The Wheel of Time (TV Series) The Eye of the World (2021) User Reviews

Trying to Re-write What Already Works!

[spasek · 6/10 · 26 December 2021]

In a recent review of a previous episode, I talked about writers who take liberties with stories. Some are good. Some aren't. Now, as I already stated numerous times, I don't expect the series to be exactly like the books. However, there are elements in Jordan's story that should be left intact; in short, don't change what works.

Moiraine and Rand set off to deal with the Dark One (who ends up being as intimidating as a house cat). I'm not sure why they cast an actor who has no screen presence whatsoever. I mean, this is the Dark One, for goodness sakes! And I'm still waiting for the Forsaken to show up. I sure hope they haven't been forgotten, especially since the screenwriters re-wrote the ending of the "The Eye of the World."

Someone else pointed out something quite obvious: why should an army set off to fight against the Fades and Trollocs, when five women channeling wiped out the entire army in a single blow? What was the point of that? Let me also point out that the battle wasn't very impressive by previous film and show standards at all.

Still, I did enjoy the sequence with Rand and Moiraine. This wasn't a bad ending, but it wasn't a great one either. Once again, we get a fairly hurried script...trying to cram everything into a single hour...it felt rushed again, as have many of hte previous episodes. The pacing for most of the series has been off and inconsistent.

One of the greatest fantasy series ever written deserves better. And frankly, so do we.

In the Wheel Of Time detail is everything!

[togetherwezeek · 5/10 · 25 December 2021]

What made the books so good was the detail and world building. They have rushed the story and changed a lot if things. The editing is questionable at points too.

I was very excited after episode 4. I am now realizing that each season probably should have at least 20 episodes. Detail is everything in the books. Unfortunately, we are getting a watered mediocre version of the story.

Meh

[Stollie69 · 5/10 · 24 December 2021]

Straying so far from the source material you can't even call this an adaptation anymore.

I'm not sure what this show is aiming for, however, it is definitely not attempting to visually represent the source material, which is very disappointing given how well it would translate.

To put it bluntly, the sheer arrogance of the people producing and writing this show to think they can tell a more interesting story than the original author, by changing large chunks of the story or changing core concepts of the world building work is astoundingly short sighted.

Imagine if they did this to lord of the rings? It would never have been the masterpiece of film that it is today. It would have been a mockery and a disappointment, much like this show.

The people making this show need to realise they are not as gifted or as talented as the guy who started this journey in the first place. If you're going to adapt a great story to film written by a great author, do it right, or don't do it at all.

Hectic, chaotic, good, bad... Rushed.

[Muromets · 24 December 2021]

Side note - i am yet to read the saga. And I am definitely going to read it now, cause so many book readers are lamenting the far superior quality of the RJ's work, when compared to this adaptation. And yet, I think I can understand their pain and frustration, can relate. For I've read "Witcher" and "A Song Of Ice And Fire" and saw the slow collapse of the "GoT" after season 4 and "Netcher" collapse after... well, immediately, from the very first episode of the very first season.

By The Wheel, what a long introduction. But i am done whining and rambling, I promise.

Now, back to the last episode of the first season.

While there was no hilarious stuff, like pregnant redheaded terminator from previous episode, there still were some things that you may call amusing. Like army of the dark storming the defenses head-on, without any rams, ladders or other siege equipment. The defenders are not in a better mental or physical shape - crossbows only, no moats, no boiling oil, no deep moisty pits filled with wooden stakes. Good thing that some trollocs (I think...) are caring torches, so crossbowmen could hit them with bolts easier. How thoughtful of them! Still, defences are being demolished by the invader, ripped apart and horde is pressing forward.

Only to be obliterated by five ladies that can do magic lightning. Now - sure thing, these fine brave women basically sacrificed themselves (two survived, though... well, one, another got resurrected later on), but I just have to ask... could not you like, begin with this? Like get your channeling-capable asses to the ramparts and do the lightning storm BEFORE the men had to die? Start with this shtick, do it from the get go? Hell, maybe combine magic offensive with non-magic defensives? In that case casualties could have been kept at the minimum and you all could return to the city.

