Critique: Wheel of Time (TV Series)

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Moraine is an Aes Sedai, a woman channeller (someone who uses the One Power, i.e. magic) and she comes to the Land of the Two Rivers (even though we only see one) in search of the Dragon Reborn (someone who can keep the Dark One at bay). The candidates are a quartet of friends: Egwaine, Rand, Perrin and Mat. She hopes it’s not one of the latter three because male channellers descend into madness. (This is why the Red Aes Sedai say that men make the One Power filthy when they use it.)

 

There were so many good shots in this show.

An army of trollocs attack the village during the night. Not being able to see them clearly, only getting glimpses of their horrible features, adds to their frightening nature. That was a good decision, as was when a shot pans over their line formation, seeing their figures and that they are more horrible than originally thought.

After escaping the trollocs, the Wisdom Nynaeve throws her braid over her shoulder. For some reason, that struck me as a powerful shot.

Rand has a dream where he pulls a whole bat from his throat. In the morning, bats litter the floor.

Dare I say it, a show where people eat with their mouth shut!

In episode seven, a woman holds an enemy’s cape then she twirls in the air. Purely phenomenal. And then on top of that she’s pregnant! Despite her condition, the enemy soldiers still try to kill her. Not that they succeed. Then we see one of the enemies is Rand’s dad who takes the baby once the mother dies.

 

There were many other enjoyable moments.

When channellers use the One Power, we see filaments of light appear. This was so beautiful but more importantly such an original idea with magic. But the False Dragon’s magic is black which form outlines of whispering humans.

“All we can do is the best we can with the life given to us.”

Moraine complains that small towns don’t keep records, to which the Wisdom replies, “That doesn’t mean we don’t remember.”

Rand gives Egwaine a berry, saying he use to do this as a kid. Such a romantic gesture. But then Egwaine replies, “Has that berry been in your pocket all day?” Brilliant!

The singing at the Aes Sedai funeral was haunting and there were some amazing vocals. The graves were shaped like wheel spokes, matching the Wheel of Time.

Nynaeve talks about Egwaine having a life-threatening fever. “In the morning, the fever had broken, not her.”

Moraine says to Nynaeve, “If Wisdom is the title you claim, I suggest you start using some.” Burn!

The leader of the canyon city had a raven on his back with its wings folded over his shoulders. That looked epic.

Egwaine says to the Wisdom, “Don’t let your pride stop you from doing what is right.” Because that had been the Wisdom’s stumbling block, the very thing that makes me dislike her.

 

Trollocs are a reoccurring theme but thankfully they aren’t overdone. Their placement is necessary.

Moraine convinces the quartet the trollocs are after them specifically so if they leave, the trollocs won’t attack the villagers. But the trolloc army’s path takes them through the village anyway. I doubt they won’t murder anyone they see just because the four have left.

The leader of the trolloc army lacks nose and eyes, has rows of needle teeth, and its horse wears a skull. Terrifying in a completely different way.

The trollocs manage, on foot, to outrun the horse-riding protagonists. Either this can be viewed as unlikely or just adds to their scary disposition.

The group cross the river to escape the trollocs. Moraine sinks the ferry so the trollocs can’t use it, but it also means the ferryman couldn’t return to his family which are now in danger. Harsh. It makes you hope Moraine’s purpose is important enough to be worth that sacrifice, a sacrifice made on another’s behalf.

 

There are other things of note.

A little girl gives Mat her doll because the doll wants to see the world. This is unbearably sweet. But then Mat kills the family and drops the doll in the mud.

Egwaine and Perrin end up with the Travellers who follow the Way of the Leaf, a non-violent life. “What greater revenge against violence than peace? What greater revenge against death than life?”

The Warden of dead Aes Sedai Karini gives a heartfelt, moving speech. (Later he says, “The pain is the only thing I have left of her.) Another Warden replies, “My dad tried to kill me when I was twelve so stop your whining.” Wow, harsh. Karini’s Warden kills himself, after drugging Moraine’s Warden before killing self in public place. Moraine’s Warden screaming at funeral, especially when he pulls his shirt open for no reason, was so over the top. Yes I understand you feel guilt but still.

‘The Light’ is often spoken about in a reverent manner, almost being a place-word for ‘God’. Phrases include ‘Light give me strength’ and ‘Thank the Light’. Moraine and other Aes Sedai seem to say it the most, as do the Army of the Light. Who burn any Aes Sedai they find. Was there a schism in the religion? The Army complains the Aes Sedai stick their noses in everyone’s business. That has some merit. But the Army say their land is everywhere that men walk in the Light. So the Army’s also sticking their nose in everyone’s business.

