So, after a few more episodes, the story in the show hardly resembles the story that I've read countless times. Everything's been jumbled up, half of the first book is cut, the POVs are different, and there are random invented characters that get killed off.
Some of it I understand... saving Caemlyn and Elayne's introduction for Season 2 is fine. Cutting out a lot of the traveling is fine, since it does get a little tiring in the first book. But others... showing the importance of a bond between Aes Sedai and Warder could've been done gradually instead of shoving it in your face for a whole episode in lieu of the better source story.
Before You Continue
- This blog is part of my The Wheel of Time TV show Retrospective
- See this blog post for an overview of the Retrospective
- These blogs are not plot recaps—they are most effective for those who have already read ALL the books
- Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK SERIES AND ALL TV EPISODES UP TO THOSE LISTED
This post covers the following episodes from Season 1:
- #4 The Dragon Reborn (2021-11-26)
- #5 Blood Calls Blood (2021-12-03)
To Change or Not to Change
Now, to be clear, I'm not upset that the show isn't just like the books. I'm just wondering why they (Rafe Judkins?) had to change so much. People have this idea that book readers would find it boring if it stuck to the story in the books. It's actually the opposite—it would be awesome to book readers if it stuck to the story in the books, because that's the story they love. And it's fun to promote it to non-book readers because then you can't wait for them to see a certain event or scene. But when they change so much, you don't know if those events will still be there, or if it'll still be a good show.
There's a reason why Game of Thrones was so good for 5 seasons. It's because they stuck to the story in the books. (Once they ran out of source material it was trash.) There's a reason why The Lord of the Rings trilogy was so good. They stuck to the story in the books.
I suppose I don't understand the politics of making a TV show. And there's the fact that Amazon wants a return on their investment in terms of more Prime subscribers. It seems to me that if you just stick to the source you'll be fine, it was already popular for a reason and it could've been more popular if it didn't comprise 14 very long books. Clearly there's more to it than that, though. Some changes are baffling to me, because they are not necessary.
And yet despite all of that, I've watched each new episode the day it comes out and I haven't been bored nor cringed at anything in the show. They got me!
What About the Men?
Rand, Mat, and Perrin, who are the main characters in the novel, are mostly being ignored so far this first season. Everything is instead focused on the women. They are important characters too, but Rand is the Dragon Reborn and they are doing everything they can to sideline him. Same with Mat... that actor was basically wasted, because he's pretty good. Perrin has always been a bit worthless so not bothered by the lack of him.
But then I watched one of the Behind the Scenes episodes on YouTube, and Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, mentioned that they wanted to bring the ensemble to the front from the beginning, rather than focus on one character (most of Book 1, The Eye of the World, is told from Rand's POV). Now that makes sense to me, considering how most of the series is from the ensemble POV.
If you're not happy with some of the changes, I highly recommend watching all of the Behind the Scenes episodes on YouTube. They provide a nice insight into why they did some of what they did. You still might not agree, but it helps.
Observations
I get why they're doing it, but the mystery of the Dragon Reborn feels like a waste of time to me. As a book reader, it's just silly how hard they're trying to make it a secret and it is the primary thing that messes with my enjoyment of the show.
The visuals of weaving are cool, but even though they say it, it doesn't seem clear enough that men can't see women weaving and vice versa, or that non-Aes Sedai can't see weaves either. Honestly they should've just dropped that aspect of it (weaves being invisible) from the show because it's too hard to convey visually.
Nynaeve healing Lan and all the other Aes Sedai was a good way to introduce her power early and show how much she's interested in Lan, even though it never happened in the books. As I just said though, it seemed like Logain saw that, which prompted me to wonder about it.
The actor playing Logain is great. I can totally see him becoming the leader of the Asha'man later.
The invented rituals of the Aes Sedai are interesting visually, though the melting of the ring thing was too much Lord of the Rings to me. I did like how Episode 5 was book-ended by two different types of funerals.
Rand meeting Loial was a great scene, since it actually followed the book. But Loial should've been more surprised at Rand having a sword, since Aiel never touch swords (unless that's another thing they've decided to change). It's little details like that that make a show worth rewatching, but I suppose Judkins thought it wasn't important to call out, or won't matter to a television audience.
I wonder why they bothered with the dagger storyline if so little time was spent on it, beyond the fake mystery of whether he's the Dragon Reborn? Honestly they should've just not have bothered with the dagger thing... it just created this weird link between Mat and Fain, which wasn't important in the end. The only purpose Shadar Logoth served was to cleanse the taint from saidin and they probably could've just done that a different way.
Looks like in online forums (like at Dragonmount) they are calling Rafe Judkins "RJ2" now, to go along with Robert Jordan's "RJ". How fortuitous! Also, Judkins has apparently been using "WAFO" (Watch and Find Out) in honor of the "RAFO" (Read and Find Out) that Jordan used for Q&As. I wasn't aware of this until recently since I avoided a lot of social media and forum discussions before the show's release so that I could be surprised by the show.
Onward
Not much else I want to say about these 2 episodes, still not a total disaster, though the more they change the more concerned I am.
And I doubt I'll quit watching the show, even if they completely destroy it. Like the books, I'm too invested in this world to give up. If anything, as a writer myself, I can learn from how they translated a story that I know well, and learn from how people react to it. Trying to stay positive here.
The Wheel of Time TV Show
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2022-01-03 The Wheel of Time [Season 1] Episodes 6-8 (2021)
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2021-11-28 The Wheel of Time [Season 1] Episodes 1-3 (2021)
2021-11-27 The Wheel of Time - The TV Show