9: "The Eye of the World" (The Wheel of Time S1E8)

[00:00:00] The Wheel of Time The Wheel of Time The Wheel of Time The name of him or we don't. The whole world will burn. The Dark One is waking. Talman Gaiden is here, the last battle. Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast. I'm Greg. And I'm Wendy. And I'm Ben.

[00:01:09] This is House Podcastica, The Wheel of Time Edition. This week we're covering The Wheel of Time Season 1, Episode 8, The Finale for this season, The Eye of the World. Alright and like so we had a little bit of feedback already about where the podcast was

[00:01:27] and I can totally appreciate that. We had a couple of issues matching up our schedules. Unfortunately, I had a COVID case in the house and so caring for two kids trying to find time isolated enough to record was not the easiest.

[00:01:43] But I appreciate everybody's patience and Wendy and Ben holding off on something that I've wanted to talk about for a couple of weeks now. Yeah, it was one of those situations where I think there were a number of times where one of the three of us was like,

[00:01:55] you know, I'd just go without me and every single time it was all three of us in agreement. We're like, nope, this is the finale. It needs to be all three of us. We have to do this together.

[00:02:05] Until tonight, if we didn't get done tonight, you guys were going to go alone because we have to get it out. It's been long enough. If we got to go without somebody, we'll go without somebody.

[00:02:16] So the finale, the wrap up to the season, how did you guys feel about this? I'm going to say this episode by itself and then we'll talk about how we think it wraps up this season.

[00:02:31] I felt like the episode was mixed. There were parts in it that I really enjoyed and there were parts in it that I thought was a miss. I almost thought that this episode needed to be like three episodes.

[00:02:47] There was a lot that happened in here and for non-book readers, it was hard to follow. I agree with you. Although I'm less on the mixed part and more on the kind of disappointed part, I hate saying this because I've enjoyed the season up until this point.

[00:03:14] I felt that the episode was honestly, I think it's the weakest episode of the season, which really is not what you want when it comes to a season finale. It can be a big turn off for people and prevent people from tuning in for the second season.

[00:03:28] That's not me. I'm still really looking forward to the second season and obviously I want to continue watching because I did enjoy it up to this point, but I do. I agree with you. I felt like after watching it the first time and even more the second time,

[00:03:41] I know in the beginning we kind of debated, okay, is it eight episodes? Is it 10 episodes? We don't know. It's not really clear and then it was determined it was eight. By the end of the episode, I was like, man, I really wish this is 10

[00:03:52] because I feel like we need more time. I feel like it was rushed and it was confusing. And I get it. That's so funny because my number two is confusing and rust. I get it. The season kind of got struck by a lot of different,

[00:04:13] like so many other shows with COVID situations and it affected filming and everything. So I give it a little bit of a pass for that. But man, I was disappointed in the finale. And it's interesting because some of the episodes, like the last maybe three or four,

[00:04:34] there were definitely slow moments and it just seemed odd that the pace picked up so much in this episode and I really think it would have been better at least in two episodes. It's really funny that you guys say that because honestly, as an entire series,

[00:04:59] that's kind of how the book series went as well. Like around like book eight, nine, ten things slowed down significantly. And I think I've mentioned this before. And then in book 12, when Brandon Sanderson picked it up,

[00:05:13] it was like, OK, now we're moving months and months at it like you flip a page and months have passed. And it's like, hey, we're moving the story forward. Now it didn't feel rushed. It was almost like a breath of fresh air that we are now...

[00:05:28] Now don't get me wrong, that was down the home stretch as opposed to at the end of the first book or the end of the first season. So it was a little bit different. I forgive a lot of stuff on this. I really, really liked it.

[00:05:48] And I think that that is specifically because I was seeing things from a how are they doing it differently? And OK, well, I can make this jump to this and maybe through us talking about it, you guys can...

[00:06:08] I can maybe kind of give you some sort of explanation to some of those. But as you said, like it's almost unforgivable for people to or for the people making the series to leave something confusing and not even like,

[00:06:25] you know, like we talk about yellow jackets, we talk about lost. There are things that there are mysteries that you're like, oh, I can't wait to find out what this is. But in this, it seems like they aren't mysteries.

[00:06:39] It's more like, oh, we're just assuming that you get it and we're moving on, not like, hey, I can't wait for this reveal. It's more like, all right, well, if you don't get it, then maybe you'll figure it out eventually. Maybe we'll pick it up from the context.

[00:06:55] Yeah, I mean, and there were definitely things... One of the main reasons I think this episode felt a lot different to me than the previous episodes of the season is because I know there were loads of rewrites that had to happen because of Barney Harris leaving the series.

[00:07:08] Like I said, there was COVID delays. There was a lot of things that affected the end of this series or the end of the season, rather. And it felt like to me that the way they wrote this finale was, you know, episodes one through seven,

[00:07:22] they kind of looked at it from a perspective of like, yes, this is for television viewers. We know people haven't read the book, so we kind of have to make it easy to follow. Easy to understand for people who haven't read the books.

[00:07:33] And then it feels like they kind of made a shift into this finale, like, okay, we got to move a little faster through this story and we're going to hope that these book readers are going to understand. The book readers will know what's going on.

[00:07:44] And completely throwing to the wind the television viewer, which is why I think a lot of people were left confused because these were people who hadn't read the books before and they're left like, what the hell is going on? I feel exactly that. That's exactly right.

[00:08:00] Well, maybe hopefully we can make you a little bit less confused and rushed as we talk through it. All right, so for our talking points, I'm going to go ahead and let you get started, Wendy. Okay. My first point is Rand in this episode.

[00:08:22] I really loved him in this episode. I thought that he has been kind of a character on the side for a lot of this season. He was definitely, he played the more beta character to Iguain.

[00:08:41] Iguain seemed to be the big focus and I really liked that they highlighted him here. I think the actor totally stepped up to it and that worked out really well. I felt like Rand was coming into himself.

[00:08:57] And although we've seen him be super distrustful and angry at Moraine, when it came down to it, he didn't want Moraine to go into the pit with him because he didn't want her to die.

[00:09:10] And I think this just goes to show what a good person Rand really is. And with all these characters, they've left a lot to our imaginations because they don't want you to fully know who the Dragon Reborn is

[00:09:26] or who's going to land where, who's going to turn to good, who's going to turn to dark. And I think we really saw Rand's brightness here and him shining through as a person.

[00:09:38] Ultimately, he knew that what Iguain wanted was to fulfill her destiny with the potential of her power. He loves her and although he wants to spend his life with her, he wants her to be happy and to live out her potential more than his own selfish.

[00:09:58] Not that it's selfish to love someone because it's absolutely not, but more than his own wants and needs, he wanted her to be happy. And I thought that was just such a sweet ending to this first arc between Iguain and Rand

[00:10:17] that he was really sacrificing so much for her. And I loved all of that parts of it. And I thought it was interesting that contrasting to that, we saw that Marene was pretty ready to kill Rand if he didn't choose the right side.

[00:10:37] So I thought that was interesting. To your point, like I thought that we've talked about each episode this season kind of giving a character or an actor kind of a time to shine. And I think that Joshua Srodowski just he just killed it in this episode.

[00:10:58] I mean, it was I thought he was phenomenal. All of his like a little bit towards the end of last episode when he's like recognizing it and hey, it's me, let's go. Let's go do it. But a lot of that was silent.

[00:11:16] And here it was, you know, oh, hey, I'm going to shoot the dark one in the eye. When granted, it's a dream. Oh, to get out of the dream. I know I have to if I kill myself, then I'll wake up now.

[00:11:31] He didn't necessarily know that that would happen. Maybe if you die in the dream, you die. That was a big risk because one, yeah, I mean, if you die in a dream, maybe you die in real life.

[00:11:41] But like also that's taken a big risk of like, OK, like what if this really wasn't a dream? You just ended the story right then and there. Yeah, right. For everybody. Yeah, you basically just screwed the world at that point.

[00:11:53] Yeah, I mean, I thought yeah, I thought that he was he was super impressive. And and this is the character that that you brute for. And I want to see where he goes next. I want to see what's going to happen.

[00:12:10] You know, you kind of showed the the outlier from from the eye. And I was like, OK, so where's where's he had next? And yeah, no, absolutely. I agree with you, Wendy. I thought he was fantastic. Yeah, I'm in agreement with that too.

[00:12:26] I think, like I said, there's a lot of issues I had with this episode, but I think a lot of the Rand story was some of the strongest elements of the episode. And what I really hope that that does in the story that, like you said,

[00:12:38] like Joshua Stradowski killed it this episode. He was so good. And I know last episode we got some feedback from listener from a couple listeners who are purely viewers of the series and haven't read the books didn't know that Rand was the dragon.

[00:12:53] And we're kind of disappointed to find out that Rand was the dragon over all these other characters that they were leading you to believe it could be.

[00:13:01] And I kind of hope this episode undoes that a little bit in some of their eyes and makes you root a little bit more for Rand as the dragon reborn than they did before. And I think that was a little purposeful.

[00:13:13] They purposefully didn't focus on him and made him kind of vanilla. Yeah, his character a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And I to me that worked to me that that worked. Yeah, I agree. I get that. Yeah. All right. Anything else, Wendy? No.

[00:13:36] OK, so then I guess for my first talking point, I'm going to apologize ahead of time. Most two out of the three of my talking points are unfortunately criticism of the series of the episode. It was fun.

[00:13:47] But I'm going to focus my first one on something that I actually did enjoy. And that was the open of the episode. It was really one of the things I've been saying for a while since this series began was wanting to learn more about the Isidae.

[00:14:01] And it was a really interesting treat to one, to be introduced to the dragon reborn before Rand. And for life may can't remember. Is it Tamron? Yeah, the Tamron seat. Well, no, that's the not the Isidae. I meant the original dragon reborn before Rand. Tell them.

