WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

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Stryker
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 6:34 am

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by Stryker » Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:00 pm

Mronz wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 3:41 pm
I'm wondering was there something visual, that indicated how when Eguaine tried to launch fire at the white cloak, how it did not hit him?
The description said, fire formed in her hand, she sent it towards the WC, but it vanished half way to him.
Hi Mronz,

She created a teeny tiny fireball and it flew toward him slowly, and had no effect. Like running the flame of a lighter across his chest quickly.

Katherine
Posts: 451
Joined: Mon May 18, 2015 9:10 pm

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by Katherine » Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:36 pm

elodie wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:31 pm
That episode did have me wondering if they are combining the Liandrin/Elaida character, which is a no from me.
** book/show spoilers maybe **





Liandrin was definitely not as built up in the books as she is in the show in terms of her direct relationships with other Aes Sedai. In fact do we even get introduced to her until TGH? Elaida would need to be introduced to the audience by now for anybody care about her actions in TGH/Season 2. She's not in the cast list at all for Season 1, unless I missed something. Other characters that were skipped we'll eventually see, and others we wont. Its rather crazy to cut Elaida out since she is such an important antagonist. If Liandrin takes her place this not only changes character roles, but it fundamentally changes why the White Tower is so dysfunctional through the entire series. Liandrin is /not/ Elaida. Her motivations and intelligence are WAY different than Elaida's in the books. Rather than spoiling anything, lets just say that Elaida was a narcistic fool while Liandrin is very deliberate and purpose-driven. Its Elaida that better represents what the Tower really is at this point in time.

Aira
Posts: 747
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:57 pm

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by Aira » Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:38 pm

Katherine wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 1:47 am
\It also seems that in a continuity error, Rand and Matt managed to cross the River Erinin to the east side when they caught their first vista of Tar Valon. Dragonmount is on the west side, which would have been the same side of the river they would have been on having left Andor. In order to get to the east side they would have to ford the Erinin unnecessarily.
I noticed that. I wouldn't call it a continuity error though, they just wanted that sweeping vista.

This was my least favorite episode so far, too. I would've cut some of the warder content and brought in a Brown or something, commenting about how much knowledge was lost and Foretellings or something. EDIT: or even introducing one or two of the Forsaken in another way.

I suspect Liandrin is going to be the replacement of Galina, somewhat.

Ashlee
Posts: 762
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:02 am

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by Ashlee » Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:23 pm

Katherine wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:36 pm
elodie wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:31 pm
That episode did have me wondering if they are combining the Liandrin/Elaida character, which is a no from me.
** book/show spoilers maybe **





Liandrin was definitely not as built up in the books as she is in the show in terms of her direct relationships with other Aes Sedai. In fact do we even get introduced to her until TGH? Elaida would need to be introduced to the audience by now for anybody care about her actions in TGH/Season 2. She's not in the cast list at all for Season 1, unless I missed something. Other characters that were skipped we'll eventually see, and others we wont. Its rather crazy to cut Elaida out since she is such an important antagonist. If Liandrin takes her place this not only changes character roles, but it fundamentally changes why the White Tower is so dysfunctional through the entire series. Liandrin is /not/ Elaida. Her motivations and intelligence are WAY different than Elaida's in the books. Rather than spoiling anything, lets just say that Elaida was a narcistic fool while Liandrin is very deliberate and purpose-driven. Its Elaida that better represents what the Tower really is at this point in time.
For all we know, Elaida will be introduced when they introduce Elayne, which fits. We barely see Elaida in EoTW and I’m pretty sure she minimally in TGH if memory serves. That being said, I agree that they are better off collapsing Liandrin and Alviaran than removing Elaida.

iria
Posts: 504
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:35 pm

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by iria » Sat Dec 04, 2021 6:56 am

I enjoyed it a lot, I liked the look of TV and the Tower - wasn't really what I'd expected, but it did the trick for me with Dragonmount in the background, felt Minas Tirithish to me. I found Loial to be pretty on point, would've liked him to be bigger and a bit more...non human looking but the dialogue and his mannerism won me over, they nailed him I think.

I liked the few shots we got of Padan Fain, I only caught one of them but am told he was in two scenes, so will have to look for him on my rewatch. I would've liked to have seen more of the Tower. I feel like they should've introduced some of the dynamics between novices/accepteds etc. or at least shown some scurrying around curtsying but I guess that will be saved for when Egwene joins up. I'm sure some of it was filmed but was cut due to runtime probably. The Tower also feels so empty, we haven't really seen any other Sedai/Warders other than the ones we followed from episode 4. Would have added so much more depths if they just had a 10 second panning around a huge library with Browns walking around and a bunch of Accepteds trying to imitate them or something. Or a quick glance into the dining hall.

It doesn't bother me too much that they skipped out on Caemlyn, we all knew there was going to be some major cut offs and they only have 3 episodes left to get to the EoTW, Shienar and the Gap. Granted its been 10 years since I last read the first couple books, but the only things that stand out for me from the Caemlyn sequence is Rand climbing the palace to watch Logain and falling down, meeting Elayne and the brothers.

Am enjoying Liandrin's character, I hope they follow through with the book version of her and not just have her become Elaida. But I guess that will have to wait for how they handle the whole Seanchan part of the story.
I really enjoyed the Whitecloak scenes, but damn Valda, a blademaster, losing his cool and freezing up because he sees a man with some funny eyes...really didn't sit well with me. Also wish the wolves were bigger, on par with the direwolves from GoT, they really don't seem too menacing.

