The Wheel Of Time
The Wheel Of Time got off to a rocky start in its first episode, but it picks up considerably in the second, ‘Shadow’s Waiting.’
The fellowship of the Dragon Reborn fled Emond’s Field in the opening episode. Now they’re on the run from a Myrddraal and its pack of Trollocs, heading toward the White Tower of the Aes Sedai—though perhaps not toward safety.
Naturally, our heroes come to a river where a ferryman is dozing. The opening act of The Eye Of The World is strikingly similar to The Fellowship Of The Ring. This was intentional on Robert Jordan’s part, but it has always bugged me regardless.
And so we come to the river, a dark rider in pursuit, and are saved from aquatically-averse evil by a ferry. The big difference here being the death of the ferryman who, foolishly, wants to go back to the other side because his son is set to arrive any minute.
I’m not sure I buy this, to be honest. There are hundreds of Trollocs and a Myrddraal over there. Surely the ferryman realizes he would be killed the moment he set foot on the dock. But he leaps in after his ferry as Moiraine creates a whirlpool in the center of the river with her magic, and ferry and ferryman are both swallowed up, never to be seen again.
This rubs some of the young folk the wrong way. Rand and Mat and Perrin and Egwene are already suspicious of the sorceress’s intentions and watching her magic drown a man who just helped them rankles, though she points out that he didn’t have to swim after the ferry. “What would happen if he ferried back to the other side?” she asks patiently.
Bats and Whitecloaks
They carry on, heading into the forest where they make camp. Moiraine has been using her magic to give them all extra strength, including the horses. Lan chastises her for this. “You need your strength, too,” he tells her.
That night, they all have a dream. In his dream, Rand awakens and starts to cough. Something is stuck in his throat. He reaches into his mouth and, gagging, pulls something from it—the body of a bat. Then he sees a terrifying face with glowing orange eyes. Horrified, he wakes from the nightmare only to find dead bats around him on the ground.
Each of the four Emond’s Fielders had a similar dream. The bats, the terrible, fiery visage. Rand blames Moiraine at first and then stubbornly refuses to continue with her on the journey. Frustrated, she rides off without him, clearly out of patience with the youth. Egwene is equally annoyed by his stubbornness, though Mat is sympathetic—though he points out they have little choice in the matter.
From here the companions ride until they’re stopped by a group of Whitecloaks. We saw this armed band in the opening scene of the episode. A Questioner (or Hand of the Light) sits eating a small bird whole, talking about the delicacy and what makes it so special: It’s eaten bones and all, beak and talon, and as you chew through the brittle bones they cut you ever so slightly—a little pleasure spiked with pain.
He says all of this while a woman—an Aes Sedai—burns at the stake before him. Her mouth is gagged and her hands have been cut off. The Questioner, Eamon Valda (Abdul Salis) clearly takes pleasure watching her suffer.
The Children of the Light, commonly referred to as Whitecloaks, are a fanatical independent military organization. One of their goals is to root out Darkfriends, but they have no love for Aes Sedai either. When Moiraine spots them she quickly gives Lan her Aes Sedai ring. Aes Sedai are bound to tell the truth, but Moiraine has no compunction about leaving certain details out.
She tells the Whitecloaks that she is a landless Lady and that she and her traveling companions are headed to the city to meet with her sister. As the Questioner does frisks her, she winces in pain. It turns out she was wounded back in the fight against the Trollocs. She’s mostly truthful about this, describing the beasts that attacked them, pretending to be terrified and ignorant.
The Whitecloaks are clearly disturbed by news of Trollocs in the area. They let the group pass. Moiraine notices the may Aes Sedai rings hanging from Valda’s belt. When Lan asks her later if she thinks he’s the one killing her sisters she agrees, noting all those Aes Sedai rings.
We are getting a taste of the powerful factions in this world, though we get even more big picture stuff next week when the fourth episode, The Dragon Reborn, airs.
Manetheren
The Wheel Of Time
As they ride, Mat begins singing and soon all the Emond’s Fielders are singing along with him, an old ditty that tells an old story about a time none of them has ever heard. So Moiraine tells them of Manetheren which, in the Old Tongue, meant Mountain Home. It’s the place of their ancestors and it has a rich and tragic history.
