14: "Damane" (The Wheel of Time S2E5)

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast. I'm Greg. And I'm Ben. Hey, welcome back, Ben! Yeah! And this is The Wheel of Time, Gast. This week we're covering The Wheel of Time, Season 2, Episode 5, Damane. Ah, you're Damane. Ben, how ya been?

[00:00:47] Good. I missed doing this. I know other people have missed me as well. I don't believe it, but I read it. So it has to be true, right? I mean, hey, like the Internet is absolutely 100% of all facts all the time. The Internet doesn't lie.

[00:01:05] That's what I meant. That's definitely the saying that I was thinking of. No, it's been... I've been busy. So I apologized to anybody who expected me for taking so long to come back to this.

[00:01:20] Yeah, I feel like we've had Veronica and has been a really good addition to the show. And I'm really glad to have her. But yeah, it's back to at least some of the old OG. And of course, the first episode I come back, she can't be here, right?

[00:01:40] Yeah. I mean, like basically you're the same person. It's just, you know, there's a voice modulator and... This is just Veronica doing her best Ben impression. It's pretty spot on, I think. Yeah, I mean, she's got skills.

[00:01:58] So I'm, yeah, I'm excited to be back to it. I'm back to it for the rest of the season. I was so busy that it took me some time to finally get caught up with all the episodes. I've fallen behind with so many shows.

[00:02:14] I've fallen, you know, fallen behind in my own Wilhelm podcast. I haven't put out as many episodes as I wanted to with that, you know? But thankfully we did wrap up our lost coverage on Revisited, which is nice.

[00:02:26] Yeah. I mean, then start you guys are starting Ted Lasso soon, right? Starting Ted Lasso this week. Oh man, I totally got to get in on that. I mean, I could probably just comment on the first episode off top of my head.

[00:02:35] But September 25th is the first episode of Ted Lasso for Revisited. So yeah, we're getting encouraged with that. Encouraged with that. I don't know where that came from. Sorry, I'm shaking off rust. It's been a while. No, it's no biggie, man.

[00:02:51] I will say, though, I don't want this to sound discouraging because I've been enjoying season two so far of Wheel of Time. Not as much as I like season one, although that may have changed by the end of episode four.

[00:03:11] I think it took a little bit of time to catch my attention. I think I think like you, they were knocking a little bit of rust off. And they were getting back into the because they because that first episode

[00:03:25] they really had to like reintroduce characters and hey, where's everybody at again? And why do we care? And I think I think that they have started hitting their stride with the goings on the last couple episodes.

[00:03:41] Yeah, by by the second half of episode four, if not by the end of episode four with a pretty big reveal as to who has to who a particular character was, I felt OK now I'm starting to get really invested in what is happening with these

[00:03:58] with these stories. One of the biggest faults I found of the first three episodes, though, and it continues this fault to continues now. But although I can I can forgive it a little bit is one of the things

[00:04:08] I don't like is when a TV series takes all of its main characters and separates them completely. Right. We have five main characters with four story lines happening. And to me, that's trying to juggle too much exposition, too much story.

[00:04:26] And it kind of takes away from the bigger picture, even though in those first couple episodes, a couple of those episodes were literally within walking distance of each other and never knew it. Right. You know, so close and yet so far.

[00:04:41] But now that some of the storylines have become a little bit more engaging, I can forgive it a little bit. So and we're a bit beyond where you got to in the books, right? Yeah. Now we're going into a little bit of uncharted territory for me as well,

[00:04:55] which I'm totally fine with. I like the fact in season one, I had read the books leading up to where the season ended with the reveal of Rand being the Dragon Reborn. You know, I had gotten past that point so far in the books,

[00:05:10] and I had known that already. But now we're getting to a point where I've read the introductions of these characters and then saw them visually happen. I'm OK with having a little bit of mystery now going into this story,

[00:05:24] because there's a couple things that have been revealed so far in these last two episodes that I had no idea and were genuinely a surprise. So the problem with adapting a series like this, as you say, is that that's the way that the story goes.

[00:05:43] Like the story is that they all split up and they have to find their way back to each other and so on and so forth. But what does end up happening or what happens a lot in the books

[00:05:55] is that towards the end of a book or at least like a couple of books, you'll have a conglomeration of characters pop in together and then something crazy will happen. And so it's if they maintain that same style

[00:06:12] and that same type of storyline, you may end up having a very similar type. But I what I'm really enjoying is the introduction of the new characters and they are using their the original characters to introduce the new characters.

[00:06:26] So like like to you, it's something that needs to be forgiven. To me, it's expanding the story and kind of like Game of Thrones did. But I think the Game of Thrones that first season was so close to the books,

[00:06:41] but yet did it very, very well in engaging. Now, don't get me wrong, they had a lot of boobs and now you can forgive a lot of things for boobs. So. You know, that's just that's just my viewing on it. Well, and I could see that totally.

[00:06:57] And like I said, if a story is done right, you know, even if you have five separate characters telling five different stories, as long as those five stories are engaging, I'm totally fine with it. You know, hence the whole need to be forgiven part of it.

[00:07:11] But I think my issue with it with this is in those first couple episodes and you kind of hit the nail on the head when you were talking about it earlier is that they were shaking off the rust and they kind of had to reintroduce these characters. Right.

[00:07:23] And that was kind of like, well, I already know these characters. I don't need all this new right. I don't know. You know, and I get, you know, there was a little bit of time between season one

[00:07:33] and season two, so they kind of felt the need to do it. The only character I think maybe they should have done it with or they they needed to do it with is Matt only because it was a recasting of the role. Right.

[00:07:46] You kind of need to you kind of needed to use that time that that reintroduction of the character to kind of ingrain it into the audience who's so used to seeing this other actor playing the role.

[00:07:58] No, no, this is now the actor you need to get used to seeing playing this role. Yeah, I can I can see that. And and that was this one of the in one of the the stories that all we'll talk about later.

[00:08:14] One that that was one of Ben Travers's issues was that it was like a magical oh, can this guy just shape shift shape shift all of a sudden? But yeah, I agree. All right. Anyway, so let's let's go ahead and hop on in.

[00:08:28] So we have our very informative Amazon summary. My reign and Rand flee for the lives. Egwayne and Yanyev encounter a new foe. Man, I feel like I'm going to be saying this all season. Thanks a lot. I appreciate all of your insight.

[00:08:45] That's and and you and you know, the funny thing is, too, I'm looking at the IMDB page for the same episode and it's exactly the same. So they literally ripped it from Amazon. And I mean, I can appreciate the fact that they didn't

[00:09:00] that they're not like going super crazy in detail. But I mean, like this is literally like what is it? What is that? Maybe 15 words. I mean, come on, give me something more anyway. Yeah, you're spot on. It's actually 14.

[00:09:17] I was actually counting them as you were talking about it. All right. Well, in light of in light of Veronica not being here, we're going to go ahead and skip Veronica's three questions portion. And now that we have been back,

[00:09:33] it's we're going to go ahead and take a little break. And I know it's been a lot of excitement and everybody's been super stoked to hear Ben's voice. So we'll take a little break. We'll kind of collect our bearings a little bit

[00:09:45] and then we'll be back in a couple of minutes after these wonderful, wonderful commercials. Oh, those were some wonderful things that you could either buy or subscribe to or whatever. I might have already subscribed while we were on break. I don't know.

[00:10:00] Oh, that's that's actually a really good point. I was messing around on my phone. It's so simple. I mean, sometimes you subscribe to things and you don't even realize it. I might have already been subscribed or have purchased that set product or products.

[00:10:15] All right. Moving into our highlights. So, Ben, I think you said that you were going to do kind of highlights from what you've seen already as opposed to just this episode. But you may tie into this episode anyway, but go ahead and as you coming back,

[00:10:31] hit us with your first one. Yeah, I'm going to apologize to anybody who's listening because my points are going to be a little bit broader only because this is my first episode back. And there's there are some things I want to kind of touch on.

