The Wheel of Time turns, and season 2 arrives at last. It’s been nearly two years since the premiere of Prime Video’s fantasy series based on the beloved books by Robert Jordan, but the wait is finally over. The Wheel of Time released the massive three-episode premiere for its second season today. The Great Hunt has begun.
Like the book series on which its based, The Wheel of Time is a dense fantasy show with a huge ensemble cast. The story is sprawling with many winding plot threads.
There’s a lot to cover in the first three episodes of season 2. We’re going to break down each one, pointing out hidden secrets and discussing the season at large. From this point on, there are SPOILERS, so beware.
The Wheel of Time Episode 201: “A Taste of Solitude”
The Wheel of Time season 2 begins with a little girl running into a meeting of hooded figures where she’s discovered by the Man (Fares Fares), who we last saw facing off with Rand al’Thor at the Eye of the World in the season 1 finale. While there are still things about the Man that remain a mystery, it’s safe to say that all the people in that room are Darkfriends, people sworn to serve the Dark One.
It’s worth noting a few of them, most importantly Padan Fain (Johann Myers). That’s the Darkfriend who led the Trollocs to Emond’s Field in season 1 before eventually following our heroes to Fal Dara and stealing the Horn of Valere. There’s also someone with some long pointy finger rings, someone wearing an Aes Sedai ring with a black stone, and a person with a golden tabard showing a hawk in flight. File all of that away in your memory for later.
The Man and the little girl’s encounter with the Trollocs outside is spooky, and gives us a great look at the practical effects the show is using to bring these monsters to life. I love the look of the Trollocs in this series. Don’t pet the Trolloc, little girl, what are you doing?!
Moiraine and Lan adjust to a magic-less relationship
From there, we’re off to catch up with Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) and Lan (Daniel Henney). Moiraine hauls water up an idyllic hillside and we get a chance to appreciate The Wheel of Time’s breathtaking locations. Pike is entrancing in her opening scenes, where we get a feel for how much Moiraine’s life has changed now that she’s cut off from the One Power. Being severed from magic is one of the most traumatic things that can happen to a magic user in the world of The Wheel of Time; think of it as the equivalent to having a limb amputated.
The show gives us a nice callback to one of Lan and Moiraine’s first scenes by showing her in a bathtub, except this time she can’t heat up the water with her magic. Meanwhile, Lan is outside training out his sadness. The separation between these two is a running theme of the episode; note that they’re introduced separately, as opposed to season 1 where we first saw them together.
I’m still torn on whether I like the fact that the show has taken away Moiraine’s powers, an enormous departure from the book series. But Pike and Henney are selling the complexity of the situation, so it’s easy to get invested regardless.
There are a few important things that happen here. We get introduced to Verin (Meera Syal), an Aes Sedai who will become a major character in the series. We also see Moiraine’s negotiation with Bayle Domon (Julian Lewis Jones), a ship captain who comes to her with a rare item called cuendillar. In an enjoyable twist in the negotiation, Moiraine outfoxes Domon in order to buy a poem. Why does she need that poem and what does it say?
The conversation with Domon drives home something else I’m really enjoying about this season: The Wheel of Time is consistently and seamlessly folding bits of worldbuilding detail into practically every scene. Domon and Moiraine mention the Sea Folk, a group we’ll come to know better as the story goes on. They also discuss cuendillar, a seemingly unbreakable stone which serves as one of the seals on the Dark One’s prison…except the piece of cuendillar Domon has is already broken, which means the Dark One and his lieutenants, called the Forsaken, are already starting to escape their aeons-long imprisonment. There’s a lot to this fictional world, and I’m loving how the TV show is carefully parceling out the information.
Moiraine and Lan’s part of the episode culminates with the only real action scene, when Moiraine tries to escape in the night only to be ambushed by Myrddraal. This is an exciting sequence with some great sword fighting and stuntwork. It was a little hard to see at times, which reminded me of Game of Thrones‘ “The Long Night” or last year’s oft-criticized House of the Dragon episode “Driftmark.” Henney’s performance bleeds desperation as he tries to keep the Myrddraal at bay to save Moiraine, and the Myrddraal themselves are terrifying. We saw several of these creatures get killed during season 1, so this scene was a welcome reminder of how dangerous they are even to a seasoned warrior like Lan.
The key moment comes when Moiraine tries to tap into the One Power. The show gives us a solid fakeout to make it seem like she might have succeeded, only to pull back and show that another Aes Sedai has come to her rescue. Moiraine still doesn’t have her powers, and I felt for her. Hopefully Lan and Moiraine’s fateful encounter with the Myrddraal helps thaw the ice between them. It’s a promising start to this plotline.
Egwene and Nynaeve adjust to life at the White Tower
Next we’re off to the White Tower, where the bulk of “A Taste of Solitude” takes place. We get a fun montage of Egwene (Madeliene Madden) cleaning chamber pots and encountering some of the Aes Sedai residing at the Tower, who are very quick to remind Egwene of her place at the rock bottom of the pecking order. The music, set design, and costuming are wonderful. Egwene and Nynaeve’s time at the White Tower is a central part of The Great Hunt, and it’s obvious the show put a ton of effort into adapting it.
