Sorry for posting late, finally got the time to watch it.
What did you think if you’ve already seen it?
Is it just me or did this episode weave (tee-hee) too many plots? By the time story went back to where it dropped for some character I had to go through so many other characters I needed couple of seconds to recollect where that finished, as if I was watching next weeks episode. It wasn’t like that before, I think.
Copied from another thread:
This one was an interesting one. Bit more up and down. They’ve condensed a lot of Elayne and Nynaeve’s travel to Tanchico into the one bar scene. Some of it worked some not so much. The musical number felt a bit off, idk, there is so much music in the books and crowds do respond by joining in at various points, but it still felt stilted for the song. On the other hand holy shit Moghedien ate up her scenes. Her use of compulsion on Nynaeve and Elayne was faithful and eerie. Fantastic translation of the text into another medium. Glad to see Thom back as well, I was worried they were going to write him out after he was absent so long. Also loved the tease of Egeanin at the docks and then again in the bar. Faile’s backstory was another odd bit.
Spoiler
Thinking hard, there is a Bashere relative who is a darkfriend in Maradon down the line. Condensing this character and Faile’s mother might also make sense to prompt Davram to journey south. On the other hand, Faile is not a reliable narrator of her own past for a bit yet in the books, so maybe this is an ice pepper merchant style embellishment.
Egwene immediately opening up to Bair and Melaine about being an accepted robs us of a nice moment later where
Spoiler
she proves her Aiel temperament to the Wise Ones, but maybe they will work something else in for that when she is summoned.
Finally getting to Alsera, this was brutal. I didn’t think they would use her to deliver on the scene in the stone of tear, where Rand tries to resurrect a child. I really enjoyed her performance and it is heartbreaking to see her go. The whole scene is an interesting amalgamation of different pieces of the books. The Illianer golden bees attack Rand in the waste along with some dark hounds. Rand’s lightning finish is maybe meant to invoke the seeking lightening he does in the Stone, right before trying to resurrect a little girl. The attempted resurrection didn’t hit quite as well as it did in the books. I think they should have done less with the channeling effects and more practical effects on Alsera. In the books part of what makes the scene compelling is how close Rand gets to our understanding of resuscitation, making her lungs work, and then artificially pumping her heart. A dead but breathing and oozing fresh blood character sells the horror of what Rand is attempting a lot more than a blaze of light and shadow effects. Overall good episode but not hitting the heights of Road to the Spear. I expected a bit of a lull before the finale(s) that we will get, so not overly worried.
Wow, perfect analysis! I agree on most points, except for Faile, this new backstory actually feels better than the original to me.
The scene with Moghedien was indeed as good as book-to-tv can be.
And the song was very awkward, felt very out of place, it was way too modern and didn’t fit at all. Same thing they did with the Toss a coin to your Witcher song.