[00:14:23] Lewis Theron Thalaman. OK, loose, loose. Like E-L-E-W-S Theron or Teran. T-H-E-R-I-N. Telomon. T-E-L-A-M-O-N. I'll just call them loose for short. Getting to meet that character, which we have had referenced in earlier episodes, but then also finding out that

[00:14:49] that men were also part of the Isidae about 3,000 years ago. At least 3,000 years ago, if not a little bit later than that as well. And which through a whole new element of now there's more history about the Isidae that I want to find out what happened.

[00:15:06] How did men and women split and now only women are Isidae and men are not? And I know a lot of it probably stems from the whole corruption of man when they touch the one power and which we have gotten mentioned to before.

[00:15:18] But now I want to know, like now I want to know everything that happened between that moment to now to get to the point that we're at now. Alright, so I'm just going to insert this. Watch the Breaking of the World little Origins video.

[00:15:36] And if you have then it explains exactly what happened. Yeah, it gives all of that background. And like so if you take a look at that, I don't want to go through and explain it.

[00:15:54] I'll refer you to that and just say, hey, go take a look at that. And it'll give you a lot of what you're talking about. It won't give you the history of the last 3,000 years, but it will give you quite a bit of background with regard to that.

[00:16:07] Okay, yeah. And I will probably go. I will definitely rewatch that because I do plan to rewatch the series as a binge as rather than watching it week to week to week

[00:16:19] to see if maybe it changes my opinion on some of the things that we've already discussed and I've already thought and you know, watching it in a more continuous sense. But the other thing about the open, we talked about this on the first episode.

[00:16:34] I had mentioned that it was always hinted at in the books that the world that this takes place in is a futuristic world, a very distant futuristic world past the point of technology. And the book series always hinted at it.

[00:16:50] The show pretty much confirmed it, which I kind of like the fact that they threw that out there. And I feel like that was I don't know if they'll ever dive into that.

[00:17:00] But I feel like that was more a little nice nod to the book readers of like, we're just going to confirm it right now. We're saying this is in the distant future. Yeah, no, absolutely. I this is I mean, maybe maybe not to where we are at.

[00:17:18] Maybe this isn't Earth, but it is absolutely there is magic and high technology. And you know, this is the Jetsons. You know, the Jetsons mixed with Lord of the Rings.

[00:17:30] So it's like a it's a forest world and in beautiful waterfalls and crazy skyscrapers and technology and all that. And what we're and we're basically in the dark ages now.

[00:17:44] Yeah, it makes it almost feel like it kind of felt like Wakanda to anybody who's a fan of like by Panther. Like it's this hidden away, you know, Wakanda was this hidden away world but very over like very high on technology.

[00:17:59] Wet that the rest of the world didn't know of and it makes it seem like that's the way the world was before.

[00:18:04] And whatever brought on this downfall of man and splitting of the ice and I could have possibly been the downfall of technology at the same time because that that point magic range supreme. Absolutely brought the world to a dark to like a dark age, like you said.

[00:18:21] Yeah. So this this opening is is my number one. Sorry, my first talking point and like that's all I have on mind. So if you just want to go into it, the cold opens have been very impressive.

[00:18:36] And this was I'm not going to say a book lover's dream, but it was it was visualizing and being able to see what as you said was hinted at in the books for long periods. Of time.

[00:18:52] This is something that if it happened, it happened like eight or nine books and if you saw something I don't think you ever actually did. I think you got reference to it. But you never got a conversation between the Tamerland seat and the and the dragon.

[00:19:10] Now having said that here's it's not it's not a complaint necessarily but it is something that makes you feel like you're in a bad situation. Something that makes me wonder. So Luz therein is per the Tamerland seat, the dragon reborn.

[00:19:29] But when we look at all the histories and all that it talks about, you know, this this man broke the world and they named him dragon. So Rand was the dragon reborn.

[00:19:45] So what that tells me is that time is a wheel and that there have been dragon reborn. You know, I was thinking that the dragon was named after the breaking of the world.

[00:19:58] And this indicates to me that he you know, he was the whatever prophecies they had, you know, 3000 years ago, he was fulfilling whatever it was. And that is one thing that I am missing from this series in general. We had one short reference to it, the Karatheon cycle.

[00:20:22] Rand had a it was a book that he was looking at in the library in Tarvalon that Loyal looked at and he's got the Karatheon cycle.

[00:20:31] And that is the prophecies of the dragon, of what will happen in the future in the books or what the dragon will do. And it's all very similar to like what men sees where it's very vague and you can't necessarily understand what it means.

[00:20:51] Oh, you know, hey, there's a white flame and a gold ring or whatever. But yeah, so I thought that I thought this opening scene was fantastic. Although I did think that the that let Latra whatever her name was the Tamron.

[00:21:11] Let's see. She was pretty, pretty dead on balls accurate with regard to what would happen if if they didn't, you know, if he wasn't able to do it completely correctly and sealing away the diary.

[00:21:24] So if he lashes back, it could corrupt side in and completely destroy everything and drive men mad. Wow, you basically knew exactly. Yeah, so maybe you should have helped. If you like if you guys had worked together that maybe maybe all this bad shit wouldn't happen.

[00:21:45] We will we will stand by and we will pick up the pieces after you fuck this up. Well, if you if you help me, maybe I won't fuck it up.

[00:21:51] Well, but see, I thought what she was saying was she thought attempting to imprison him was too risky because it puts him in contact with the power that she wanted to just defeat him. I don't know. I didn't get that.

[00:22:12] And then it made me confused because then I thought, well, isn't that exactly what Moraine is also doing? She's attempting to imprison him again when obviously that didn't work out the first time. So I was like, why? Why are we doing this again?

[00:22:30] Why are you repeating repeating the process? Yeah. And I mean maybe it's because you can't defeat him and this is the only option. I don't know. But that seemed confusing to me like she was saying it was such a bad idea to attempt to imprison him.

[00:22:50] But yeah, that's what we were doing anyway. I can I can see where that would end up being confusing to someone who's just you know who is just like, wait, what are we doing?

[00:23:02] Didn't she just say just take the power and channel it into the song grail and then just put him back? Oh, just that. That was one of my I really enjoyed that line from Randall. Oh, just just that. OK, got it.

[00:23:16] But yeah, no, I can see where that'd be confusing. And I that's that's a that's a that's a fair point. I don't quite I don't know. Like it makes me wonder if the dark one had been like his touch had been spreading at that point.

[00:23:37] And they were like, well, we have to do something. We can't just let it happen. Yeah, it's a small scene. We didn't get a lot of context.

[00:23:45] Yeah. So I mean, and because because we don't you because the books are from the point of view of current times or, you know, the the Rand timeframe, more more range time frame, it is we don't really get that otherwise.

[00:24:02] And maybe Eric would have have a little bit more insight on that. But yeah, I can I can I can see where you're coming from and I would love to know more of that.

[00:24:12] And if there's a like this, I'll tell you what, this is this is the the what an offshoot spin off that I would watch about watching the time of the ice and I back back in the age of legends.

[00:24:25] Yeah, right. I mean, that's exactly what like I would watch that same thing. And one of the things Greg, I want to ask you because you would again, you've read the entirety of the series and I've only read so far.

[00:24:37] And I think the series is kind of touched on it a little bit. And but maybe you can answer the question. I think you were kind of touching on it a little bit with your point to lose.

[00:24:48] They they they call him in that in that in the open, the dragon reborn. Right. Does that indeed mean who I mean, who then was the original dragon? And how many times has he been reincarnated?

[00:25:03] I think this is kind of what the the whole thing that you hear the the overlay of more moraine at the end of the first episode. Like my mom was in town and she was watching the first episode.

[00:25:15] And then I gave her the link to the podcast as you listen to that. And and I listened to the end of it. And it says age, you know, ages come and go or come and pass. You know, figures fade to myth or legends fade to myth.

[00:25:35] And then when the next age that comes on or comes on, whatever the words are, basically it says wheels, entire time is a wheel. And we are doomed to repeat effectively the same concepts over and over and over again.

[00:25:49] So back to the beginning of time, very similar to like the Matrix, there was always an anomaly. And there was always someone like the dragon who was born to face the dark one at some point in the future.

[00:26:01] And so I don't know who the initial dragon was or the initial, you know, person who would in fact have to face the dark one was. But the only one we get reference to in the book is loose there in Telemann. OK.

[00:26:20] And is he is he called the dragon is loose also called the dragon reborn in the books? He was just the dragon.

[00:26:27] He was he was called the dragon because he was a leader of the leader in the Aesidai of the of the male Aesidai in the in the books. OK. Right. Yeah. So that was I mean, I really enjoyed that scene.

[00:26:46] I think there were a lot of cool things in there. However, there are a couple of things were kind of like on the nose who like, oh, you could he could what if he touches the source? Everyone would be screwed. Yep. OK. Yeah, there's pretty much that happened.

[00:27:01] So right. I think it's good. It explained what happened and why it happened. Yeah. So that was that was that was my first point. Wendy. All right. My next point was just a little bit more of what Ben was talking about.

[00:27:20] I did feel like there were a lot of elements of this that were confusing and rushed. I watched the episode three times and I went to YouTube to help me and I don't think it helped me. I think it made things worse.

[00:27:37] And, you know, I was thinking that it's just very complicated for non-book readers. There's a lot of words that aren't regular words and names that aren't regular names. And there's a it's a lot. It almost made me think of Westworld, which I liked season one of Westworld.

[00:28:02] But then I feel like what was so great about Westworld? They overdid it in the following seasons and they made it too. It's too much work to be enjoyable. And I almost felt that way about this.

