The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time are out now on Prime Video, bringing viewers back into the vivid fantasy world of Robert Jordan's beloved book series. We've been poring over them this morning, because these are three very full episodes. The first, "To Race the Shadow," saw all hell break lose in Tar Valon as the sisters of the Black Ajah made good their escape, before Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski) and the rest of our heroes went their separate ways. The second, "A Question of Crimson," delved into the complicated politics of the White Tower as Queen Morgase (Olivia Williams) and her advisor Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo) arrived on the scene to demand answers of the Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo).
Now we've arrived at the final episode of the premiere block: "Seeds of Shadow." And just as the name implies, this episode gives the show's villains a healthy dose of screentime, while Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) and Elayne (Ceara Coveney) start to unravel the conspiracy of the Black Ajah. FULL SPOILERS for the episode beyond this point.
A meeting of the Forsaken
"Seeds of Shadow" begins with an absolute banger of a scene: a meeting between three members of the Forsaken, with another eavesdropping from the shadows. Robert Jordan loved to pepper these sorts of dysfunctional gatherings for the cadre of villains throughout his book series, and I cannot overemphasize the amount of joy it gave me to see Lanfear (Natasha O'Keeffe) verbally sparring with the likes of Rahvin (Nuno Lopes) and Sammael (Cameron Jack).
Yes, Lord Gaebril is in fact the Forsaken known as Rahvin. He's a master manipulator who has mastered the art of Compulsion — a forbidden weave of magic that forces a person to do what you want them to do. It's revealed here that even though Rahvin has only been free from his imprisonment for around a month, he's already used his magic to make Queen Morgase and everyone around her believe he's been in their lives for a decade. If you go back and rewatch Episode 302, you can see this Compulsion at work. When Leane (Jennifer Cheon Garcia) introduces Gaebril in the White Tower, she stumbles over his name at first — that's because the magic is hitting her in that moment. And since women can't see the weaves of men Channeling, she's oblivious to it. Elayne has a similar pause when she first sees Gaebril in the episode.
The Forsaken have truly arrived at this point in the series, and they are extremely dangerous. I love how this scene not only shows us their magical strength, but also their cunning. Rahvin plays the various Forsaken against each other, revealing he's already met with two others: Graendal and Semirhage. And he's in cahoots with Moghedien (Laia Costa). This scene is a thrill; I expected Rahvin this season, but not Sammael, since he really becomes more prominent in books 5 through 7.
This also confirms seven out of the eight Forsaken who will appear in the series: Ishamael, Rahvin, and Sammael for the men, and Lanfear, Moghedien, Graendal, and Semirhage for the women. There's presumably one more male Forsaken we'll learn about at some future date. (My guess is Demandred.)
Of course, that's just the opening scene. Just like the previous two episodes, "Seeds of Shadow" covers a lot of ground. The lion's share of it is split between Liandrin's arrival in Tanchico and the investigation into the Black Ajah at the tower. Nynaeve and Elayne are a fun detective duo, and it was compelling to watch them navigate the morass of lies from their two Black Ajah captives, even if the reveal of a symbol Liandrin drew under her dead son's bed which would lead them to Tanchico felt a little too convenient.
Elaida also gets prominent screentime this season. She's a petty, vindictive character in the books, and I enjoy the way the show is forcing her to work her way back up from the bottom of the pecking order in the White Tower. When Elaida promised Leane and Verin (Meera Syal) that they'd regret it if they crossed her now, I fully believed her. Aghdashloo has presence on screen, and it's fun to see her flex her chops as a villain.
Elaida's goals in the White Tower are alarming in more ways than one; she seems to crave power and respect, but she also wants to cage the Dragon Reborn and bend him to the Aes Sedai's will. I doubt that will sit well with Rand.
The Aiel Waste and the Two Rivers
Since so much goes on at the White Tower in this episode, Rand does take a little bit of a backseat. We still do get a few scenes of him and the party of Aiel walking through the Waste, and they contain a few important scenes — such as an attack on a group of Tinkers which Rhuarc (Björn Landberg) believes could be the work of the dishonorable Shaido clan — but on the whole this episode spends most of its focus elsewhere. We do learn one important thing, though: Rand is being taken to Rhuidean, the mystical city where prospective Aiel chiefs and Wise Ones are subjected to visions. We'll see how that plays out next week.
Meanwhile, things are heating up in the Two Rivers, where the Whitecloaks have taken Mat's mother Natti Cauthon (Juliet Howland) and her two daughters captive. Perrin's (Marcus Rutherford) gradual ascent to become an unwilling leader for the village is well structured, with him initially wanting to turn himself in, only to become their best advisor on how to navigate the threat of marauding Trollocs. It also serves as a way to bring our Whitecloak characters back onto the scene, and introduce a few new characters: Faile Bashere (Isabella Bucceri) and Lord Luc (Michael Lindall). Faile is a new love interest for Perrin, and the show does a great job with their initial meeting. Bucceri and Rutherford have enjoyable chemistry onscreen.
And while all that is going on, Alanna (Priyanka Bose) and Maksim (Taylor Napier) are busy navigating their complicated grief for their dead partner Ihvon. Grief is a theme of this episode; it's prominent for Alanna and Maksim, but also for Perrin with his wife and Liandrin down in Tanchico. The show's writing contains a lot of beauty on the subject, such as when Alanna reveals to Perrin that she's wearing Ihvon's ashes on her face as dictated by her local customs, until they wear off and the grief becomes a permanent part of her.