Cause in the city... Well, fellows, in the city the darkfriend merchant (tall thin black dude... don't remember his name... come to think of it, I don't remember the names of majority of characters...weird) is running amok in the company of two nazguls (or whatever they are called). He is stabbing ogre-dude with a dagger, he is stealing some neat horn, he is provoking widowed-smith-dude into joining the dark side (it has cookies, it is known). Fabulous douche! Actor did a really good job, truly!

And now... not it is time to talk about The Dark One. He reminded me of a sketchy salesman who is trying to foist you a discounted vacuum cleaner or timeshare to some fine tropical island that just endured through major outbreak of leprosy. Not. Convincing. At all. I mean, actor is doing not bad of a job, but the lines and the scenes were kind of... meh. The Dark One is attempting to lure and seduce Redheaded Dude (who found out that he is Dragon Reborn like yesterday and was not taught how to channel and use magic AT ALL) to do his biddings, but Redheaded Dude eventually sees through the not-so-elaborate-veil-of-lies and uses the deus-ex-machina-plot-device to seal The Dark One back.

Oh, and The Dark One took Rosamund Pike's abilities to hocus-pocus, so she is all out of batteries. We have one good humane and sincere scene with her and Stoic Samurai Dude, while Redheaded Dude is leaving his friends behind to deal with upcoming madness alone (and he will go mad, since the source of male magic is poisoned, if I understood correctly).

In the end an armada of warships is arriving to the shores and ship mages do a tidal wave to slay a lonely girl, that played on the beach. Sheesh. Talk about overkill!

Whate else... ah, the scene that i really liked! In the very beginning we have this 3000-years old flashback. And - ta-da! - we see the original Dragon, before the breaking of the world and contamination of male's source of magic. He is talking in some forgotten tongue with main lady mage and through the windows - my, oh my ! - we may witness some trully high-tech civilization, you know like Star Gate Ancients level, or at least 23-th century Star Trek Earth stage of development. Neat! That gives the audience all the right idea of how much humanity has lost and how much it has yet to rebuild. Sheesh! Very well done.

That's it. This is the end. Of the first season. Well, it was... confusing.

Big budget finale, writing falls flat

[Jiggym4n · 6/10 · 28 December 2021]

As a book reader, I had a glimmer of hope that episode 8 could right some wrongs and finally start to establish Rand and what being TDR (The Dragon Reborn) means, after the reveal in episode 7.

Unfortunately, the finale pushed me over the edge. It started with sending all the men to die at the Gap, and Lord Agelmar losing to one trolloc spear. The tactical stupidity of this when the female channelers were able to destroy the entire army was comparable to the horseman charge at the battle of Winterfell in GoT's final season.

In the books, defending the Gap was the only option until Rand dealt with Ishamael, rocked up and saved the day. My theory is that the show backed itself into a corner with the fabricated TDR mystery, not allowing Rand's character to develop where it would seem possible for him to destroy the Trollocs. This gives him an arc in the second season; learning how to access Saidin. That's my only real explanation for why they might have made this change, aside from the clear desire to 'power up' the female characters, when honestly they didn't need it. I am now sure that Rand will be underpowered for the whole series, and will lack self-determination.

Looking back on the episode, the nail in the coffin has to be the opening scene introduction of Lews Telamon and the Age of Legends. The show insinuates that the Age of Legends flourishes whilst the dark one is free, and that Lews' plan to cage him was a reckless, arrogant action. Nevermind that in the books Lews WAS the Tamyrlin seat, and caging the dark one was a desperate attempt during very dark times. Again, it is hard to tell if this change is simply to empower the female Tamyrlin, or a genuine misunderstanding of the plot in the books. They call Lews TDR, when he is simply the "Dragon". And the Tamyrlin also comes across as pretty stupid, seemingly understanding what will happen if she does not aid Lews, but declining to do so anyway. Where is the logic, and why does this show insist on change where it is not needed?