[00:28:18] I felt like I don't want to have to watch something three times and, you know, go to the wiki page and go to a YouTube recap to figure out what's happening. That's not that's it stops becoming enjoyable at that point.

[00:28:34] I think that's a that's a that's a very fair point. And I think that unfortunately, I even I noticed that there were words like, oh, you're to Viren. And this is a sign grill and the you almost have to know what those are to understand.

[00:28:54] And it had a little of that in most of the episodes, but it had a lot of that in this episode. What were some of the things that you like?

[00:29:02] What were some of the I say high points, but the one some of the like the major things that you didn't understand? I was first of all, the use of the hallucinations and the visions made you you don't know what's real and what's not real. I didn't understand.

[00:29:24] It wasn't clear to me what Rand had to do. It wasn't clear to me what the dark ones powers were where he was. Why was he able to get out if he's locked in?

[00:29:40] And then there were things that I thought were underwhelming like just underwhelming like not confusing but underwhelming the dark one, the character who played him. I thought that was disappointing and underwhelming. I don't know. I didn't I think he he wasn't charismatic.

[00:30:00] He the character didn't he was kind of lackluster. I thought the little statue that the ice and I are supposed to channel into like it seemed hokey.

[00:30:12] And then the scenes in the blight and the hallucinations of the visions like the scenes in the blight were really monotone and drab and almost. I just kind of again had that feeling of being on a sound stage and kind of cheaply done.

[00:30:30] And it just I wasn't interested in it. You know, that sucks. I'm sorry. No, no. I kind of get the whole like everything in the blight feels kind of like all the scenes in them in the blight feel monotone and drab.

[00:30:46] And I'm like, well, like the blight itself is monotone and drab. So I mean, I kind of get that. And the the whole visions of not knowing what's real and what's fake.

[00:30:57] Well, I think that was kind of the point you really weren't supposed to understand because Rance not supposed to understand what is real and what is fake. I get that. But everything everything else that you're you're saying I kind of also agree with.

[00:31:10] Like even like one of the points of one of the things I'll mention of how they brought it up and even the second time I watched it, I only understood it slightly better was the item that you mentioned that Rand has the channel through.

[00:31:25] It wasn't until the second time I watched it that I realized, oh, that's what was glowing in his pocket. That's how Maureen knew he was going towards the light and not the dark. And then afterwards when he, you know, he kind of blasts the dark one away.

[00:31:41] And this is coming from someone who's even read the book, but I've only read it once. You know, I when when land comes in and they're like, oh, send like that send a law. I thought it was supposed to be unbreakable, but it's not.

[00:31:54] It means their battle has just begun. I'm like, how right? What the hell is send a law and how does this mean their battles? Like what just happened? Okay.

[00:32:03] This is very specifically one of the things that I was like, no one's going to have any fucking idea what's going on. Yeah. Okay. So I'm going to I'm just going to I'm going to break a couple of things down with regard to this. All right.

[00:32:20] I mean, I'm just going to make some comparisons to to other pop culture references. All right. So in Doctor Strange, right? Everybody you guys seen Doctor Strange? Mm hmm. Okay. So there are items that are that are empowered with certain imbued with certain magical artifacts, right?

[00:32:44] Like the the the cape or whatever the and it's got funny names to them or whatever, but they do a pretty good job of kind of simplifying those down. So there are these their items that have to do with the power.

[00:32:59] And there are specifically items that can amplify the use of the one power. So where we saw the Amelisa draw burnout, I thought the visual of her burning out was like, oh man, like so this is a pretty good visualization of what what that could look like.

[00:33:24] Um, but it would allow allow you to draw, you know, some some items would allow you to draw a little bit more power. Um, some items would allow you to draw a lot more power.

[00:33:35] So, um, the the and I understand these are words that don't make any sense because they're not real words. So an an angriel would be like one of those, hey, I can draw a little bit more power so that I can, you know, heal people a little bit.

[00:33:53] Better or I can continue to to help out. Right. A song real would be like, hey, I can multiply my my power by a hundred fold or whatever the case is. That's kind of what my rain.

[00:34:04] I thought they did a little bit a little bit of a decent explanation with regard to that. Um, I think it would have been better to have a short scene in Tarvalon that was just like, hey, here's what we know about.

[00:34:22] The power and like even if it's loyal just giving some some exposition, like, oh, the objects of the power would there are angrile and sigrile and tearing real, you know, Rand, some of the things that we really thought were really cool. Okay, loyal school.

[00:34:36] That's that's um, but uh, yeah, what's up, Ben? Well, no, I was just going to say, like, I think one of the other things I think really would have helped with the song.

[00:34:45] The power of the real is the fact like because like Wendy, I had to go to the wiki to get some explanation on a couple things.

[00:34:53] And one of the things that the wiki says about the sangria is that it was it's believed that it was made by male Icedi. And that's one of the reasons why Rand was able to use it to channel as powerfully as powerful of Lee as he did.

[00:35:08] It was it was made specifically for male Icedi. The only channel side in it would not channel the female. Because wiki says it was also made by male.

[00:35:17] Maybe maybe it was but specifically it was it was it was used to amplify the male male half of the source.

[00:35:23] Yeah, but but I also feel like again, like going back to the opening scene where we viewers are finally clued into the fact that male used to be there used to be male Icedi. Right. Maybe have that that sangria incorporated into that opening scene.

[00:35:40] Yeah, there are definitely things they could have done to give that to give that a little not just a little better understanding. Yeah, give a little bit of clarity like make it excuse me make it check off sangria and and like oh it came back.

[00:35:59] And now I understand where this is coming from and why why it's important and why oh how did rain get it? Okay, yeah because I mean the sangria is a it's it's a jade statue that's carved into a man in a seat.

[00:36:12] That's why it's called the seated man. But like as the way the show handled it, it could have just been a piece of jade. Right. You know, there was no explanation behind it. Yeah, I totally understand now with regard to the Quindiar. Quindiar.

[00:36:30] I said Cindy are but it doesn't matter. All right. So and this is straight from the book and I'm the only reason I bring it up is that is because it is massively confusing by the what we ever given by the show.

[00:36:50] Imagine that you use the one power to create something like magic use use the power and spells and whatever right and you're able to make a material or an item that could basically never be broken.

[00:37:20] Now, in the book, if I remember correctly, Quindiar was made by both male and female as a die working together using both both halves of the power to to create these these items.

[00:37:39] What the what that was that I'm assuming that it was was there were, I believe, eight seals to the dark ones prison. That were made out of Quindiar.

[00:37:56] And once the dark one continues to grow more powerful and if the seals are broken, that's what he breaks free and all hell rains loose on everything. Right. Specifically, I don't know if that is what is going to happen in the show.

[00:38:16] I don't know if what we saw cracked was one of the dark one seals. But seems like it must be. But it would make sense that it was because what Moraine said was, what is this place? We have we don't know.

[00:38:31] Dark Friends purged all of the information about it from the library in Tarvalan. So that would indicate to me that, hey, we don't want anybody to know that this is a place you need to protect so that the dark one doesn't break free.

[00:38:42] As the dark one grows more powerful or as each of these seals break his impact on the world will grow. And the blight will grow faster and so on and so forth. Maybe as the seals decay or whatever the case is.

[00:39:01] But yeah, so that was the whole point. I think it was the whole point of the Quindiar here is like, hey, we don't know anything about it. We just know that it is Quindiar. And and that this is, you know, we don't know anything about it.

[00:39:20] We don't understand it. We don't know what's going on. Hopefully at some point or another they will hopefully relatively soon they will enlighten us as to what this is. And like I said, that's that's my best guess.

[00:39:32] And as I said, the only reason that I went into such depth was that they didn't even go and do partial depth on the show. I mean, it could have.

[00:39:42] I mean, that whole situation where like I said, like this is Quindiar or thought it's supposed to be unbreakable. And you know, so did I. What does this mean? Well, it means this is this was not the first battle or this was not their last battle.

[00:39:56] This is, you know, whatever the line was, I feel like had they just said at some point, even if it went against the books or whatever, had they just said at some point in the series that the dark one seals were made of Quindiar. Right.

[00:40:12] All they had to do is mention that at some point in the series, then that whole scene would have made sense. It not only does it make sense, but it creates a bigger impact. You're like, oh, OK, now we have to we have to go protect the seals.

[00:40:26] That's what's going on. This is Quindiar. I thought it was unbreakable. Well, so did I. And instantly, if you already knew that the seals are made of Quindiar, then at that point, you're just like as a viewer, you're like, oh, shit, that means he actually broke out. Right.

[00:40:41] Or he broke a seal. Yeah. Now I understand why this wasn't their last battle. This is just the first of many. Yeah. That's that is that is a very fair point. And as I said, like that's actually one of the points where I was like, this is good.

[00:40:56] This is not going to end well, just with regard to the two people understanding. Yeah. And I would like to clarify that I don't think it's that the showrunners or the writers don't know what they're doing. I think this is really challenging.

[00:41:15] This book is really you can just tell it's and it's more than one book to smush that into eight episodes has to be incredibly challenging.

[00:41:30] And I think what they I think they tried to keep things almost too simple in the beginning because because they know like they have to hook those non book readers. And I think they did a great job of that.

[00:41:45] But I think they almost kept those two simple and the last couple to dense of things that weren't fully explained. But I absolutely get that that had to be really challenging. And you know, some books just don't adapt well and, you know, without radical changes.

[00:42:08] And I think they already did a lot of radical changes. And so I don't want people to think that you that I'm unrealistic in my expectations. You know, I think it's just very challenging subject material to adapt. Well, I also I also know. Go ahead, Greg. I'm sorry.

[00:42:29] I was just like what one of the things that I always had issues with I wanted to see this in a TV show or movie or I mean or series of movies or whatever. I've wanted to see this for a long time.

