S01.E04: The Dragon Reborn

[Black Knight]

54 minutes ago, ursula said:

Am I missing something? because I thought Nynaeve was the Dragon after this episode but most of this discussion implies she's just a contender. 

I don't think people will feel certain until/unless Moiraine actually confirms.

[staphdude]

32 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

I don't think people will feel certain until/unless Moiraine actually confirms.

Moraine is just another Aea Sedai…The Dragon is unique and surpasses them all.

[Black Knight]

She's the POV character for viewers wondering who the Dragon Reborn is.

[staphdude]

11 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

She's the POV character for viewers wondering who the Dragon Reborn is.

They’re already too fragmented for Moraine to be the POV. 
 

the actions of the AES Sedai at the end of the episode just underscore why a dragon needs to emerge and provide some balance.

[DoctorAtomic]

To be fair without giving anything away, and this can be answered in the book thread easier, but I think the Knight meant Moiraine is basically the resident expert in Dragon Things. She's been dispensing information to the Two Rivers' people, and we've seen her talking to Lan. We started the show with her and him talking about all the searching they've been doing. She knew Logain wasn't the Dragon, for example, even when he was like, 'no really, the other dragons are talking to me'. No dude. Sorry. 

You need one character who knows something about what's actually going on. I mean, anyone can have an opinion on the dragon, but she's not an unreliable narrator in that sense. 

 

 

 

[staphdude]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

To be fair without giving anything away, and this can be answered in the book thread easier, but I think the Knight meant Moiraine is basically the resident expert in Dragon Things. She's been dispensing information to the Two Rivers' people, and we've seen her talking to Lan. We started the show with her and him talking about all the searching they've been doing. She knew Logain wasn't the Dragon, for example, even when he was like, 'no really, the other dragons are talking to me'. No dude. Sorry. 

You need one character who knows something about what's actually going on. I mean, anyone can have an opinion on the dragon, but she's not an unreliable narrator in that sense. 

 

 

 

Fair enough but this is this issue with having a fundamental knowledge of the story AND the fact that while Moraine dispenses some knowledge she is getting less screen time AND some of the other sisters seem rather sure of themselves as well.

[Black Knight]

Yes, DoctorAtomic is correct about how I meant it. There are many POVs, of course. But Moiraine is the entry point for viewers in regards to the Dragon Reborn and as such she is the POV for the viewers for that particular mystery, and her assessments given extra weight. And in addition to being the one who opens the show, Rosamund Pike is the one most prominently featured in the promotional materials as well as the biggest name in the cast, so I don't think her screentime flowing and ebbing amidst a very large cast of characters makes much difference to how her importance is perceived. She'll never be thought of as just another Aes Sedai. It's typical of shows with large casts that even the most central characters will sometimes hardly be seen for an episode or even a string of episodes.

[Anduin]

So the king of Ghaeldan, Miguel Alvarez. Anyone think he looks like Alexander Siddig? Best known as Dr Bashir from Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Not identical, but enough to be distracting.

[staphdude]

12 hours ago, Black Knight said:

She'll never be thought of as just another Aes Sedai. It's typical of shows with large casts that even the most central characters will sometimes hardly be seen for an episode or even a string of episodes.

I'll avoid any book talk but even in the context of this show, other than the Dragon, all characters start to get less prominent as the story fragments. It was true with GoT and really any massive world building story. Some may relate more to someone with a familiar face but that was always my complaint with how they lazily marketed this show.

[Humbugged]

1 hour ago, staphdude said:

I'll avoid any book talk but even in the context of this show, other than the Dragon, all characters start to get less prominent as the story fragments. It was true with GoT and really any massive world building story. Some may relate more to someone with a familiar face but that was always my complaint with how they lazily marketed this show.

Not in this case thought

[staphdude]

2 hours ago, Humbugged said:

Not in this case thought

4 episodes in and there are 3-4 storylines with clearly delineated scenes. Moraine is a participant in 1 one of them and even there is not the driver but simply engaging in her role as a sister and as a means to have others engage in generic storyline exposition. Given the season will have 8 episodes I would say character dilution is inevitable.