[00:10:43] But I'm going to try and relate them as best as I can to this episode. And one of the things I want to talk about first and I'm sure you and Veronica have already talked about have already spoken about this.

[00:10:54] And again, I apologize because I have in my event to catch up. I've yet to go back and listen to the previous episodes of the podcast. I will have by the by next week and by next episode when Veronica hopefully returns as well.

[00:11:08] But so if you've already talked about this, I apologize. But one of the things I loved about this show in season one and has kept true in season two is just the visual aspect of this series. I've I've kind of blown through the first four episodes

[00:11:25] and then spent a little bit more time concentrating on the fifth episode. But even this fifth episode visually, as far as the environment, not just the environments that we get, but the costumes in as well. I mean, I don't I don't you probably know better than I do.

[00:11:41] But the race that we or the group that we we got to know a little bit more in this episode, the ones with the long fingernails, the Shanshan. Yeah, the Shanshan, the the head guy, the head Muckety Muck of that tribe. High Lord Turek. Thank you.

[00:11:58] I knew, you know, there's a reason why you host this podcast. And like even just his outfit alone with the white tapers going across and kind of making it's kind of like a very see through outfit. Like you can definitely see the what he's wearing underneath of it.

[00:12:15] But at the same time makes him a very broad and feels like a very big character and costume design like that I find so brilliant. It's so minimalistic, but can just make a character stand out. And one of this one of the things this show has done

[00:12:32] exquisitely both in season one and season two. And they just keep seeming to raise the bar on that is the costume design and the visual nature of everything this show gives us. Even in scenes where it's dark, like the visuals are just so on point

[00:12:52] that I feel like and this is giving Wheel of Time high praise. I feel like Lord of the Rings has a lot to live up to as far as visuals go when Lord of the Rings debuts whenever it debuts.

[00:13:07] I have no doubt they will live up to that to that that high praise. But I will be genuinely shocked because what this show has given us visually so far has just been outstanding. It's enough for me to forgive any elements of storytelling I have problems with.

[00:13:27] I'd watch it just for visual. I mean, to be to be fair, like New Menor was pretty impressive in in the the Rings of Power. But I think that there are there have been at least specifically in season one.

[00:13:44] There were several vistas in in Wheel of Time that were just phenomenal. You know, I agree with you. The the visuals in the visuals in here. And the one that I in this one in this episode in particular, the one that I wanted a closer look at

[00:14:02] was Kyreen or if you read the books, Karhain. So I did not know that you pronounce it Kyreen. But but they it was towards the end of this episode. And it was when they were going it flashed to Rand and Moiraine walking through the city.

[00:14:24] And but you see it like in the distance. And the reason that it one of the reasons it struck me was last week that Veronica asked me what the significance of the town of Kyreen was.

[00:14:35] And I was like, oh, that's like a capital city of of a country. And there's like, oh, here's a palace and like here's the city gates and the city walls. And that that one in particular, I was like, oh, man,

[00:14:47] I wish that they had like zoomed in a little bit to be able to see a little bit more of the detail around the city itself. It looked like one of those old time paintings

[00:14:58] that of of a just a vista with like a city in the middle of like a forest. It was it was really cool. It's funny that you said the old time paintings, too, because that's actually something that was in my mind is it looked almost like a watercolor.

[00:15:11] Right. You know, and I and I say this with all respect. I don't mean this in a derogatory way, like something like if you were in a family owned Italian restaurant, like this would be a painting that was on the wall of an actual village.

[00:15:27] Exactly. You know, that existed somewhere in wherever, like in Italy or Naples or Sicily or wherever this family is from. Like, yeah, it felt like something that was very like it felt like a watercolor you could actually explore. Right. Yeah.

[00:15:44] Yeah. I agree that the visuals have have been phenomenal. You good for that? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I just kind of wanted to touch base on that because no matter what issues I've had so far and whatever I've loved so far,

[00:15:57] like the visuals have just been constant through the first five episodes of something I have absolutely loved. Awesome. All right. So I'm going to stick closer to this episode. But I want to talk about the the dynamic between Ishmael and Suroth.

[00:16:20] And like and this the Shantana in general. So it seems to me like High Lord Turek. He is he believes that he is fighting for the light. He thinks that he is a hero in his own story, or at least in the the Shantana story.

[00:16:37] And he is maintaining the honor of the court and the nobility and the blood. Hey, you Suroth, you endangered our capability. You endangered our, you know, light blessed opportunity to come and reclaim this land. And so and then you sassed me for it.

[00:16:57] So so you're going to pay for that. You know, Turek says tells her to kneel and and then she looks at Ishmael. So she and then, you know, we find out later that, yes, she is in fact a dark friend and she knows who Ishmael is.

[00:17:14] She still has a bit of that ego from being one of the blood and one of the, you know, apparently the royalty of of Shanchan in the nobility. It's funny because she says that she says to Leandron later on,

[00:17:34] you know, we we respect the one power so much that we don't allow it to be controlled by accident of birth. However, that's how nobility in general is like this. It's literally by birth. But oh, you happen to be born into this family.

[00:17:55] You happen to be born into the blood. So you treat bloodlines as important. But the accident of the one power by the same, you know, fortune or or misfortune, you you mistrust. But yeah, so I really did enjoy Ishmael.

[00:18:18] I'm coming to like the actor and the in his portrayal of this character a lot more one of the things that I I'll just I guess I'll just make this point Ishmael. He has apparently just, you know, appeared on the scene some months ago.

[00:18:36] I guess after Ran freed him from the from the eye of the world. And then it was like, oh, hey, where can I go and take you know, get some control went over to Sanchon and, you know,

[00:18:49] from this side from the eye of the world, not sure where that is exactly. But I feel like it was up in the blight somewhere up up north and then just kind of infiltrates the the the Shanchon court

[00:19:00] and then points out omens of, hey, it's time to go back because it's you know, it's time for me to go back. So let's let's let's hurry this thing along. Yeah. And then his his interactions with Lanfeer.

[00:19:15] I guess I'll talk more about that a little bit later on. But the their their old tongue toasting and discussions I found very, very interesting. And so yeah, Ishmael was he was a pretty pretty significant portion of this that I really enjoyed.

[00:19:33] I yeah, I'm with you on on the the like it's weird to say the likeability of that character because we know who he is and what he's capable of and how evil like the shadow is for him. And that's what he's a part of.

[00:19:49] That's who he is a left handed out. So to say like this character has a likeability is kind of odd. But I kind of agree with you to give a character especially more so in this season than in season one.

[00:20:02] This kind of I hate to say even like charming. Arm is exactly the word I was thinking of like this charming personality to kind of make him a more maybe not likable but like attractive character in a sense that in a sense

[00:20:21] that like you just can't help but be engaged in what he says and it kind of plays into his character really well because as you were talking about like High Lady Seraf, I had that I kind of had that sense before it's revealed that she

[00:20:35] knew who he was that maybe he was more the puppet master and she was the puppet. Right. And then you realize that's exactly what is happening. And now it seems like that's almost extending a little bit more with High Lord Tariq and that that's the role he's

[00:20:50] going to play with him as well, you know, in giving of of and giving of the gift and you know, it's it seems like, OK, he's now because Seraf is kind of out of power. She's kind of out of out of praise with with with Lord Tariq.

[00:21:11] Like now he kind of has to make his play in with Lord Tariq and this is he's going to play this exact thing. It's going to be he's kind of going to influence High Lord Tariq into what needs to be done.

[00:21:23] High Lord Tariq is going to believe that these are his decisions and his like his his mindset of what needs to be done, even though he's completely being influenced by Ishmael. And like it's such a really cool dynamic to kind of watch

[00:21:37] with all these characters that even though, yes, they are evil, they are the villains. You can't help but be engaged in that is happening. Engaging and charismatic. Those are the words that I mean, I think charming was a little bit too nice, but charismatic.