[00:42:42] And one of the things that I always found was like, I just don't know that they'd be able to outside of like in a comic book or animated series or whatever to show what it you know what the embracing of of Sidin or Sidar felt like or.

[00:43:05] And I thought that they did a really good job of it with Logaine and and the the the darkness kind of talking to him and that, you know, like the King couldn't see it. And maybe he was going a little bit mad.

[00:43:22] But like but I thought they did really well with that. I didn't see any of that with Rand. Like Rand just drew a huge amount of the power and, you know, he's like I felt the madness.

[00:43:38] I felt the corruption and I I can't ever touch it ever again. And because otherwise I'll go mad and maybe I'll kill everybody that I love. But so yes, I absolutely. I think that they can and I'm hoping that in season two.

[00:44:03] I don't have any issues with the issues with the parts that they've cut out or the parts that they've combined or anything like that. I also am all about them telling their own story.

[00:44:14] But I do want it to be enjoyable for not just people who I don't want it to be fan service for book readers.

[00:44:23] And I'm right there with you like I even though I hadn't finished the series, I knew it was going to be a challenge to interpret this to television in such a way that book readers would be happy.

[00:44:36] Because let's be honest, there are many book readers out there who want a word for word adaptation to this and you have to realize that's just not possible. There have to be changes. There have to be adjustments.

[00:44:51] And like you said, I was happy as even if they told their own story.

[00:44:55] And I did I had a debate with somebody over the time we've recorded these last two episodes of a friend of mine saying like I had a friend of mine post on Facebook like what's the television?

[00:45:04] What's a book series you'd like to see made live action and my buddy said Wheel of Time or at least appropriately. I'm like what are you talking about? He's like I want something more by the book. I'm like that's not going to happen. It's not possible.

[00:45:18] Like you have to realize it's not possible. Yeah. I mean this is a show that they've put a lot into. You can really tell.

[00:45:27] And like one of the I have this debate with a couple other people about citing another example like you did earlier with Doctor Strange is Ready Player One. I go to bat for that movie all the time because I enjoyed the movie and I adored the book.

[00:45:43] But there are so many people out there that don't like the movie. They're like it's nothing like the book. They change so many things and like do you realize how much exposition. Oh my gosh.

[00:45:52] Yeah that book would that movie would be boring as shit if you made it by the book like be happy. The movie was what it was because you'd hate the movie even more if it was a literal word adaptation. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:46:09] So well I went off on a tangent. No, I think we all did. So. Yeah we're still on our number two. What's funny about this is that there's so much more. Like you said Wendy this episode was so dense with stuff.

[00:46:28] So that was just I'm sorry that you were confused and rushed and I unfortunately Wickey didn't really help. Maybe we could have a conversation offline where it's not as time constraining. I think I got it. It just took a lot. And like you said it should not.

[00:46:51] I'm not saying that you shouldn't want to go and read about things and understand things better but it that should be something that would give you more enjoyment not feel like you had to do this to understand what was given by the show.

[00:47:07] That's a very that's like that's totally that is completely fair and I'm sorry that you had to struggle so hard to do it.

[00:47:17] And that was the point I made earlier on too is I think by the end of episode eight I was like wow I really wish this was 10. Yeah.

[00:47:24] Because they fit so much like you said very dense episode that could have been spaced out a little better into another at least one additional episode. Yeah. All right then.

[00:47:38] All right so my second point hopefully we're not going to go into too much as too many points as we did before but now I am going to go until a little bit more of my criticism of the episode and one character in particular and this kind of also shadows the point that I made about how had they done episodes nine and 10 this particular scene would have made would have been a little better.

[00:48:02] Land has always been one of my favorite and most intriguing characters going through this this episode.

[00:48:09] I'm sorry land is a stage five clinger wait we're going to fight to to like literally if you just go by the vet by the events of the series he is basically professing his love like he will kill anybody who she chooses over him like all this like you just spent the

[00:48:31] night together like had you just given a little more time to build that romance up. I would have understand that I would have understood that feeling a little better but you went from spending one night together to basically professing your undying love in one episode.

[00:48:52] That's a little quick in my opinion and it kind of made me not dislike land but my interest in the character didn't progress any if that makes any sense. So I'm not countering. I am just stating that to get to this point.

[00:49:15] I believe this happened like this this particular line. I will hate the man that you choose because he is not me. That's why we love him. I will love him if he makes you smile.

[00:49:27] I believe that line happened in like book five or six right but that's what I mean like there's. Yeah absolutely got it absolutely got it absolutely got compressed and I can understand where you're coming from. I I've absolutely so I met my first wife.

[00:49:52] I mean maybe that doesn't sound great but I met my first wife and in January of 2005 for four and we got married in 2005 and like February 2005. There were circumstances to that. I met my second wife in July of June of 2016 and we got married in July of 2017.

[00:50:20] So I can understand a lot of hey things go really quickly and a lot of things happen and a lot of intensity adversity builds those bonds.

[00:50:34] And if they spent a month and a half together because there was a month of traveling that we didn't see and and there was and then you know. He's seen her power. He not just her one power but her her formatability.

[00:50:55] He's he's witnessed a lot of very intense intense things about her and then they have shared a meal with his effectively you know foster parents and they slept together and maybe in this period of time maybe maybe that's a bigger deal than it is.

[00:51:19] In 2021 excuse me 2022 in the United States of America on Earth. But I feel like there was a lot of build up to that first thing and I mean hey this is a breakup scene.

[00:51:36] I will hate the man you choose because he's not me but I will love him if it makes you smile.

[00:51:41] I think I think that a month and a half is enough time for you to develop heavy feeling for someone and and then to give them a good breakup scene like to give them a solid hey.

[00:51:54] I can give you lip service even if it's from the bottom of my heart but it's still up service. So another in other words what you're saying is I'm in no way a romantic. I'm just a grumble.

[00:52:09] I would say that I would say that I understand where you're coming from from what specifically what we saw and that's more my point is that it's not that I don't think a love like that can exist.

[00:52:22] It's just that the way this story was told I felt like I would have I would have wanted a little bit more between that moment when they're finally intimate and he finally does get that opportunity to be with her to the point where they're breaking up.

[00:52:40] You know just then just one episode. I certainly would have loved to have more than one episode.

[00:52:46] And maybe more that's that's what I'm trying to get to the point is that I wanted more of that relationship before it's just them sleeping together and then breaking up like well the way this story was patrolled you were never actually together to break up.

[00:53:02] Right except that they had they built that they forced that relationship between her talking to him about Malchie and you know and then when when they before Lugain was gentle and then you know there she was she was asking him about whatever ritual or prayers he was doing

[00:53:21] and he was he told her what the last words that her parents told her before they died the last thing she ever heard from them and then they had a month of sharing the fire and and getting back to Tarvalan so I can extrapolate a little bit from that

[00:53:42] and accept it and be okay with it but I get where you're coming from. Okay.

[00:53:47] I also think that I totally bought into their feelings I think I mean I don't know what's going to happen next obviously but I hate the thoughts that they won't be together anymore but I totally bought into it and I think part of the reason is because they spent a lot of time

[00:54:07] building up both their characters before they got together and you could tell that this was something very unique for both of them it was not like either of them to let their guard down to let another person in like that to have that trusting loving relationship

[00:54:26] and so I don't know it that worked for me. Yeah I tend to agree with you Wendy but like I said pan I can totally respect your view. I'm just a romantic curmudgeon it's okay. It's alright.

[00:54:42] Alright so my next point is you know you didn't particularly care for the dark one Wendy and I thought that far as far as I'm not 100% sure how to say his name but I thought that he was I thought I really enjoyed the character.

[00:55:03] He you know the dark one made man I just want to point out a couple of things that I thought were interesting. He touched. Sidar or sorry Sidan and it was not black.

[00:55:18] So it indicates to me that he did not was not affected by would not have been affected by any of the madness I mean I guess if it comes from him then it doesn't matter but none of that none of that corruption came to him so it makes me wonder what is are there are there dark friends who could do that and would they be protected.

[00:55:44] I thought that was that was interesting. I liked the scenes like the scenes between him and Rand in the dream and then the way that he approached them I thought they were compelling like I was even on my two rewatches.

[00:56:01] I was sitting and like I was just very engaged with it again maybe this is born in part from my my investment in the books and the characters but I yeah I really liked it and I thought that the actor did a really good job.

[00:56:20] Also his interactions with moraine. Well you you I mean how did you feel when the when moraine ended up with a sword through a threat. I guess I'm I'm not as forgiving of the blood the hallucinations and the visions.

[00:56:45] I think overall like that I might be that kind of person that I don't like to see that like for me when. For example when a Gwain's throat was cut.

[00:56:58] And you could see that that really upset Rand but I had no skin in the game because you know it's not real do you know what I mean so similarly. I felt like it's not real.

[00:57:12] So as soon as soon as you're like oh my rain is she's not dead. I never thought she was dead. Yeah I never I didn't think they were going to kill off marine.

[00:57:24] I guess I could have could have been wrong but if this was Game of Thrones maybe that's the case. It's right. It's like when Daryl goes into a life threatening situation on the walking dead right now. Spoiler alert we know he's probably going to be OK.

[00:57:45] Yeah OK so so I thought that I thought this was I was really curious about your reaction and it sucks that that you were disappointed in that. Like I said like I said I get it as someone who I view all of these people as expendable.

[00:58:07] And it was it's funny because they're like the term red shirt has become so prevalent in the last couple of decades. It almost seemed like Eglmar and Amelisa were red shirt you know red shirt main characters this this episode.

[00:58:27] I thought Padden Fane was more of a badass and more compelling and more of a villain than the dark one was. So I think I think OK I mean I thought the Padden Fane was fantastic. Johann whatever it is was so good.

