Wheel of Time Season 3

[Kiltwich]

I got around to watching the first episode.

Man, those fight scenes are absolutely terrible. The acting and choreography was quite bad. It's like watching a group of 10 year old girls swinging foam sticks around with zero weight or impact. The shaky cam, blur and overload of CGI, and fast jump-cuts to obfuscate how terrible the actors handled the fight in the tower made me laugh. The epitome of "don't worry, we'll fix it in post!"... only, the fake CGI blood used to cover stuff in one scene was magically gone (and completely forgotten about) 30 seconds later. It really feels like they cut the tower fight into 4 peices, and gave each piece to a different group of CGI folks, and then haphazardly cut them back together in the end for that.
The use of packaging foam spray painted to look like concrete only works when it's not moving...the foam pieces blowing or falling through the air or being blown by the billowing of a dress walking by (and without any post processing effects to mask or alter things) makes it obvious, though I do give them props for using an actual practical effect. It might help if the acting and cinematography weren't so terrible that my focus wandered to other parts of the set and extras to make it through those scenes.

And then, to my horror, those aspects just got worse as the first act of the episode went on. The chase scene through the city was absolutely abysmal. It looks like old grandmother Siuan would've been able to move faster, hobbling across the set, if she had a cane to help her walk... and you seriously expect me to believe that she's some sort of powerful sedai, or had any hope of catching up to the others trying to escape?
She seemed a lot more powerful in the last season, and seemed very lacking here in what I would've expected for a sedai in the ameryln seat to be capable of. It felt more like the director specifically put plot armor on her vice her own abilities to live through this episode (though the scene with Moraine nearer to the end of that chase was done quite well, and left a bizzare mix of the directing, writing, and acting being absolutely terrible juxtaposed to a scene done competently, and then back to garbage immediately after.

The directing and staging of the final fight with the green sedai and Leeandrin was marginally better. Pro-tip: If you are using a waist harness to lift a character for a green screen segment, keep the actress's hips OFF CENTER as to not draw attention to her hips. Otherwise, her hips will be the only part of the actor that will be completely still relative to the rest of her body, drawing attention to it, and make it look like amateur hour green screen cinema.
The lack of consistency with anatomy also brings forth many questions. Why does one character die immediately when stabbed through the chest, missing the heart, but another another character that is stabbed clearly through the heart (and simultaneously stabbed with a nice lung pierce) still both able to breathe and without their heart so much as skip a beat? yea yea, Every time you bring up physics in a fantasy setting discussion, God kills another catgirl and so on.

But then things got a lot better for a while as the exposition dump that both explained very little and hand-waved much occurred, with Matt getting a huge focus as he got a face lift and the writers really want us to believe that he was there with them all along while not existing for an entire season due to unspecified reasons. It felt a bit too heavy handed, though the character moments (minus the excessively long lesbian scenes) were a nice touch. It's also nice to see Rand with some hair on his head again.

I'm guessing that the crappy yellow contacts are now going to be a permanent thing, as opposed to the super-saiyan when angry transformation. I can't say that I'm a fan of that part, especially with his very off-natural colored eyes being something that nobody else seems to mention or notice (much like Rand's bald ass head last season). It makes me wonder if those sort of "what the hell happened to you? those didn't used to be that way" discussions are being skipped in the interest of time (seems unlikely to me, as the padding in several of the other scenes), the characters notice but pretend not to notice (The writers wouldn't have the skill needed to pull off something like this), director & writers have no fk'ing clue how normal people interact with each other, or the director & writers has no fk'ing clue how to do their jobs in the first place. Perhaps a mixture of them.

[Kitiara]

Im caught up on season 3 now...

Season 1 was pretty bad, but also has a TON of production issues outside of their control (covid+mat actor bailing)

Season 2 started to right the ship, and started to establish the danger of the shadow and especially the Forsaken... But had a finale that undermined that danger pretty strongly...

Season 3 has been pretty solid so far. I think alot of the accelerated timeline/swapped events (ie waste before tear) makes sense. There are still a few changes that i dont quite understand the motivation... But so far ive been enjoying the first 4eps way more than seasons 1 and 2.

I am also a bit worried about Mat, but he has veen a struggle since his story got blown up on season 1 when the actor left. I feel like this season is finally getting him back on track... Though i am wondering if the towers are just going to be removed. They are putting a lot of focus in the moraine and lanfear relationship, in what i would consider to be a good change, especially in ep4.... So perhaps they resolve moraines story in a different way?

