far longer than anyone would care to listen, so let me pivot real quick to locations, of which there are several. A time-jump of a few months means that very little time, if any, will be spent in the keep of Fal Dara where the first season ended, and it may be that the second season opens with Rand al’Thor already hiding out in the Foregate of Cairhien, with Moiraine and al’Lan Mandragoran hot on his heels, while the hunt for the Horn of Valere is already well underway, whisking Perrin Aybara and Loial off to the eastern boundaries of the known world, and Egwene al’Vere and Nynaeve al’Meara have begun their training at the White Tower, where Mat Cauthon is already a prisoner of the Red Ajah (there are some shots in the trailer that indicate Nynaeve may arrive at the Tower slightly later than Egwene, but unless she first spends time traveling with Moiraine and Lan, I can’t imagine why that would be, or why it would even make sense for an adaptation that’s trying to streamline the narrative as much as possible).

As much as I love Rand and Perrin and Moiraine, the few chapters of The Great Hunt that deal with Egwene and Nynaeve’s White Tower training have always been my favorites, and rereading the book recently (for the first time in years) reaffirmed that for me. Whenever the book jumped to Rand’s perspective or Perrin’s, I found myself impatiently yearning to be back at the Tower, exploring its nooks and crannies, learning about the One Power, or the differences between ter’angreal and sa’angreal, or the seven different Ajahs that make up the Aes Sedai. I love a story of political intrigue with magic involved, and that’s really what the White Tower arc boils down to – hundreds of morally dubious sorceresses scheming against each other. And the show being more of an ensemble piece than the early books means we can hopefully spend more time there, with the characters that make this world so unique.

The scene I’m looking forward to the most, that I hope is expanded on, is Nynaeve’s Accepted test. Novices at the White Tower typically study for several years, sometimes even decades, before they are deemed strong enough to take the test (and some never make it that far, or turn down the opportunity when it is offered) but those who survive earn the title of “Accepted” as well as a Great Serpent ring, and are put on the path to becoming Aes Sedai. Nynaeve’s power is so great that, in the books at least, she is rushed into her Accepted test before having any time to train as a Novice, and with only a vague understanding of what the test entails. The test takes place in the White Tower’s basement, where three silver arches stand on a dais, forming a massive ter’angreal that transports the user to alternate dimensions in which they must face literal manifestations of their worst fears and deepest desires. We see Nynaeve stumble out of the ter’angreal covered in blood, a reference to what Sheriam Bayanar only warns could happen in the book, that “some have come out bearing the actual wounds of hurts taken inside”.

At one point in the trailer we also see Egwene, still wearing the white uniform of a Novice, standing alone in the doorway to the testing room, channeling threads of the One Power as if she intends to unlock the ter’angreal. There’s a chance this is part of Nynaeve’s test (perhaps, instead of confronting the Forsaken Aginor as she does in the book, she must fight and kill a version of her friend, hence the blood on her hands?), but I think Egwene might just be reckless enough to try and take the test by herself, without guidance, after months of washing dishes and scrubbing floors as a Novice without learning anything she can use to help her friends who are in danger. Obviously she doesn’t succeed (because she’s still wearing Novice robes in later scenes), so maybe she gets lost in Tel’aran’rhiod, the World of Dreams, and has to rely on the sleepweaver ter’angreal given to her by Verin to escape? Just a theory, but it’d be a neat introduction to some concepts that will become extremely relevant in the next season.

There are a few other interesting shots of Egwene throughout the trailer, where you can see her wearing a gray tunic and golden collar, with bloodshot eyes and blood on her face, but I can’t say too much about what I think is happening there without spoiling one of The Great Hunt‘s most shocking twists, so I’ll just leave you with that piece of information to mull over instead. For similar reasons, I must refrain from sharing my theories as to what Liandrin is doing, hurrying through the streets of Tar Valon at night in a cloak and hood, or my many thoughts on the beautiful dark-haired woman hovering over Rand’s shoulder as he channels the One Power. If you know, you know.