There is still time to fix this, but I doubt it will happen.

possibly the worst ending

[greyskull-983-725347 · 8/10 · 24 December 2021]

All my reviews are public and everyone can see that they are super positive and with a rating of 10/10 on all seven episodes so far but the finale was absolute trash.

To be honest, at first I thought I was wrong and I played another series the opening was so bad. Latra Posae Decume is maybe one of the greatest Aes Sedai of all time and maybe is behind of creations of Choedan Kal but there is now way she knows what will happen if Lews Therin and his Hundred Companions go alone and that the Dark one will corrupt the male side of the one power and they will go mad this was so low level writing. I was surprised that she didn't tell him she would found the Red Adja so we could chase you after going mad. There was so better ways to give as something that make sense from the Age of Legends

I was ok with the changes so far because well this was Robert Jordan world even if not exact his story but this episode is just low level trash created by low level writer like Rafe Judkins that maybe believe that he is the dragon reborn but well he is not ... and I really feel sorry for the amazing cast this show have.

In the world of Robert Jordan The Blight is vast with the size of the United States and here it is with the size of Central Park in New York is such joke. The Eye of the world is in Malkier's backyard and Lan doesn't know where it is. And what a trace Moiraine leaves that anyone can follows her ??? Are we in Hansel and Gretel fairy tale.

Moiraine gives Rand a male sa angreal ? This was maybe the top of the stupidity or maybe how "the dark one" cut her from the one power.

I feel like " The Dark one" was taken from a Turkish soap opera and no Forsakens ???

Loial and so many characters that are important for the story got killed in a so stupid situations with no reason.

The scene of Nynaeve, Egwene and 3 others poor women was so bad like stolen from other tv series.

The only good moment in this episode was with Padan Fein.

After watching this episode 4 times I think Rafe Judkins' idea for this episode is as follows.

Ishamael manipulated Siuan dreams and the White Tower's knowledge of the Eye of the World so that They thought it was the prison of the dark one. In fact this big Aes Sedai symbol on the ground is the first seal and the entire idea of Ishamael here was not to turn Rand to the side of the shadow but to make him channel and break it so let him and the other forsaken free. He didn't even try to stop him or defend himself, he just sat there and smiled as the explosion from the stupid sa angreal burned him to the ground. I think even Moiraine might have realized it in the end. And well this idea is kind of really good for the story but was done on this horrible way and didn't work.

Another little theory I have and I hope is true because give me little hope is that The golden circle that Lews Therin has on his fingers in the prologue and later shown in the hand of Ishamael is The Ring of Tamyrlin a relic long lost and is sa angreal of immense power. This will make sense how Ishamael half-sealed in the Pattern is so powerful and cuts Moiraine from the one power like she is nothing. People who are familiar with the world of the Wheel of Time know that when someone holds the one power it is not so easy to be cut and I am sure at this very moment Moiraine hold as much as she can.

A rushed and confusing ending to the first chapter of this series.

[Muxje · 6/10 · 25 December 2021]

I felt that the series was picking up nicely with episode 6, but looking back, I think it would have been better to have this season finale spread out over 2 or even 3 episodes rather than the one we have been given. Not the first time I've made this observation: at times, this series has felt cheap and rushed despite the generally excellent costumes and backdrops, and I could not quite put my finger on it why that is.

But after this episode I think I know what it is. There is a serious lack of world building. The White Tower, pretty much the political center of the world, doesn't get much attention. The ajahs are largely left unexplained. Fal Dara is "just there", no time is spent expanding on the significance of the city of its people. Min tends bar in a generic Ren Faire tavern; they don't even do establishing shots of the place. Everything is given the same lack of attention as the heroes are whisked from one location to another, without giving these locations any sort of color or place in the world. Similarly, the characters themselves are given little time to develop. There's a lack of motivation, there's little sense of real stakes or choices and consequences. Sometimes the series feels like an expansive sitcom.

