DoctorAtomic

That's what he's been doing for years. We were all yammering on and on for weeks about why not use the church as a school. He could teach basics. Why can't he work freelance for newspapers and wires in 1980?

I think it was an episode number of Brazzos.

I did know there were 8 either. They're going to have to cover a ton of ground if we're only getting 8 per season. I would bet Moiraine finds out down the line, but Lindsay Duncan won't tell her. Maybe (unspoiled) she finds out when Lindsay Duncan passes or something.

Kudos all around for the right calls. I still will keep and share the feather in my cap for Ben talking to the cookie. I was pleased to see that the show did have a good opening night. It sounded to me at first that they were going to be a possible series ender, but I guess not!

I know the writers couldn't actually write over the strike, but the opening 5 month recap was on fire. They had to have been filing those away in the memory banks. Even with the pumpkin spice. Everyone really was geared up.

At the end, didn't Linda say she would revisit the candy idea that Louise floated?

I'm fine if the show actually bumps her up at the expense of thinning out the Foresaken overall. She could have an angreal too. Easy way to introduce that into the show. Being one of the more 'famous' Forsaken, legend is going to inflate that.

I just don't think they have the disposable income.

I agree. Though I think she was surprised that Rand freaked out so fast. I didn't think she was serious about just caging Rand, but was trying to be glib about it. Rand isn't going to pick up on that. He also probably was worried about whether to mention the Foresaken are roaming around too. To be fair though, all the guys who could channel in recent history; Logain, caused a ton of political disruption, and they were false Dragons. They could be gentled. Clearly, Rand can't, but the taint is a documented fact. What can you actually do? He's wildly untrained. Certainly, caging him is not a good idea. Maintaining a shield for 24-7 isn't practical. I think she knew she blew it and just wanted to buy time. She should have had Moraine or Lan come into the meeting with him. I don't think anyone is really giving any consideration as to *how* this last battle is going to be executed either. Again, it's not unreasonable that the organized body of channelers on the continent would have a big part to play. They think they're going to lead it, but they're naive if they think all the nations are just going to fall in line. I tend to think the whole fiasco was more just really lack of any planning and some arrogance thrown in for good measure. The show hasn't really shown us the relationship with Aes Sadai with the day to day politics of these nations.

As much as I think Bob and Linda need to put their foot down way more, the kids counterargument that they're working in the restaurant for free and now they're being asked to do more work isn't unreasonable. Maybe if Linda couched it as they all were getting on a schedule for chores, including her and Bob, she might have sold it better. I will await with bated breath the spinoff - Regular Size Rudy: Western Lawyer.

The Foresaken have more skills than just the One Power. Far be it from me to disagree with Moiraine, but she was more referring to her mastery of the Dreamworld. Even falling asleep is dangerous. Also being the jilted ex-girlfriend of Lews makes her dangerous in a way outside of the One Power. Ishamael is thinking more strategically in freeing her now instead of a Demandred, who is really not going to be inclined to turn Rand to the dark at this stage. Once Falme happens, they're going to have to rethink the strategy.

If Thrawn wasn't in the sequels, do they ever make it back to the home galaxy?

Or maybe after the World Series. I was actually surprised to see the other shows on because I assumed they were waiting as well.

I like the callback to the bowling alley for Meg. Wow, they shredded Papa John's too. This was weird to actually have Meg get pregnant.

I agree she mishandled everything. I don't think she intended to start that way, but she ended up painting herself into a corner. The whole problem with the Tower is that they can't get over themselves, and I think the show was consistent here in setting that up. I really don't remember the relative strengths of the Foresaken, but I think Lanfear was tops of the women but that was 5th on the chart maybe. Franks knows all these kinds of details. She also carried an angreal too.

Linda being the disciplinarian was a different change of pace, but Louise taking over the story made sense. Rudy was the western lawyer! Nice Bryan Adams callback too!

Why no Great North tonight?

I was excited to see elephant toothpaste. Very popular around here. That was actually quite good satire.