Agree that they spent a fair bit too much time on the whole Stepin/Kerene storyline, but hopefully it was enough to hammer it home to the audience that the bond between sedai/warder isn't easily broken, to me I'd have loved if he just went into the berserk frenzy in episode 4. We would've gotten to know that the loss of the Sedai is enough to break the mind of their Warder and we'd have seen why Warders are revered as some of the best fighters in the world - which I still think is severely lacking.

I did not like Lan breaking down as he did. I would have much preferred a single tear from him, and then showing Moiraine being a complete mess. Maybe some line from Nynaeve saying "how can he be so unaffected" and then panning to Moiraine barely able to speak saying something like "his pain is deeper than blah blah". Lan has not been stonefaced enough for me :(

All in all I found the two latest episodes a fair bit better than the first three. So I'm hopeful for the series going forward, some things are still left wanted, but for now it is about what I expected of the show and I'm excited for the next couple. I'm just happy to see WoT on the big screen.

halfhand
Posts: 180
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:12 am

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by halfhand » Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:41 am

Daniel Henney has TVLine's Performance of the week for his Lan Mandrogan
https://tvline.com/2021/12/04/daniel-he ... ode-5-lan/

"Henney’s performance for much of the episode was wordless yet incredibly moving, starting with how Lan gradually turned his head to regard Moiraine as Stepin laid Kerene to rest."

Honorable mentions: Wesley Snipes (Netflix's True Story), Jennifer Tilly (ScyFy/USA Chucky), Cress Williams (The Flash)

Aira
Posts: 747
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:57 pm

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by Aira » Sun Dec 05, 2021 4:22 pm

iria wrote:
Sat Dec 04, 2021 6:56 am
I did not like Lan breaking down as he did. I would have much preferred a single tear from him, and then showing Moiraine being a complete mess. Maybe some line from Nynaeve saying "how can he be so unaffected" and then panning to Moiraine barely able to speak saying something like "his pain is deeper than blah blah". Lan has not been stonefaced enough for me :(
I think grief is also a cultural thing, not just emotional. There are so many grieving rituals that I've just seen on the news. Like women vocalizing, or people throwing themselves on a coffin. Tearing clothes is one, too. People slapping themselves. Combined with the comment about 'warding off the Forsaken' and the Malkieri ritual, I have a feeling they are trying to introduce future equivalents of real world religious rituals, as opposed to just Dark bad, Light good. Like the Shienarans have the phrase "may the last embrace of the Mother welcome you home" and Aiel have the "life is a dream from which we all must wake before we can dream again".

krul
Posts: 331
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:21 pm

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by krul » Sun Dec 05, 2021 5:42 pm

was this really the first time anyone said blood and ashes???

i miss mat's blood and bloody ashes and his dice and his humor

tar valon sucked it was less pretty than emonds field so much for the most splendid city in the world :v

krul
Posts: 331
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:21 pm

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by krul » Sun Dec 05, 2021 9:11 pm

Aira wrote:
Sun Dec 05, 2021 4:22 pm
iria wrote:
Sat Dec 04, 2021 6:56 am
I did not like Lan breaking down as he did. I would have much preferred a single tear from him, and then showing Moiraine being a complete mess. Maybe some line from Nynaeve saying "how can he be so unaffected" and then panning to Moiraine barely able to speak saying something like "his pain is deeper than blah blah". Lan has not been stonefaced enough for me :(
I think grief is also a cultural thing, not just emotional. There are so many grieving rituals that I've just seen on the news. Like women vocalizing, or people throwing themselves on a coffin. Tearing clothes is one, too. People slapping themselves. Combined with the comment about 'warding off the Forsaken' and the Malkieri ritual, I have a feeling they are trying to introduce future equivalents of real world religious rituals, as opposed to just Dark bad, Light good. Like the Shienarans have the phrase "may the last embrace of the Mother welcome you home" and Aiel have the "life is a dream from which we all must wake before we can dream again".
yeah thats how i took it too

same with a lot of things so far

theyre doing clunky worldbuilding whatever stuff so they can do it better later but its

not good

krul
Posts: 331
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:21 pm

Re: WoT: Season 1 Episode 5 "Blood Calls Blood" Discussion

Post by krul » Sun Dec 05, 2021 9:13 pm

isabel wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 1:32 pm
Yeah definitely an underwhelming episode ..too bad last episode set up expectations. I'm not too disappointed since overall still happy to watch the story.

My sense with the stepin side story is that they wanted to show the bond and consequences without sacrificing any main characters, so now the implications of the bond can be magnified and dramatised without any major ..cuts. I feel though they could have got to the Amyrlin by now. Rand is doing Nothing. I thought liandrin gave nynaeve the hint so that she could follow her to rand or some such. Instead she was just being helpful? :d

Anyway seems like a setting up stuff episode. But a lot of scenes were not much happens except mild foreshadowing.

I think the biggest let down for me was that the sets/architecture looked so obviously staged. The spaces were so narrow and I guess made for camera. It works when it's the deck of a spaceship but these buildings looked like miniature versions of the real thing. Maybe on rewatch it will look better but tar valon looked like scenes from fake Disney alladin. Indoor shots, the screen looked so packed with pillars. Same with the first view of the tower. It is supposed to be this grand huge thing and it looks Nothing grand from the outside. WT is supposed to be as tall as the great pyramids I think. It looked nowhere as imposing.

I don't feel like it's creating immersion so far and I realy still think the problem is the protagonist lack. Who are we supposed to side with is still not clear. Moiraine being secretive discounts her because we don't know her motivations. Rand looks very pretty had such filler sidekick lines for Mat who was also barely there. The fact that rand looks like an aielman seems to cause no problem in tar valon when he runs around uncloaked..eesh!

I guess nynaeve or egwene are better protagonist points, but again barely there. Alanna has more screen space then nynaeve it feels like.
yes

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