Okay... so I have a lot more to talk about this time. The show had been decent so far, despite the book departures, but with the finale my worst fears have been realized: it's not the same story anymore. Which sucks, since the story they're giving us is not the story that I grew up with and wanted to see come to life.
Honestly, I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in a TV show.
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:
- #6 The Flame of Tar Valon (2021-12-10)
- #7 The Dark Along the Ways (2021-12-17)
- #8 The Eye of the World (2021-12-24)
Time to Complain
I know I said at the beginning of all this that I wasn't going to just complain the whole time about all the changes. But I have to say this.
The writing in the last two episodes, particularly the finale, is just bad. It's not that they made changes to the story, or because COVID, it's simply that the writing is bad. It's sloppy and clearly written by people who don't understand the story at all. There are so many plotholes and logic issues in just the finale alone I can't even begin to list them. I mean, enough with the fake deaths already. It's such lazy writing.
If you want to know what I'm talking about, I'm going to be lazy too and point you to a video from the Books and Bianca channel on YouTube. She covers all the issues very well.
There Was No Need
It's actually depressing, because if they had simply stuck with the story that Robert Jordan wrote, everything would take care of itself. You'd have all the epic moments to rival Game of Thrones, there are plenty of those. You'd have plenty of strong female characters, you wouldn't have to take moments away from the men in order to make the women shine more. You'd please all the fans that made the series popular in the first place, and you'd please all the non-book readers with a fantastic storyline and characters.
But now? All that's gone. Rafe Judkins isn't adapting The Wheel of Time anymore, he's just using the names and places at this point and making it up.
But Brad, it's just another turning of the Wheel, so stop complaining and enjoy it! You should be excited you don't know what's going to happen!
Yeah... no. I haven't felt this annoyed or upset about The Wheel of Time since reading Crossroads of Twilight when it came out. I thought all that was behind me.
Scope of the World
Something they haven't done well, in my opinion, is to show the reader the scope of the world in the show. Sure, you can go to the series site on Amazon and see an interactive map with locations and character journeys, but that should be in the show. The greatest thing they did in Game of Thrones was use the map in the intro, to highlight locations and provide the viewer a sense of scope for the world. They changed it as characters moved to new locations and made the intro must-see for many fans.
Obviously, you can't straight up copy the same thing here, which is too bad. But surely there's a way to highlight things? Maybe in-show, with flyovers from one place to the next? Or a sequence in the end credits involving the map and the characters' journeys in that episode? Or having Loial look at maps a lot, which you can feature on camera?
Origin Stories
Speaking of things that should be in the show, let's talk about the Origin Stories that Amazon made. These are short, animated videos that cover historical events and flesh out the world, and they are great. They are actually better than much of the show content (and contradict it, too), but they are only available on the Amazon website (same place I linked for the map) and hidden within the X-ray feature on Prime, and I'd bet the majority of viewers probably don't even know they're there. I didn't even know about them until I started poking around on the series page on Amazon.
It boggles my mind. The first one, "The Breaking of the World," should absolutely have been the intro in the first episode of the show. Yes, it would be too similar to the prologue in The Lord of the Rings movies, but who cares, an epic story like this needs it. Within the first 5 minutes of the first episode, the show could have explained:
- What the Age of Legends was
- Who the Dragon is and what he did
- Who the Dark One is and what he did
- Who the Forsaken are and what happened to them
- Why the Aes Sedai are now all women and why they exist
- Why you should be intrigued by the Dragon being reborn
Knowing that Dragon will be reborn and that he is destined to go mad yet save the world should be intriguing to any viewer and enough to make them invested in the show. But instead it takes most of the season to explain any of the above, and some aren't even explained well (like the Forsaken), and some are barely explained (the Dark One).
Apparently Rafe Judkins thought the audience would have been too confused by that. What world does this guy live in? Doesn't he understand by not doing that he's making things more confusing for the audience?
Each of those Origin Stories should've been a cold open for each episode. In fact, if I were adapting this series, every episode would have a cold open with a brief but awesome history lesson that makes viewers want to learn more.
Observations
I did like how the interior of the Ways were depicted. I didn't like how the exterior was.
I also liked their take on Fal Dara. The city, the people—all looked great.
However, the sets looked too small in general. Like the White Tower... it didn't feel big enough to me. I wasn't able to get a sense of Tar Valon, since they only showed like one street in it. Not sure why they didn't film on location at actual castles or old cities like Game of Thrones did. They had a larger budget than them!
The portrayal of Siuan Sanche was decent. I wasn't a fan of the Siuan-Moiraine sex scene, as I don't think it was necessary, even though it was hinted in the books. Just another thing they're doing to make it more like Game of Thrones. It would've made more sense to simply discuss Gitara's Foretelling of the Dragon Reborn. (Of course, they can't do that, because the Foretelling specifically says that "he" is reborn, and of course RJ2 is trying to make it a mystery.)
I'm actually not that disappointed about Mat not joining the rest of the group for the journey to Fal Dara, as he probably would've been screwed up even worse.
I wasn't sure about the casting prior to watching any of it, but most of the cast was decent, despite the weak writing. Out of the primary actors, I liked the casting of Egwene the best, and Perrin the least. But then, I'm not a fan of Perrin and he didn't have hardly anything to do this season.
Let's See You Do Better!
A common thing I see people saying when someone complains about the show is, "Stop complaining and make your own version if you don't like it." And as I was thinking about the finale and all the pointless changes they made, I realized, well why don't I do that? Neither Amazon nor the showrunner will ever look at it, but maybe it'll make me feel better, finding a way to tell the story in episodic format without completely ruining it like they did. It'll also be a good writing exercise for me.
So in the off-season, I think that's what I'm going to do. I have some ideas about that. Stay tuned.
Season 2
Will I watch Season 2, which was renewed even before Season 1 aired?
I don't know. I might be forced to since I've already got a retrospective set up for it.
What I do know, though, is that I certainly will not recommend the show to anyone now. It's embarrassing because for years I've lauded The Wheel of Time and finally thought I could share this awesome story with others through the TV show. Not anymore! Now I have to apologize and try to explain why it's screwed up, since many people I know quit watching the show before the end of the season.
The Wheel of Time TV Show
Previous
2021-12-27 The Wheel of Time [Season 1] Episodes 4-5 (2021)
2021-11-28 The Wheel of Time [Season 1] Episodes 1-3 (2021)
2021-11-27 The Wheel of Time - The TV Show