As with the first two episodes, another huge highlight of "Seeds of Shadow" is Mat (Dónal Finn). He's fast becoming a scene stealer, that Matrim Cauthon! Here we see him once more trying to navigate the voices in his head, before he crosses paths with Min (Kae Alexander). There's still some tension between the two, after Min sold Mat out to the Forsaken last season.
But that soon takes a backseat to Mat's other big frustration: Galad Trakand (Callum Kerr). After Min sees Mat hanging by the neck in front of a twisted redstone doorframe in a vision and Mat starts to get upset, Galad comes charging in to the rescue, annoyingly inserting himself between them. Then, later, Galad does the same thing when Mat is bickering with Nynaeve. This leads into the most fun action scene of the episode, where Mat duels Galad and his brother Gawyn (Luke Fetherston) with a quarterstaff. This is an iconic scene from the book series, and while it does happen a little differently in the show, I was thrilled to see it make an appearance. The choreography was solid, and it was nice to see Mat get a win after having his morale stomped on for the past episode and a half.
With Galad and Gawyn firmly put in their place, Mat joins Nynaeve and Elayne on their voyage to Tanchico, the seaside city where Liandrin has taken up residence with her Black Ajah sisters. Unbeknownst to them, Min is also following them for the ride. And meanwhile in Tanchico, we finally get an idea of Liandrin's plan. Remember the Seanchan collars and bracelet from season 2, which let them enslave women could Channel? Well, Liandrin has one piece of the male version of that artifact, which would let her control a man who could Channel: namely, Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn. Seems like she and Elaida have similar ideas about how best to use Rand, and neither involves hism having free will.
The final stinger of the episode is that Liandrin's servant is none other than Moghedien, who is now privy to this plan. And you can bet she'll be turning it to her own ends somehow. "Seeds of Shadow" is an episode full of twists and turns right down to the final scene. While I enjoyed pieces of the previous two quite a lot, this may have been my favorite of the premiere block. It's hard to top a meeting of the Forsaken, Mat whooping Galad and Gawyn, and Perrin finally stepping up as a leader in the Two Rivers. Alas, now we must wait for next week for more! But fortunately, these are meaty enough episodes that they'll be good for a rewatch.
The Bullet Points of Time
- The Forsaken argue over who will be named "Nae'blis." This is the title for the Dark One's favored champion, the first among his servants.
- Elayne has an Accepted ring at the start of this episode. Presumably her Accepted trial and reconciliation with Nynaeve happened offscreen.
- The Black Ajah operate in "hearts" — groups of three. They know the identity of one Black Ajah member outside of their heart. Good to know this little bit about their inner workings...provided Amico can be believed.
- We got multiple mentions of the False Dragon Mazrim Taim and the nation of Saldea in this episode. Both feature heavily in later books, so this smells like set up to me.
- Elaida has some kind of tremor — perhaps related to her foretellings? Shohreh Aghdashloo does a fantastic job in this episode portraying both Elaida's cunning and hidden vulnerabilities.
- I love the dynamic of Lan with the Aiel. They call him "Aan'allein," which essentially means "One Man." This is in honor of the fact that Lan is seemingly the last survivor of the nation of Malkier, and fights a one-man war against the Shadow on behalf of his fallen kingdom.
- Except Lan isn't really the last Malkieri. We meet another here: Melindhra (Synnøve Macody Lund). She asks Lan some hard questions about how he's honoring Malkier. I'm hoping to see more of these two in future episodes.
- Maksim tells Bain and Chiad that his sword has Ihvon's blood on it. I didn't catch this during the premiere, but it sounds like that means Liandrin killed Ihvon with Maksim's sword. Brutal.
- The city of Tanchico looks fun, with some cool sets and distinctive fashions! We only saw the streets a little bit in this episode. Can't wait to see more!
- Although I will say, the one bit of fashion that took me out of the immersion a bit was the outrageous outfits for Liandrin and the rest of the Black Ajah. They were just a little distracting.
- What's the deal with Elaida's bracelet? She tells Min it's "sort of" related to a foretelling, but doesn't elaborate.
- Bair, the Aiel Wise One, tells Egwene that she has a gift as a Dreamwalker to be able to navigate Tel'aran'rhiod, the dream world. She says the White Tower hasn't produced a Dreamwalker in a hundred years. I'm looking forward to seeing Egwene develop this skill this season.
- I cackled at Cenn Buie getting shouted down when he tries to badmouth Perrin.
- The sword Callandor is the strongest sa'angreal in the world, but Lanfear tells Rand there's also an equivalent sa'angreal that can only be used by a woman, the Sakarnen. She believes if they're used together, these two objects of power might be enough to kill the Dark One, releasing her from her oath to him. Personally, I don't trust her one bit; she's got to have an ulterior motive.
Verdict
"Seeds of Shadow" is another strong episode of The Wheel of Time, and a great way to end this opening block of the third season. It carefully balanced reveals for new information like the identity of Rahvin while setting up future episodes and launching characters toward their next objectives. There were a few plot points that felt a little contrived, but on the whole, this was a solid way to leave viewers ahead of next week's episode.
Episode grade: A-
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