S03.E05: Tel’aran’rhiod

[paulvdb]

Quote

Egwene learns Rand's dark secret. Perrin stages a daring rescue. Nynaeve, Elayne, Mat, and Min hunt the Black Ajah.

Premiere date: March 27, 2025

[Danny Franks]

Sulky Aviendha and Cold Rocks Hold. Now I really feel like I'm in the Aiel Waste. The Aiel in the show are a lot less stoic than in the books, but that's not a bad thing at all. 

Aviendha: "Wetlanders do not share lovers?"

Rand: 'You think I could convince my girlfriend that we should open up our relationship to the psychotic, mass murdering ex of my previous self?'

Look, Rand, I know she's hot. But you cannot fix her.

I'm not a fan of overly precious kids, so I shared Aviendha's disdainful look at Rand being so perfectly nice to Rhuarc's greatdaughter.

I wasn't sure if Moiraine was a bit peeved that Lan was getting some attention, or if she'd just developed a bit of an addiction to playing with her ball. Turns out she's realised she's going to have to sacrifice herself.

The dream world looks just like the real world. That's handy for the effects department. But something I realised with this episode - Egwene doesn't know who Lanfear is, or what she looks like, and she doesn't know Rand has even met her, let alone had a passionate love affair with her.

I'm not sure I buy how quickly Egwene has learned to navigate there, though. But her seeing everyone's dreams was fun - Nynaeve as the Wisdom again, Elayne doing Titanic with Aviendha, Mat with his family, Perrin with his wolf and his falcon and then... oh dear, Rand, caught red... minded?

I love how adept Aes Sedai are at politely slashing each other with words. Suian and Elaida were so nasty to each other. Really interesting difference in the worldly perceptions of them - Suian is definitely a "servant of all" type while Elaida is caught up in the power and prestige of the Amyrlin Seat.

Nynaeve being a terrible sailor is perfectly Nynaeve. Elayne reading up on Tanchico and lecturing the others is perfectly Elayne. She's such a rule follower.

Mat and Min just need to hook up. They actually work well together.

In case we didn't have enough reason to dislike the Whitecloaks, they're wolfkillers and mother burners as well. Valda really is absolutely despicable, the epitome of lawful evil.

[thuganomics85]

They always say "Find a job you love, and never work a day in your life" and, well, Eamon Valda certainly is never working because he loves his torture!  Man might be evil as all get out, but I aspire to be that content in my life!  Hopefully his downfall will be epic, but until then, I will continue to love whenever he slimes it up.  The actor is perfection in the role.

Suspected that Elaida wasn't actually part of the Black Ajah, and is just your atypical, arrogant Aes Sedai, who looks down on almost everyone that she thinks isn't on her level.  Including Siuan.  Talk about being classist: she was borderline snarling "Ugh, poor people!" when trashing Siuan's more common quarters than the outlandish ones in the past.  Not sure if she's always been like this or spending time with the queen got into her head.  But she was shown to be someone who can also be manipulated, with the way she fell for Siuan's bait.  It just happened to not end the way either one of them thought it would.  Curious to see if this might humble Elaida a bit or make her even more determine to thwart Siuan and seize power for herself.

I get why Mat probably needed a new roommate stat, but I'm admit that I'm biased and would have been totally down to hear Elayne talk about Tanchico and more history/geography lessons throughout the journey.  Nynaeve puking nonstop would have hampered things though for sure.  Glad Min is already with the group and I'm looking forward to seeing what this foursome gets themselves into.

So, Moiraine's time in the rings made her realize that the only times Rand ever wins is if she dies, so she is now preparing for her eventual sacrifice.  But we'll see if this is another premonition that can be wormed out of.

Glad Alanna and Maksim are still breathing, but that was a lot of arrows the former has sticking out of her body...

Loial with the obvious observation of the century with his "Stealth isn't my thing" more or less.

Egwene is able to control the dream world better and even hop into her buddies' dreams.  It's all nice, until she stumbles upon Rand making out with Lanfear on a cliff.  Whoops!  To be fair, that's the risk you take when you show up in dreams unannounced!

[MissLucas]

Cold Rocks Hold looks absolutely perfect! I loved Rand having a somewhat lighthearted moment with the little girl - later it becomes clear how much it all weighs on him, i.e. after Egwene left.