My guess would be Mat gets his weapon and the foxhead from the seanchan or maybe just tanchico. We may get to meet Tuan as well this season. I dont think the show will have the screen time to fully get into the snakes and foxes and all that lore... Because lets be honest... It was fairly flimsy in the books... Probably the least fleshed out 'world/magic system' in WoT.

Im pleasantly surprised so far... This season feels at least a step or two better than 1 and 2.... But its still early. So we will see if they can stick the landing without butchering more huge story points.

Side notes: i had the same feeling about matt vs the brothers... The audience was needed to give that scene its significance. Cool fight scene, coulda been better. Also Galad should have been established as super goody two shoes... He shouldnt be hooking up with novices and being a cocky jerk.

[halfhand]

I thought this episode was very mid.

I'll be honest, most of the Moiraine-related TV new scenes that are supposed to be emotional don't really resonate with me. The actors are good, but for me, the writing is just made for tv and over wrought, and it just slows down the rest of the shows. Obviously they need Rosamund Pike to drive the big name appeal, but I have no investment in these scenes and lose interest.

Tower scenes: Elaida's entire thing is great, and Shoreh's really brings some good screen personality.

Two Rivers: Whitecloak battle is cool and eveyrthing, but it just seems added to pad time. Shouldn't building towards the Trollocs and the climax?

Waste: Ter'aran'rhoid seems to be fine. I expect more trippiness. Did I miss an entire scene with the fallout of Rhuidean with the Shaido?

Tanchico boat: They're doing a good job with channeling this season, with the graceful movement of the Windmistress. It seems a little forced with "oh you're not supposed to see this, oh well, don't tell anyone." Min, as a character, just seems she is just there? She is one actress that seems out of place with the rest of the cast, and her valet suit just stands out in a bad way.

We have 3 episodes to do:
"Shadow in the Night" - Tanchico confrontation with Liadrin (and presumably Moggy) but also Matt facing the show's version of the Finns (or whatever tea replacement they jam in).
"Golden eyes" - The entire Two Rivers siege sequence which will almost likely to be abridged into that time slot.
"He Who Comes with the Dawn" - Alcair Dal and the Rhuidan confrontation (which is likely going to be just Lanfear vs Moiraine) without us seeing a peep of Asmodean yet.

Lots of rumbling that bodes poorly for a Season 4. One of the Amazon chief is moving to a different role. There has been pretty minimal promotion and talk of this show, despite some suggestion of some rating improvement this season, but may not be enough.

[Chloro]

Having watched the latest episode and how they are meshing the characters this season. I almost wonder if we are heading towards a cliff hanger ending. Starting to think as Moraine battles Lanfear, the schism might be shown in the tower bouncing back and forth with Elaida breaking into the Ante chamber just as the last seen ends. Would make for an awesome end to the season and a perfect place to pick up if season 4 is green lit.

[Katherine]

We have 3 episodes to do:
"Shadow in the Night" - Tanchico confrontation with Liadrin (and presumably Moggy) but also Matt facing the show's version of the Finns (or whatever tea replacement they jam in).
"Golden eyes" - The entire Two Rivers siege sequence which will almost likely to be abridged into that time slot.
"He Who Comes with the Dawn" - Alcair Dal and the Rhuidan confrontation (which is likely going to be just Lanfear vs Moiraine) without us seeing a peep of Asmodean yet.

**spoilers for those who never read the books, so dont read this!! **

This seems about right. Not sure how they are going to take star power like Rosamund Pike out of the show for even a season. So far the writers have written out the Finns even going so far as not having Matt in Rhuidean. If the writers have written out the Finns entirely, then I wonder if Moiraine's upcoming story will just be rewritten in a more mundane way. For example, they may have Lanfear still Moiraine during their struggle and then Moiraine just joins the exiles at Salidar as sort of an advisory character, still central, but different. Then she'll reconnect there with Siuan there who will have, by that time, been stilled and eventually she will rejoin her original storyline (w/o Thom) sometime down the road like when she rejoined the story in Towers of Midnight. From that point on, her story will normalize again with the books. Just one possible way they can write out the Finns, keep Moiraine in the show, and still have her end up in about the same condition as she does much later in the books.