[00:21:54] I mean, Negan was charismatic too. And people love him and he was a horrible person. Yeah, I'm look, I covered all of season one of Dead City because nobody else wanted to do it. Well, no other hosts wanted to do it. Jason in particular. Sorry, Jason.

[00:22:12] But I did it because of what you just said. I found Negan to be an incredibly charismatic is the right word. Maybe not charming but charismatic. And now I'm kind of getting the same sense. Not only in it's weird because there's you have Ishmael who

[00:22:31] is this charismatic character who we mentioned, but we have this Lanfear now, formerly Celine, which that was a big surprise to me. You know Lanfear being this other lieutenant that was now called up that she's engaging but for a completely

[00:22:47] different reason like she's more of a this is more of a sensual attraction now to this character like because she is that way. She's very sensual and very sexual of a character, but she's also incredibly powerful. Right. And that to me is attractive as well.

[00:23:05] So as a viewer, like we have these two lieutenants who I'm totally engaged with but for two completely different reasons and seeing them even engage with each other just makes it even more engaging now for me as an audience member.

[00:23:20] I really think that they that they are doing a very good job of transmitting these these characters in particular because some of this stuff you don't get in the books and this very much is something that amplifies the experience of someone who is familiar with the source material.

[00:23:40] It's not just, you know, a play by play. Don't get me wrong, some things are very very similar but but they're adding in extra things that and you know, kind of kind of like they did with Game of Thrones.

[00:23:53] They they're adding in scenes that you didn't see and because you didn't see them you get more clarity and and more like oh that okay that makes more sense as to why which they have to do because it's a television show and you

[00:24:08] can't you can't be like oh hey I got this one viewpoint and that's all that I got and so I have no idea. I'm really really liking the Forsaken scenes and which I mean oddly enough that's those are ones I used to look forward

[00:24:24] to as well in the books. So maybe it's not shocking that I'm engaged by these. But I mean and that's something I kind of go to the defense of when it comes to adaptations and adaptations is exactly the word it's like an at this is an adaptation

[00:24:39] of a story. It's not an exact word for word scene for scene of anything. You you mentioned Game of Thrones doing it now you know Wheel of Time is doing it Lord of the Rings did it as well.

[00:24:49] Although Lord of the Rings was pretty close to to the story. Hence why those movies are if you watch the extended versions 11 hours of movie and even that to me as a reader of the books is not enough.

[00:25:04] You know but like you know you talk about in one movie I come to defense of that was a move that was a movie off of a book is Ready Player One. There were a lot of people that had issues with the movie

[00:25:14] compared to the book because there were so many differences and my defense of that is and I apologize if we're kind of going off the topic of Wheel of Time. But one of my defensive that is one do you know how much

[00:25:26] of a nightmare it would have been for them to get the rights. Everything that is in that book and two do you realize how boring parts of that movie would have been if you adapted it straight from the book. Right.

[00:25:40] There's I mean there's so much exposition in that book about telling of lessons and school lessons and like history like I would be bored out of my mind watching that as a movie. So you can't do a straight adaptation but you're right

[00:25:55] when it comes to things like this like Wheel of Time where they're adding in new elements and yes it is exposition but it's it's added exposition that adds such a depth to characters and locations and backgrounds that it's just it's welcome.

[00:26:12] Yeah, I completely agree and I am totally digging it. Yeah, I guess that brings me to one of my my next points. You know, I talked a little bit about how we had these five different characters with five different stories going on

[00:26:26] and I was kind of waning on some of them. However, one of the characters in the background that they had going on has kept me engaged pretty much from start to finish and I really am curious to where it's going and that's the storyline with Perrin.

[00:26:42] You know, everything that was happening and his abilities and like the honing of his abilities and then coming front and now in particular in this episode with the addition of a new character with Evan doll. She that that fight sorry what how is it pronounced? Avienda Avienda.

[00:27:00] Wow, I was way off. I was like what Samson night I was way off. Say it one more time. Avienda Avienda. Thank you now that I've heard it. I don't know it. Um, that battle with Perrin and Avienda against the children of the light. It was glorious.

[00:27:21] So like I couldn't stop watching like she is a total she is a total mystery of a character to me and I've I even said this in I think it's season one. This was one of my points as well that Perrin was a character.

[00:27:37] I was really kind of like attracted to as far as like the character not physically the character itself. No shame in it, man. I wanted to know more about this character. He was the one that kind of drew me in the most out of everybody

[00:27:53] and that continues with this season with like I said with his abilities with him being able to see the things that he sees and then all of a sudden we meet her and I'm like Perrin who like this? Who is this character?

[00:28:09] I want to know more about this character and I did do some background into her. I won't reveal any of it because I don't know what's going to be explored and such and if there is, I don't want to

[00:28:19] spoil it for anybody but man the Perrin storyline kind of just went up like two or three notches. Oh, absolutely. When we get this scene with the children of the light or the white cloaks, whatever you want to call them.

[00:28:34] And we meet Avienda and just the dynamic between these two characters and like I mean there's just that scene right before the battle starts where she pulls that mask up and she kind of glares at Perrin and it's kind of like the whole don't worry.

[00:28:51] I've got this look. Do you like to dance Perrin Ibarra? Yes. Yeah. And it's just it's so badass and I'm I now want to know so much more about this character. I mean, this was obviously well, I think it was obviously

[00:29:07] very reminiscent of the scene of the the pregnant IEEL in season one. The opening. Yeah, episode eight where she was just like just messing nights up and just just going bonkers just straight up murdering these people and I mean, I would say that

[00:29:30] Avienda killed at least four of the children like just from like snapping their necks with her legs and you know flipping them over and then parents straight up using a giant hammer and just pounding the crap out of their helmets. I was just like whoa.

[00:29:48] That was pretty brutal. Even after watching Uno be completely impaled like last last week. Man, that was that was rough. Yeah, that was I mean, I was like very much like that was okay. He got Game of Thrones. Yeah, pretty much.

[00:30:04] But yeah, like but you see a lot of this this violence and honestly, I kind of welcome it because it's kind of passed by in the books. It's more of a it's more of a family friendly friendly version. You read about it.

[00:30:22] You kind of hear about it, but you don't vision, you know, viscerally see it and and I was I think it was one of the things that really drew people into Game of Thrones and it is something that makes me here that makes me go.

[00:30:39] Okay, you know what? Hey, you're raising the stakes that people are being murdered and like straight up murdered and is by one person going back to last season. Tom Maryland talking about the the IE that just happened

[00:30:57] to be set upon by by the people who killed him and then hung him up in the cage in Breen spring and then child bornhold this episode said it took took five of your men to to take her down and another seven to to get

[00:31:20] her in the cage. I mean, so the IE L are they are I will say they are fierce fighters and and very impressive in their combat skills. This this this season. I have been a little bit little bit slow on the parent.

[00:31:41] I've been a little like come on. Let's just just show me what you got and here he showed me and like he showed a little bit. I don't think it was last episode might have been the episode before last but where he started defending loyal in

[00:31:57] the battle in a two and a half. And you know, actually started like bashing some people in here. He's just like, okay, well, she's going to handle like eight of these guys. I'm going to bash the crap out of two or three of them

[00:32:10] and and yeah, so I agree with you. This this this episode in particular, you know, parents kind of gotten away from the brooding. The woe was me and and he's kind of kind of coming into his own and all it took was the life threatening danger

[00:32:28] of his friends. Yeah, I mean, but I mean to in his defense to the whole woe is me attitude that he had in season one. He had legitimate reason. I'm not disagreeing. I just saying that to watch it for, you know, nine episodes. Yeah.