[00:58:45] Yeah I this I don't know I don't know what I was expecting but like Padden Fane that whole scene was epic. I loved all of that. I thought that was so cool. Yeah I why will absolutely agree with you. Yeah he was he was the villain I wanted.

[00:59:03] Yeah right. I think we will I think that I can see where that character the character of the dark one in Rand's dreams would have been underwhelming because I was I was really enjoying it.

[00:59:24] I was like oh they're revealing this and OK cool and oh the the arrow through the eye and tearing through the mask off and I thought that was really neat. But I can see where I can see your point.

[00:59:37] But I but I really I thought that the the conversations between them and the kind of explanation like oh hey I can you have no idea what you can do can't do you like I can teach you how to do this.

[00:59:50] And and I could I could see how it would be tempting for someone now as you said earlier Rand as as a person who was hey I don't want to be tempted.

[01:00:01] I don't want to live in a I don't want to live a life with a woman who I know is living what what I want her to live. I want her to live.

[01:00:12] I want her to want me and I want her to want to live the life that she wants. And I thought that yeah anyway so he was giving Rand what he thought that he wanted.

[01:00:22] And anyway so like my point being is that I really I really enjoyed his performance and the character although I don't know that we will not see him again.

[01:00:33] Well I was going to say like and this might be I could be completely wrong on this because of the depending on how he's portrayed in the books or how you know how he's indicated in the books.

[01:00:45] But watching this as a series I kind of actually liked the idea and more on the second viewing. I liked the idea of his character of you know being the man of the man form of the dark one.

[01:00:57] I kind of took that upon second viewing as well he made himself appear like a man to Rand rather than whatever the true form of the dark one is because this was basically him underestimating Rand.

[01:01:09] Like he kind of felt like oh I can just appear to him as a man because I can as man to man I'll be able to talk him into joining me. Right.

[01:01:20] And then that's kind of that that ends up being a fault of his by the end because Rand does in fact embrace the light and not the dark in the end of it. So does that mean we're going to see him as the man again.

[01:01:33] I don't know because again in my opinion that was more him underestimating Rand and not just right you know does it make sense what I'm saying. Yeah absolutely. Sometimes I confuse myself and.

[01:01:48] Yeah so that was that was I totally there are so many other things I want to talk about all of the things like I enjoyed his interactions with Moraine and then the fact that he cut her off.

[01:02:08] I thought was this was not something that happened in the books and I was like whoa what what.

[01:02:17] I don't know I'm assuming that it was a shielding similar to they had on the game as opposed to a stilling because we did not see the same type of thing.

[01:02:29] Well and he also says it's just out of you can feel it but it's just out of your reach. So I feel like you can feel it at your fingertips but it's just out of reach. I don't think he's completely cut her off.

[01:02:43] I think he basically just like you said it's a shielding around it that she just can't access it. And and so if he's done that so does it take. I wouldn't she be like hey ran. Can you like maybe do something about this before you go.

[01:03:01] I get it you're leaving. Got it but can you maybe help me out a little bit. Well probably she probably knew Rand would refuse because he even says he's like I don't want to do this because it's going to drive me crazy.

[01:03:14] So why would she force Rand into using the ability again to help her if it's just going to drive him down a darker path. Although you know she's maybe wants to kill herself now because she's not she's cut not just cut.

[01:03:27] I mean I guess the hope of all at some point or another being able to have it restored would kind of drive you to go find something. But yeah so like you said I think I think it's a shield.

[01:03:41] So you know that the hope holds out but I thought that that my reigns reaction to land at the end where she was just like she basically just broke down because she couldn't.

[01:03:54] She couldn't eat tiramisu ever not never ever again but you know she can see it in the fridge but she just can't reach it. And I feel her pain because if I could never have tiramisu again man. I was just waiting for it from Wendy.

[01:04:15] Yeah so that was that was my second point. Wendy. My last point is piggybacking right off of that. I think the incredible acting in this episode and the writing of the dialogue went a long way to make up for what didn't connect fully.

[01:04:35] The scenes between land and Nine Nave I just soaked all of that up. Land is amazing and then that that last scene between land and marine I totally felt that.

[01:04:50] When she realizes she's been disconnected from the power her grief and her loss she was amazing loved it but both of them that's an incredible scene and I. I think that made up for a lot of what didn't work in the episode.

[01:05:07] I think Rosamund Pike has been phenomenal this entire season. She has. I really do. I mean among a number of other actors but I think she's just stood out to me is she's just been phenomenal this season.

[01:05:21] Yeah and I think that yeah her and Daniel Hennie play off each other so well and I get it that's kind of the point but like I think the actors themselves play off each other just so incredibly well that you buy it. Yep. That's Wendy. Nope.

[01:05:48] So for my final talking point I want to talk about the battle that happens outside of Faldara. This it's interesting because again this is a criticism of the episode but mainly because of the way it plays out. There's a number of things I have to criticize.

[01:06:10] I feel the CGI in this was incredibly weak at least for the. Oh my why can't I think of what they're called. Trollics. The Trollics. Thank you. Thank you.

[01:06:28] Well this is a good one in the season that looked amazing like they look like they're actually practical effects and this one I understand you have so many of them to create them. Right computer. You have to computer generate them.

[01:06:41] But like even it felt like weak like it just it wasn't they weren't great looking at all. And then you have to get skimmed on the CGI which again fair enough you're you're limited in everything that's going on like I said COVID delays and all that stuff.

[01:07:00] I can kind of give it a pass. Kind of took me away from it a little bit but I kind of get it.

[01:07:04] The biggest issue with this battle is you know you have Lord at Lord Agamar is leading his troops to the wall to stop them knowing full well. This is their final battle.

[01:07:23] They know they're not making it making it out of this and then you've got Lady Amelisa and the other people who can conjure who wipe out this entire army. Why would you not put them before the wall? That's what Brian said. I'm just going to tell it.

[01:07:39] Let me be very very clear about this. Amelisa was looking to do one last ditch effort and the only reason the only reason that they that she succeeded in completely wiping all of that out was the enormity of Ninjave and Egwain's power.

[01:07:59] She didn't know the capability of what she was going to have until they showed up and she linked with them.

[01:08:10] So I mean okay I I under I guess I understand that but if again if you were if you were willing to go out there and sacrifice yourself to save Faldara anyway why would you not make that your first attempt? Or at the same time at least.

[01:08:29] And in losing five people instead of a couple hundred and in the other instead it happens the other way around where you lose a couple if it happens if they would have sacrificed themselves anyway not knowing the power of Ninjave and Egwain.

[01:08:43] They would have lost they lost hundreds and then five why would you not make okay we'll lose five our first attempt so do you lose a couple hundred.

[01:08:54] So do you put your just as far as a battle thing goes do you put your strongest out front or do you keep your strongest in reserve? Put your strongest out front when they have your strong. I when they have the potential to kill all of the army.

[01:09:16] But Wendy we're answering this question from somebody who's in the military so it's kind of like we're kind of at a disadvantage for this question. But in the military you don't have people that can channel and kill multiple assailants.

[01:09:28] Yeah so you keep you keep you keep your you keep the people who can attack from afar in the rear.

[01:09:35] And if basically Amelisa was a last ditch effort I say lasted a last ditch effort for them to get to Faldara the actual last ditch effort was all the women protecting Faldara once once Amelisa was going to die.

[01:09:52] Amelisa had every intention of dying she had zero concept that she would be able to do what she did and even doing that herself actually killed her because she was not prepared to to wield the amount of power that was flowing through her in 98 from 9 even you

[01:10:12] and you saw the be like the super strong white you know white. Yeah it did come from them more than yeah from the other two.

[01:10:22] Yeah and so very specifically I think that had Nani even a queen not been there the intent was to slow them down at the gap and Eglomar said hey I'm not like I get it we're not going to make it the whole point is to give the rest of the world time

[01:10:41] because these Trollics they're they're coming now what ended up happening was the entire army apparently got wiped out which I thought was maybe a little bit unrealistic but

[01:10:54] but then so now Faldara is still around and so I understand what you're saying this isn't coming from a military mind this is coming from a practical mind you know you don't put the people who are the

[01:11:11] you don't put your healers and okay you ever play World of Warcraft do you ever put your mage up front and

[01:11:17] no you don't you have them attack from a distance and if something happens where hey maybe they can take him out if if in the event that the tank dies.

[01:11:29] Okay so getting the explanation now of how she didn't realize that they were as powerful as they were okay now it kind of does make a little more sense that that was the last ditch effort behind Lord Agamar

[01:11:43] you know attacking from the wall because when I watched it and not realizing that she didn't realize how powerful they were that was when I watched it and like why would you not do this first.

[01:11:52] That is a fair question but from the point of like like I said like from what I said before like if maybe at that point you go hey

[01:12:02] if you know that that's the thing absolutely you go put them in the gap and you see what you can do and maybe you only sacrum maybe you still have an army at the end of the night.

[01:12:13] But that's that is a that is a that is a fair point but that that would be the explanation that I would give okay well okay so that was my first of the three points. Absolutely.

[01:12:23] The second point I have is the armor you know Lord Agamar refuses to put on that armor that it's his father's armor refuses to put it on because he's going to sacrifice himself for it it's and it should be reserved for a different battle.

[01:12:40] Why does she then done the armor because there's no explanation as to why she puts it on because he wouldn't.

[01:12:47] Yeah I think she put it on to try to like to try to honor her parents or I mean I think that that she basically was like hey our family is going out and we're going to go out in my father's armor.

[01:13:02] So okay so she knew her she knew that it's her brother yep yeah she knew that her brother was going to die but he wasn't willing to die in the armor so she figured she would be willing to die in the armor.

