The Wheel of Time Episode 202: “Strangers and Friends”
Episode 2 is quick to start making up for Rand al’Thor’s absence in the premiere. Rand is still having nightmares about killing all his friends, but that’s not stopping him from shacking up with a new character named Selene (Natasha O’Keeffe). I have conflicted feelings about the way the show skipped right to Selene and Rand being an item rather than introducing her properly, but it’s hard to talk about them without giving spoilers.
The time spent with Rand is definitely welcome. He’s lying low in Cairhien, a major city that features throughout the book series. Cairhien itself looks great, with wonderful set design and digital polish to round out the wide shots. It’s nice to see another city that looks distinctly different than Tar Valon or Fal Dara from season 1.
Rand is working in a sanitarium, where he’s tending to an old man who thinks he’s still living in the Aiel War (that’s the war that Tam fought in during the Blood Snow opening for season 1 Episode 7). And he thinks Rand is an “Aielman,” and also teaching him sword forms from his old warrior days. A great touch all around.
Rand’s decision to beat up a fellow worker who is harassing that old resident goes sideways, leading him to accidentally channel. He goes straight home to find Selene already on his bed. Rand tries to tell her to go away but soon they’re banging out their feelings again and my own conflicted feelings came back.
The whole point of Rand faking his death at the end of season 1 was so that he wouldn’t accidentally hurt the people he’s close to. I fail to see how him spending every day with a new girlfriend is any better than endangering his friends; it’s just putting different people at risk. I’m having a hard time understanding the logic.
Ultimately we find out that Rand is now replacing the dude he beat up, and he’s attending to none other than Logain (Álvaro Morte). Here for it!
The Wheel of Time makes some really aggravating adaptation choices
With novels as dense as Robert Jordan’s, it’s inevitable that major changes will have to be made to bring them to the screen. But a few of those alterations in “Strangers and Friends” felt like they flew in the face of the book.
Instead of their encounter with the Fades in Episode 1 bringing Moiraine and Lan closer together, Moiraine uses it as a way to push Lan farther away. She is downright awful to him in a way that feels at odds with their book counterparts. The show has taken pains to emphasize the magical bond between Moiraine and Lan, but the way this episode navigated it almost felt like it was portraying it as more of a romantic breakup. A really bad one; Moiraine even threatens to have Alanna take control of his bond in order to get him to leave.
This is just…a gross violation of their relationship. It’s also nodding to something which happens much later in the book series which I won’t talk about here. But when it does come up in the books, it makes a million times more sense because of the context. Lan and Alanna cross paths for a very different reason, and while there is still an element of compulsion on Moiraine’s part, in the show it’s done simply because Moiraine has decided she wants Lan to go away. It’s still entertaining television, but as a book reader it’s frustrating.
Enter Elayne Trakand, daughter-heir of Andor
After spending the lion’s share of Episode 1 at the White Tower, “Strangers and Friends” heads elsewhere before finally returning around the 15-minute mark. I’m enjoying all the White Tower stuff quite a lot; I think it’s the best part of the season so far.
Ceara Coveney is wonderful as Elayne, the daughter-heir of Andor. Elayne shows up at the White Tower acting like a princess, accidentally insulting Egwene and having servants transport her mountain of luggage…at least until Sheriam Sedai (Rima Te Wiata) knocks her down a peg. Elayne and Egwene’s interplay is a highlight of this episode. I enjoyed Elayne telling Egwene that “jealousy is not a good look” on her when she’s venting about Nynaeve. What a friend burn/intervention!
There are still odd bits, though. Some of the staging feels like…well, staging. There are moments where characters move to one spot, say a thing, and then move to another spot like they’re stage actors responding to a cue rather than characters in a room reacting to each other. Or in the case of the Accepted who’s healing the small girl in front of Nynaeve, she says the healing is very uncomfortable for the girl, but then that girl just…lies there calmly? These are small nitpicks, but they crop up often enough that it distracted me.
Liandrin pushes for Nynaeve go through her Accepted trial. As always, Kate Fleetwood is amazing. One of the standout scenes involves Nynaeve following her into Tar Valon only to discover Liandrin tending to her son, who is an old man. That was a great way to show the burden of an Aes Sedai’s long life, and added some extra tension to the scene where Liandrin brings Nynaeve down to her Accepted trial at the end of the episode.
Mat and Min, prison buddies!
This episode also contained an interesting twist which I really enjoyed: Mat discovers the person in the cell next to him is Min (Kae Alexander), who we met last season. Min is a soothsayer of sorts; she has an ability to see glimpses of people’s futures in the Pattern. I loved seeing Alexander and Finn in these scenes together, and Finn is really stepping into the role of Mat well. He captured the roguish charm perfectly.
The big thing to note from Mat and Min’s interaction is that Min sees a vision of Mat stabbing Rand with the ruby-hilted dagger, which he told Liandrin he hasn’t seen in six months; presumably since Moiraine separated him from it during season 1. So that bodes well.
The Seanchan attack!
The last member of this sprawling cast we have to talk about is Perrin, who was my favorite part of this episode. Marcus Rutherford is stepping more into his own as Perrin Aybara this season; in this episode we see him access more of his wolf powers, interact with Elyas, and, finally take part in the season’s first battle when the Seanchan attack the small village of Atuan’s Mill.
The set for Atuan’s Mill has a ton of great little details; I especially loved the massive lionfish that people are chopping up by the waterfront. It’s shocking to see the Seanchan attack the village later that night. In case you forgot, those are the people who we last saw make landfall at the end of season 1. Not only do they have soldiers wearing scary armor, they also have their own channelers, called damane.
The dynamic between damane and their handlers, called sul’dam, is a crucial part of the story which will surely be explored later this season. For now, it’s exciting to see them mix it up in battle. This battle is probably the best The Wheel of Time has had since the season 1 premiere when the Trollocs attacked the Two Rivers. Loial even got to toss some people around!
After the damane trounce Perrin and the Shienarans, we get an introduction to the leader of the Seanchan forces: High Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams), who’s wearing those long pointy finger rings we saw during the season’s opening scene. Ishamael is with her on the (very cool) palanquin pyramid. He recognizes Perrin, which can’t be good. Good thing Episode 3 is out already so we can dive straight in!
The Bullet Points of Time
- Moiraine finally confirms that “the Man” is in fact Ishamael, one of the Forsaken. In the books, we don’t officially learn this until the end of book 3. You can’t really do those things on TV the same way, so it’s nice to just have it out in the open.
- Elayne mentions Cadsuane Sedai, who is a huge figure in The Wheel of Time books. We’ll probably meet her in a future season.
- One of Alanna’s warders makes another reference to Mazrim Taim.
- I loved the scene where the Shienarans find a Fade nailed up to a gate and wonder if Padan Fain did it. That’s a cool book moment, and it was exciting to see it on screen. The prosthetics for the Fade were gruesome.
- Elayne tells Egwene she likes to tinker with things! Without getting into book spoilers, Elayne’s aptitude for fixing stuff will eventually become a big part of her character. A great easter egg.
Verdict
“Strangers and Friends” takes its time setting up more pieces on the board while giving us welcome time with characters like Rand, Mat and Elayne. It makes some weird adaptation choices but overall it feels like The Wheel of Time has its feet firmly under it in season 2. The Seanchan attack was a great cliffhanger.