The battle at the pass was equally rushed, while this should have been an epic set-piece. How much better would a narrowly won victory by the people of Fal Dara have been; after all, that lot is reknowned for holding against the Blight. Instead, a handful of Aes Sedai win the day, not without cost, but not with great effort either. All great fantasy works define their own brand of magic not by all the awesome things it can accomplish; believable magic is defined by its limitations. If the only limitation is that the bad guys wield an equal amount of magic, you end up not with a great work of fantasy, but with a superhero comic book story. As far as the One Power goes, that scene kind of jumped the shark.

The cliffhanger at the end of the season finale perfectly exemplifies the problem with this series. After seeing that, I can imagine that the average viewer is left with some questions. Where are the Far Western Shores in relation to our heroes? What are these people doing here? Who even are these people? And why should we care? Then there's another instance of the writer trying to "improve" upon the book: the Damane in the book wear leashes which would instantly make the nature of their role clear to the viewer, and where channeling women stand in Seanchan society. But perhaps the writer thought that would be a bit too explicitly objectifying in this day and age: a woman on a leash? Nope, guess not, Rafe knows best.

The events in the last two episodes deserved a little more time and attention instead of turning it into this confusing mess; the arrival of the Seanchan was best left to the start of the next season. All in all a perplexing and rather unsatisfying ending to a season that definitely had potential.

Reinventing the Wheel

[bluenine-2 · 2/10 · 24 December 2021]

A bit underwhelmed...

Let me start with the positives. There were some good bits in it. I liked the cold open, and the fact that it was in the old tongue. It was awesome to see the future in the past. Ending the episode with the Seanchen invasion was a good idea too.

But unfortunately the changes to the book by the writers were their undoing, as the story is sacrificing logic for cheap thrills and needless drama. After a great episode 7, this one underwhelmed. Key issues:

1. That battle needed to be epic. It just wasn't. The CGI looked cheap and unconvincing. Maybe Brandon should teach his laws of magic to Rafe. Every time they solve an impossible situation with an explosion of unexplained power, the story dies a little. The best scene of the whole season (blood snow cold open in Episode 7) didn't have any use of magic - that should give them a clue. STOP USING MAGIC AS A CRUTCH FOR YOUR POOR WRITING. Remember, you have an amazing and well loved source material at your disposal.

2. They have turned Moiraine into an idiot who has no knowledge of the prophecies, no plan, just going to the eye with a hope and a prayer that something will happen. Her big plan was to hold a knife to Rand's throat when the "dark one" shielded her - did she really think the "dark one" cannot take the knife away? Another example of poor writing. Moiraine is supposed to have dedicated her life to this mission, did she learn nothing in the last 20 years? This episode ruined Moiraine a bit for me.

3. If Loial is dead, so is this series - so I am sure he isn't and this was just another bit of that annoying needless fake-out drama where the writers keep trying to make WOT look like the grim-dark GOT. WOT isn't GOT, its different and as great. I wonder how much Amazon interference is the cause of these bad "shock factor" plots, coz surely as a fan of the books Rafe would not do this?

4. Nynaeve looked dead at one point, only to be magically healed. I'm hoping Egwene hasn't learnt how to bring back the dead, coz thats what it looked like. Please refrain from these cheap fake-outs for shock factor, it detracts from the show. Also Nynaeve "healing" Egwene from burning while being in a circle led by someone else is possibly the biggest departure from how one power works in the books, it destroys an epic scene of sacrifice from the books later - why? Just for some cheap drama? Please stop using magic as a crutch for poor (re)writing.

Loved the Seanchen ending. Did miss the leashes though. In the books, the leashes on the Damane made it all so horrifying and repulsive. If you wanted a real shock factor, that was it - seeing Aes Sedai on a leash. I think Rafe & team missed a trick there.

Just a few changes and this episode could have worked:

• Add one epic sword fight between Lan and a fade in the blight with the background of the 7 towers of Malkier
• Change the awful battle to one hopeless/selfless suicide charge of the cavalry on the trollocs to give civilians more time to flee - a bit like Faramir's charge in LOTR
• Tone down Nynaeve's burning out, no fake-outs pls
• Add the leashes on the damane

Thats it. Just those changes could have made it a 9/10 for me instead of the current 6/10.