[Astolfo]

If you watch this series, you are the weakest link.

[Aira]

So far the writers have written out the Finns even going so far as not having Matt in Rhuidean.

Fortunately, Tanchico has a stash of old timey items that doesn't just consist of the sad bracelets and the Mercedes logo. There might just be a certain red doorway in the palace/ place they visit. Considering Min's art, it's not a horrible conflation of storylines.

[Katherine]

So far the writers have written out the Finns even going so far as not having Matt in Rhuidean.

Fortunately, Tanchico has a stash of old timey items that doesn't just consist of the sad bracelets and the Mercedes logo. There might just be a certain red doorway in the palace/ place they visit. Considering Min's art, it's not a horrible conflation of storylines.

I guess anything is possible. We got Thom back and I was certain they got rid of him. Also like that the writers kept his history tied in with the Trakand family like it should be, and he's obviously wary of getting wrapped up in Aes Sedai affairs, which is good ole Thom. I actually like who they cast to play him. (yay, Thom!)

Still liking Perrin/Faile scenes. Good chemistry on screen.

On the other hand, Rand and Egwene and Lanfear---not really that great chemistry between Rand and either of them. Those scenes are just weird and awkward. With Lanfear its like he's dating his eccentric aunt or something. With Egwene she comes off more like a sister. Just seems...off. I know he has a fling with Selene in TGH, but its short lived and she was disguising herself from him so it didnt seem so weird. After the early books, we dont get alot of Lanfear-Rand intimate stuff. She just seems desperate all the time trying to win him over and he just kind of ignores her for the most part because he's chasing after Av, Elayne and Min.

Nice discussion between Rand and Moiraine about saidar and saidin. Also, we got a rosebud exercise out of Alanna. Maybe the writers are starting to respond to some of the feedback from fans of the show. Or maybe they finally read the books.

Just my opinion, but this season and maybe the end of last season have been trending in the right direction. The fact that I actually recognize the flow of the plot, even if parts of it are out of order or characters have been moved around, is a huge improvement over Season 1 and the first half of Season 2 where the plot was basically unrecognizable.

[halfhand]

Tanchico: The Black Tower / Forsaken scheming/infighting was well done. You really should call your master Chosen instead of Forsaken though. I actually didn't hate the Hills of Tanchico, it does get the wonder girls adventure vibe and the song is based from the books. I'm glad to see Thom return, although the introduction was a little awkward especially with meeting Elayne. Essentially, "this is thom." "Okay?" Moghedian meeting was sufficiently creepy. The taveren effects of Matt is written like asspulls (Oh hey man I just found this random bracelet you were looking for, cool.)

The Waste: I really wish they went all the way with the dead body revival. Maybe spend some of that CGI budget on some creepy body movement instead of just various "saidin effect" where essentially nothing happens. The Sammael attack was...kind of let down? Why is he personally attacking and why he is so weak compared to Lanfear? It's going to make it really hard to shove Asmodean in, and I really don't think Sammaeldean will work. Aviendhas fire spear looks like swords.

Two Rivers: I can tell the siege is really going to be rushed at this point. Fain is just going to be a generic insert badguy general instead of the corrupting force. Where did Lord Luc go?

The episode on average was good, but with plenty of flaws still. It is a setup episode so hopefully they can really have satisfication story line conclusions.

[Katherine]

I dont think the show will have the screen time to fully get into the snakes and foxes and all that lore... Because lets be honest... It was fairly flimsy in the books... Probably the least fleshed out 'world/magic system' in WoT.

I liked this part of the books for the same reason I liked Tom Bombadil in The Fellowship of the Ring. The author is basically saying, "you know what, you dont know the half of what's really going on out in this universe, wise guy". It dissolves the upper bound of what is possible and understandable so no matter how many loose ends get tied up with the Dark One and how much is finally revealed about Ishmael and Rand's philosophical struggle, there's always...that other thing--what the hell was that about? I thought of Mordeth in the same way, up until Sanderson kind of ruined Fain. Just like Bombadil, people will theorize about the Finns and Mordeth but their weird nature will never truly be answered, especially now that both Tolkien and RJ likely took their secrets to their graves.

Edit: and perhaps like Tom Bombadil, the Finns may never really make it on screen (except in poorly done tellings of a prior age ).