The White Tower scenes give Madden, Zoë Robins (Nynaeve), and the other actors playing the Aes Sedai time to shine. The kitchen lesson is a particular highlight; Alanna (Priyanka Bose), Egwene and Nynaeve share a great moment together which shows off how much better the One Power looks this season. The weaves are different colors depending on the elements! That largely fell by the wayside in season 1, but the show’s VFX department really upped their game this time around.
Intriguingly, the show almost has an Aes Sedai problem that kind of recalls the way the Aes Sedai are presented in the books. They’re a group of women so powerful, so charismatic and with such incredible presence that they overshadow everything around them; literal kings and queens shut up when they walk into the room. The show has cast some incredible actors as Aes Sedai, and they have an outsized portion of screen time. The books are focused closer on the young Emond’s Fielders at this point.
I have to admit, it distracted me at times, especially in regards to Alanna and her warders, whom the show spotlights often. Alanna’s polyamorous relationship with her warders is a way to work more sex into the show, and it’s going for it. I don’t know that the show needs this, but Bose is magnetic and the studio wanted to adult the show up a little, so it’s easy to see why the choice was made.
A special nod also needs to be given to Kate Fleetwood, who plays Liandrin. She appears in scenes opposite several other actors, and elevates each one tremendously with her performance.
Perrin has some quality bonding time with the Shienarans
Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) is on the road with a group of Shienarans, elite warriors from the Borderlands who are on the hunt for Padan Fain after he stole the Horn of Valere from Fal Dara in the season 1 finale. Loial (Hammed Animashaun) is there too. Thankfully, his costuming has improved a lot this season.
The Shienaran party is pretty fun. Perrin and Loial poke fun at Uno (Guy Roberts), which is a blast to watch. Later, a great conversation between Perrin and Ingtar (Gregg Chilingirian) allows Perrin to reflect on his own inner darkness and desire to kill Padan Fain. It was one of my favorite scenes of the episode.
We also got the introduction of Elyas (Gary Beadle). The show surrounds this guy with mystery, and we’ll play along. It suffices to say that he has golden eyes just like Perrin does when he’s tapping into his wolf side, except Elyas’ eyes are gold all the time. He also seems to pick up on when Perrin is using his supernatural abilities. Very interesting.
Where are Rand and Mat?
By far the Perrin’s most emotional bit in the premiere is his letter to Egwene and Nynaeve, which is used in a nice little montage to show what each of the Emond’s Field five are up to. Egwene and Nynaeve read the letter in the Tower while Perrin writes it on the road. And in a twist, we see that Liandrin also has a copy which she’s reading to Mat (Dónal Finn). We last saw Mat head back to Tar Valon in the season 1 finale; fast forward a few months, and it looks like he’s Liandrin’s captive.
Finn and Kate Fleetwood both get great dialogue here. I think the show made a really smart choice to set her opposite Finn as a way to introduce him as Mat.
Of course, we can’t end without mentioning Rand. He appears very briefly during the montage, lighting a lantern and gazing into it with the barest glint of madness in his eyes. At first I was a little torn about the choice to give Rand only a single scene in the premiere. The Wheel of Time has an ensemble cast, but Rand is the first among equals; he’s the main character of the series, as much it can be said to have one.
However, there are long stretches of the books where he’s absent, and the mystery of what he’s doing during that time is an essential part of the storytelling. To me it seems like The Wheel of Time leaned into this in the season 2 premiere. It recalls The Dragon Reborn, the third book in the series where Rand is missing for very long stretches.
So despite my initial conflict about Rand’s limited appearance in the season 2 premiere, I actually think it’s pretty appropriate. The Dragon Reborn, the book named after Rand, only includes a measly six chapters told form his point-of-view, far less than for Perrin, Mat or Egwene. If Robert Jordan can get away with leaving him on the sidelines that much, the show can too…for now.
The Bullet Points of Time
- Five months have passed since the season 1 finale at the start of this episode.
- Egwene’s very first scene features a brief moment where she admires the Amyrlin Seat’s outfit while cleaning out chamber pots. A nice little touch, there!
- Liandrin mentions another False Dragon during the meeting of Aes Sedai at the White Tower, one who’s even stronger than Logain, who we met in season 1. I’m betting this is Mazrim Taim, another False Dragon who plays a huge role in the novels. It seems the show is preparing us for his arrival.
- In case it wasn’t clear enough from Liandrin and Nynaeve’s showdown, Nynaeve has a particular sort of mental block on her ability to use her magic; she can only do it when she’s angry, at least for now. Nynaeve smash!
- Speaking of Nynaeve, that scene in the kitchen where she drinks the dirty water rather than submit to Alanna’s lesson might be the most Nynaeve scene ever.
- All our Two Rivers folks are lighting candles and lanterns for Bel Tine. This episode presumably takes place a year or so after the season 1 premiere when the Trollocs attacked Emond’s Field.
Verdict
“A Taste of Solitude” is a slow-burn premiere that spends a lot of time hopping between characters and acclimating us to their new normals. With excellent performances from The Wheel of Time’s fantastic ensemble cast, gorgeous costumes and photography, and carefully crafted storytelling, it’s easy to get immersed. On the whole this was a really promising start to the season.