The Wheel of Time delivers a powerhouse episode in “Damane”

The fifth episode of The Wheel of Time season 2 has dropped, and now that I’ve picked my jaw up off the floor, let’s talk about this tour de force hour of television. The Wheel of Time has made some interesting adaptation choices this season in terms of how it’s interpreting the source novels by Robert Jordan, but with “Damane” it’s become a clear contender for the best fantasy show of the year. If Episode 205 is this good, it gives me a lot of hope for the rest of the season.

With that initial gush out of the way, let’s talk details. SPOILERS for Episode 205 ahead.

The Wheel of Time Episode 205 review: “Damane”

With a mighty hour-and-five-minute runtime, “Damane” is a big episode that represents a noticeable shift in focus for the season. That’s apparent right from the start as we get our first look at Falme, a city on the peninsula of Toman Head which has been occupied by the Seanchan. Falme is enormous and breathtaking, from the ships in the bay outside to the castle and the courtyard filled with Seanchan nobles and soldiers decked out in fantastic costumes.

“Damane” also gives us plenty of time with the bad guys, like High Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams), Ishamael (Fares Fares) and newcomer High Lord Turak (Daniel Francis). Turak dresses down Suroth for disobeying orders and attacking Atuan’s Mill, a village far enough way that holding it stretches the Seanchan forces too thin.

The dynamics between the various bad guys in this episode are fascinating. The Seanchan are a strange culture; we don’t really know their motives yet. We have a much better idea of it after this episode. Turak and the Seanchan forces are hoping to conquer the entire continent in order to unite people ahead of the Last Battle against the Dark One. Meanwhile, Suroth is in league with Ishamael, who is working for the Dark One.

Seeing the bad guys at odds with each other adds depth to the story. We’re no longer looking at a mindless army of Trollocs just fighting for the Dark One; instead, we get backstabbing and betrayals, politics and power plays. It’s a great step up for the series. In this episode alone we see Suroth clash with both Ishamael and High Lord Turak. Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) and Suroth butt heads in another standout scene, and even the Forsaken Ishamael and Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) tease that they’re not wholly in accord. Lanfear goes so far as to tell Ishamael that she will “obviously” betray him.

The idea that the bad guys are their own worst enemy is a prevalent theme of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time novels, and that element comes to the forefront in “Damane” in a very refreshing way.

Lanfear unleashed

Speaking of Lanfear, now that the act is up and “Selene’s” true identity has been revealed, she finally lets loose. Lanfear’s pursuit of Rand (Josha Stradowski) and Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) is terrifying, with the Forsaken casually using the One Power to murder and maim people. O’Keeffe gave a great performance as Lanfear in disguise throughout the first half the season, but she really dials it up now that she can finally act like a supervillain. I need to see more of this character.

Luckily, from the end of episode stinger where Rand falls asleep so that he can confront Lanfear in Tel’aran’rhiod, the world of dreams, it looks like that wish will be granted soon enough. And Lanfear will be wearing the most S&M outfit ever seen on this show, which is a hilarious but perfect choice.

The other big moment for Lanfear this episode is when she and Ishamael meet in Tel’aran’rhiod. The world of dreams plays a major role in the novels, and the show does an excellent job of properly introducing it in “Damane.” The scene also gives us some background on how these two villains from the Age of Legends feel about the world they have re-emerged into, as well as confirming a huge change involving the Forsaken. In the books, there are 13 Forsaken. The show is cutting some of them out, and thanks to this conversation we know two of them who won’t appear: Semirhage and Mesaana. The jury will be out for some time on how that effects things, since neither of those Forsaken really factor into things until late in the book series. But for now it seems like a wise choice.

A special shoutout also needs to be given to Anvaere Damodred (Lindsay Duncan). Anvaere isn’t a character we ever really spend meaningful time with in Jordan’s books, and the show has done a wonderful job of fleshing out her relationship with her older sister Moiraine. We also met her son Barthanes in this episode, who was played with disarming sincerity by Game of Thrones actor Will Tudor. Cairhien and the people who call it home feel like a fully fleshed out part of the world.

The Black Ajah makes its move

“Damane” makes good on a few big cliffhangers from last week, including Liandrin’s (Kate Fleetwood) kidnapping of Nynaeve (Zoë Robins), Egwene (Madeleine Madden) and Elayne (Ceara Coveney). Liandrin brings the three of them into the Ways — the tunnels which allow for fast travel around the continent — before eventually delivering them to Suroth as a way for her to get back into High Lord Turak’s good graces.

Kate Fleetwood has been one of my favorite performers in this season of The Wheel of Time. Her nuanced performance is making the Aes Sedai Liandrin Guirale way more likable than she was in the novels. Liandrin gets a huge moment in “Damane” where she hands over Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne to the Seanchan, only to unshield them from the One Power and burn Nynaeve’s bonds at the last minute, giving them a fighting chance.

At first I was a little confused by this choice; after all, Liandrin is delivering these three to the bad guys, so why would she help them, even a little? But it checks out: Liandrin and Suroth clearly don’t like each other, and Liandrin understandably disapproves of how the Seanchan enslave women who can channel. Plus, the Darkfriends in Jordan’s books are always trying to one-up each other. After I thought about it, this ended up being one of my favorite moments of the episode.

Adding to the White Tower intrigue this episode is Verin (Meera Syal), who arrives at Tar Valon hoping to meet Egwene and Nynaeve. When she finds them missing, she gets on the case. It seems pretty clear that Verin thinks Liandrin is lying when she returns to the White Tower with some seasonal asparagus to use as an alibi.

