The Wheel of Time makes masterful choices in “Daes Dae’mar”

The penultimate episode of The Wheel of Time season 2 is out now, and the stakes have never been higher. The Amyrlin Seat has arrived in Cairhien, demanding words with Rand al’Thor and the Aes Sedai Moiraine Damodred. From huge revelations and betrayals to an explosive appearance from Lanfear, “Daes Dae’mar” keeps the tension high as it sets up the season finale.

As always, this review contains SPOILERS for the latest episode of The Wheel of Time.

The Wheel of Time Episode 207 review: “Daes Dae’mar”

The seventh episode of The Wheel of Time season 1 starts with a cold open of the Blood Snow, when the Aiel warrior Tigraine Mantear gave birth to Rand al’Thor on the slopes of the Dragonmount. “Daes Dae’mar” follows the same format by beginning with a flashback. We see what Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) and Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo) were up to during that fateful moment and how they became embroiled in the search for the Dragon Reborn.

Part of what makes this scene hit so hard is how far the characters have come since then. Moiraine has spent much of the season struggling after losing her magic. When she and Siuan last parted, it was on tearful terms. It hurts to see them so happy, joking about making each other their fishwives just before they get the rug pulled out from under them when they walk in on Gitara Sedai (Hayley Mills) having a vision.

Cross-cutting to the Blood Snow during Gitara’s vision is great. Gitara swears both Moiraine and Siuan to secrecy before dying, and thus begins their search for the Dragon Reborn.

This is a very important scene. It tells us a lot about Moiraine and Siuan’s relationship as well as why they are bound in this secret pact to find the Dragon. The hair and makeup team also did an excellent job making Siuan and Moiraine look younger and less world-weary, and of course Pike and Okonedo knock it out of the park. It’s a great way to start a great episode.

Egwene shows her power

Since the bulk of the episode is set in Cairhien, we’re going to talk about that last. First, let’s check in with Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden), who we left in a rather precarious position in “Eyes Without Pity.”

Following her torture at the hands of her sul’dam Renna (Xelia Mendes-Jones), Egwene is brought to the desert outside Falme to test the extent of her power. Seeing Egwene with the golden damane mouthstopper in her mouth feels like a knife to the guts; the show done a remarkable job of driving home how horrible her treatment at the hands of the Seanchan is. We also see Maigan in this scene, the Sitter of the Blue Ajah who was revealed to have been captured by the Seanchan at the end of Episode 206.

Renna forces Egwene to use the One Power to make a simple weave that will demonstrate how strong she is, and Egwene blasts everyone to the ground with so much force that it whips up the wind all the way back in Falme. The effects in this sequence are great, and the way it’s cross-cut with Rand’s situation drives home the episode’s themes of how the One Power can be used to steal someone’s autonomy.

Back in her cell, Egwene proves that while Renna is able to force her to do things like use her magic, she hasn’t broken her spirit yet. As Renna dotes on her powerful damane, Egwene promises that she’ll kill the sul’dam one day. We don’t see how Renna gets back at Egwene for this comment, which makes me nervous for next week.

Nynaeve and Elayne prepare for a prison break

Meanwhile, Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) and Elayne (Ceara Coveney) start putting plans in motion to spring Egwene from the Seanchan’s clutches. Nynaeve’s reunion with Loial (Hammed Animashaun) is wonderful. Loial is a charming character in Robert Jordan’s books, and this scene is the first time in season 2 where that really comes across. Loial getting flustered and kneeling to Elayne only for Nynaeve to snap at him not to “encourage her” was a lot of fun.

Earlier in the season, part of me felt like Nynaeve was being written as too outwardly vulnerable; she’s a character with a lot of depth, but who is often stubborn to a fault. That side of her personality shines through here, and Coveney’s Elayne is a perfect foil for Robins to play against.

Nynaeve and Elayne find out the location of the damane kennels from Loial. To get in, they’ll need to disguise themselves somehow, since the Seanchan don’t allow anyone other than sul’dam to get close. To that end, they capture a passing sul’dam with an a’dam collar. The a’dam is only supposed to work on women who can channel, so it’s interesting that it works on this sul’dam. This is something Robert Jordan explores in detail in the novels, and it has huge implications for the Seanchan way of life. Here’s hoping the payoff in the finale is a big one.

Perrin gets a crash course on Aiel honor from Aviendha, Bain and Chiad

While Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne try to make the best of their situation in Falme, Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) and Aviendha (Ayoola Smart) head toward the city as well. They link up with two of Aviendha’s fellow Maidens of the Spear: Bain (Ragga Ragnars) and Chiad (Maja Simonsen).

The Wheel of Time continues to weave in lots of great small details, like Perrin noticing Bain and Chiad hiding among the sand dunes thanks to his heightened wolfbrother eyesight. I also enjoyed the inclusion of the Maiden of the Spear sign language. The heart of this sequence is a formal beating for Aviendha. After she realizes that one of the other Maidens of the Spear under her command was killed, she asks Bain and Chiad to give her some harsh physical punishment.