[01:13:13] Well if it wasn't going to get you I think for her I think for her viewpoint it was if if he's not going to wear it well by God I'm going to because I'm going to get run over by all these Trollex because I'm going to do what I can but I'm going to

[01:13:28] I'm the gaps going to fall. Faldar is going to fall but our family is is going to basically be wiped out so last ditch effort maybe maybe some of my father's luck will will be will hold on to the armor that's the best explanation I can give.

[01:13:48] Okay and my third point isn't necessarily a criticism it's actually just a point that I want to make about this is I found it very interesting when you know when Lady Amalisa takes on so much of the one power and it burns out everybody and you know Nineveh is willing to take on a

[01:14:08] Gwain's point part of that so that she burns out and a Gwain does I find it very interesting and I'm now questioning who is actually the stronger of the two between a Gwain and Nineveh because yes Nineveh was able to channel incredible amounts of power to heal all these people that were dying

[01:14:30] but a Gwain was able to bring someone back from death. Was she dead? I don't know. I guess that can be questioned. I would say that she was she was mortally injured and instead of bringing back an entire cave of mortally injured people she brought back one.

[01:14:52] Okay I had taken it as if she had died in her arms. I assumed that she had died. So maybe maybe that wasn't the case maybe she was just on the verge of death.

[01:15:00] Yeah I think she ended up significantly damaged but I do not think that she was dead. Like her eyes were still in her head like unlike Amalisa and the other two who just I thought the visuals there were like oh that's intense.

[01:15:19] Well no I thought her eyes had burned out as well. I thought her face had burned but not I didn't think that her eyes had burned out. Maybe I was wrong. Okay yeah it's fair enough. I agree with everything you said but I did enjoy the battle scene.

[01:15:37] I thought that was probably one of the stronger scenes in the episode and I liked it. I was ready for a battle scene at that point but I will say I didn't feel invested in Amalisa or her brother.

[01:15:51] I was worried about Nine Ave and Iguain but I wasn't that invested in the city or it just we just hadn't spent enough time with them to be fully invested I think.

[01:16:07] I think one of my issues was also the fact that I had just watched all three Lord of the Rings on Christmas Day and I didn't watch this until after Lord of the Rings so I think maybe I was expecting like a two towers like battle. Yeah.

[01:16:20] And we weren't going to get that no matter how much I wanted it. Yeah this was not Helms Deep. No it was not Helms Deep.

[01:16:27] But I think that part of me was kind of expecting like oh this is going to be on par with that and like no it wasn't at all.

[01:16:33] And I think it's always pretty cool and this show does a really good job of it of you don't see a group of women prepping and battling very often anywhere.

[01:16:48] In anything and I thought that those parts were really cool like when the men already went out and the women were all prepping to defend the city and go to battle. I thought that those were really cool scenes that you just don't see anywhere else.

[01:17:04] Was it yeah this whole series has been all about women empowerment and it's actually been really awesome to watch. Yeah it's it has been like I like it a lot yeah. Yeah. But that's all I have for for that point.

[01:17:21] Okay so I'm actually going to I'm going to go ahead and take two more points and they're going to be relatively quick. I share my I just want to touch real quick on Paddenfane and how much of a badass that guy is.

[01:17:39] He's got fades that work for him. He referred to the dark one as my Lord. So okay so he is 100% a dark friend.

[01:17:52] He's got got quite a bit of a shit behind him and he has the horn of Valiar which you guys have zero well at least Wendy has zero concept of what that is except for one line that was

[01:18:07] Oh it brings back the you know the 100 companions for the for the dragon at the last battle. Oh okay great who are those people what the hell's going on.

[01:18:20] I understood the horn of Valir more than I did Quendall are yeah no of your great we got a line about it. Yeah there was there was there was a line but okay it's the Horn of Valir it's in this box.

[01:18:32] Okay got it and then Paddenfane steals it so that he can go do something or maybe prevent the dragon from sounding it or or whatever the case is but yeah the fact that he drew the he drew the guards into the into the shadows where

[01:18:54] where they could be killed by the fades where the fades could just show up and and kill the the guards and then if loyal dies we riot. Yeah absolutely it's it's the fact that he just stabbed away at loyal or loyal I was just like oh oh yeah.

[01:19:19] Yeah loyal is what loyal is to wheel of time what Darrell is to if loyal dies we were we riot. But yeah so the Paddenfane thing was like I thought as you said Wendy he was he was a great villain and the

[01:19:41] he's like oh all five of you have a part to play and yeah why do you think I would do that sheep shit fucking patch of a town. No no way I would go there if I didn't have something to do. I thought the actor was fantastic.

[01:19:58] I agree I loved it I loved his parts. And I want to pose a question to both of you and see if you picked up on this as well as I did does it because it seemed very clear to me

[01:20:09] that everything that happened in that scene between Paddenfane and and Perrin I'm pretty sure that was a rewrite and that was meant for Matt and not Perrin. Oh you think so? Well because when did Perrin ever talk to Paddenfane it was more Matt that had interactions with Paddenfane.

[01:20:30] I think you might be right Ben and there was something off about that like Perrin in that scene was a little just off.

[01:20:36] I think that whole story that whole scene I think that was meant for Matt and not Perrin because and this is another thing I had I know we'll get into additional notes in a minute

[01:20:49] but at the beginning of the episode when they showed the previously on anybody who's seen television before anything that's mentioned in the previously on you know is going to come up in the episode. Right.

[01:20:59] But in the previously on in that episode they taught they show Perrin and his glowing eyes against the child the children of light that is never talked about in this episode at all. Why was it in the previously on? It's never brought up at all. Interesting.

[01:21:17] I think that I think there were rewrites of this episode which we already knew there were anyway and that whole story with Perrin was meant for Matt. I think you might.

[01:21:25] That that makes a lot of sense and I especially the lines that like oh one one statement and you choose the dark and that that makes way more sense. Yeah for for for Matt.

[01:21:42] And it makes me disappointed in the fact that we weren't able to get that because I think I feel like that would have been much more powerful.

[01:21:48] And it also kind of makes sense as well that we see Pat and Fane sheathing the dark that that that blade because that was what was incorporated with Matt not with Perrin. Was that the the blade from Charlotte Gough? Everywhere I read online says that's the blade.

[01:22:06] Yes that's what I read is from from there. It could be wrong. I actually personally thought the hill looked a little different. But everywhere I read online said that that that's what the blade was.

[01:22:18] But again like I said Matt was the one that had interactions with Perrin Pat and Fane in the beginning not Perrin which is why I think it just makes so much more sense that that was meant for Matt. Yeah that makes total sense.

[01:22:31] And they had to keep that in there because it was part of the importance of the story and how the season was going to wrap up. So what do you do? You got to put another character in that spot. Man that sucks.

[01:22:44] That makes me that makes me just like just pine for for that interaction. Yeah. Because I think it could have been great. Yeah I agree. All right so notes. Wendy? I have talked about all of my notes this time. I've tacked them on. All right and Ben?

[01:23:09] Just a couple things. Let me see looking out actually I really I have one thing and that is that Rand finally learns the truth about Tam. And that Tam is not his father. Okay. And he learns that from from the dark one.

[01:23:30] Oh and the other note I have to real quick it's just something I found like kind of funny is when they're walking through the dark. Oh my god my brain is like the blight. The blight thank you my brain is right.

[01:23:51] When they're walking through the blight and they come across that the kid that's in there you know Moirene is saying like you know it's probably somebody who came in and they were left one thinking they could beat do something about it and they were left wanting.

[01:24:04] And Rand kind of goes to touch him and Moirene's like no don't touch anything I'm like well kind of aren't you kind of touching stuff everywhere you go. You're right.

[01:24:15] Like you're touching the blight every move you make because you're moving branches you're kind of touching it every time you move. And her line was meant for Rand right? The blight. So what have you meant for it?

[01:24:26] No the blight over you know will overcome young men who are in way over their head or don't understand what they're talking about. All right.

[01:24:38] But I just kind of it kind of made me chuckle the second time when she's like oh you know don't touch anything I'm like. Except everything that you're touching. Kind of touching everything. Yeah. That's all I have. Okay. So just a couple of things.

[01:24:55] Moirene, Rand says well why don't you teach me? And she says the words that she says are I can't teach you. Now she says she basically risks the madness and she talks about the madness the risks of the madness and all that.

[01:25:16] But I think that she can't teach him because Saiden is different than Saidar. And I think she just didn't want to get into it. There were a couple of times that he asked her questions very pointed questions and she was like here eat this or

[01:25:36] we should get going because basically don't ask me questions let's just go here you seal away the dark one and you know where we can't just touch the world for 3000 years and then I'm just going to bring up the

[01:25:49] the the last the epilogue of on the far western shore. And you have a fleet coming in and channelers who are controlling the seas and who are these people and what are they doing? That's pretty much all I have. That was my question.

[01:26:18] Yeah and it's like huh well if there weren't enough other shitty things going on all these these people with like ball gags in their mouths and you know a whole bunch of ships and a whole bunch of channelers all coming into basically control the seas so

[01:26:42] my other thought during that scene was oh that poor little girl. Yeah she was teaching a dig on the beach and it's completely deserted. Oh I'm going to go walk towards the ocean when I see a fleet of ships.

[01:26:57] Nope you get the fuck out that's what you do. I mean it'll be interesting if you know when season two opens and we get the reveal of what happens in that scene to find out that little girl is also a channeler and protected herself.

[01:27:09] Oh yeah that'd be I mean that's just we'll fix it real quick. Yeah. Oh I just fought off all these all these channelers. Well no I meant protected herself from the tsunami. Oh right. Not from the people on the boat. Gotcha. Holy shit there's so much in here.

[01:27:28] Okay I said one more thing that was not right. All right who was the ace and I who trained Marine who beat the shit out of her and how did she use the one power as a weapon to beat her if she was going to get her.

