rab01

I read the books only once and basically as they were coming out so I don't have a good memory of any of it. Between that gap and the show's revisions, I'm pleasantly unable to predict what's going to happen in any particular episode. Thank you all for reminding/teaching me about parts of the books that I missed or forgot. For me, the show is in an enviable position in that Jordan created an interesting world, with some interesting characters and a LOT of scenes and plot points that would be cool to see on-screen but he marred many of his female characters with similar irritating ticks and descriptions of their physical attractiveness (so much that I suspected underlying author sexism, which was probably unfair to him) and he couldn't edit himself so the show has the unusual opportunity to improve on the source material. After season 1, I thought that despite some good casting choices (perhaps other than Rand) they had missed that chance but season 2 was so much better. (Also, the actor playing Rand has improved.) I do wonder whether the show works for someone who hasn't read any of WoT though ...

According to articles about the show, Prue tests her own challenges the week before to make sure they're doable within the time limit. (They don't mention whether Paul does the same.) So, it sounds like no one from the show tests whether someone going in blind can do it in time on the first try. (The sample we see is made by staff on the day of filming but not as a test, just to have a pretty example to show on-screen.)

GBBO used to have masterclass episodes where the judges show how they would have handled the challenge. Does that still exist? If so, I want to watch Paul Hollywood do this week's technical. I'm guessing he can but I still want to see it actually done. Separately, I may be the only one here but I like Christy so I'm happy she managed to survive. (I think Matt is actually a weaker baker.) Did anyone else feel like Noel was over the line in refusing to leave her alone when she asked for space to do her work?

Isn't he more than that but those memories have been deleted?

Was I the only one who thought Halbrand was styled to look a lot like Aragorn when he was talking with Galadriel? Nobody checking the package is a little annoying but I'm not too hung up on it because it only had an impact on us the viewers. If they had checked it immediately after Adar's capture, it still would have been too late to stop the catastrophe. The show did it to make a surprise sad ending and didn't think about how it would make the characters look dumber than they are.

It looks to me like the tree is dying for the same reason that the tree in Numenor shed leaves, that the elves are abandoning their duties and turning away from honor by sticking their heads in the sand about the rising dark. It feels narratively wrong for it be something that can be cured by stuff, rather internal struggle and growth. I've only read the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and a few of the short stories so can someone more versed tell me whether this show's treatment of Mithril is in Tolkein's work? It feels like a retcon invented by the Show. Maybe to make Bilbo/Frodo's chainmail retroactively more special - like a Marvel movie's treatment of Infinity Stones or Thor's Hammer.

I think you hit on the reason for the styling changes in your comment. The Goth costume was a great pairing with the comic personality but it's not as perfect for this characterization and this actress' choices. I appreciate the disappointment when a perfectly realized image in the source material is scrapped for a different vision but I respected Gaiman's and the others' choices here. Death was my favorite character in the comic but for this show, set in the present day, rather than when I first read the comics, I think I prefer this version of her.

I blame the actress for that. The dialogue and plot as written fit an Egwene who is more confident, strong, and determined than any of the guys. It's the actress' choices in her reaction shots and voice that so often read as timid little girl. (Just picture the actress playing Nynaeve saying and doing the things that Egwene has done ...)

I read Eye of the World twenty years ago so I'm hazy on it but -- (1) didn't the book include long scenes of Lan teaching Rand how to sword fight and Moraine teaching him to find the void? (2) Didn't the final fight involve using the only pure source of male power left in the world and a power battle written as something like a mystical sword-fight? (which would've been more entertaining than this snoozefest). IF so, I'm fine with moving Rand faster towards madness but losing the training scenes makes it seems like knowledge and practice are irrelevant when it's kind of important throughout the books (and it's really stupid writing to have a chosen one who knows everything he needs without being taught). Also, am I the only one who thinks that this "final" battle scene, besides being really dull, also borrows a bit from the actual final battle at the end of the series and will push them to change that too?

They needed better editing on this show. It's been edited as if it's a prestige drama with Oscar-winning actors in it - long close-ups of the actors feeling their emotions - but 3 of the 5 youngsters (Rand, Perrin, Egwane) aren't up to it yet. It made the whole thing a little sleepy. I agree with everyone else who thought this ending was a bit anticlimactic.

Let's now turn to him having been one of the most decorated astronauts in the program while she was a trainee when they hooked up and he was 20 years older than her (at a guess since they look about the same age now and he cryoslept for almost two decades). That's really not a great basis for a relationship. Also, did she start dating John the minute after that rocking chair scene with her and baby Judy? Cause Judy and Penny look like they're only a couple years apart.

I think the whole "Ship of the Dead" and sweeping the battlefield to collect their honored dead is diametrically opposed to that part of TNG era Klingon lore. It must be another thing scheduled to change in the time between Disco and TNG. As for times of famine, they were explicitly said to be starving on that ship in the aftermath of the Battle at the Binary Stars so it would make sense from a plot-continuity standpoint (though I agree with the poster above who said that it was just a way to make them super eeeevil).

I'm really surprised by the amount of dislike expressed for the finale. Not that there is anything wrong with those opinions - Everyone is more than entitled to their own opinion and if a piece of entertainment doesn't entertain you then, for you, it failed. - It's just that I felt like this was the proper ending for the series; it made me tear up, it was occasionally funny, and it fit with the philosophical ideas they played with throughout the series. To the extent I had issues with the finale it was little things like Eleanor seeming less at peace than the other three at the end, or Tahani not being shown to ever have a boyfriend/girlfriend that she vibed with, or there being relatively little surprising in it. As for whether the time in the good place was insufficiently set up or too rushed, the show kept burning through plot faster and faster throughout its seasons so less time in the Good Place made a lot of sense. Honestly, I half expected them to never show the good place because it's more challenging to depict heaven than hell on screen. Also, they never showed the true tortures of hell so they also never showed the really sybaritic pleasures of heaven -- just the emotionally important moments for the characters. That felt ... balanced ... to me.

We were joking about Wild Wild West.

Man, The Cold Equations is a brutal short story and should absolutely be required reading for the Robinsons.