This was really an episode with wonderful subtle character moments. Moraine and Lan getting sloshed in the desert was not on my bingo card but it was a wonderful exploration of their relationship.

I loved Elayne, Nynaeve and Matt together. And that Windfinder channeling looked gorgeous. I also loved how intrigued Nynaeve was by the Shipmistress and her words. Maybe there's wisdom outside the Tower that could help her break through her block. I just wish we had had a bit of better lighting during those ship scenes. 

Okay, I really tried hard but after 5 episodes in I have to say it: I hate Perrin's haircut!!! Speaking of hate: I can't wait for Eamon Valda to find something sharp and pointy embedded deep into one or preferably several vital organs. At this rate my loathing for the character starts to bleed into the actor and I won't have 'Love Actually' ruined like that! I guess Mat's mother was not the one channeling but sacrificed herself like Katara's mother in ATLA.

The Two Rivers scenes were also pretty dark - both literally and figuratively - but I loved the bits of levity thrown in: Chiad and Bain's smirk when Faile showed her blade-work to Perrin, Loial's line about stealth not being his forte and Maksim getting the Bat signal just five arrows ago (damn, Alanna is hardcore).

Is Elaida ruining my love for rose perfume? I'm just going to handwave that that bit was added because Shoreh loves rose perfume (given her persian legacy not a stretch) and I'll be okay.  She's not a Black Ajah but is ruthless and definitely harboring her own ideological agenda - just like Umbridge was not a Death-Eater yet still a horrible character. At least Elaida has the better fashion sense. I'm not sure she will be grateful to Siuan for healing her - to be fair why should she? She got stabbed because the trap Siuan set for her. Also: White Tower security sucks.

Moraine and Siuan were really heartbreaking. I do wonder if Moraine's initial refusal to kiss was really caused by her not being able to forgive Siuan or if it had more to do with her not wanting to give in to those feelings because they could become a problem for what she presumes must be her ultimate sacrifice. She also did not Siuan tell about that part of the prophecy despite announcing that she had learned 'two things' in Rhuidean.

Yes, Egwene's progress in dreamwalking was handled a tad hasty. However I expect there will be repercussions for what she did. I don't mean the obvious fallout from catching Rand with the Forsaken who haunted her dreams. She was clearly overstepping and going against the orders of her teachers. I expect an epic dressing down by the Wise Ones. And she won't be allowed to do something so rash for quite a while. Even though her walking through her friends dreams was sweet - well, until it wasn't. I loved the subtitles at the beginning reading 'optimistic music' because it was clear where this was going.

Edited March 28 by MissLucas

[DoctorAtomic]

I did like the Wise Ones finally checking Av's attitude. The meal was a lot of fun. I liked the training for the Dreamworld was basically the Wise Ones yelling at Egwene. They couldn't just say, "The shadowsouled, you know, the Foresaken."

Elaida wearing too much perfume is an hilarious character trait. I wonder if it was the actor's idea. My friend yesterday was wearing too much cologne and I was getting on his case. 

I do wish Eliada was a little more forthcoming about *why* she wanted to cage Rand. I mean, she's not going to tell anyone, but some inner monologue or writing in her journal. Obviously, he's dangerous, and everyone thinks the White Tower will be leading the last battle, but just walk through it. How does she think that's going to play out? 

I'm glad at least Alanna figured out that all these people were coming from the same place. Although in the middle of a raid, I'm not sure the best place to be sniping about it. 

Maybe gigantic Perrin might duck down a smidge when embarking on the secret raid into the Whitecloak camp?

I did like the scene of Alanna getting shot up if only to show they're stronger together. 

5 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

The Aiel in the show are a lot less stoic than in the books, but that's not a bad thing at all.

I'm not so sure. I think the dry as the desert droll humor just doesn't translate to the screen. 

4 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Nynaeve puking nonstop would have hampered things though for sure. 

I think Mat would have been fine with Elayne prattling on because he'd be interjecting in the old tongue, and being a princess, she probably knows some of it like you'd know Latin. The puking sound, and smell, would make me want to ride in the lifeboat. 

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

I also loved how intrigued Nynaeve was by the Shipmistress and her words. Maybe there's wisdom outside the Tower that could help her break through her block.