This is the moment the show “clicked” for me. Rosamund Pike’s delivery here was spectacular. She tells them of their ancestors who, long ago, fought and died bravely in the Trolloc Wars.
Vastly outnumbered, the mountain folk fought day after day, the promise of aid if they could simply hold out long enough. But help never came, and though they fought valiantly, eventually they fell and their king was slain. The queen, a powerful sorceress, in her grief and rage, laid waste to the Trolloc armies with her magic.
It’s a great story that really immerses you in the rich history and lore this show has to offer, and it’s really this moment for me that made me think “Okay, this is something I’m actually excited about!”
That night, as they sleep, the Trollocs find them. They’re forced to flee, but Moiraine, who has been visibly weakening, won’t rouse from her slumber. Lan rides them hard and the Trollocs race after them through the dark woods. (Side-note: On my second non-screener viewing I think a lot of the special effects look better, including the way the Trollocs looked by the river, but running through the woods I thought they looked pretty cheap and fake, just like they’re using dated CGI or something. I have a separate post on the cinematography and why I think it makes the show have a low-budget look sometimes that you can read right here).
Shadar Logoth
They flee until the horses rear up. All the pursuing Trollocs stop dead in their tracks. Before them the crumbling walls of an ancient city loom, foreboding and forlorn.
This, we learn, is Shadar Logoth, once called Aridhol. Long ago it was the wealthiest and most powerful city in the world, but its people grew increasingly insular and fanatical, becoming more evil than the evil they fought against. This was the city that promised the people of Manetheren aid and then betrayed them.
One day, travelers came to the city only to find it completely abandoned. Not a living thing remained in its abandoned streets. Lan tells us all of this and Mat makes a funny quip. “First of all, that’s the most words you’ve ever said,” he jokes, “And second of all, why did you bring us here?”
It’s a good question. Rand goes for a walk and Egwene meets up with him. They hold hands as they stare out at the ruined domes of the city, in another strikingly fake looking moment. They may as well have used a painted backdrop.
Mat gives Perrin his knife, one that Perrin’s wife had made him. “She always said she didn’t make weapons, only tools,” Mat says. It’s a nice moment of bonding and a bit of recognition of Perrin’s loss, something the show hasn’t really taken time for up to this point.
Mat wanders off himself and finds a strange box beneath some rubble. Inside is a dagger in a golden sheath with a red gemstone embedded in its hilt. Lan told everyone not to touch or take anything but he never told them why. The reason is ominous: This place is so evil that even a pebble removed from its walls will bring evil with it. One knife given, one found—but this one marks the beginning of a long, dark road for Mat.
The moment he takes the dagger, a darkness seeps up into the streets. This is Mashadar, an ancient evil presence that haunts the dead city. It consumes one of the horses, turning it to dust. The companions flee but are quickly separated. Rand and Mat go one way, Egwene and Perrin another.
Inside the building everyone ought to have remained, Moiraine awakens. “Where are we?” she asks, and sees the truth of it on Lan’s face. “You’ve killed us all.”
Not quite, thankfully, or this show would have been awfully short. They all make it out alive after a harrowing race against Mashadar, but each exits the city at a different point and nobody manages to meet back up. So Rand and Mat are off on their own adventure. So are Perrin and Egwene.
Lan and Moiraine escape as well, but as Lan tends to her wounds a blade is suddenly at his neck. “If you don’t tell me where they are right now,” Nynaeve says fiercely, “I’ll slit your throat!”
Nynaeve is very angry and very fierce most of the time, it turns out, though I have to wonder: If she was able to use her innate magical abilities to track Lan here, why couldn’t she track Rand or Egwene? Why make Lan tell her anything when she could just listen to the wind?
Oh well. Minor plot hole. The important thing is that all the companions are now separated so we have branching storylines to look forward to beginning with Episode 3, “A Place Of Safety.” (My recap/review of that episode will be up Monday).
Verdict
All told, a much better episode than the first. I also definitely prefer watching these on Amazon Prime than as screeners. The quality is a lot better, though still lacking in some crucial areas (cinematography and special effects mostly).
Still, a very enjoyable episode all around. The gruesome introduction of the Whitecloaks and the Questioner; the super gross nightmare; the terrific Manetheren speech (that maybe should have been in the first episode!); and the flight from Shadar Logoth all make for a very fun hour of television that adds both depth and excitement to the series.
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