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.
Episode Grade: B+
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.
Episode grade: B-
The Wheel of Time Episode 203: “What Might Be”
The third and final episode of The Wheel of Time’s season 2 premiere block, “What Might Be,” is all about Nynaeve al’Maera’s Accepted trial. Sure, there are other things going on, but Nynaeve is the heart of this episode.
Nynaeve’s trial goes down a bit differently than in the books, but this is one instance where the changes worked. The three arches underneath the White Tower are ter’angreal which make a person face some of their greatest fears. This is an opportunity for the show to give a bit of backstory, like showing us how Nynaeve’s parents died when she was a child.
The second vision shows a plague at Emond’s Field, complete with a cameo from Tam al’Thor (Game of Thrones‘ Michael McElhatton). In both instances, Nynaeve must go back through a portal before she’s trapped in this alternate reality. This goes awry in the third vision, which is a big long fakeout. Nynaeve fails to hear the call to come back because she’s busy making out with Lan. Which hey, fair.
The fallout from Nynaeve getting stuck in the third arch takes up a lot of the episode, and it’s some of the best material of the season so far. Egwene and Elayne eventually go down to try and get Nynaeve out of the arch, but ultimately Nynaeve gets herself out because she’s just that powerful; a point the show is driving into the ground a bit.
My only real issue with Nynaeve’s trial is that this is the third time The Wheel of Time has pulled a fakeout death; Lan got a one in the fourth episode of season 1 and Nynaeve got another one in the finale, when she was burned to a crisp from overusing magic. The Wheel of Time is a long book series, and we know characters like Nynaeve are not going to prematurely get the axe in the third episode of the second season. It worked in this instance because it was done very well, but I do worry that the show is overusing fakeout deaths to create artificial tension.
The Seanchan claim their first victim
We also get a much better look at the Seanchan in this episode. Their costuming and design are excellent, and the cold, militant way they operate is terrifying. Their accent is also interesting; it seems like the show went for a kind of Texan drawl, which does fit with how Robert Jordan described their accent in interviews. These are conquerors from across the sea who have returned to reclaim their ancient ancestral lands. They’ve been gone a long time, and it doesn’t look like anyone is very happy to see them.
Uno is particularly resistant, which leads to him getting his head impaled on a spike at the base of High Lady Suroth’s palanquin-pyramid. It’s a brutal and effective scene that drives home how scary the Seanchan can be. It’s also another pretty large deviation from the source material that I’m sure is going to tick people off. Uno sticks around for a long time in the books, and has a role to play in future events. It’s small enough that I’m not too concerned about the show finding some other way to navigate it, but I’m still surprised to see him go out so quickly.
The other highlight of the Seanchan sequence is Perrin’s discussion with Ishamael, and then the subsequent rescue by Elyas. Hopefully this means we’re going to spend some time with Perrin and the wolves next episode!
Logain gives Rand a side quest
Next let’s talk briefly about Rand and Logain. Like Kate Fleetwood, Álvaro Morte completely commands the screen. I enjoyed his scenes with Stradowski. I wasn’t as big a fan of Logain essentially giving Rand a pointless side quest to get some wine, but if anything it kind of underlines the issue with doing truncated seasons of huge sprawling fantasy shows. When a show like The Wheel of Time only has eight episodes in a season, small dead-end things like Logain’s request for wine can feel a little frustrating.
All that said, I did enjoy all of the individual scenes. It was nice to get an introduction to the nobility of Cairhien, and see how there are multiple societal classes at play in this city. Natasha O’Keeffe also has another very solid episode as Selene. There are lots of little hints about what’s going on here for book-readers. Plus, Rand got to wear his iconic red jacket!
Mat and Min hit the road!
Last but not least, let’s talk about Mat and Min. The more we see Finn and Alexander in these parts, the more I want to see of them. It feels important for us to get acclimated to Finn as Mat Cauthon, and now that he’s finally out of captivity I’m really excited to see where he goes next.
Liandrin setting Mat free is a great touch that allows Finn and Fleetwood to share the screen together…but of course it’s too good to be true. Liandrin enlisted Min for some mysterious purpose to lead Mat somewhere specific. I don’t know where (except I kind of do because books), but I really like the way the episode set it up. I do wish Mat had decided to say goodbye to Egwene, though. Come on, Mat!
The Bullet Points of Time
- Moiraine and Lan largely spent this episode offscreen (outside of Nynaeve’s visions), which was fine by me, since it meant we spent more time with the Emond’s Field five.
- Some fireworks went off in Cairhien, which was a nice little nod to a set piece that happens around this time in the books involving them.
- Logain says the blood of Lews Therin Telamon flows in his veins. Correct me if I’m wrong here…but I don’t think that’s how reincarnation works?
- Nynaeve’s last vision, showing the life she led with Lan, Perrin and Mat was so heartbreaking. Rand wasn’t there…because she believes he’s dead. Even though it was a vision, it was unnerving enough that I was on the edge of my seat during the Trolloc attack. This was a traumatic, powerful moment and I think the show did an excellent job with it.
Verdict
Despite still having some qualms, “What Might Be” is a fantastic episode of television. Nynaeve’s Accepted trial marks a high point in the season so far, and the series as a whole. The Wheel of Time found a way to make a great part of the source material even better. It’s safe to say that The Wheel of Time season 2 is a dramatic improvement on season 1. Even as it makes some adaptation choices which leave me uncertain, there’s no denying how the production has grown in basically every way.
Episode grade: A-
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