The Aiel code of honor, ji’e’toh, is an important element of the book series. The show does a solid job introducing it here. It’s as strange for Perrin to watch as it is for us, which gives Aviendha a set up to explain it.

Don’t drink tea from strangers, Mat!

Perrin isn’t the only one heading toward Falme. Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn) also ends up there, though not of his own will. After ditching Rand, Mat is intercepted by the Forsaken Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe), knocked unconcious, and transported to Falme.

On my first watch, I thought that this felt like kind of a jarring cop-out. Mat literally gets knocked out and then wakes up in Falme in the space of a few seconds. But on rewatch, I’ve decided I really like it. This scene very subtly sets up the fact that Lanfear is comfortable using the Ways and knows where the Waygate in Cairhien is located, which becomes important later in the episode.

The highlight of Mat’s scenes this week is his interaction with Ishamael (Fares Fares), who is the one who asked Lanfear to kidnap Mat, and his subsequent vision trip after drinking some tea the Forsaken offers him which will let him view his past lives.

There are some cool things in here we have to discuss. First, Ishamael’s character gets an interesting bit of development. He hints that one of his main motivators is exhaustion at the idea of being reincarnated over and over. This is a character trait that crops up in a different way in the books, so I loved that the show started working it in here.

And then there’s Mat’s vision. Dónal Finn has become a standout part of The Wheel of Time, putting so much of his own stamp on Mat that it’s hard to imagine that he was recast for this season. This vision begins with him seeing his mother Natti Cauthon (Juliet Howland), who tells Mat that he’ll be a “damn prick like him,” “him” being Mat’s father, which is something she said in the series premiere.

Then we see Mat hanged from a rope in the mirror. This is an enormous easter egg for book fans, and some huge foreshadowing. We’re not going to break down all the details here because it would spoil something that may happen in future seasons, but I was shocked and delighted to see it, grim as it is.

The other two things Mat sees — a man drowning someone in a bucket and a woman stabbing another woman in the back — are far more nebulous. Who are those people? Both murderers transform into Mat. Are they supposed to be past lives of his?

We don’t know the answers yet. The episode leaves Mat convulsing on the floor which Ishamael whispers sweet nothings about breaking the cycle of reincarnation. Leave Mat alone!

The Amyrlin delivers judgment in Cairhien

The main event of “Daes Dae’mar” is the massive set piece in Cairhien, where Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) is forced to go before the Amyrlin Seat. This is a fascinating sequence with a ton of information and character development. Lan (Daniel Henney) helps prepare Rand to go before the Amyrlin, Moiraine and Lan finally talk through some of their issues, and Moiraine and Siuan meet for the first time since Moiraine was banished from the White Tower in season 1.

The Amyrlin reveals to Rand that according to Tower law, the Dragon Reborn is supposed to be caged by the Aes Sedai, to serve as the ultimate weapon in the Last Battle. Moiraine doesn’t want this to happen, since she believes that Siuan has too many enemies in the Tower to ensure Rand’s safety.

But Siuan is committed to this course and takes Rand captive. This is a pretty large departure from the books, where Siuan and Moiraine are a unified front and try to keep the Dragon hidden. But it works; we set up Moiraine and Siuan’s story in season 1, and now the show needed somewhere for them to go.

After Rand realizes the Forsaken want him to be in Falme, he asks Lanfear for help breaking out of Cairhien. She arrives in spectacular fashion, burning down the Foregate and wreaking enough havoc for Rand to make good his escape.

“Daes Dae’mar” is a masterclass in adapting complex fantasy books for television

Part of what makes this section so mind-blowing to me is how The Wheel of Time has remixed major events from Robert Jordan’s books, added in others, and smoothed it all over into a coherent whole. The Great Hunt begins with Rand and Moiraine being brought before the Amyrlin, which is where we first learn that she and Moiraine are in league in their search for the Dragon Reborn.

The show moves the sequence to near the end of the season, just before the epic conclusion in Falme. As a result, it’s got a lot more emotional weight to it; it’s not only a turning point for Rand, but also for Moiraine and Siuan’s relationship, Moiraine and Lan’s relationship, and hell, even Rand and Lanfear’s. It adds in elements like Lan coaching Rand (Cat Crosses the Courtyard!) and Verin helping Rand get out of Cairhien, both of which happen at different points in the book.

It also pays off one of the season’s most controversial changes by restoring Moiraine’s powers. In “Daes Dae’mar,” Lan discovers that Logain (Álvaro Morte) has seen weaves from the male half of the One Power around Moiraine, tied like a knot. She hasn’t been stilled; she was shielded and Ishamael tied off the weave so that it would stay in place without him needing to channel into it. This is a technique which has been lost since the Age of Legends.

