The second season of The Wheel of Time is over, and pretty much everyone agrees that it’s a vast improvement on the first. The story was more sprawling, the actors were more confident in their roles, and the effects got an upgrade.
So the new episodes are an improvement, but how do they stack up against each other? Let’s rank every episode of The Wheel of Time season 2 from worst (relatively speaking) to best.
8. Episode 201, “A Taste of Solitude”
We begin, conveniently, at the beginning. Season 2 takes its time getting off the ground. The first couple episodes are easily the slowest of the bunch as we learn what’s become of all the characters since the events of season 1.
Perrin and Loial are on the hunt for the Horn of Valere, which Padan Fain has stolen from the Borderlands city of Fal Dara. Nyaneve and Egwene are novices in the White Tower, training to become Aes Sedai sorceresses. Though they don’t know it, Mat is there too, imprisoned by the wicked Aes Sedai sister Liandrin. Moiraine is grappling with the loss of her power and learning things about the Forsaken, and Rand…well, we have so much to get to in this episode we barely see him.
All of this stuff is important to establish, but none of it is especially exciting. The build will pay off, but these first couple episodes can feel like a bit of a chore to sit through, which is probably why Amazon dropped the first three episodes of the season all at once. Happily, it’s upwards and onwards from here.
7. Episode 202, “Strangers and Friends”
This is another episode that’s heavy on set up. We spend a lot of time in Cairhien with Rand, who is laying low lest channeling drives him mad and he hurts his loved ones. He’s shaved his head, is working in an asylum, and has a no frills casual thing going with a hot innkeeper named Selene.
Meanwhile, at the White Tower, Liandrin wants to train Nynaeve, Egwene meets a nice princess named Elayne, and Mat makes friends with a fellow prisoner named Min. All necessary stuff, all a bit boring.
The stuff with Moiraine is especially odd. The show introduces a plotline where Moiraine, feeling rudderless now that she can no longer access the One Power, shuts herself off from Lan, which means severing their magical bond as well as generally being mean to him. Even having watched the whole season, I still don’t see quite why she does this. It’s the weakest storyline of the season, and it’s given a fair amount of space here in Episode 2.
Things are more lively over in Perrin’s part of the plot. He and the Shienaran soldiers he’s traveling with find a myrddraal that’s been pinned to a wall in a most unsettling manner and are later captured by the Seanchan, a race of strangers from across the sea. Their lead, Lady Suroth, wears a costume so garishly elaborate it bumps the episode up a spot all by itself.