Out of all of them, I actually think she's more open to learning from the world. 

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

She got stabbed because the trap Siuan set for her. Also: White Tower security sucks.

To be fair, if you look at the first Gray Man attack on Rand and all them last time, the show was trying to show that they kind of slip outside of your eye, in a way. There's no way to stop them until they're on top of you. Recall that when Moiraine chewed out Lanfear when she thought Lanfear sent it, Lanfear broke out and told them basically, 'yeah no.' It's not really a security failure. 

 

 

So is "I was dreaming!" the new "We were on break!"

[Hanahope]

Who knew Elaina was going to the 13th floor?  Verin, Siuan and Lelaine.  One of those must be the unknown black Ajah and I’m betting it’s Verin.  
 

I hear Moraine moaning on about how she must die for Rand to win, but somehow I’m guessing there is another way .  

So nice that someone finally figured out there’s something in the water at Two Rivers that produced all these people with powers.  

 

[quarks]

1. News flash, this and every other show that keeps doing this, an arrow in your body HURTS even if it doesn't directly enter your heart, and seeing anyone continuing to run around and fight while looking like a porcupine is one of the best ways to drive me right out of the show. 

This is at least the second time this show has done this with arrows in bodies and just AUUGH.

2. Speaking of auugh, VALDA. Dude! You can't even be sure which of those three used the One Power on Dain! I'm not sure that any of them knew which one of them used the One Power on Dain!

3. Aww, Min is a failure as a servant, a seer, and a spy. But maybe she'll do better as a tour guide! You never know!

4. I like that Elaida arrived ready to slay on so many levels - costume, jewelry, actual slaying until that Gray Man beat her to it....

 

[Noneofyourbusiness]

5 hours ago, Hanahope said:

Who knew Elaina was going to the 13th floor?  Verin, Siuan and Lelaine.  One of those must be the unknown black Ajah and I’m betting it’s Verin.

The Gray Man could potentially have found Joiya and Amico in the 13th Depository without following Elaida.

48 minutes ago, quarks said:

1. News flash, this and every other show that keeps doing this, an arrow in your body HURTS even if it doesn't directly enter your heart, and seeing anyone continuing to run around and fight while looking like a porcupine is one of the best ways to drive me right out of the show.

I think the arrows were mostly in Alanna's armor rather than her flesh.

[iarwain]

5 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

I think the arrows were mostly in Alanna's armor rather than her flesh.

Really?  They looked pretty deep to me.

[DoctorAtomic]

Alanna was decked out in leather armor for sure. I wouldn't expect the arrows to have pierced any organs, but it was a lot of them. 

[MissLucas]

There were more than five arrows - and at least two of them went through sticking out on the other side - one in her shoulder and the other one in her left arm. She was an Aes Sedai version of St. Sebastian. 

I wonder if the reason for that overkill is that they want to follow-up on the theme of channelers within the Two Rivers - someone will have to heal her.

[tennisgurl]

I really like that they established that Elaida is not Black Ajah, she's just a ruthless ambitious manipulator. Its easy to make every unlikable Aes Sedai actually part of the bad guy faction, its more interesting giving us shades of grey. She is also a real classist asshole, despite Siuan's power she still sees her as "river trash" that's beneath her. She's still super entertaining though, I will watch Shohreh Aghdashloo look fabulous and scheme all day long. 

I really enjoy the Mat, Elayne, Min, Nynaeve team up, even if Mat is not loving the constant history lessons and Nynaeve would rather stay on land for the rest of her life. Mat and Min clearly need to just hook up, their chemistry is always so smoking. I love that when they ended up in this wretched hive of scum and villainy everyone was like "Mat, it would be great if you didn't cause problems" which is a very fair ask. 

The White Cloaks are just the absolute worst, I would rather hang out with the Foretaken then them. The Forsaken might be more dangerous but they're a lot more fun.

Nothing more awkward than finding your boyfriend in a dream hooking up with another woman, especially a very scary witch woman. Poor Egwene, dream magic is cool but you aren't always going to like what you see. I know that Lanfear is evil, but she's also a messy bitch who loves drama and I love seeing her. 

The magic they were doing on the ship was super cool, it looked gorgeous. I can imagine that there are more than a few people who have magic and are doing their own thing outside of the Tower.