This is the second entry in the Kill It With Balefire series, which is documenting my growing disbelief at how awful the Sony / Amazon production appears to be.

 As noted from the trailer, the show-runners seem to be diverging meaningfully from the plot of the original story, including:

• Elevating certain characters to greater roles (Egwene and Logain)
• Reducing other characters to bit roles or delaying their introduction (Thom Merrilin and Padan Fain)
• Adding additional plot lines that are not needed (Egwene's Women's Circle Initiation and the whole Logain chase)
• Getting nearly every costume wrong (from Aes Sedai combat outfits, the lack of color-shifting Warder cloaks, to the silly bath robes Mat and Rand appear to be walking around in)
• Utilizing cheap special effects and CGI
• Ruining Myrddraal 

Invariably, most of my criticisms of the trailer were ultimately related to the costume department.  Though it might seem trivial, that would only be to someone that has not read the books.  The costumes and outfits are described AT GREAT LENGTH by Robert Jordan.  They consistently become plot points in the story, sometimes more significant (such as when Rand is taken for an outland lord playing the Great Game in Cairhien) than other times (whenever one woman thinks another is showing too much bosom with her new dress- which is about 41 times per book).

I feel that were the show being made by REAL FANS then they would try to stay true to the source material.  A trailer is naturally going to show so many short clips scattered from all around the story that the costumes are the primary things the viewer is going to notice.  The fact that nothing looks as it's supposed to, along with the other points bulleted above, leads me to conclude that the producers of the show are not fans at all.  Rather, they are taking umbrage with a lot of Robert Jordan's work, and will instead push their own narrative, or feel the need to insert their own politics into what is ostensibly ESCAPISM.  Since Star Wars and video games have already been ruined by these people, I am taking an undue level of interest in confronting these chodes as they attempt to ruin my favorite intellectual property.  And they are ruining it.

At this point I am predicting we'll see some of the following plot departures, perhaps ALL:

• Rand will not end up with Min, Elayne, and Aviendah
• There will not be a Male and Female half of the One Power
• That would imply gender is NOT a social construct, so we can't have that
• They will probably cut down the Forsaken to only a handful, or only Ishamael
• They will elevate Egwene and Nynaeve to Ta'veren-hood
• They will cut the whole World of Dreams out, because if Warder cloaks were too expensive to CGI then Tel'aran'rhiod is too
• They'll make Mat gay
• Get ready for a Son of the Nine Moons and a King of Altara you may have seen on To Catch a Predator
• Open question which Aiel society takes the place in Maiden's Kiss (Stone Dogs' Kiss?)

I really hope I'm wrong about that last one, but it may explain why Barney Harris quit or was fired.

Anyways, the second video that the folks at Sony / Amazon released was a clip from the first episode centered on the Winespring Inn and the arrival of Moiraine and Lan.

Unlike a trailer, which bounces around in time and place from shot to shot (and therefore each shot is interesting to discuss), that is not the case in a complete scene.  So I'm not going to enumerate the shots, nor explain each cut in detail.  But I can give my take on the different parts of the scene more broadly, the scene as a whole, the dialogue, and the ways in which the key character introduction is handled differently from the books.  So let's go!

We open up the scene with Emond's Field at night.

It's supposed to be Winternight where everyone gets together for an open house party.  In the books the people of Emond's Field are going through a rough delayed spring.  The villagers are worried that their crops won't get planted or that the sheep won't bear lambs.  Nynaeve, the village Wisdom, is in a particularly bad mood because she has misread the weather, leading many to question whether she isn't too young for such a position.  But in spite of all of this; because it is established that there is a Gleeman in town, a Peddler with news from outside, a High-Born Lady with a bodyguard, and maybe even some fireworks(!); it's going to be the best Bel Tine ever!  At least, that's what Rand thinks.  Everyone else in the village is pretty glum.

Seriously, the opening chapters of The Eye of the World are FANTASTIC.  So I don't understand why the show-runners are deviating from it, IN THE SLIGHTEST. 

Thus far I have no idea when the Gleeman Thom Merrilin or the Peddler Padan Fain will be introduced.  I only know they still exist from the casting announcements.  As for the introduction of Moiraine and Lan... we'll get to that.

Then we get the establishment of the Winespring Inn interior.