Verin’s investigation gives us some intriguing clues about how Liandrin got our leading ladies out of the White Tower: compulsion may have been used on Sheriam Sedai (Rima te Wiata) to have her sign them out in the official ledger. Since the Three Oaths prevent Aes Sedai from using magic to harm people unprovoked, this supports the idea that Liandrin is a member of the “Black Ajah,” a secret sect of Aes Sedai sworn to the dark. The Black Ajah gets a lot of mentions in the book, so the fact that the words hadn’t actually been said onscreen before now bugged me a little, but ultimately I think the show handled its introduction well.

Nynaeve and Elayne heading to Falme is another highlight. Falme is gorgeous (The Wheel of Time filmed it in Morocco), and it was great to see the setting from another angle. It’s fun to watch Elayne use her good sense and to see how stubbornly rock-headed Nynaeve can be. They cause such a scene that they get picked up by the undercover Aes Sedai Ryma (Nyokabi Gethaiga) and her warder Basan (Bentley Kalu).

The moment where Egwene is leashed as a damane by High Lady Suroth is heartbreaking. Egwene has had a rough run of it this season, and it looks like things are about to get much, much worse for her. The effects and performance during the collaring were excellent.

Perrin makes a new friend and a new enemy

When I say this episode is packed to the gills, I mean it; I would have been a happy viewer had the episode confined itself just to everything we discussed so far, but we also got introduced to Aviendha (Ayoola Smart). After realizing that Elyas (Gary Beadle) is leading Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) away from his captured friends in Falme, Perrin and his best wolf boy Hopper set out on their own. Perrin sneaks back into Atuan’s Mill in order to liberate his friend Uno’s body from a cage and give him a proper burial, but instead ends up meeting Aviendha, an Aiel spear maiden who was captured by Whitecloaks.

This is a bit of a deviation from the books, in which Perrin meets a different Aiel named Gaul. For my money, it’s a good choice; Aviendha is the most important Aiel character in the series, so it makes sense to introduce her first. Plus, she and Rutherford have great chemistry. Smart strolls into this role like she was born for it, and knowing how much cool stuff lies ahead for Aviendha, I’m really excited to see more of her.

The battle with the Whitecloaks also introduces us to Dain Bornhald (Jay Duffy), who will become a major rival for Perrin. As with Aviendha, the show does a wonderful job with Dain. The actual fight itself is a bit chaotic — while The Wheel of Time has grown in a number of ways, the fight scenes are one place where I think it’s struggling just a little bit by over-relying on effects like circular camera sweeps and quick cuts that make it harder to appreciate the stuntwork. The soundtrack was a bit overbearing in this sequence as well. It felt more like a music video than a combat sequence where Perrin and Aviendha were in real danger.

Ultimately, Perrin and Aviendha escape Atuan’s Mill and reunite with Hopper, where Perrin learns that Aviendha owes him “toh,” which is a debt of honor in the Aiel honor system “ji’e’toh.” In essence, Perrin saved her life, so now she will follow him around and help him with stuff until the debt has been paid. Aviendha joking that she won’t attack him in a fit of lust is another fun moment, with fantastic delivery by Smart. I can’t wait to see more of this duo in action.

The Bullet Points of Time

• Suroth’s wild haircut is pretty damn weird to look at. What, you thought I wasn’t going to mention it? On the upside, it’s also pretty book accurate that the Seanchan look as alien and weird as they do, so I ended up liking it.
• Both Loial and Ingtar are being held captive by the Seanchan in Falme. Neither had much screentime this episode, but it was nice to see them crop up for a moment nonetheless. Still no sign of Masema though.
• One interesting thing about the Seanchan is that, once people swear oaths to them, they tend to leave them alone. I was glad the innkeeper in Atuan’s Mill briefly explained this to Perrin, saying that occupation under the Whitecloaks had actually been worse than the Seanchan. I’m enjoying the multifaceted villains this season.
• Neither Mat and Min nor Lan and Alanna appeared in this episode. I would be more concerned about Mat in particular getting no screen time because he’s a very important character who’s been chronically underdeveloped…but this episode was so packed that it’s hard to be upset. Hopefully the show balances it out next week though.
• Suroth calls Liandrin “marath’damane.” This is the Seanchan word for women who can channel that have not yet been leashed to a handler. Once they’re leashed, they’re just called “damane.” Hey, that’s the title of the episode.
• I loved Verin’s investigation at the White Tower. Those scenes were incredibly well done, and it was great to see Verin with a variety of different Aes Sedai.
• Sheriam’s ledger indicates that Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve went to Caemlyn for the name day celebration of Elayne’s brother Gawyn. Gawyn Trakand is a very important character in the series who we’ll surely meet in the future, so this was a good bit of foreshadowing.
• The design of the Waygate on Toman Head is beautiful; it was a great touch that it was overgrown with vines and tropical foliage.
• The shift in scenery we get with Toman Head is stunning. The Wheel of Time season 1 sometimes felt like it wasn’t truly a big huge world with lots of people living in it. Season 2 is fixing that problem.

Verdict

“Damane” was an absolute banger of an episode. It vastly expanded the world of The Wheel of Time while juggling a number of complicated plotlines and characters. While there were a few notable absences like Mat Cauthon and Lan, the show did so much with the Seanchan, the Aes Sedai, Rand, Moiraine, the Forsaken, Perrin and Aviendha that it’s hard to be mad about it. This was easily one of the strongest episodes of The Wheel of Time’s entire run so far, and it bodes well that we’re hitting big events like Egwene’s collaring with so much of the season left to go. It’s going to be a long wait until next week.

Episode grade: A

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