[00:32:43] It was kind of like, come on, just give me something. And then like the first two or three episodes of this one. Oh, what are we doing? Why? Why aren't we doing it? No, you know what? Hey man, just like Elias is coming to help you and

[00:32:55] not get the hell out and go mess with the wolves and figure your crap out and let's go f some people up, man. Yeah. Well, I mean, again, that kind of plays into like the issues that I had with the first couple episodes

[00:33:07] and that like five separate storylines. Not all of them are engaging. I mean, and it's kind of like, I get it. We're reintroducing these characters and and Perrin was one of them, but you know, I was still engaged because

[00:33:20] and it might have just been carry over from my interest in the character from season one that kept me engaged where, you know, his storyline would come up and I'd be like, oh, it's parent. Right. You know, and I get the and I get to watch it.

[00:33:32] But now it's gotten to a point where I'm like, yeah, give me more of this story. I want to know. I want to know what's happening. You mentioned the chemistry of Avienda and Perrin and and I really saw it sitting around the fire at the end, right?

[00:33:50] Where do we go? And then the the the laughing it, you know, her laughing, I'm not going to attack you in a fit of lust and like, you know, that was that was nice to see Perrin actually like kind of connecting with a person

[00:34:06] that is not a matter of, you know, mortal danger. Like it's a matter of, hey, I I mean, okay, I kind of kind of like like what you're doing and you're trying to explain to me the ways of your your life and

[00:34:21] okay, well, I need to go help my friends. So if you're going where I'm going, we're going to to fall. Yeah. Well, I mean, and another thing too that I really I liked about this to it and maybe this is looking a

[00:34:34] little bit too deep into it or maybe it's not. I don't know, but I mean, he's very in tune with the wolves, which are canines and canines to anybody who's a dog owner knows that dogs have a good sense of character. They have a good sense.

[00:34:46] They know whether somebody has true intentions. They know whether somebody has evil intentions. Dogs are really good about being able to judge that's why, you know, if a dog likes you, it's usually a really good sign for for that person.

[00:34:59] And parents seems to have that instinct as well. I mean, he knew Alvienda was in a cage. This this white cloak is telling him how bad of a person she is the last person reaching ended up with a broken arm. He's just tossing the water to her.

[00:35:13] But yet parent knows that this is not to be true. He knows just even without having conversation with her like he kind of has this sense that this is not the person they're making her out to be and

[00:35:27] he opens the cage and he lets her out and he's one hundred percent right. At least as far as we know, as far as his instincts go, I would agree with him. People don't belong in cages and and like that

[00:35:39] in that that I think would rather than even judging from what a you know from a manner of, hey, I've got a good sense of this person's character. I would say it shows his character now done from your own.

[00:35:54] She wasn't like growling at him and reaching for him and anything like that. She was very docile. She was very very, hey, that's going to be allowed wetlander. You know, you don't want to you don't want to drop people. Oh, well, you kind of saved my ass here.

[00:36:10] So you're you are treating me with respect by you know, offering me assistance and then, you know, he couldn't walk away from the town without leaving this person who helped him in in such a dire in such dire straits.

[00:36:29] So like, yeah, I absolutely I think it you're I can I agree with you. He was absolutely correct in his assessment of her character. But like I said, I just I feel like it shows more to his character of, hey, I'm a decent human being

[00:36:43] and decent human beings don't have other human beings in cages. That's just the way that it is or at least it should be. And I see it and I see it in that way too. I mean, I completely agree with you that it does

[00:36:57] say a lot about his character in the same in the same sense. But yes, I parent parents very good stuff. And now I'm glad you talked about that because I don't need to use one of my points for it. All right. Anything else on parent? No, no. Okay.

[00:37:14] I am going to go to a lesser known character. Uh, Varen Varen Sadi the brown sister who greeted Moiraine who recognizes that one of the boys that she brought to the White Tower last fall was the dragon. Um, that was we found that out.

[00:37:35] I think it was two episodes ago. I think that's episode two actually episode two. Okay. So episode two and and Varen has arrived back at the White Tower after you know coming out of retirement. Um, we are assuming because of what she was telling

[00:37:53] telling Moiraine about finding texts with regard to prophecies and herons branded on his hands and uh, I really enjoyed Varen's character the the sassiness the, uh, kind of smart assness the. Oh man, I remember I'm glad to see there's glad to see all that dust on that switch.

[00:38:17] I remember, uh, the the one who was the one who was there when when I was a novice. My ass was you know, uh, was purple from now to Sunday, but she's also I I'm going to kind of

[00:38:31] knock it a little bit, but also kind of kind of uh, praise it. So it's it's a little confusing for me, but um, like she does have a lot of just long lingering looks like she just like pauses and just stares

[00:38:46] and then something will happen and she pauses and stares and then she asks questions like you would think that that'd be something worth remembering and maybe it's because she's point. Yeah, she's very uh, pointed. That's just she's maybe she is just a person

[00:39:01] who speaks, uh, speaks honestly and speaks with with barbs if necessary. Um, but when she was talking to to Sherriam about, oh, you would think that the daughter of Eri Van Dore and to the two of the most powerful novices ever, uh, leaving the tower would, you

[00:39:19] know, strike you as a like something worth remembering and Sharon's like, uh, yes, you're right. Um, that would make sense. Sherriam definitely acted like kind of befuddled. Um, but uh, but then Varen has, you know, she uses her ice and ice sneakiness.

[00:39:42] Uh, she does, you know, she's like, oh, hey, you know, I you I was looking for this book. Oh, I still have this book and the name of it was Meditations of a Kindling Flame. So I believe that that was a book about the first emerald and seat.

[00:40:00] So the the emerald and seat is known as the flame of Tarvalon. So the kindling flame the first one. Um, I think that was what they were getting at. Kindling flame sounds like, yeah, I mean, it sounds like something that would be,

[00:40:13] I mean, that's basically what how you start a fire is you start a fire with kindling. So right that would make sense if that's the title of that book. Yeah. And if that's what it's about and so uh, and so her

[00:40:24] sisters, uh, so she, she met up with Naomi and Jessica and so Jessica and her adedic memory comes in and, uh, you know, read some of these passages and comes back and reports back to Varen and she's like, oh, but there's this odd

[00:40:40] trimmer in the thing and then, oh, compulsion. All right. So compulsion compulsion is exactly what you think it is. It is it is someone using the one power to make someone do your bidding. Uh, if anybody was confused by that, that was it's

[00:40:56] it wasn't like, oh, I'm compulsing someone to do that by, you know, blackmail or something like, nope, it is you are removing the will of someone to to do what you want them to do a weave compulsion. Oh, but that but that must mean that someone in the

[00:41:12] tower is sworn to the dark. That means the black Ajah is real. Okay. So that means that the black Ajah was maybe a myth beforehand. People didn't necessarily believe it. Again, this is big. This is what it what it seems like to me or yes,

[00:41:29] because black Ajah and she is, you know, saying these things to lift suspicion from herself. I did like the tricksy, Varen. I would say relatively simple tricks, but still using the the bait and switch and the the oh, what do I got over here?

[00:41:52] Well, no, my other hand, I got something on fire. So I did I did like that. Well, I mean, and even with Varen when you mentioned earlier on when you said like how she kind of has these long pauses in between where

[00:42:05] she kind of stares off and everything. Do you do you think that is something intentionally that she does or is it just an acting technique? I mean, because Shatner did the same thing and you know, and it Varen seems a little bit better at it.

[00:42:23] But I mean, to me, it seems almost more like it's a character trait for Varen rather than an acting, you know, because if you if you sit there and you say something or you ask a question, then you kind of put this long pause into it.

[00:42:35] You're you're kind of giving the person you're interrogating or asking the question to time to maybe second guess what their answer might be. So I feel like it could it could almost be like this is something she's actually doing intentionally.

[00:42:52] Well, specifically, what I was thinking of was after Leandra and walked off and was like, what are you doing? Hurry, we must go talk to the keeper about these novices being attacked by whomever and then Varen like takes like three steps forward and then

[00:43:06] just like focuses in on her and she's just like. Huh? Maybe that's just processing. I mean, right? You know, I mean you don't see it, but there's a loading screen above her head because she's she's kind of taking she's she's processing

[00:43:23] this information right because she needs to see whether or not like she actually believes it. Yeah, the and then I did think it was funny that Leandra and was like covering her tracks and like Varen was like on to like.