Overall feel a bit let down. Wish I had the power of balefire so that I could use it on this episode. Now I can't un-see this. I was so looking forward to watching the season again over the holidays, but after this finale, I just don't want to.

Solid end to a fantastic first season, can't wait for season two

[BishopBBlack · 9/10 · 24 December 2021]

This episode gave me a speech I've been waiting all season for. That's it, that's the whole review, nothing could ruin this episode for me after I got those lines.

Ok, no, that's not the whole review.

I greatly enjoyed this episode. There's the speech I mentioned at the start. There's the women of Fal Dara. *whistles* There's finally a confrontation that's been brewing all season. The arrival of what is sure to be (one of) next season's main antagonists put a huge grin on my face.

I do wish that the other showdown between two certain people had been a bit more spectacular, and the moment between two others right near the end had been... I don't know, I can't really put my finger on what I didn't like about it. My usual rating is a ten, because my enjoyment is always a ten. And here, it's pretty close. But not quite. So I give it a nine.

A mediocre season and finale

[Dannyboi94 · 6/10 · 24 December 2021]

I haven't read the books, so I don't know much about this show, but so far, I'm not all that interested. I heard this was supposed to be the next Game of Thrones, and it most definitely is not. That doesn't make the show bad, there are several things I like about the show, but overall, The Wheel of Time is.... Average.

The characters are all bland and boring, with the exception of Matt, but we don't really get much time with him. Most of the actors aren't very good either, even Rosamund Pike, as great as she is, isn't all that good here. The world building is bad, the story is muddled and all over the place. The editing is awful and jarring.

As for the good things, the visuals, costumes, sets, and music are all very good. You can tell Prime put a lot of money into this show, because visually, it's beautiful.

I've seen a lot of complaints about the show being woke, and there are definitely some elements of that here and there, but most of the time it can be avoided, but others, it will make you rolls your eyes. I know some of the characters were race-swapped from their book counterparts, but this didn't bother me, since I don't know anything about this story, or the characters. And even by the end of the season, I still don't know anything.

The Wheel of Time will never match that GoT had done, hell, not even GoT itself could match how good it was, and I doubt another TV show will manage to top what it did, at least not for a while, so The Wheel of Time needs to stand on it's on two feet, instead of trying to fill that void. It feels like a carbon copy of Lord of the Rings and GoT, and it needs to do neither.

6/10.

The Wheel...Fell Off

[kierran89 · 4/10 · 24 December 2021]

I will preempt my review by saying that I've positively reviewed a couple of episodes this season (despite often fast and loose source material deviations).

I'm not hating on this episode because of politics (even though it's in your face at times), I'm negatively reviewing this episode because the arrogant and egotistical show runner thinks his story is better than the story of a novelist who put his heart, soul, and nuance into creating a beloved book series that has, and will continue to, stand the test of time for generations.

I've enjoyed some of the small changes made throughout the 1st season - it's completely understandable and expected for changes to be made when adapting a book into a TV show. But what I don't enjoy or find acceptable is widespread story archs being amended to suit a political narrative, and characters behaving like alien versions of themselves.

Message to the show runner: if you think you are genuinley so amazing at telling stories, why don't you create your own book series or TV show and fill them full of your amazing ideas? Why do you think it is appropriate to co-opt an already amazing story and strip it down to fit your agenda? In particular, why do you think it's appropriate to do this under the false guise that you are a fan of the books and intended on doing a (in some way) genuine adaptation?

Bottom line: this season has shown a lot of promise at times and there were some genuinley great moments. But it is essentially Game of Thrones from season 6 onwards (although this show runner actually has the benefit of amazing source material to hide his inept story telling abilitiy, but has chosen not to use it).

Thoroughly enjoyable finale

[brian_spence_ni · 10/10 · 24 December 2021]

Deviates a bit from the book, but most of the build-up is out of the way, and we're getting to the action.

I can understand why people might be a bit annoyed at some of the storyline bridging to condense the plot into a more digestible package, but the core is there, and we're also now finally getting to some of the back-story.