[01:27:38] She wasn't supposed to use the one power as a weapon. Maybe it wasn't really a weapon it was just meant to. It's a training tool. Right. Okay. But who was it are we going to see who that person was.

[01:27:57] The way she talked about it almost sounded like somebody passed but as we know I said I are really good at manipulating their words so. Yeah.

[01:28:09] I thought that men was kind of like the fact that men got out she was like I'm out I'm gone and then watched all these people die and her visions of all these people die and 98 burning and I thought that was kind of cool. And.

[01:28:33] All right so I think that was the yeah my note was Quindy are I was like that doesn't make any no one's got me there yet. I think the only.

[01:28:45] I think the only thing I didn't mention in my notes is because I know it's I have I think I remember it being important to the books and I didn't want to bring it up because it would be a spoiler for the future of the series is who is the baby in the beginning.

[01:29:01] Was the. That's true. The baby like ran the baby your Andrew was rocking. No no it was the baby in the in the opening with lose it was lose baby. Yeah it was lose a child. Yes. So I'm assuming that he killed him or her. Oh.

[01:29:17] Because when the breaking of the world you kill everybody that you care about. Yeah. That's my guess. Okay. Did you get the indication that maybe the time will in seat and lose there were a couple but then they said like you're an old friend.

[01:29:35] So at first I did. I was like wait a minute. Are they in a nursery. I did like all the I did like all the words that they used not just the words but like the conversation between them. I thought it was really really well done.

[01:29:49] I think I think I had a little bit of a hint of it the first time I watched it but the second time I was like no I don't really think they are.

[01:29:55] But then again I'm also the one person in the beginning of the series that thought that there was not anything between land. So I could be completely wrong on that too. All right.

[01:30:08] Well if that is all we'll go ahead and take a break this morning come stay with us.

[01:30:53] All right welcome back now moving on to the news about the Wheel of Time. All right show runner Rafe Judkins formerly of Survivor talked about some of the changes from the books with Entertainment Weekly arguing that they were necessary because of the changes.

[01:31:12] And then he said of the demands of making a TV show. Mainly what we have to focus on is compression and then reacting to those compressions.

[01:31:22] He said like we can't go to Camelan because we can't afford it and we don't have time so that is a great compression but it has ripple effects. All of those things have ripple effects so we have to take the stories and tie them back together.

[01:31:37] We have a big round up point at the end of season two that reconnects everything and pushes us off in a new direction where we've completed all the stories we need to go through. Albeit in a slightly different order so we can compress them.

[01:31:54] We only add new stories when we need to. In season one we really needed to emotionally explain mythological things about Isidae and Warders so we had to add story there.

[01:32:05] We'll obviously have to add story for Marene and Lon because they're basically sidelined for a couple of books but we're not going to put Rosamund Pike on the bench.

[01:32:17] We have to add some story while we're compressing so it's still a tense battle to fit every season into those eight episodes. That's actually a really good point and kind of what you were talking about earlier, Wendy.

[01:32:32] Compressing as much as there is and then what he's getting at is that there are a couple of books that Marene's not really a part of. She's in very little of it but now they're basically just having to make up extra stories for her to maintain and engage.

[01:32:48] Like you said, that's very difficult. I appreciate how complex this had to be to do as a writer and a showrunner. I do appreciate that and I do think they've done a pretty even job with it overall for the whole season. Well, and it's like I said too.

[01:33:10] Like I may have criticisms about this finale but it doesn't change my opinion that I enjoyed this series and I'm going to continue watching into season two when season two comes. Awesome. But that article with Entertainment Weekly continues.

[01:33:26] Marene ended the first season cut off from The One Power, something that doesn't happen at this point in the books so I imagine we'll see her try and remedy that in season two. Meanwhile Rand Althor went into a self-imposed exile which does happen in the books

[01:33:41] but not until the third novel The Dragon Reborn. We also saw a foreign fleet arrive on the western shore at the end of the finale so I can already imagine what big roundup point Judkins is talking about.

[01:33:53] I'm guessing they're going to combine the climaxes of book two and three having the foreigners attack the city of spoilers deleted and have Rand clash with spoilers deleted. Watch it happen. So there's a lot of compression going on how long can the team take, keep that up

[01:34:08] even if we're lucky enough to go as long as we possibly can go that's still only going to be 50 or 60 episodes of television Judd Consent. We're trying to be as precise about that as we can

[01:34:21] so we had done a lot of breaking for season two before we finished season one. That's really interesting. So if we only get eight episodes seasons, unless it only goes 50 that is six episodes or six seasons if it goes 67 and a half

[01:34:42] so still on the same timeline as Game of Thrones maybe we get 10, 10 episodes seasons. And I was thinking that I was actually just thinking that same thing maybe in season two or season three they extend to ten

[01:34:57] to kind of have a little bit more time to tell the story that they need to tell. All right. So there are spoilers coming up. So if you don't want to know about the results of some of this episode then don't listen for about 45 seconds.

[01:35:17] As for those dead characters I mentioned they're a lot included Lord Egilmar and his sister Lady Amalisa who died in the defense of the city of Faldara. Neither of them die at this point in the books and apparently there's more of that sort of thing on the way.

[01:35:28] Real deaths are coming for characters that don't die in the books. Judson says we have to because we can't keep 2,000 series regular through multiple seasons. It's coming and I want people emotionally prefer themselves. That said we can all rest easy knowing that at least one beloved character

[01:35:43] marches on although Loyal suffered wounds at the hands of Padden Fane in the season finale he is not dead. Yes. He is alive and well and shooting in Prague. Judkins reassured us. The thought that Loyal might be gone will hopefully start to get some people

[01:35:59] emotionally prepared but I couldn't. He's my favorite. Me too. I feel vindicated. Weight lifted from my shoulders and... We don't have to plan any riots. One last thing so I didn't and I guess I should have included this earlier but one last note that I...

[01:36:22] So we saw Matt going back to Shtar Lagov and I don't know if that was Barney Harris or if that was Donald Finn. So one of the things that I had researched and I had done a deep dive into when I was going to YouTube

[01:36:40] and everything is that from what people can understand that was Barney Harris but it was a CGI version of Barney Harris because they kind of... The background while it was very dark and was meant to look at night

[01:36:56] there were some people that said it looks like they actually shot a door in the day and it was just a filter put over top of it. So it looks like they used previous footage of Barney Harris to recreate that scene

[01:37:09] because it literally only is a close-up of his face. I was like, oh man, what the... Oh my God. It surprised me a little bit too. Yeah, all right. Well hey, Loyal's okay. So we can take a step back and not send any murderous letters to Rafe Judskins.

[01:37:32] That's all I needed to know. I'm happy. All right. And to listener feedback. Starting off with feedback from Shay White. Overall strong episode. I'm coming to terms with the differences between the books and the show. Colin thought the fortress at the gap battle scene was very cool.

[01:37:52] We are both going to be mad if Loyal is dead. Vindication. Can someone survive being stabbed with a dagger from Shatterlegoth? I'm also upset about the untimely demise of Uno. We can't wait for season two.

[01:38:06] One question for the group was Moraine stilted or just shielded with the weaves tied off? I think shielded by that. I am not sure. I'm also looking forward to another Wheel of Time recap season from podcastica. Great first season. Thank you Shay. Thanks.

[01:38:23] So to answer some of your questions, I think we think we don't know but we think that Moraine was just shielded. Loyal is not dead. And I don't know that Uno was dead. I know that the other guy, the darker skinned guy was dead.

[01:38:39] It looked like Uno might have had his hand cut off or something like that. But I noticed that as well and I was just like, oh man, he was one of my favorite characters in the books. Yeah, thanks Shay.

[01:38:55] And you know, Rave Judkin says start getting prepared because characters that live through the books are going to die. So at least we know that going into season two. Alright, Karen Stoll-Moderos says lots of great stuff in this episode but so disappointed in Perrin.

[01:39:16] I guess it's a good thing he's not the dragon reborn because he was completely useless. And you know, I didn't think about it but I think you're right Ben. I think something was off. There was more planned for Perrin and that was probably a stand in from that.

[01:39:35] They had to shift. I don't think him being completely useless was his fault. I think it was. It was a shift in the script and in the writing and unfortunately he was the one that filled that void.

[01:39:47] This made it a little easier for me to swallow that boring Rand is the dragon reborn. Poor Loyal, if he dies we riot. We understand but not that. Moraine was looking pretty ragged going through the blight but Lady Amalisa and her brother looked amazing in their costumes.

[01:40:04] Loved their scene when Lord Agilmar admitted that his sister was right. I loved their strength and bravery preparing for the battle. Lana and Ni'en have seen was very moving as well. Their chemistry is so much better than a Gwain and Rand's.

[01:40:20] I really want these two to be happy. I'm not at all sure what really happened with the dark one or what Padden Fane was talking about but it sounds like bigger things to come next season. Which is a good thing.

[01:40:33] I'm happy that we can see that she really didn't get any attention on the story. I don't know if I would have thought about that in the first place if we got more episodes next season. I really felt for Moraine losing her ability to touch the source.

[01:40:47] I loved the battle scenes but felt that Rand's dream scenes and the hike through the blight were a little drawn out and still didn't really explain much about what was happening for a non-book reader. The pacing was a little weird. Some things were very rushed and others slow.

[01:41:03] Although I'm not sure why they needed to create a tsunami there. Overall an awesome season even if I'm still in denial about Rand being the dragon reborn. That's great. I have so many. I agree so much with so much of what you said Karen. Yeah but those are.

[01:41:24] Yeah we agree with the more episodes next season. That'd be fantastic. Timmy Barr. Happy holidays and happy New Year. Cool podcast to the team. Extra seasons greetings to Wendy and Team Weirdo for not liking Tiramisu. My husband loves it. It's my least favorite dessert.