[00:43:36] Oh yeah, no, I know you can only get a wise bearings in this particular place at this particular time of year. No, I get it. You're I mean, it's totally if anybody who's ever seen the movie True Lies, it's totally whenever

[00:43:48] they bought Arnold the snow globe to bring home to his daughter from some plate from some city he was supposed to be in when he wasn't doing a spy mission in a different country. Right. Like it's yes, like why would you need to tell me

[00:44:03] this is the only place you can get this white asparagus unless you were trying to get me to focus on that point. Yeah, like oh, where were you? Oh, I was obviously here. Yeah, exactly. Like just play into the whole she already knows

[00:44:19] where my despair is from from just give her the white asparagus. You don't need to tell her this is where you got it from if she knows her white asparagus is from. That's enough of the story. So it seems it was very clear that that the engine

[00:44:33] was trying to cover something up right at that point. I mean, we as audience members, we knew it, but right. Yeah. Yeah. So so Varen was my my second point. Okay. Yeah, she's been a great character so far too. And I've I've enjoyed learning a little bit more

[00:44:52] about her as we go. There's been a number of different characters, new characters added. That I'm definitely intrigued with, but I'm kind of going to go the opposite on that in my number one point and my number one point is actually

[00:45:08] the happiness I've seen even though they're not great characters. The happiness I've seen in seeing some old familiar faces from season one in particular the two that we get in this episode Pat and Fane and I am on Valda to not great characters.

[00:45:26] We both know that they're dark friends, but well is Iamon dark friend? Do we know? No, I think he's just an evil. Yeah. Sorry. Oh, excuse me. Sorry. Try to make this as family friend of possible. But yeah, no, I think he's just just a horrible person. Yeah.

[00:45:42] Pat I mean Pat and Fane we know is a dark friend. So and that's that was revealed back in season one. But Iamon is kind of just yeah, I think he's just we're kind of learning that the children of the light are

[00:45:54] not as good as they seem to be and Iamon is probably the worst of these. I would say yeah, I would agree. He was easy is the worst of of what we have seen of the white cloaks. Yeah, exactly.

[00:46:08] And but I mean seeing these characters because of I'm a fan of how these characters were portrayed in season one. So seeing these characters return bringing back these familiar faces kind of gives me like a nice little warm hug amongst this story that we're getting.

[00:46:24] But at the same time it leaves me hope that there are some other characters we have not seen in a long time. One character in particular who I am hoping is still alive and we're going to see again and you kind of mentioned

[00:46:40] him already seeing Iamon and Patton gives me hope that maybe just maybe we'll meet Tom again down the road. And I know you already know. But are we going because look, I need another song from the bard man. It's like I get it.

[00:47:03] He was in the short time that we had Tom in season one. He became he very quickly became a favorite character of mine. And it's more like the charm like we mentioned with you know with with with Ishmael for him, it really is charm and for him

[00:47:22] it absolutely is charm. So it's you know seeing these familiar faces. It makes me appreciate the writing of the story because it makes us there they're not forgotten characters. Right. And the fact that they they don't forget characters makes

[00:47:40] me very hopeful that we're going to see Tom again. Yeah. So so when when Pat and Fane is strolling he's like sauntering up with the Horn of Valir like I feel like he should have been whistling and I felt feel like maybe in the background

[00:47:56] they had like a little bit like the music was kind of whistly so like I was I was like oh man like he's he's basically just he's like I am here and what is up bitches. It's weird that you mentioned the whistling too because I

[00:48:12] kind of felt the same way because you're right he just has this saunter like he's got this walk about him and it's a walk that very oddly just exudes confidence. Yeah. And like he just has it and he walks in and he kind of

[00:48:28] almost makes me feel like we mentioned before it's kind of like Negan. Yeah. And that's where the whistling comes into because like I'm thinking like because Negan does the same exact thing and I feel like you're right he needs he doesn't

[00:48:43] need it as a character but even though we because I think we got him in episode one of this season and then we don't get him again until this episode of episode five. But even when we get him it's just the character like is

[00:48:57] again we talk about charismatic characters in very short times that we get them that when you see him kind of pop out and he's got the horn in the box and he just starts to do that saunter walk. You can't help but kind of smile.

[00:49:14] Yeah, you can't I mean like man I man I hate this guy. Yeah. Love to hate this guy. So yeah, it's just seeing these familiar faces just gives me hope that we're going to see some other ones as well. Yeah.

[00:49:27] And even Valo was he was you know, Valo was was still so shitty. I was a little little surprised that he wasn't there to try to take and take down Avienda in Perron but yeah, and it's just it's the it's the portrayal that he gives. Actress.

[00:49:46] Yeah, yeah, Abdul Abdul souless is the actor and he man it's such a fantastic portrayal of this character. 100% Yeah. So but that's pretty much it for my number one was just the the familiarity of familiar faces and the warm feeling

[00:50:04] they give me when I get to see them even if they're evil. All right. So I am I am very tempted to go down the the the shanchon rabbit hole but I am going to I'm gonna I will I will

[00:50:24] leave this the shanchon for for my notes and I'm going to go through just some of the cool shit that I really saw with more rain and ran. Okay, this this episode like I don't get wrong I can spend

[00:50:36] an entire point on land fear and then this podcast would be like two and a half hours long and I don't have time for that and nobody got time for that. Takes a long time to edit to yeah.

[00:50:47] And and so so more rain you know we see her and land or her and Rand excuse me taking off you know, lots of running cardio rule number one in the wheel of time. But so they are they're running for their lives and my rain

[00:51:07] this is a cold bitch right and I get it I get it like I I understand why you need to kill the horse. I get it but oh I can't leave her away to follow. All right, well let's go and then not I'm not we're

[00:51:21] not going to you know what we're not I'm not taking the the horse handler so that so to save her. I'm taking her so that she can be the bait further down the road and lead and lead land fear further away because

[00:51:41] it is more most important that myself and Rand survive and and then I did you notice the the way gate what I thought was the way gate stone there when she and ran pop out of the

[00:51:57] bushes it was kind of dark but that you see like land fear ride past and I feel like there was a stone that was like the way gate from the season one. Oh no I didn't I was a pain attention I didn't see it.

[00:52:11] Yeah, I wasn't looking close enough to see it. It was also dark and I've noticed a couple of the dark scenes are kind of a pain in the ass to see if you're not in like a dark room and monitoring but yeah so and then what what

[00:52:25] land fear did to that horse lady about sewing or sewing her mouth shut with like maybe weaves of air or just power or whatever. I was I was bonkers and so anyway so some way rain and Rand end up back in Kyrene back at the lady and veers

[00:52:46] castle that we meet her son who's going to marry the Queen Talmanis Talmanis and and then my rain is just white and on veer kind of has her number and I that I love the like the loss of confidence that she has and I think that Rosamund Pike

[00:53:08] does a phenomenal job portraying that and then Lady and veer was her again her character the same way we saw her with ran just like just telling her just random stuff about the game of houses and stuff. I thought that she was really good character and even

[00:53:24] though she'd been hurt by more rain you know over the last couple of decades. She know she'd office her the advice that her much older sister gave her when she was young which leads more into go. Maybe he doesn't need my protection and we can stay I don't

[00:53:48] recall this at all. I don't think this is in the books at all so I don't know what is happening. So I am interested to see this boy is going to come out. Yeah that keeps things interesting for you to do as a

[00:54:01] book reader to add these new elements because now it adds a little bit of mystery to what's absolutely. Yeah and didn't really have much to do except just be upset like half the episode.

[00:54:14] And then we're in had a lot of a lot of a lot of the character development in where rain. Well because I mean he was initially upset in the beginning that more and killed his booty call I mean it's you know and I get it.