Not completely sure where they'll be headed in season 2, but i'm excited to find out.

Twisted source material for political agenda.

[maciej-furst · 6/10 · 24 December 2021]

Was disappointed in this. The episode felt rushed and made badly, and honestly I think that is what happened because of cast leaving and COVID restrictions with them not being able to get enough people to work on this episode.

I think Rands plot was good in this episode, but that's about it.

The other thing I don't like is how they just manufacture drama that has nothing to do with the books, they need to stop this. It's unnecessary and even non book readers could tell what they are doing.

Off the Rails

[shawneuser · 4/10 · 2 January 2022]

The rollercoaster ride of Season 1 ends in disaster as a key cast departure, COVID, time and budget limitations and horrific writing decisions turned the finale into a crash landing.

The first episode disappointed, but its primary fault was simply trying to accomplish too much while setting up some good things. Things slowed down for next two episodes, allowing the well-casted characters and familiar story beats to take over, and peaking in the stellar episode 4.

The pace slowed down again, but the show moved away from the main characters in the books and frankly the books altogether, focusing on plotlines that left fans scratching their heads.

The ship appeared righted and hopes were rekindled by an excellent Episode 7 that led directly into the finale.

Unfortunately, then this happened. The challenges I listed at the top are not an excuse for the richest company in the world to release a finale of this poor quality. I watched the first episode of season 2 of The Witcher right after and was amazed at the disparity in quality between the two. The Witcher looked like a movie production while WoT looked like a show on the CW. The CGI for the trolloc army was a mess, so much so that it was an improvement when they shot the final charge in the dark so we couldn't see anything. The ladies standing exposed in the desert instead of up on the wall looked as stupid as it was. There really is no excuse for a series of this magnitude to put out a season finale that looked this cheap and poorly done. THIS is what people will remember from this season.

Unfortunately, the poor technical aspects aren't even the biggest problem. Virtually every scene is rife with idiocy starting with the opener where the OG Dragon, Lews Therin, is shown as the prideful and reckless Breaker of the World, rather than the desperate hero who successfully sealed the Dark One in the Bore, saving the world for 3,000 years. For a show reluctant to depict the One Power as binary, male and female, it sure doesn't mind setting men and women in opposition. And by the way, Lews Therin is the Dragon, not the Dragon Reborn.

That opening is a preposterous retconning of the lore. All to set up the prideful men don't listen to women theme that pervades this episode. That's what you want to end your first season on?

Things I actually liked - 1) Padan Fain - this actor is fabulous. Padan Fain incarnate.

2) Min getting out of dodge. Good move. Glad they showed it.

The list of infamy - in order of magnitude 1) Five non-Aes Sedai destroy an entire army of trollocs and fades. Why was the citadel ever built? Why have men been guarding the gap for thousands of years? Complete waste of manpower. Just call the White Tower and have them send over 5 Aes Sedai to do the trick. It seems pretty bleak for the Dark One. Not sure what everyone is so worried about. And what the hell do you need the Dragon Reborn for? There are hundreds of women who can channel. So, the dark armies are pretty much effed.

2) Egwene cures death. No training, no weaving, nothing. Just wanted it to happen, and it happened. Rey from Star Wars thinks this is ridiculous. Did she then cure Lady Amilisa and the others?

3) Rand does next to nothing. He resists the temptation of forcing Egwene into the horrible bondage of marriage and motherhood. But even in doing so his channeling breaks the seal, and Ishmael wins. Moiraine then lets the Dragon Reborn just walk away.

4) Lord Agelmar, one of the Great Captains. Leads a charge against the rear of his own keep. Then dies shortly thereafter. What a punk.

5) Perrin does nothing. There is no reason for this guy to be in the show right now. Padan Fain dumped some exposition on him and then walked away with the Horn of Valere.

6) Padan Fain and two Fades kill Loail, Uno and Ingtar. Ah, not even counting Perrin, in the books, it would take a lot more than that to kill those three. Considering the show was completely wasting Loail anyway, I am not that upset by his death, but really?

