Wheel of Time Season 2 (Sept 1 Amazon Prime)

[Fresh Prince]

Watched the first 3 episodes and I’m conflicted. The world and story building has left me intrigued, but I think they’ve done a poor job at introducing the characters. 

[Jeezla]

35 minutes ago, Xenos said:

He doesn’t have red hair? It looks plenty red to me when viewing the show.

I don't know why I said he looks like a Lannister, but his hair looks not red on my tv. More brown, like a strawberry brown, but I always pictured Rand's red being more obvious, like Melisandre in GoT. This Rand just has Carson Wentz level red hair, not even Andy Dalton.

Actually, looking at it right now, it's more bronze/copper color than red or brown. It's not what I envisioned, regardless.

The dude version of this is what I always pictured

Edited November 22, 2021 by Jeezla

[Xenos]

32 minutes ago, Jeezla said:

I don't know why I said he looks like a Lannister, but his hair looks not red on my tv. More brown, like a strawberry brown, but I always pictured Rand's red being more obvious, like Melisandre in GoT. This Rand just has Carson Wentz level red hair, not even Andy Dalton.

Actually, looking at it right now, it's more bronze/copper color than red or brown. It's not what I envisioned, regardless.

The dude version of this is what I always pictured

I guess I’m fine with the normal red that he has.

[Xenos]

52 minutes ago, Fresh Prince said:

Watched the first 3 episodes and I’m conflicted. The world and story building has left me intrigued, but I think they’ve done a poor job at introducing the characters. 

I think they should have cut out all the crazy voiceover narration in the first episode and spent more time with the characters in Two Rivers. Certain things could have be explained more in the following episodes like a story in the same way that The Fall of Manetheren was explained, which I thought was a very effective method of monologuing without actually sounding like you’re monologuing.

[Deadpulse]

Alright, for once I am not the super nerd on a property. I came in completely blind on this IP and these are my initial thoughts on the first 3 episodes

- The world building is... boring and small. I still dont feel like I know this world. These peeps in white are who exactly? The Sisters play what role in the world exactly? Besides hating men obvi. Is there some kind of kingdom or is just a worldwide free for all?

- It looks like it was filmed on a brand spanking new Iphone. I honestly can't put my finger on it but something about the aesthetic feels low budget. 

- I dont like most of these characters yet. Rand is hot and cold. Perrin has anger issues? Like I am assuming that goes somewhere but right now it just makes him one dimensional. Egwene is all over the place. I like Matt though. More Matt. 

- I am unsure as to why I care what is going on. Like so what if this wheel is broken? How commonplace is reincarnation? Like the little village festival cleared up that its common belief but this whole thing makes it seemed more confirmed. How do we know? Do people often find their departed in others? 

- What exactly makes this Dark One bad outside of the ominous and obvious bad guy name?

- The action in the first episode was good, but its gone now. Now its just running from those same enemies, running from wolves, running from... symbiotes that dust you? Lot's of running. Not really fun to watch. 

- No interesting side characters? I am trying very hard NOT to compare this to GoT, but come on it will be. One of the things that made people come back week after week in GoT is that there were oodles of fully fleshed out and relatable side characters to fall in love with and root for. 

 

I will keep watching but place me firmly on the fence. 

[Malfatron]

27 minutes ago, Deadpulse said:

I am trying very hard NOT to compare this to GoT,

Tough to compare, because after all, who has a better story than Bran?

[Deadpulse]

40 minutes ago, Malfatron said:

Tough to compare, because after all, who has a better story than Bran?

not me, thats for sure 

[Oregon Ducks]

Will get into discussion in the following days but wanted to give my thoughts since I haven’t yet.

Overall, the show is off to a very good start. I think we’re starting to see the characters come into their own and their personalities and relationships are really starting to show. The show looks really good in general and I like the score. I think it’s been a good 8/10.

Episode 1 - 8/10. Some clunky pacing (also, very meh start) but awesome battle scene and I love that they didn’t shy away from the fantastical elements of the series like other series have  and some critical backstories to characters (and good changes from the books). The trollocs look better than I could have imagined.

Episode 2 - 7.5/10. Get to meet the characters more and Whitecloaks are way more dangerous than in the books. It was kinda slow and the dialogue was a little clunky at times. Shadar Logoth looked badass but we saw too little of it. Wish they had explored it more.

Episode 3 - 8.5/10. We really see the relationships shine here, especially Mat and Rand’s. The dialogue and banter were top notch and Dana and Thom Merrilin (he’s gonna be a great side character for those asking for that) were great characters. Perrin and Egwene’s part was cool, too, but the Wolves seemed kinda random. I loved the cold open with Nynaeve and seeing her use her Wisdom skills. She was casted perfectly (they have all been good, though).

