The Wheel of Time’s Gender Bending TV Show

[Rascally Badger]

The first episode is easily the weakest of the three. It feels like a cliff notes version of the show, with some additions that absolutely did not work for me. Namely, giving Perrin a wife to fridge and whatever they did with Mat's family. I don't really see what those additions actually add, especially when they are necessarily making so many cuts.

The next two episodes felt a lot more assured to me. I wish the show would spend more time on character work; more time with characters talking to each other. It still feels like it is rushing through things and that means all the quiet moments are being left out.

 

[Adrenaline]

My understanding is that this eight episode season will cover two books, so yeah, there's gonna be rushing.

 

[Sprite]

I think rushing works for the first book, as they’re constantly on the run. I’m glad to hear the next episodes are stronger and hope they eventually get some time to breathe.

The show is just inevitably going to feel rushed compared to the books. I assume at some point they’ll just start skipping some of them.

 

[Adrenaline]

Watched the first episode.

Giving Perrin a wife to accidentally kill is certainly a Choice. My guess is they might be shortcutting some of his character development from him killing that Whitecloak?

I don't like the idea that the Dragon Reborn can be a woman. Men who can use magic going mad and the Dragon being reborn as a man aren't necessarily directly linked, but the two ideas together create a strong tension that I think this change undermines.

Apparently Mat has been recast for season 2 for unknown reasons. At least he's not a major character or anything.

 

[Sprite]

I'm not sure how that change undermines the tension? That tension will still be there when the Dragon ends up being a man.

I agree that the fridging was bizarre, though. The story will have plenty of "sad boy is tortured and angry" soon enough.

 

[Adrenaline]

Men who can use magic are feared and hunted down like dogs, but one of them will eventually save the world from darkness. Unless it's a woman. I assume they won't make major changes to the actual story but it's just weird to present the idea that there's a chance that the way they've handled the men having magic situation for centuries was fine, actually.

 

[Bongo]

Watched two episodes of this. I like what I'm seeing here. Especially the props. That close-up of the reflection in the goblet was the best use of their CGI budget.

I feel like the change in Perrin's situation, inventing a wife for him to kill while in a berserker rage, while certainly not a good look when described that way, will work well to strengthen the arc that's in store for him. It fits surprisingly naturally with who he was in the source material. In books you can (and Robert Jordan did) write a short paragraph summarizing the lifetime of little experiences that led to a personality trait, but in TV it's more effective to tie it to an event.

I've seen some complain more generally about dialing the melodrama in these early episodes up a notch or two, but to me that's just telegraphing the kind of pathos it's capable of. It's certainly didn't have a lack of lightness to counterpoint the heaviness.