7) Rand tells Moiraine she thought it was Egwene. She agrees. Idiotic. Egwnee is less powerful than Nynaeve, as Moiraine has pointed out. That rules out Egwene. Simple.

8) Lan tells Nynaeve what he told her in the book. He won't be with her because he is fated to die. EXCEPT in the book he was sacrificing his love for her in order to protect her. In the show he had just slept with her. So, apparently he can sleep with her, just not stay with her. Not much of a sacrifice. More like a hit it and quit it. Very modern of him. The show continues to ignore how serious sex is in a world without birth control.

9) Lan was born in the Blight and probably knows more about it than anyone in the world, and yet, he needs Nynaeve to tell him how to track his own Aes Sedai in the Blight.

10) No Eye of the World. Shayol Ghul? WTH even was that?

Oh dear

[aarongallagher1 · 6/10 · 26 December 2021]

Was really enjoying the series so far, some bits more than others.

BUT the finish the series with such a clunker!

Oh my God! No excuses for that episode.

They better pick things up in season 2 damn quickly.

The writers did a great job bringing this show to life.

[sevojr11 · 10/10 · 24 December 2021]

I'm just in awe of how the writers wrote this episode. This show give me goosebumps, each and every episode from was written well. I just finished watching episode 8 and I didn't want it to end I want season 2 to come right now. The graphics and special effects are just great and this show know how to pull your stings with the Unexpected twist and turns.

I don't know how this show get so much hate when the episode actually good. Just because everything is not the way it is in the books doesn't mean the show is bad. If they made it just as it is in the books it would be boring. What The writers have done is made the show better with the changes they have made the show more interesting. Another 10 out of 10 episode. And if it was bad why does the show have 1.16 billion veiwing hours.

Wow

[aboalhyjaa · 7/10 · 24 December 2021]

I didn't read the books. And still found this episode worse than the ones before.

Very poor CGI, acting and very stupid scenes actually and if you watched the episode you'll know exactly what im talking about.

Felt like i was in a race in some parts of the episode, very very rushed just to make all the important things in the final episode, yet they failed to even make it a decent one.

Showrunner Rafe Judkins, the Betrayer of Hope

[william-egan · 1/10 · 27 December 2021]

Let me address various aspects of this travesty calling itself the Wheel of Time separately:

1) Plot/Fidelity to the overarching story

Lewis Therin was not called the Dragon Reborn, he was simply the Dragon. The dialogue with Larry Posae at the beginning was a gross oversimplification of the issue that led to the strike on Shayol Ghul and the taint on the male half of the One Power. ,Tara Posae was also NOT the Tamyrlin- the writers did that, supposedly to give her some measure of equality to the Dragon.

Rand and Moiriane walk through Tarwin's Gap into the Blight - which Is where this huge army of trollocs are supposed to be just there waiting, yet are nowhere to be seen.

The Sheinaran men, who have been defending the gap for hundreds of years, fall in a matter of minutes because they somehow decide that holding the Gap is better than consolidating their strength and defending the walls of Fal Dara.

Lord Agelmar, supposedly one of the great generals of the West, is an idiot,while his sister Lady Amalisa Can do no wrong (this by the way a gross character assassination from his portrayal in the books).

The Horn of Valere - no setup no real explanations, it's just there.

Emond's Field five - separated from each other in nonsensical and oftentimes contradictory ways.

An army of 10,000 - 20,000 trollocs defeated by a group of women, none properly trained or Aes Sedai, led by one (Amalisa) who was so weak in the Power she failed to be any more than a novice at the White Tower

Moiriane being Stilled? That has ramifications further down the line for the story. Or, as is increasingly becoming evident... the lack thereof fro. The writers' perspective.

Why would Ishamael/Dark One not just have bound Moiriane in weaves of Air, or killed her outright instead of just Stilling her? He certainly had the power to do so. Why risk having her slit Rand's throat at all?

Why kill (or 'fake' kill) , Uno etc. At all? If for cheap tension then all I can say is that would be par for the course in this (narratively)-cheap show.