 

The leader of the White Tower is Siuan, known as the Amyrlin Seat and to whom the other Aes Sedai are her Daughters.

Leandra tattles on Morraine so Siuan says to Moraine, “On your knees” (for forgiveness). Then later Morraine tells Siuan, “On your knees” (for sexy time). This provides a nice, clever and amusing contrast.

Due to Leandra’s tattling, Siuan has to punish Morraine. However the Blue Leader wants to keep Morraine at the Tower which would interfere with Siuan and Morraine’s plans. Hence only the punishment of exile can keep their plans alive. Siuan expresses the pain this causes really well.

            Nynaeve is unnecessarily rude to Siuan and I don’t really know why. Yes, she is on the whole an antagonistic character but in her other interactions it’s easy to see her motivations.

            Egwaine wonders why the leader who sits on the Amyrlin Seat is also called the Amyrlin Seat. I had the same question in mind. Maybe it’s similar to how a Chair is in charge of a committee?

 

Questions.

            Mat’s mum tells him he’ll end up a prick like his dad. Never mind he’s raising your kids, madam.

Morraine surprised when the Wisdom Nyneave cleans the pool (even though it’s sacred so someone like spiritual authority, like a Wisdom, would be the best candidate).

Rand chains the Dark One and he tells Moraine to tell the other he died because she “owes him that much.” But why does she? Moraine sees that a heartstone (whatever that is) was scratched which was meant to be possible. Because of this, Moraine thinks this isn’t the Last Battle but instead the first, setting out for the next series.

Nyneave seemingly dies to make sure Egwaine not overwhelmed by the One Power. Then Egwaine resurrects her. Is that possible? Or did Nyneave not die? In the very first fight scene I was convinced the Moraine died but then all of a sudden she wasn’t dead. So maybe resurrection is a thing?

Throughout the whole series, Moraine is uncertain which of the four is the Dragon Reborn. When Rand announces its him, the two of them go without the others knowing. What proof did Rand have, other than the times he used the One Power which Moraine was mostly not around to see. And having the One Power isn’t enough to prove he’s the Dragon Reborn, otherwise Moraine would have only taken Egwaine from the village in the first place. So Rand must have provided some other evidence.

 

Several things made such little sense that they were almost humerous.

Egwaine looks into a gem. Moraine says the first two were her but the last was Egwaine. Um, what?

The Aes Sedai can’t heal themselves for some reason.

The barkeep’s in a room with Rand and she locks the door. Instead of unlocking it, Rand bangs on the door. Later when she’s bleeding on the floor, a pattern forms which transitions into the treeline.

They meet a bard and his voice is truly awful.

With everyone together again, they pack horses full of supplies and go to a gateway. Before they go through, they send the horses off without getting supplies from the saddlebags.

 

All in all this was an exciting show. So much of the world building was revealed yet it wasn’t overdone or too much. Not having read the books I don’t know what this programme is like as an adaptation but as a stand-alone product it has amazing value.

 

Critique: Witcher (Series Two)

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Before anything else, I must share the most significant thing about Series Two, for me on a personal level. Yennifer says, “Too strong to fail or too weak to try.” This sentence hit me hard. It seems like a motto to live by. I’ve never taken anything fictional to heart before but this sentence resonates with me.

 

Plenty of things have me the chuckles. Such as when a witcher tells another, “Then you tell a joke, you comedic fuck” and when Triss says, “You’re choosing to be an ignorant arsehole, aren’t you?”

Geralt’s friend states, “I’m being a bore.” Bearing in mind he has boar tusks, this amused me. (Whether or not this effect was intentional.)

When dream-Yennifer’s baby randomly caught of fire (a whole pillar of fire, mind you), it was so unexpected that I laughed. Well, I cackled. (For full disclosure, no, I don’t think non-fictional fiery babies are funny.)

We are introduced to an abbess that once mentored Geralt and is now mentoring Ciri. She is bloody fantastic. She’s funny when she tells Geralt, “Whichever way you look at it, you are fucked.” But she’s also profound, like when she tells Ciri, “Sometimes we assume the worst because we fear to hope.”

 

Jaskier. Oh, Jaskier.

He was the true hero of this programme. Even if a badly-placed retort did result in an elf dying. Although through this the elf redeemed himself. The only thing not heroic was his haircut. So bad. So very, very bad.

His outfit was dashing this time around, compared to all the frivolous clothing he wore in Series One. Both were fine.

He had a lot less screen time than I wanted him to have but he had a lot more screen time than the plot demanded. Plus that topless bathing scene was clearly fan service. (Not complaining.)