[01:41:45] Well he sounds like a very smart person. It's just boring. What? That said I had Tiramisu a few weeks ago that was actually good because it had thick caramel and mascarpone cream layered inside. If more Tiramisu's were like that then I'd probably eat more of it.

[01:41:56] I don't think that was Tiramisu. Not Tiramisu. No there's no caramel on Tiramisu. Okay on to the wild wheel of time feedback. One I love Min's character and sense of wit. I wonder where she's off to and hope we'll see her again. I hope so too.

[01:42:11] I think we will. Number two surprises. I was surprised by a lot of things. Parent didn't call on any wolves. Probably would have been helpful. All the royal people in general died. Yeah pretty much like his entire Aylmar's guard and then Amalisa died.

[01:42:25] So all of the commenters are now in charge of Fadar I guess. Land didn't stay in fight. I don't think that he knew that there was a battle going on. Sorry this is me interjecting. I don't think he knew that the Trollex were coming.

[01:42:38] I think he was gone before the horn sounded. I also think his first priority is always going to be Marine. That's his life. That's what he does. That's true. And the dark one was revealed so quickly and he looks so familiar.

[01:42:55] I feel like I really need to see everything again. I'm off till January 4th so I think I'm going to spend my time rewatching this season. That's nice.

[01:43:03] Sorry we weren't able to get this out to you sooner but hopefully you'll be able to hear this before the end of your re-rewatch. Yeah. Feedback from Danielle Dement-Joust. A couple podcast episodes behind but caught up on Wheel of Time.

[01:43:19] I read the books in high school until the break before the final book which I never did read. By the time it came out I would have needed to re-read the whole series and my life didn't provide the time for that with work and children.

[01:43:31] Greg doesn't use that as an excuse he reads it all the time. I don't remember the stories well enough to notice changes in the show so I'm thoroughly enjoying the show.

[01:43:40] Perrin and Ni'Nave were my favorite book characters and I look forward to seeing more of how the show portrays them. A couple of podcasts back you commented on hearing wolves when Perrin was upset.

[01:43:50] I noticed from nearly the beginning that you can hear wolves pretty much every time Perrin is on screen and outdoors. Pretty cool. I'm trying to convince myself I have time to re-read the books now. My youngest of five is nine years old so maybe I could do it.

[01:44:07] Thanks for covering Wheel of Time, House Podcast that could never disappoints. Thanks Danielle. Thanks so much for all your feedback. Yeah it's, you guys giving us some feedback is awesome. We really appreciate it.

[01:44:23] Alright and last but not least we have some feedback from Eric Emrick who was a guest host a couple episodes ago. He writes, things of note eight cracks in the seal matches the number of forsaken statues.

[01:44:36] Pause the weave at Moraine and it looks like the shield put on Logaine. If loyal is dead I'm gonna be pissed. We now wait for the next season as the ogir longs for the studying.

[01:44:52] So if you watch the ogir's longing, the origins then it explains a little bit of that. So the forsaken statues, the forsaken statues were back when Steppen was doing his prayers after Corina had died. And before Steppen stepped off.

[01:45:12] So I'm really looking forward to the forsaken if they show up. I'm really hoping that they do because they are pretty intense characters in the book.

[01:45:26] I was just gonna say, I feel so great about our listeners in the fact that most of them if not all of them, everybody was in complete agreement that if they were going to do their prayers, if the loyal died, he would have been pissed.

[01:45:42] That was the common thread. See what I did there? Thread. I get it. It took me a minute. I get it. And we have one call from Mr. Steve Brown. Hello HousePodcast. This is Steve and this is War Wheel of Time. The Eyes of the World.

[01:46:01] Just started it 3,000 years ago. I guess we're gonna see him break the world. And these subtitles are going by really fast. I mean it's hard enough to read them when they're speaking English, when they're speaking a different language. Come on.

[01:46:12] Oh, they got like spaceships and stuff so I guess it really did take them back a thousand years or more. What the heck? This has gotta be a dream right? There's no way Moraine was just killed. What if I don't? You will.

[01:46:24] That's a crazy training montage. I don't want to see Moraine. Her coming into your room every night and basically abusing you until you've defended yourself. It looks like those steps go into the eye of the world. Don't have any handrails.

[01:46:37] Somebody just called Osha. The men are gonna mind the gap, defend the gap and the women are gonna defend the city. Okay, we're only halfway through the episode and this dark one is attacking Moraine and Rand is asleep. Oh. Oh. He's in his head.

[01:46:56] Whoa, that's cold Moraine. You're gonna kill him if he... Oh, maybe you should have worn that other armor. Come on Rand, make the right choice here. Don't choose the dark one. Oh, I don't think it's done yet Rand. I think there's still more to be done.

[01:47:12] Did he just kill Yogeer? Yeah, Moraine. You'll figure out a way to say it without lying, I'm sure. So does that mean she's no longer an Isidae if she can't channel or touch the source? Man, who is this arriving in ships?

[01:47:28] All right, that was crazy. Where does the series go from here? Talk to you later. Thanks Steve. I was a lot of the same thoughts that we had sitting through and listening to that or listening to watching the show. You gotta love his live, Steven.

[01:47:47] Yeah, it is really enjoyable. It's show commentary. All right, thus ends the final episode on season one of The Wheel of Time. So this is by no means researched or no official reports or anything like that,

[01:48:05] but I was looking at one of the Wheel of Time websites and it was like a countdown and basically I counted down all of the days and I think when I looked at it was like 323, which puts it about November 10th.

[01:48:16] I don't know if that is accurate or not, but that'd be awesome to get it that soon. And it's filming now, right? It's filming now. Yeah, I feel like they said they were due to finish in February or April or something like that. Finished filming.

[01:48:36] But yeah, so I look forward to coming back and watching it again and talking about it more. Well, and I think November would make sense too because it'd be about the same time of the year that it debuted this time.

[01:48:50] Yeah, I do hope that it's not basically from Thanksgiving to Christmas because this is a really busy time and I'd love to not have to squeeze all this stuff into the... As has been noted that this episode is releasing almost a week later than it should. Yeah.

[01:49:08] But if you haven't left a rating or review on your chosen podcast player, please do so. Let us know how we're doing. Just like the show, any feedback is good feedback.

[01:49:16] If you'd like to write in or record a message and send it in, you can email it to talkatpodcastica.com. Check out our Facebook page at facebook.com slash podcastica. And you can also follow Podcastica on Twitter at Podcastica. In House Podcastica, a rotating room...

[01:49:40] I don't know. Rotating section of guests are covering yellow jackets, which is a lot of fun to listen to and a bunch of crazy shit happens. I'm obsessed with yellow jackets. It's so good. Are you on this week? I think.

[01:49:57] I should know since it's only two days away. Yeah, it's interesting. It's only 10 episodes this season, right? Yeah, 10 episodes. It's really great. That's crazy. And then I know Strange Indeed just wrapped up Lock and Key and they're finishing up Dexter, I think halfway through the season to Dexter.

[01:50:19] Oh, they're more than halfway. There's only, I think, two episodes left. Oh, wow. Is there three? Well, including the ones that will probably have aired by the time you're hearing this. Yeah. Including that one, there's three. I'm enjoying both of those.

[01:50:38] And then it's funny because House Podcastica ended up with like five or four different shows all at the same time because they got yellow jackets, wheel of time. Then Cobra Kai came out today yesterday. I think it's out, yeah.

[01:50:53] It came out on the 31st and Book of Boba Fett's already been released. The podcast that would have been released. I haven't listened to that one yet because I haven't watched Book of Boba Fett yet. Yeah, I got to watch Cobra Kai.

[01:51:05] I don't know why but the Mandalorian and now the Boba Fett, I always think I'm not. I know I like it but I'm always surprised at how much I love it. Oh, I know exactly why you love them. Two words, pholoni and favor.

[01:51:22] I'm just going to say, Ming Na Wen is fantastic as Phoenix Shan. Phoenix Shan, whatever. She's awesome and I loved her in Book of Boba Fett. But next time on this podcast, hopefully in less than a year, that'd be pretty cool.

[01:51:41] Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 1, we think a taste of solitude. Less than a year? What are we going to do in the meantime? I think we'll find something to podcast on. I love that we already know that episode name too.

[01:51:56] I think that's cool because you usually don't find out that early. Yeah, maybe it's just Rand sitting around by himself trying to figure some shit out. I'm wondering if he should snap his fingers with the stones. Oh no, that's the wrong property. All right.

[01:52:12] But it makes me wonder if they're going to do the same thing next season that they did this season and release three at one time. Or if they're just going to start with one episode and go weekly.

[01:52:20] Just for the sake of podcasting, I hope it's one at a time. One episode and go weekly. Yes, please just go weekly. Yeah, I was looking, Station 11. I haven't seen it but I want to watch it.

[01:52:32] They released three episodes one week, two episodes the next week, and then like it's almost over. Just within a couple weeks. Man, that's crazy. I've heard good things about Station 11. Yeah, I finally watched the trailer the other day and I thought it looked good.

[01:52:50] It's just finding the time to watch it. And that's another book adaptation, isn't it? Yes, yes it is. I read that, yep. And interestingly enough, because it's real, you would think it was written after the pandemic started

[01:53:09] because it has so much to do with all of that, but it was actually written in 2014. Well, I think it's based off of Stephen King novel, is it not? I don't know. I don't think so. Station 11, maybe I'm... I think it's a novel that someone wrote.

[01:53:30] Okay, I thought I had read... And I think she wrote it in like 2014 or 2015, which I thought was interesting because I thought it... Oh, okay. I was confusing it with something else. Okay, it's based off Stephen King. I don't want to put out any misinformation.

[01:53:46] Alright, that's our show. Thanks for listening. Let the dragon ride again on the winds of time. Huzzah! See you in a year.