[00:54:25] Yeah I totally get it. I mean she flat out you know slitter throat even though knowing full well it was going to do nothing right. You know so yeah like this is actually something that kind of brought me back into the the Rand storyline is because you

[00:54:42] know the whole time like the first three episodes I'm like OK like Rand is helping these these patients. He's living in this and he's got a friends with benefits situation going on with the innkeeper. I'm like OK like this dude is the dragon Ray born like

[00:54:58] what is going on like he's kind of living this mundane kind of life and I get it he's trying to hide and people believe he's dead but I'm kind of bored with this and then we get that big reveal as to you know Celine is land fear.

[00:55:15] She is this high left-handed with you know in the shadows and it's kind of like OK now I'm interested. Right. It took more in coming in and slitting her throat. Well not even then like even before that when she

[00:55:30] admits to Rand like I'm a creature as well and then she starts doing some weird stuff and it's like OK like who is this person and when Moraine comes in and like slits her throat and like all right.

[00:55:44] Well first she stabs her through the back with a sword. That's right. And then she slits her throat. So I mean but it goes to show to like correctly if I'm wrong but Moraine doesn't have any abilities right now at this point right. Nope.

[00:56:01] Yeah that's what I thought so I mean the fact that she was able to go into that in or route not in there in the cabin at this point because the in had burned down thanks to Rand.

[00:56:12] She was still able to sneak in and stab her and slitter throat like Moraine is very cold hearted at this point and I think she needs to be in order to survive and to help her and Rand survive not saying I forgive what she did

[00:56:27] because the moment Lanfeer met up with that horse lady I was like oh this woman's doomed. Yep. Especially after what happened with the complete stranger that approached her earlier. The cavitation is like the. Yeah so then when we see when we see she meets up with

[00:56:45] that with the horse attendant and I'm like oh this this woman's doomed. You know so I feel like more in kind of Moraine kind of has to be this way because she has no ability so she's kind of kind of has to go down this darker route.

[00:56:59] The fact that she has no abilities but still snuck into that cabin stabbed her slitter throat got ran out of there took a hit from Rand because Rand was acting impulsively like that still shows that even though she has no abilities Marine still got guts.

[00:57:14] Oh she's oh yeah but by the barrel load absolutely. Yeah, she is a tough mother effort that I would not want to deal with. Yeah my my note here is my reign is ruthless. Yeah absolutely ruthless.

[00:57:32] She she kind of does what she wouldn't what she has to do even in desperation to to survive and that takes a lot of intestinal fortitude and it's not until she meets her sister and her sister gives her that advice that

[00:57:47] she kind of comes down from that a little bit. She kind of calms down and she's like well if she's right maybe I don't need to protect him right maybe and then that's when you know she tells Rand like no we're not leaving there they're done running.

[00:58:04] You know and yeah it's it's been a cool interesting character dynamic to watch. Yeah, I do really enjoy wearing. All right so there's a bunch of stuff that we haven't covered so what notes do you have? I really don't have a lot of other notes.

[00:58:21] We kind of talked a little bit about like Maureen using the woman is bait. I had that in my in my notes as well. You know seeing Iman again and and hopeful hopeful that we get another song from Tom.

[00:58:34] I find it very interesting that and this is really the only other note I have and then I'll turn it over to you is that we see different elements of power are represented by by different things in different groups. And with and God forgive me.

[00:58:54] High Lady Siroth and High Lord Torek they are Sean Sean Sean Sean Sean Sean Sean with Sean Sean it seems to be the nails like these are what kind of show the abilities or not the abilities but the power dynamic within them cutting off Siroth's nails kind of

[00:59:12] took away her her her power or her her place her status her status. Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking about. But it also seemed like from what I was watching it. You know what her seemed natural and we're cut off

[00:59:29] looking at High Lord Turox they seem almost metallic. Well, I think that they are armored. I think that they are okay. They're jeweled and there is like protective like Siroth had little things on on the edges of her fingers

[00:59:44] that kind of like help provide support for the nails themselves. But I think that I think that the Turox is like specifically those are are bejeweled and armored and it again goes goes more towards that status that you're talking about.

[01:00:01] Man, if that's the case, I want armored finger nails like really badly. I don't know what I would ever do with them, but they seem not I don't want them nearly as long because that's just ridiculous. Maybe about an inch and armor them. That's kind of cool.

[01:00:16] But yeah, so seeing differences in these groups like in all these different groups and seeing you know, even with the Isidae it seems to be the rings that they have or kind of their status with with the with Tor you know Lord Turok and Siroth. It's the fingernails.

[01:00:31] It's kind of with the Shanshan. It's the fingernails. So I enjoy seeing like like all these different intricacies and how status is represented in different ways among all these different groups. Yeah, I would even compare it to from one country to another

[01:00:49] in our world where it's a matter of Hey, in this particular society, its technology that shows status in this particular society, it's clothing that shows status in this particular society. It's you know, well just just as an example, you know,

[01:01:09] oh, the all of the higher up you are the less hair you have in the Shanshan. So like so like Siroth had portions of her of her head shaved but Turok was completely bald. I think that that is is part of it.

[01:01:29] I will say that that's part of it in the book and maybe that's me reading too much into it. Maybe they're not including that stuff but the obvious one was the fingernails. Does that mean you are destined for greatness if you bald early?

[01:01:41] Oh man, I am so good to go. Me too. Yeah, it means I'm like predestined for greatness at an early age. I love it. But that's real. Yeah, that's really all I have for from my notes. We've kind of covered and touched base on everything else.

[01:01:57] Okay, so I'm going to this is going to be a long note section and it might be my maybe just do like an entire another point No, go for it. I'll just go get a cup of coffee. All right, sounds good. No, I don't get it.

[01:02:10] All right, so Leandron brings Nineyev. We haven't even touched on Nineyev Elaine and the Gatagween. She brings them through the ways. Okay, I was going to ask that too. That is the ways that she takes them through. Yes. Okay.

[01:02:25] Yeah, and they came out the way gate and then met up with Siroth and then, you know, Siroth talking shit at Leandron talking about, oh, our master's dog. He doesn't she has enough time to come deal with his dog.

[01:02:38] And so then but then like they kept both referring to our master and like outside of like the Empress, I was just like are all of the all of Siroth like henchmen and the one power people are they are they all dark friends?

[01:02:59] Like they all understand that hey, our master is, you know, one of the Forsaken and then some of the terms that they used. So the there's Sule Dam trained for years to prove that they are worthy of doing stuff. Didn't really get a ton of detail there.

[01:03:22] She did use the term Marith Demane, which it sounded like she was referring to the Isidae. That way all Marith Demane's will be leashed and then Leandron like turns towards Naniyev and like cuts Naniyev free with the power.

[01:03:42] I didn't know if like if like the people who could channel that are with them or with Siroth could like see with the weaves. Maybe it was some I don't know. Well, didn't didn't we touch base on that last last episode or last season

[01:03:57] is whether or not people could actually see the weaves? Well, I feel like people who women who could channel could see the weaves. But people like but people who could not channel wouldn't. But if you had like the little ball gagged people in out with Siroth

[01:04:15] and then like they started using the power. And I hope they get more into detail with regard to to all of that. And because they literally looked like they're being used as weapons, but they are trying to. Yeah, I really want to see the interactions between

[01:04:34] the different power users with the with the Shanchon. But then Naniyev and Elaine Escape, Eguine puts up like a just giant block of fireballs. I was like, whoa. And then she like turns around and runs away and.

[01:04:53] And then so Eguine gets captured and has this leash put on her. And it's just like, oh, oh, shit. And like this like magical metal type shit. It's it looked like some Iron Man nanobots. It didn't look like that. With the leash.

[01:05:11] And then it's almost like a telepathic link from whoever would have the leash to the wrist of the from the wrist to that, to the the leash or rather to the like the necklace. And I really want to know more about this.