This is the very beginning of a loong journey with some of the best character arcs I’ve ever seen so hang tight!

Also, Rand’s actor uses a wig so that is the color of hair they wanted. He looks like a proper ginger to me. Melisandre red would have looked bad and tacky, IMO. 

[PrplChilPill]

We are enjoying it in our house.

It is three episodes in, I'm not sure why I should expect to understand what / who all the factions are so far. 

It looks really good, though a few scenes were a bit too dark (could be my tv, as it is older) for my taste. The dialogue seems realistic. 

Our biggest issue was what seemed like continuity errors with Nyvaene (sp?) when she had vials and a coat. Also, how the hell did she keep up with people on horses? Sorry, I can suspend disbelief, but it has to be consistent within the fiction.....That and we felt Perrin killing his wife was unnecessary. You could still set up whatever they were setting up without that.

[THE DUKE]

Ok, so I also came into WoT blind, and so far......i'm not all that impressed. The world building has been ok, the music has been good, and i'm at least invested enough in the story to watch episode 4.

The Trollochs or whatever they are called I literally lol'd when they hit the screen their design and movements were that bad. And we don't really know why they are being led by snaggletooth Lord Voldemort other than that it can control dark things. 

Most of the characters are insufferable.  I like Rand and Matt.  The big dude's acting has been very hit or miss.  Eowyn or however you spell her name needs a good hard punch in the face, Rand can do better. 

Some pretty blatant design rip offs from LotR, GoT, and even Harry Potter.  They even started off with "The World is..." they just replaced Changing with Broken. Rosamund Pike has done ok with the material provided, but the writing for the voice over monologues was not good.

In episode 3, how does the bar wench who is somehow "aligned with the dark" (lol) know the description, name, and number of people being searched for where two of them randomly show up in her shop? Did I somehow miss the internet and her facetiming with Lord Voldemort about who they were looking for? Her Facebook stalking Rand to get his details and that he was in love with the frosty wind chick? I'm going to need a better explanation than "aligned with the dark".

I'm kind of with the people saying "you probably shouldn't trust the man hating witches cult that throws around their powers willy nilly"

Despite all my criticisms above, I think it can get better, I see the potential.  Hopefully the execution gets a little better and we get better explanations than......hey, it's magic.

[Deadpulse]

1 hour ago, THE DUKE said:

Ok, so I also came into WoT blind, and so far......i'm not all that impressed. The world building has been ok, the music has been good, and i'm at least invested enough in the story to watch episode 4.

The Trollochs or whatever they are called I literally lol'd when they hit the screen their design and movements were that bad. And we don't really know why they are being led by snaggletooth Lord Voldemort other than that it can control dark things. 

Most of the characters are insufferable.  I like Rand and Matt.  The big dude's acting has been very hit or miss.  Eowyn or however you spell her name needs a good hard punch in the face, Rand can do better. 

Some pretty blatant design rip offs from LotR, GoT, and even Harry Potter.  They even started off with "The World is..." they just replaced Changing with Broken. Rosamund Pike has done ok with the material provided, but the writing for the voice over monologues was not good.

In episode 3, how does the bar wench who is somehow "aligned with the dark" (lol) know the description, name, and number of people being searched for where two of them randomly show up in her shop? Did I somehow miss the internet and her facetiming with Lord Voldemort about who they were looking for? Her Facebook stalking Rand to get his details and that he was in love with the frosty wind chick? I'm going to need a better explanation than "aligned with the dark".

I'm kind of with the people saying "you probably shouldn't trust the man hating witches cult that throws around their powers willy nilly"

Despite all my criticisms above, I think it can get better, I see the potential.  Hopefully the execution gets a little better and we get better explanations than......hey, it's magic.

[Oregon Ducks]

2 hours ago, THE DUKE said:

Ok, so I also came into WoT blind, and so far......i'm not all that impressed. The world building has been ok, the music has been good, and i'm at least invested enough in the story to watch episode 4.

The Trollochs or whatever they are called I literally lol'd when they hit the screen their design and movements were that bad. And we don't really know why they are being led by snaggletooth Lord Voldemort other than that it can control dark things. 

Most of the characters are insufferable.  I like Rand and Matt.  The big dude's acting has been very hit or miss.  Eowyn or however you spell her name needs a good hard punch in the face, Rand can do better. 

Some pretty blatant design rip offs from LotR, GoT, and even Harry Potter.  They even started off with "The World is..." they just replaced Changing with Broken. Rosamund Pike has done ok with the material provided, but the writing for the voice over monologues was not good.