I got it a little backward. She didn't 'let' them go through the waygate, per se. Yes, she compelled Moiraine first to shut the gate, but when Lanfear showed up, what was going to happen? Kill the Dragon? I don't think trying to go one-on-one with Lanfear was smart. The only escape is through the waygate. Siuan could have tried to buy some time. Sure, though, options were very limited, and at that point, she lost Moiraine. I was coming from the pov that Siuan really wasn't going to cage and shield Rand until the Last Battle. She was being droll with him, and he, still being only a 'boy' wasn't picking up on it, and he freaked out, so she shielded him to buy time to figure out what to do and get the whole story from Moiraine. 100% her fault because now he's not particularly inclined to work with the Tower. To be fair to Siuan, I said before that she might have thought by just the fact of him being the Dragon that he knew way more about channeling. She should have just invited him and Moiraine together. In hindsight, this was probably a good outcome. Siuan knows now firsthand that the Foresaken are no joke, and Lanfear wasn't ever considered one of the most powerful.

I did like Ruby's arc.

Is there a new episode tonight? My tivo says it's an hour earlier than the usual spot so I didn't know what was going on.

I did miss it because I asked about it here. This was much better because he made a sandwich for Moiraine. Think about that. Huge character enhancement for me because they had him make a sandwich. I didn't even remember he was an actual character in the books. Again, my memory is not great, but book 2 was a lot of 'Selene' playing damsel to Rand while they gallivanted through the portal stones. There wasn't much plot there except they were in Seanchan before we knew they were the Seanchan. The whole Tower politics never really grasped my interest, though I concede that the plot was necessary. I do agree that the show is doing a better job of setup. You do have the historical parallel of the two popes. Though from the show, Siuan is kind of limited in what she can do once faced with the actual Dragon. She told Rand what the Tower philosophy was for the Last Battle, but he got spooked and she had to shield him before she could really talk more about that. It's kind of on her there. I do think that she thought letting them all go through the waygate *with a Foresaken* was legitimately rash, but compelling Moiraine was clearly the wrong move, and she knows that. What does any Amerlyn do though? The Dragon is largely an academic construct. Until he's an actual person in front of you. You know you can't gentle him; you can't keep your strongest assets maintaining a shield on him 24-7 for the next what? 50 years? 100? You can't force him to channel, and he can't learn because you gentled everyone else that could teach him. Everyone has a game plan until you get punched in the mouth. All of that's going to be blowback and lead to the schism, but I'm not sure anyone else in that position would have a better idea. I think we all need to support Avs to read faster. Take a personal day.

I'd say no after Kanan sacrificed himself. It was legitimately a shock. Prior, he was kind of a typical teen that got swept up into the rebellion due to forced circumstances. Also Maul. Sabine was really put through the ringer when she was a teen. I'm of course digging way too much, but that's the point of this site. I would say that Sabine is kind of regressed for her age because of her past trauma. Not her fault at all. The wielder of the dark sabre you're basically under the mantle, or yolk, as the savior of Mandalore. She was a kid. Then you throw in basically her brother and best friend ripped himself out of her life. Credit to her for not blaming him, but clearly, and the show has done well here, she hadn't gotten over it. If you watched Rebels, Sabine handing over the map to Baylan was obvious. Why Ahsoka would have thought she would have destroyed the map is just patently obtuse. I think the criticisms of Sabine here are fair, but I don't think the show is providing enough context and largely has relied on viewers knowing Rebels.

Right. That too. Given Logain's reaction to being cut off, Moraine was way subdued. And like I said before, they showed the spark with the Mydraal. I liked Lan being all detective to figure it out, and then coaching up Rand.

I think she only had that one line. They really only were at the beginning of the books in the Prologues and the end. I get that they're supposed to be in the shadows, but they were written so oblique that I'd question whether Jordan really knew what to do with them as a whole. The main ones, obviously, and that worked well. Maybe like we were saying not having all of them on the show will help. We talked about 8; I'd even say 6. With Liandrin front and center, seemingly as the lead Black in the Tower, and quite clearly interacting with all the main players, Meseanna isn't necessary. We already speculated on that much earlier.