[01:05:29] I want to know more details and I want them to explain it to me better. But then Naniyev and Elaine actually get back to fall. So now parents going to fall. So parents going to go into form Naniyev and Elaine are in foam. Eguine's in foam.

[01:05:45] And so Matt's going to Kyreen Rans in Kyreen. So we are having that merging of of of main characters again. But Naniyev and Elaine are found by a woman of the ice. And I have the yellow Ajah their names of names and likenesses

[01:06:04] have been put out and about. So I did want to cover all of that stuff. And even if I didn't have like a full blown point to it. So things things we've heard. Soudam, Marathe Domaine and sorry, Demane Marathe Domaine. In my head, I always said Domaine.

[01:06:26] And you told me how it's pronounced before we started recording. Yes, yes, I did some people that we've been introduced to. So they said that Gawain was Elaine's brother. Who he was there going to his name day ceremony. Browns are nerds. They're like hardcore nerds.

[01:06:47] We talked about Tom Lannis. Oh, child born hold. He's apparently got a famous father who his father's name won't protect him anymore. I thought that was interesting. So I want to know who his dad is.

[01:07:03] And then tell her tell her on Rio and this is this is what Lanfear is the master of. Where we see her the instant that ran falls asleep. He is immediately chained up and straight up 300.

[01:07:18] No, no, no shirts and crazy abs and Lanfear is channeling Kate Blanchett as hella on the throne. That's a good comparison right there with.

[01:07:31] The big veil and the crazy headdress and I was like, but the actress who plays Lanfear very much reminds me like physically of of Kate Blanchett. Very sharp lines in her face and like high cheekbones and.

[01:07:53] Anyway, yeah, so that was a that was a bunch of bunch of notes. And I think that's all I have. I did notice that I feel I feel like a couple of the eyes said I use some words that is along the lines of, hey, I'm not.

[01:08:14] I'm telling you the truth that you might want to hear, not necessarily the truth that is. So like Sherriam said, oh, it says here that they were escorted by a guard of more cases soldiers.

[01:08:28] So it appears that the you know they left on their own so she didn't lie. She did not say an untruth she said she use the words it appears that that all as well.

[01:08:40] Well, I mean it's kind of you know, it's kind of very similar to a character that we discussed in this last season of Lost on Revisited and that's the man in black and that he he never lies. But in it's lying through omission. Right.

[01:08:57] You are just not giving all of the factual information. Right. You know, you're not lying, but you're not telling the truth either. You're not telling all of the pertinent truth. Yeah, exactly. You're not giving us all of the details. So the only other thing I can say.

[01:09:21] About this season in general and this episode in particular is I man. It's especially after. Especially after meeting Ivy Ivy and I hope we get bad ass land back. Because he seems very mellow. Very, very, very hippie land right now. Yeah.

[01:09:45] And I get it because he's not connected to to more in anymore like that connection has been severed. So I kind of get it. He's trying to find his purpose. I understand it.

[01:09:56] But man, I need him in a fight scene again sometime hopefully before the end of the season. I'm sure we will. Right. You know, I missed that. All right. Fair enough. I mean, I'm always about some shirtless Daniel Henney. All right.

[01:10:17] So we'll go ahead and take a bit of a break and then we'll come back and we got some feedback. So I'm super excited about that. Oh, it's coming back. Heck yes. All right. That's not true at all. See in a few. All right.

[01:10:32] And we're back and so we are we got some news. At least some stuff that I found some pretty interesting. There's an interview or not an interview. Sorry. Due to the strike. We're not not much interviews. We're really finding but a review by Ben Travers with Indie wire.

[01:10:51] The wheel of time is a hit fantasy series. Can it be more? I thought I found this one pretty interesting because it's more of a negative and I'm kind of, you know, touting all of its positives and he does a little bit of a different view.

[01:11:05] If you'll spare a weary critic the moment of vulnerability, I must admit, I do not understand the wheel of time. I've now seen the first season of the fantasy adaptation twice. I've screened the available season two episodes while poking around a recaps and social media reactions.

[01:11:21] The books remain unopened, but I've gone over the synopsis and summaries so I feel like I've done my due diligence. I have given the wheel of time a spin, a fair shake and a hard look. Nevertheless, I don't get whatever is going on here.

[01:11:35] In season two, mom and dad are fighting but I can't quite pinpoint how land failed more or more rain or if it's just Olympic excuse for added drama. I'm not sure if it's the Dragonryborn who's almost certainly not the Dragonryborn, right?

[01:11:49] It's still in hiding but he's happily banging in a keeper who's definitely not an innkeeper to keep him from thinking about his one true love, Egwene, who he's decided to never see again but desperately wants to remember.

[01:11:59] Speaking of the Egwene, she's in training at the White Tower with Nineyave, which is a perfect opportunity to explain how the magic and wheel of time actually works. And yet the ice and ice abilities remain conveniently fluid and frustratingly opaque.

[01:12:11] They can conjure water out of walls and air, so is that why more rain takes so many baths? Because they're always available? The rules in the wheel of time are very loosely defined, whether emotional or practical, and both are beyond a casual viewer's comprehension.

[01:12:25] That could be a problem because Prime Video has a bona fide hit on its hands. When the Wheel of Time premiered November 21, its first three episodes netted 1.16 billion minutes of viewing time in its first week.

[01:12:39] That was Amazon's best Nielsen performance to date and compares well with its next fantasy album, Epic, The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power, which pulled in 1.25 billion minutes in its debut. Both were surpassed by Reacher, but that's another story.

[01:12:53] Lord of the Rings went on to tally 7.52 billion minutes across its seven-week run, while the Wheel of Time tallyed about 4.5 billion minutes in its own seven-week span. That's a significant difference, but an unexpected one. Lord of the Rings is a proven franchise in Hollywood thanks to the beloved

[01:13:08] blockbuster film series, where the Wheel of Time is just getting started. This is actually a much longer article and for brevity I cut down significantly, but they go on to say that they don't have the numbers for season two yet.

[01:13:21] I'm interested to see what those numbers do or saying, but it seems like there aren't really scathing reviews out there, which is nice because I'm really enjoying the show. Well, even when I check the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, which shouldn't always

[01:13:40] be trusted by the way, the ratings are high in the season two ratings so far even higher than season one through Rotten Tomatoes. So what really gets me in this article is both were surpassed by Reacher. I've never seen Reacher, but I didn't think it was more popular

[01:13:58] than Reacher. I've never seen Reacher, but I didn't think it was more popular than Lord of the Rings. I mean, okay. Yeah, I don't know. Apparently. So I know Reacher, like it was Jack Reacher and then this is the series

[01:14:11] based on the books that based on the books, which is based, the movie was based on Tom Cruise was in a while back. Yeah. I mean, and I'm an Alan Richardson fan, so I haven't checked out Reacher yet. It's on my list to watch eventually,

[01:14:27] but just the fact that Reacher surpassed both Lord of the Rings and Rings of Power. Wheel of Time, like, okay, maybe I need to move it higher up on my list. Maybe it's just that good. Maybe. Yeah. But in regards to kind of fun articles that were found

[01:14:49] in regards to this too, there's another one from Entertainment Weekly that just by the title alone, Leandron goes full on little finger. Is just interesting enough. And this article is from Entertainment Weekly.com written by Alex Raymond.

[01:15:05] And he says at the White Tower, Nine Ave and a going nine AVE, a green and a lane are hold on. They're not at the White Tower anymore. They're deep down in the ways the dark cavernous tunnels that magically connect desperate parts of the world.

[01:15:21] Oh, that's not good. Turns out excuse me. Turns out Leandron's got them tied up and is planning on taking them to Ishmael. So yeah, if you had Leandron is secretly a black Aja on your bingo card. Congratulations, you've won.