In episode 3, how does the bar wench who is somehow "aligned with the dark" (lol) know the description, name, and number of people being searched for where two of them randomly show up in her shop? Did I somehow miss the internet and her facetiming with Lord Voldemort about who they were looking for? Her Facebook stalking Rand to get his details and that he was in love with the frosty wind chick? I'm going to need a better explanation than "aligned with the dark".

I'm kind of with the people saying "you probably shouldn't trust the man hating witches cult that throws around their powers willy nilly"

Despite all my criticisms above, I think it can get better, I see the potential.  Hopefully the execution gets a little better and we get better explanations than......hey, it's magic.

WoT was before GOT or Harry Potter so it’s not ripping off those two at all. The other way perhaps. I think GRR Martin has said he was influenced by this series.

As for the other things, meh, it’s high fantasy - there are some quirky things that are not for everyone but I’m glad they stayed true to that genre and didn’t make the show less fantastical to appease some people. 

But yes, there will be explanations to things. They’ve gone for the “show don’t tell” style of things but that means we’ll have to wait for it as the season and show as a whole progresses. This series is known to have one of the best and most fulfilling endings in all of fiction so expect the plots to be completed and most things explained.

[Oregon Ducks]

Also, I forgot to mention that Book 1 (which season 1 covers) was heavily influenced by LotR so there are some definite similarities there. It starts to more if it’s own thing in Book 2.

[Xenos]

2 hours ago, THE DUKE said:

Ok, so I also came into WoT blind, and so far......i'm not all that impressed. The world building has been ok, the music has been good, and i'm at least invested enough in the story to watch episode 4.

The Trollochs or whatever they are called I literally lol'd when they hit the screen their design and movements were that bad. And we don't really know why they are being led by snaggletooth Lord Voldemort other than that it can control dark things. 

Most of the characters are insufferable.  I like Rand and Matt.  The big dude's acting has been very hit or miss.  Eowyn or however you spell her name needs a good hard punch in the face, Rand can do better. 

Some pretty blatant design rip offs from LotR, GoT, and even Harry Potter.  They even started off with "The World is..." they just replaced Changing with Broken. Rosamund Pike has done ok with the material provided, but the writing for the voice over monologues was not good.

In episode 3, how does the bar wench who is somehow "aligned with the dark" (lol) know the description, name, and number of people being searched for where two of them randomly show up in her shop? Did I somehow miss the internet and her facetiming with Lord Voldemort about who they were looking for? Her Facebook stalking Rand to get his details and that he was in love with the frosty wind chick? I'm going to need a better explanation than "aligned with the dark".

I'm kind of with the people saying "you probably shouldn't trust the man hating witches cult that throws around their powers willy nilly"

Despite all my criticisms above, I think it can get better, I see the potential.  Hopefully the execution gets a little better and we get better explanations than......hey, it's magic.

The barwench knew who they were because she’s a dark fiend who gets dreams and visions from The Dark One. She actually mentions it when she traps Rand.

Edit: the Trollocs are hit or miss depending on when CGI is used. Actual people in prosthetics look a lot better than when they CGI them in.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Xenos

[Xenos]

21 hours ago, Deadpulse said:

Alright, for once I am not the super nerd on a property. I came in completely blind on this IP and these are my initial thoughts on the first 3 episodes

- The world building is... boring and small. I still dont feel like I know this world. These peeps in white are who exactly? The Sisters play what role in the world exactly? Besides hating men obvi. Is there some kind of kingdom or is just a worldwide free for all?

- It looks like it was filmed on a brand spanking new Iphone. I honestly can't put my finger on it but something about the aesthetic feels low budget. 

- I dont like most of these characters yet. Rand is hot and cold. Perrin has anger issues? Like I am assuming that goes somewhere but right now it just makes him one dimensional. Egwene is all over the place. I like Matt though. More Matt. 

- I am unsure as to why I care what is going on. Like so what if this wheel is broken? How commonplace is reincarnation? Like the little village festival cleared up that its common belief but this whole thing makes it seemed more confirmed. How do we know? Do people often find their departed in others? 

- What exactly makes this Dark One bad outside of the ominous and obvious bad guy name?

- The action in the first episode was good, but its gone now. Now its just running from those same enemies, running from wolves, running from... symbiotes that dust you? Lot's of running. Not really fun to watch. 

- No interesting side characters? I am trying very hard NOT to compare this to GoT, but come on it will be. One of the things that made people come back week after week in GoT is that there were oodles of fully fleshed out and relatable side characters to fall in love with and root for. 

 

I will keep watching but place me firmly on the fence. 

Good commentary. My only quick response is Perrin seems angry? I didn’t get that at all. Also comparing it to GOT is a huge mistake since the series are completely different. WOT is high fantasy like LOTR. I would also check out the little animated shorts they have in each episode. They’re a nice little bonus content.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Xenos