The moment where Rand cuts the weaves and restores Moiraine’s magic is powerful, and it ties Moiraine even more tightly to Rand than she is in the novel. Healing her is, in essence, his first real miracle that he performs as the Dragon Reborn.

Both Ishamael’s knotted weave and Lanfear’s use of the Waygate also serve to illustrate a very important point about the Forsaken: they’re powerful, but they have limits. Before now, the Forsaken come off as near-godlike beings who can do as they please. For all we knew, Lanfear was just teleporting to Falme and back, and Ishamael could still women at his leisure. But they aren’t gods, they’re merely powerful people who have ancient knowledge that gives them an extreme advantage. The books make a big point of this as they go on, and I thought the way “Daes Dae’mar” started broaching the idea was excellent.

The episode ends on a heartbreaking note, with Siuan trying to thwart Rand and Moiraine’s escape by forcing her to close the Waygate. We just saw how much it meant to Moiraine to get her powers back, and Siuan immediately forces her to use them against her will by leveraging an oath Moiraine made to obey her, which she literally cannot break since she swore it on the Oathrod. “Daes Dae’mar” draws parallels between the Seanchan and the Aes Sedai, who are both fine with robbing other magic users of their bodily autonomy. It’s some of the strongest thematic work the show has done yet.

Fortunately for Rand and Moiraine, Lanfear isn’t about to let the Amyrlin Seat get in the way of her plans and intervenes. When the dust settles, Siuan lies in a daze on the ground outside the Waygate, and Lanfear leads Rand, Moiraine, and Lan into the Ways toward Falme. We’re all geared up for next week’s finale, and this setup was just what was needed ahead of the big finish.

The Bullet Points of Time

• Like Episodes 5 and 6, “Daes Dae’mar” clocks in at over an hour. These long runtimes are really working well. Each episode feels like a full chapter for the show, moving things forward in important ways.
• During the cold open flashback, Moiraine talks about introducing Siuan to her family. This is heartbreaking, partially because Anvaere (Lindsay Duncan) just commented in a recent episode about how Moiraine didn’t come home when their father died. Now we see what was so important that it kept Moiraine away: Gitara’s prophecy.
• This was a huge episode for Lan. I’ve been pretty critical of Lan’s storyline this season, but “Daes Dae’mar” retroactively made a lot of it much better.
• Yassica swooning over Cairhien’s royal library is the most Brown Ajah thing of the season. And in case you missed it, Yassica procured an Ogier map of the city from the library for Verin; the Ogier built the Waygates, so this is how Verin knows where the Waygate in Cairhien is later in the episode.
• One of the episode’s big reveals is that Barthanes Damodred (Will Tudor) is a Darkfriend. Liandrin orders him to kill Moiraine and his mother Anvaere should she interefere, but Anvaere overhears it and locks up Barthanes instead. Seeing both Anvaere and Moiraine decide to go against their loved ones for the greater good is another compelling parallel.
• I’m glad that Siuan called out Moiraine for threatening to have Alanna take Lan’s bond by force. This is a borderline taboo breach of trust in the world of The Wheel of Time, which wasn’t made completely clear until this episode.
• In contrast to Moiraine’s attitude toward Lan, Alanna tries to tell Ihvon not to follow Verin’s warder Tomas, and Ihvon and Maksim overrule her. Because they’re a democratic throuple! It’s nice to get different looks at how Aes Sedai and their warders interact.
• I also liked that Verin manipulated Leanne into leaving Rand unguarded. We got an “I didn’t send Verin” moment from the Amyrlin Seat; that moment happens under very different circumstances with totally different characters in the books. I loved how the show still snuck it in.
• Siuan talks a lot about fish and fishing in this episode. That’s a fun little character trait of hers from the books, since she grew up in a fishing village. The show (wisely) dials it down from the books, but it’s nice that it’s still here.
• Liandrin being in Moiraine’s house was creepy. With her son dead, Liandrin is fully in her villain era now.
• The Aiel are baffled by the sight of the ocean; this is the first time any of those three characters has ever seen one.
• The weaves when the Aes Sedai put out the fires at the Foregate are stunning, as are the ones when Rand frees Moiraine from her shield. The One Power just looks so much better this season.
• Natasha O’Keeffe has another tremendous episode as Lanfear. She has given one of my favorite performances of the season, and this episode gave her plenty of time to shine.

Verdict

The Wheel of Time has been on a hot streak, and “Daes Dae’mar” keeps those flames burning. This episode made a lot of fascinating choices, some of which are sure to ruffle feathers among the book faithful. Personally, I thought it was masterful. The show added a ton of weight to a bunch of different plotlines, gave us lots of information that we really needed to know, and resolved one of the season’s most difficult storylines in a satisfactory way by restoring Moiraine’s powers at a critical moment. Over the past three episodes, The Wheel of Time has firmly established itself as top tier fantasy television. I can’t wait for the season 2 finale next week!

Episode Grade: A

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