Josha Stradowski as Rand al'Thor in The Wheel Of Time, wearing dark clothes, kneeling on the floor of a small bedroom in an inn, staring up with wide, horror-stricken eyes as orange threads of the One Power burst from his hands and curl upwards around him towards the ceiling. — Rand al’Thor | nerdist.com

But as I mentioned, there’s some material in the trailer that’s not derived from the books at all. Moiraine and Siuan, the latter notably wearing blue (rather than Amyrlin gold), steal a kiss in a scene likely set prior to the birth of the Dragon Reborn, inspired by events covered in the Wheel Of Time prequel novel, New Spring. In the present day, Rand meets Siuan, not in Fal Dara where the two cross paths in the early chapters of The Great Hunt, but in what appears to be the Sun Palace of Cairhien; and in this version of events, Siuan has apparently brought the False Dragon Logain, still a prisoner of the Aes Sedai, to meet Rand and mentor him. Moiraine, shielded by Ishamael at the Eye of the World last season, sits miserably in a bath, unable to do so much as heat the water to her preferred temperature with the One Power (a poignant callback to an instantly iconic scene from The Wheel Of Time‘s first episode). And most controversially, Aviendha seems to take the place of Gaul, but I can’t even be mad about it because she looks so good dancing the spears.

While we’re on the subject, the fight choreography is another area where The Wheel Of Time has indisputably leveled up since the first season, and it’s a good thing too, because the finale did not (and arguably could not, due to COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time) deliver the brutal battle of epic proportions that was teased all season; and various smaller-scale action sequences earlier in the season, like the skirmish between the Aes Sedai and Logain’s rebels in episode four, while passable, never stood out for being particularly suspenseful, intense, or even clever on a conceptual level. With the introduction of the Seanchan and their army of brainwashed channelers called damane, weapons to be wielded in battle by handlers called sul’dam, that is unlikely to ever again be an issue for the show. The quick glimpses we’ve caught of both damane and sul’dam are equal parts horrific and fascinating.

Even with the Seanchan in the game, however, The Wheel Of Time‘s primary antagonist is still Ishamael, the mysterious man whose name is practically synonymous with that of the Dark One. His handsome face no longer hidden behind a CGI silken mask, actor Fares Fares seems to be making the most of this opportunity to be both delectably evil and suave as he hosts social gatherings for Darkfriends and Forsaken – a rogues gallery of ancient villains with colorful personalities, whittled down in the show from thirteen to just eight of the most significant. Ishamael is their leader, but second behind him in all the horror-stories that survived the Breaking of the World is Lanfear, Daughter of the Night, and it’s probably her bloody naked body we see rising stiffly from the floor of a cave in the trailer. Few things would give me greater joy out of this adaptation than a genuinely nightmare-inducing depiction of Lanfear, who has been mischaracterized as a cartoonish “crazy ex-girlfriend” archetype for so long that I think Jordan at some point started writing her like that, and fans have all but forgotten she’s responsible for drilling a hole in the fabric of reality and releasing the Dark One in the first place.

Fares Fares as Ishamael in The Wheel Of Time, standing in the center of a dark cave, wearing a tailored black suit with a distinctly modern cut, arms by his side, head back, eyes closed and lips slightly parted as glowing green threads of the One Power weave around him, forming widening, interlocking rings. — Ishamael | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

I have high hopes for this season to be better than the first and better than the book(s) it’s based on by a substantial margin, which is exactly what I predicted when I wrote that the season finale was only as messy as it was so that season two wouldn’t have to be. After momentarily steering off-course in the wake of Barney Harris’ departure and the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wheel Of Time is back on-track to be mentioned in the same breath as House Of The Dragon and The Witcher season three as some of the best fantasy television on the air (The Rings Of Power deserves to be up there too for its visuals, score, and excellent performances, but that series’ writing needs refinement in its own highly-anticipated second season). Hopefully they can keep that momentum going and get the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth seasons that we’ll need to finish this epic story, because this? This is just a beginning.

Trailer Rating: 9/10