[01:15:37] I did not have that on my bingo card at all. Leandron takes the girls through the portal and hands them over to Seraf. It soon becomes clear the two know each other and have been plotting this thing. There's no love lost between these two powerful women, though,

[01:15:51] as we get the feeling they're vying for the throne of this evil little cabal. But just as I was, but just as I was ready to cut Leandron from my Wheel of Time fantasy team. She suddenly weaves a spell that unbinds Nine Ave,

[01:16:07] giving her a fighting chance to escape. Last week I called Leandron Wheel of Times Littlefinger and she's certainly earning that little bit of a wheel of times Littlefinger and she's certainly earning that title this week, playing both sides of this conflict at once.

[01:16:21] A real 3D chess move on her part. You go girl. So as Leandron disappears through the portal and the shea, shea, that it. Sean, Sean, Sean, I remembered. Moved to capture Nine Ave, a Gwane and a Lane. The girls fight back escaping into the jungle, except

[01:16:41] when Nine Ave and a Lane reach a clearing safely out of the Sean, Sean's grasp, they realize, wait, where's a Gwane? Yep. Turns out Porta Gwane got left behind in a brutally effective scene. We watched the Sean, Sean put a magical collar around her

[01:16:56] neck, hook her up to a chain and drag her off like a dog. Yesh. Yeah. Again, this, this was part of a much longer review, but this one was from relatively entertaining in the way that it was presented. I did really enjoy that.

[01:17:11] And I did learn one particular thing from this too, and that's I should never use the terms go you go girl. Because they do not sound good coming from my mouth. It's all about the presentation. All right. Yeah. It reminds me of George Carlin.

[01:17:28] You go girl should probably stay. Probably go. I know that bit very well. Yeah. We did get some listener feedback this week in part because I harassed some of my friends to leave feedback. And so that was, that was great. I'm very much appreciated.

[01:17:46] So from Facebook, from Christian at Kristen Emreck. I've always enjoyed landfierce character development as for episode four. I've always enjoyed landfierce character development in the books. And I think the show is doing a really great job highlighting both sides of her personality. I'm really into the landfill character.

[01:18:02] Yeah. Like I said, it's just, it's just a sensual character. It's this really engaging feedback. Also from episode four comes from Ivy Greer. Episode four was really good. I loved how we got a bit more background of Moraine and the strain of her absence on her family.

[01:18:21] I also love the reveal of Leandron as Black Asia. Man, everybody picked up on it. And I didn't. I believe that she did feel invested in nine eight and was genuinely sorry to lose her. But I feel for her power more than the person.

[01:18:35] I feel this plays out more in episode five when she turns the ladies over to the Sean Sean. I feel this was a play to break nine eight to turn her to the dark one to truly make her a part of the sisterhood of the

[01:18:46] Black Asia because she is so powerful. I think the others were just a bonus. I completely agree with you Ivy. It was, I think that, that her, I think that she did connect with nine eight in like, I don't think it was an

[01:18:59] intent for her to find her with her son or anything like that. But I, I do think that, that she is mourning the fact that she lost that much power and no longer has that, that the capability to tap into that. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:19:16] I can see that and agree with that as well. Eric Emreck, I enjoy hearing Veronica's perspective as a first time viewer with no book of learning as it were. Seems the show is really getting across the plot points as someone way too invested.

[01:19:28] I'm enjoying this turning of the wheel. And so some, I actually got some texts from Kristen earlier as, as I was again harassing her for feedback. She said, not a fan of all the bald cap usage. Gwane's capture was less emotional than I expected.

[01:19:47] I wonder if they're trying to make her look a bit colder as far as nine Yave. I wouldn't feel it trying to make her look a bit colder and less emotional now because of everything she went through in the arches.

[01:19:58] I've heard you watching this week and Hopper just barked and the subtitles called it chuffing. I've never heard that word used to describe a dog's bark before. I have, I think I have. Well, I mean, I may have, but it's not something that would just, oh, chuffing, right.

[01:20:14] Yeah. Interesting. Leandra brought horses into the ways when Moiraine didn't because she said they wouldn't survive. And then Moiraine murdered a horse. This was a weird. Yeah. And Leandra and only freed Donye's lists or wrists. And then subtitles say Ishmael says, Matt was born mine,

[01:20:35] but that doesn't sound close to what he actually says. So Matt was born what? So Christian, I think I mean, I, because I actually went back and like listened to this again and watched it. So I think what he was saying is Matt was born mine

[01:20:51] and Perin will be more wolf than man. I think what he was saying was that like he, it seems like what he's doing is he's trying to set up each of these characters to give them something kind of like Leandron

[01:21:03] where they have something that they need to hold on to or need to recover to, you know, Leandron says every woman has her price. I think he's, he's, he's trying to tempt these people into getting something that they, that they want

[01:21:19] or they need so badly, they're willing to turn to the dark. I think with Matt, the point is that he was always like he was born in my pocket because he's always going to give him to the easy way.

[01:21:34] He's, he's, he's always there's no way I'm not going to get Matt because he's just, he's, he's easy. He's cake. Yeah. I took that exactly the same way when he said Matt was born mine. That's exactly how I took it.

[01:21:46] Isn't that like, look he, this Matt's just so easy that I don't even have to think about it. Like this is already a, Matt's already a done deal. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's how I took it too. So, hey, thank you so much for the feedback.

[01:22:01] We really appreciate it. And, and please keep it coming. I swear I'm going to get more posts up and say you guys can put it up, put them all on Facebook or put them on the podcast website, call in, leave a message. Love to hear from you guys.

[01:22:19] But after this, do you have anything else been? No, I'm happy to be back. I miss Wendy, but, you know, me too. You know, I get, you know, sometimes, you know, life has to take a priority and whatever it is that, that has kept her

[01:22:38] away from, from returning to the podcast, you know, who knows maybe by season three, we can, we can coax her into returning and it'll be four of us. Yeah, that'd be, that'd be pretty sweet. Yeah. All right. For the moment though, that's our show. Thanks for listening everybody.

[01:22:55] If you'd like to write in or record a message and send it in, you can email it to talk at podcast.com. You can check out our Facebook page at facebook.com slash podcastica and podcastica is also on Twitter or X now, whatever you want to call it

[01:23:11] at podcastica. All right. So I'm not sure, I know that you, like you said, you got re-revisited is coming up with a Ted Lasso and starting that, which I can't wait to rewatch for like the fourth time now. And then I know that Penny's doing, Penny's doing

[01:23:30] a fun job over at Still Slaying, I think it's called the Buffy rewatch podcast. Yeah. I know they're not doing like a full on rewatch. I know they're only picking maybe some of the highlighted episodes of the seasons and going with that.

[01:23:47] Trust me, I know from somebody who just did a complete rewatch of lost, it is a commitment to do a complete rewatch of a series. Yeah. Of a network series. Yeah. Absolutely. You're talking shows that went like 22, 24 episodes in this season. Yeah.

[01:24:06] And then there's seven or eight or nine episodes of Buffy. I think Buffy went like eight seasons. Yeah, that's a lot of episodes. It's a lot. So they chose the right way in doing like the highlighted episodes. Yeah, absolutely.

[01:24:19] And then I know that White Lotus is, I think they just did season or episode one of season two and I think coming up that that's going on right now. And then Daryl Dixon just came on. I think they've got two episodes out now, which I

[01:24:37] got to catch up on. Haven't haven't started that one yet. I didn't have as much of an interest in that one as I did Dead City. Yeah. Yeah. So charismatic versus somebody who just grunts all the time.

[01:24:52] I mean, pretty much, I mean, if it was a story about him and his leather, his leather vest and his leather vest spoke to him, I would probably watch it. It's like the Wilson of, yeah. But next time on this podcast, we have time season two

[01:25:09] episode six, something that comes out on Friday. Somebody wasn't prepared. They aren't coming out with they're not giving us the titles. Oh, they're not. No, I take that back. I take back what I said because I'm a jerk. All right. But that's our show.

[01:25:34] You want to do this one? Uh, yeah. Let the dragon ride again on the winds of time. Yeah, that was a good one. Maybe you do it in the future. All right.