            Some of my favourite lines were as follows. One: “It’s my job to put myself in others’ shoes. Even if they are large and clunky.” Two: “Goodbye good luck good riddance” to Yennifer. Three, my favourite: “You’re not allowed to play damsel in distress. That’s my job.”

            The comment that won them all was when he did an impression of Geralt, having a deep, husky voice: “Urgh, I’m so sad and complicated.”

 

There were many good decisions plot-wise.

            Geralt is far chattier in this series than the previous one. In that, across multiple timelines, he’s subdued in speech so his almost-silence seems a big part of his character. So him talking in this series might seem out of character. Not so. He has to talk to Ciri to be a proper guardian to her and he hasn’t seen his fellow witchers for ages so he’d want to chat to them.

Ciri complains that no one has told her how to control chaos. But you haven’t given anyone the chance, though, have you Ciri? When the sorceress Triss comes specifically to teach you, you choose to practice your swordplay instead. (To have Ciri behave like this was a good decision though because it fits with her age group.)

The White Flame, Emperor of Nilfgaard and architect behind the war on the Continent, turns out to be Ciri’s father. I didn’t see that coming at all. Usually if I’m surprised like that I can backtrack and see the clues. But no, in this case I’m well and truly gobsmacked.

At the end, Tissaia agrees with a group of royals that all who protect Ciri should die. Little does she know that this includes her precious Yennifer. This creates a question that could shape Series Three: will Tissaia work to protect Yennifer or will she work to have her killed.

 

Many positive things took my fancy.

The interpretation of the bruxa was bloody brilliant. It creeps along like an insect and moves its head in a birdlike fashion. It had two rows of teeth and a serrated tongue. In its bat form, it has a crunched-up face and these massive ears, placed more centrally than is traditional for a bat. Only one thing baffled me: the bruxa tansformed into its bat form whilst wearing clothing but, when it transforms back into its bipedal form, it’s naked. Was this an inconsistency or did I miss something?

Roach (Geralt’s horse) dying was too much for me. Geralt really got me in the feels when he tells roach to enjoy his last journey through the meadow. Even considering Roach played a very minor role this series, his death was devastating. Almost, but not quite, as heart-wrenching was the elf baby called Hope being murdered. I straight away thought Fringilla did it but it turns out she didn’t and then she pretends she did.

During a fight, Geralt lands on the floor underneath an enemy. He uses a spell to push the enemy into the air and then positions his sword so that the enemy’s eye lands on and through the sword. That was epic.

I loved the dinosaurs at the end. So fun! (My brother keeps on reminding me that they were bizarre basilisks). Specifically they looked like giant oviraptors, some with snake necks and heads.

There is a hut in the woods with something evil inside. A Slavic, evil hut witch is Baba Yaga. Associated with it are red, white and black cloaked figures; Baba Yaga has cloaked riders of these figures, too. The hut witch is confirmed in my mind as Baba Yaga when her hut stands up on chicken legs. In one episode’s intro, the witch laughs creepily. It sets the audience up for that episode extremely well.

 

 

As always, there are things that were off.

            After the battle of Sodden Hill, Tissaia is screaming Yennifer’s name at the top of her lungs. This made me frown because it is out of character.

            My goodness, it started so slowly. The speed had nothing to do with suspense so it was pointless. It did pick up the pace around halfway through the first episode, admittedly, but it made the first half appear to be mostly fluff.

            Geralt takes Ciri to Kaer Morhen, the stronghold of the Witchers. There were these giant wooden pillars that Geralt practiced swordplay on, stepping from one to another as he went through the motions of a fight. The movements were slow and unimpressive which was a shame. It had the potential to be a wow scene.

For someone on the run, Yennifer probably shouldn’t be wearing bright purple. Yes, I know it’s for the audience’s benefit so we can spot her among the crowd, but her character is smart enough to hide herself.

For one fight, we had random slow motion. I don’t think it added anything to the scene. Maybe it only added a few more seconds which the writers needed to flesh out the episode?

Geralt saves Jaskier from prison on the pretext that he needs Jaskier to help save Ciri. But why? How on Earth/the Witcher world does this make even one iota of sense?

This last one isn’t a plot criticism. But why is there a random possum nailed to Ciri’s wall?

 

Maybe it was because Series One was so good that we expected so much from Series Two. Maybe it was because we had to wait two years for Series Two to come out that we expected us to blow our minds. Maybe we expected too much. But Series Two was not spectacular. It was good, for sure, but it didn’t meet expectations. I think it’s sensible, therefore, to lower expectations of Series Three. Not because I think it will be anything less than excellent but I don’t want to ruin it before it’s even began, like I almost did with Series Two.