Wheel of Time TV Show Is At Amazon

...I have no response to this. Weirdo confirmed. Fortunately, we're all weirdos about one thing or another.

And a two-hour first episode...and just ten episodes per season regardless. That's on Amazon, not Rafe or the show.

On the flip side, they've got motivation to bounce back. A bad finale at the end of a season is one thing, but if you've enjoyed everything up until then, then I still recommend continuing. At the end of the day, it's going to be a bad episode, yes, but it's not a bad ending, if that makes sense. The season's over, but the show isn't. If it was a bad show finale or final part of an trilogy (like Game of Thrones or TROS*) then it can definitely ruin everything in retrospect. But this is just one step on a much longer journey - one bad episode. Again, I'm not trying to say that the finale was great by any means (outside of Rand's stuff, which was indeed great), simply that the show has justifiable for its sloppiness and that at the end of the day it's just a season finale, not a series finale.

*YMMV on this one, but I couldn't help myself.

 

Almost a year since the last post!

The Wheel of Time Season 2 started on Friday and let me just say...not all of this show feels like the Wheel of Time books...and I'm okay with that. I think too many people get caught on what a show should be in their minds without realizing how different mediums, years/since the adaptation, and intents can do to a show. Having a show follow a book to the letter doesn't inherently mean that an adaptation is better than one that doesn't, and more importantly, it doesn't allow for the property as a franchise to grow in all the ways it may need to. (On the flip side, not caring about the original source material at all - which is NOT what has happened with WoT is how you get Marvel's Secret Invasion, which does nothing for the characters, the world, the story, or the source material.*)

Now onto the first three episodes. There's a lot to like! The show picks up between 6 months to a year after the first season, and all of the characters are doing their own things. The show does what the first few books did and has the cast split up for their own adventures before (hopefully) reuniting them for a time. These three episodes take their time with things, which is a good change of pace from last season. I'm guessing this is a lot of set-up for payoff at the end of this season or even into Season 3.

The show also looks better too! It's still a tad too shiny for my liking, but it's not as "I could have bought this from a luxury store in 2021" vibes as the last season.
The acting is well done, but admittedly not a lot of the characters have had a lot of room to act. Still, we see glimpses of our favorite characters and their personalitiies - Moiraine is still as manipulative as ever, despite her condition. Rand is empathetic and vengeful, with more than a little bit of cunningness in him. Mat is willing to fight tooth and nail for what he wants, but does so his own way. Egwene is ambitious as ever, while Nynaeve is as stubborn (and caring) as ever. Perrin is...Perrin, but he's growing into the person he needs to become.

Overall, the show is off to a solid start. I do wish book fans weren't so caught up in what it "should be" and could enjoy what it "is."



*Secret Invasion's problem isn't that it couldn't use all the necessary pieces of its source material, it's problem is that it wasted what it did use. I can say that Nynaeve from the show has the heart of the character in the book. Nick Fury from SI is nothing like Nick Fury from any other MCU property. I looked up some of the changes they made during the production of the show, and yeah, it's been a mess. But what Phase 4 Marvel Property hasn't been or ended up as a mess? Yes, following the original material can get you great adaptations like Dune or supposedly the One Piece show, but playing loosely with the script can also get you things like the Rurouni Kenshin movies and the Harry Potter movies.