Edited November 29, 2021 by staphdude

[tennisgurl]

Another interesting episode, they are certainly making some changes to the book but they make me more intrigued then frustrated like in a lot of adaptations, they have stayed pretty true to the books but are also interested in doing their own thing. 

We got a lot of character moments this week, especially from our Two Rivers kids, and also a lot of exposition about the Aes Sedai and their relationships with their Warders. I totally caught a vibe between Lan and Nynaeve last episode, and the vibe was even stronger in this episode, they were majorly flirting by the fire and him being seriously hurt was what triggered her super healing power. The actors have great chemistry so I am really into seeing where that goes. 

We also see that the head of the run Aes Sedai is a major pain in the ass who's arrogance is inevitably going to cause everyone even more problems. She's so convinced of her own power that she thinks that she not only got a whole army who worship the guy they captured like a god to "run home to their mothers" but she also stupidly told him every single thing that they were planning because she was so convinced that no way could he still hear her. And yet even with all of these fuck ups I am guessing that she is going to learn precisely nothing. I do hope that this isn't the end of Logain though, I really like the actor who played him, with this really controlled sense of madness, but like he was really fighting to hold the full crazy back.

The magic battles look so cool, they have done a great job of making them look exciting. Too often magic battles can come off as people just standing around waving their jazz hands waiting for the special effects team to add sparkles in post, but the show is really selling the realism and the excitement of the fights.

Maria Doyle Kennedy is such a great actress that she really can sell living a pacifist lifestyle, without even weapons for self defense, in a fantasy world filled with marauding orcs, bandits, and all other sorts of evil running around. I wish we could keep her for longer. 

See Mat, this is why when your told not to touch anything at a magical location, you don't touch anything. I did really like everything with Rand, Mat, and Thom at the farmhouse, even if things ended pretty terribly for everyone. It looks like the monster killed the family, but Mat hasn't been doing too well ever since he got that knife...

It really amuses me that everyone can immediately tell the gang is from Two Rivers even as they awkwardly try to deny it. And that so much of the show is everyone going "nope nope nope" whenever some new monster attacks, that seems like a very reasonable response.  

Edited November 29, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Dobian]

I wonder how long this show can keep up this relentless pace.  The first  four episodes were jam-packed with adrenaline.  You look at GoT and with all the excitement it was still a slow burn kind of show.  WoT is like Fast and Furious by comparison.  I wonder how long Stepin has now that Karene's dead.  They really emphasized how Warders can't go on after their Aes Sedai passes.  I also wonder how long main group remains split up.  That part of it actually does remind me of GoT some where you have separate main plots happening in different parts of the story's world.  Mat and Rand should have stayed and helped Thom fight the Fade.  Yeah he told them to run for it but sheesh, three on one is a lot better odds than one on one.  Time to man up if you wan to take down those dark ones, boys!

Edited December 1, 2021 by Dobian

[Humbugged]

wrong spot

Edited December 3, 2021 by Humbugged

[Enero]

On 11/26/2021 at 1:33 PM, DearEvette said:

But this episode belonged to  Nynaeve!!!

She was my book favorite character and her braid/braids are iconic.   I loved seeing her One Power her Braids right out of their neat coil.  LOL.  And her look of shock, Moraine's look of shock, Lan's look of shock -- the sheer WTFery of everybody at that ending.  What a high to end the episode on.

This! I actually rewound that scene and watched it a couple of times because I loved it so much. 😂 I knew that Nynaeve was special and had some kind of power. And I knew her healing Lan was coming via her exhibiting some kind of power as soon as she starting saying “no.” 

I hate we lost Thom and Kerene.I really enjoyed both characters in the short time we had them.

[rmontro]

Good series so far.  But the actor who plays Perrin keeps walking around with his mouth hanging open, and I've got to be honest, it bugs me.  I've never read the books though, so maybe it's an integral part of his character, I don't know.  If so, he's doing a great job.