And I could go on, but I think you get the point.

2) Pacing

No build up of tension for the battle. No one at this point cares for either Lord Agelmar or Lady Amalisa, so why spend so much time with them and then kill them? We still feel nothing - oh, expect for wondering at the writing skills of Rafe and his team....

No build up of tension with Rand and Moiriane and the Dark One at the Eye of the World. Instead the whole encounter felt.... flat. Not a fault of any of the actors, just the dialogue and the ways they chose to write the scene. Which brings me to

3) Dialogue - absolutely cringeworthy at times, plus the use of anachronistic swearing (from Perrin) instead of sticking to in-character words.

4) VFX - this is a $10M per episode show? That 'battle' looked like a third rate CGI company did it with effects that would only have been satisfactory 10+ years ago. Everything looked cheap, cheap,cheap.

Clearly Rafe Judkins lies to the fans when he said he would be faithful to the story and themes of Jordan. This episode alone makes a mockery of that claim. And as for the money to make this look and feel suitably epic? I wonder where it all went, as you clearly couldn't see it onscreen.

The only saving grace in this show has been their lead actors, who are all great. But even that doesn't help when you have writing and dialogue this dire. Amazon, how could you have let this one go so far off the rails?

It's a masterpiece! Ignore bad reviews and watch first

[hossamzayn · 10/10 · 24 December 2021]

Last episode is very beautiful with each detail and it makes me so excited for the next seasons .

Highly recommended for everyone specially fantasy lovers.

With every new episode they disappoint

[amancreative · 6/10 · 24 December 2021]

Wast of such a beautiful book, why the use such a boring dialogue and why this king talk so ucv with his sister which doesn't make any sense, it's better to watch Witcher one more time then wasting time on this.

Dissapointing Finale

[bbevis-47954 · 4/10 · 27 December 2021]

I have not read the source material so I can't judge the series story and characters beats based off that. Since episode 4 the wheel of time has successfully burned any momentum. The main problem with the Wheel of Time is writing and pacing. The writing is worse than the grammar in my reviews and these are supposed to be professionals. Everything is affected by the terrible writing. Character development, story, pacing and any reason to care about the fates of these characters.

Very good

[Truzoeka · 8/10 · 24 December 2021]

Loved it, really hope Loial is not dead.. Ffing weird how they dug up that chest like 3 times and then Perrin comes in to help for remaining 2 try's..

But otherwise super insane very well done Shappeux!!

Unspoken rules of series seem to be..

[ss-kiekies · 6/10 · 25 December 2021]

Is there a new rule that applies to series that determines that epic stories must be squashed into 8 1hour slots?

Why didnt they just add two episodes and make this series a bit heftier, give it a bit more weight and more of the original story?

This feels like a series that started off, ran along at a pace, paused on a few episkdes and then rushed to squish everything into 8 hours.

Not dreadful, not brilliant. Not GoT by a long shot and I am disappointed.

Wheel of Disappointment

[cemtrhn · 3/10 · 26 December 2021]

I recall how excited I was when they have announced an adaptation of the wheel of time book series. As a hardcore fantasy fiction reader I saw the series as a prelude for many to come, such as Forgotten Realms, Riftwar saga, Dragonlance and so on. If people liked this, imagine the material that could flow to the screen...

But no. They had to ruin a perfectly written world into a lacking brainchild of the series writers'. They took something solid and destroyed it with their egos. They did not only destroy the series, or the future of the actors but also destroyed the possibility of successful adaptations of other hardcore lore into the screen. This is just a mean buchery of high fantasy genre, nothing more.

ibuprofen or aspirin

[sydneyeng-70980 · 6/10 · 25 December 2021]

The episode is an arrangement of self sacrifice, family sentiment bound in duty before offering the last full measure of devotion, a villain's elaboration with a revelation into an enemy's motives and power; all with a center piece of being plied with your hearts desire over the fate of strangers, only to have that choice made with the intensity of choosing between ibuprofen and aspirin.- a choice I wished I had because this episode left me with a pain in my...