In a series of quick cuts we see a crowd of Emond's Fielders celebrating, drinking and having a good time.  Egwene is helping to serve drinks, which makes sense since she's the Innkeeper's daughter.  I would be more impressed if someone is giving Tam al'Thor compliments on his APPLE BRANDY, but that probably won't happen. Since it looks like it's already summer, and there is no worry about a lost spring or pending crop failure (and there's been no news from the Peddler revealing there is war in Ghealdan), the pleasant atmosphere makes sense.

Then we get a series of cuts alternating between Rand and Egwene.  Perrin joins Rand by the wall.

Perrin asks: "How did her ceremony go today?" to which Rand replies, "Don't know actually, we haven't talked yet."

This confirms the rumors that Egwene's cliff jumping was indeed a ridiculous Women's Circle cliff jumping initiation.  AKA "Women thinking with the hair on their chests..."

Perrin then replies with "I'm sure she's just busy." And Rand agrees and says "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure."

This dialogue is objectively awful.  I cannot believe they swapped out the opening of The Eye of the World for this.

Then we get our dramatic entrance

It's the boots from the Trailer!  And...

We cut around the room, seen the reactions of Nynaeve, Rand, Perrin, Egwene, Marin al'Vere, and others to the stranger.

It's Lan!

I would like to issue a correction from the last entry.  I was pretty heated about the trailer implying that Moiraine was wearing boots.  This now makes it clear that we were seeing Lan's boots.  But now I'm upset that Lan is wearing women's boots.

More generally, I'm worried that Lan is not very imposing (with his women's boots).  One of the important ways that Robert Jordan was able to build up Moiraine was to place her next to Lan.  Lan, is the dour, serious, later-revealed-to-be-last-king-of-Malkier, and the world's greatest swordsman; his face all hard angles, the epitome of stoicism... the manliest man in the series- but Moiraine has the Power.  That is how Robert Jordan succeeds in establishing Moiraine as a STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER.  Moiraine is slight, short, and wears fine silks and slippers.  Lan is manly, large, but NOT in charge.  Later on (at Taren Ferry, the escape from Baerlon, or the flight into Shadar Logoth) the reader finds out why.

I would be happier to have seen a more imposing Lan, a less imposing Moiraine, or (probably) a combination of both, in this scene.  But anyways...

Nynaeve then asserts herself, as one of the village leaders.

"Name yourself stranger," she orders, clutching the dagger at her waist instead of her braid.  This dialogue is wooden.

Taking off the hood, (I should note that Lan is wearing the Hadori, which is the first costume decision adhering to the books)

"Lan Mandragoran," her replies.  "This is Moiraine," he adds for some reason, though no one asked.

Then we see Moiraine's entrance.

She annoyingly removers her own hood in the same manner as Lan.  At this point I don't think this dramatic entrance is a good idea.  It is so unnecessary to replace how the exposition was accomplished in the novel.  

We see Egwene looking impressed for some reason.

Then Perrin and Rand looking suspicious for some reason.

Then Marin al'Vere (Egwene's mother) asks: "My Lady, can I help you?" as Moiraine walks in past Nynaeve.  If one stops to think quickly, that is a pretty dumb thing for an INNKEEPER to ask.  Better would be to ask "HOW can I help you?"  Even better would be seeing Bran al'Vere as the Mayor / actual innkeeper.

 

Moiraine replies with "We'll need stables for our horses and a room for the night.  Two beds and fresh linen, that's all we need."  No separate rooms Moiraine? 

Then we get a close up of her silly Aes Sedai ring with the giant gemstone, which Marin recognizes.

"Of course, Moiraine Sedai," Marin replies, loud enough for the entire common room to hear and get the mumbling started.

This is is such a poor choice for Moiraine's entrance.  Not only is the exposition in the novel much better at introducing all of the characters, but this manner of entrance runs counter to nearly every other encounter Moiraine and Lan have with innkeepers throughout the series (which is more than one would think).  Often they travel under assumed names, and they use a neat little loophole around the Aes Sedai oath about speaking words that aren't true:

"What is your name?"

"You can call me Mistress Alys."  

You can call me Turd Ferguson, and it wouldn't be a lie.  Saying "my name is Turd Ferguson" would be a lie.  This is such a gem of Robert Jordan's writing (and the "you can call me..." line is our first exposure to Aes Sedai wordplay) that it's a shame that they didn't decide to run with this option.  Seriously, true autists, through analyzing the literal dialogue of Aes Sedai, identified Verin as Black Ajah as of Chapter 14 of The Great Hunt- that is how serious Robert Jordan took his world building.  But whatever...

Moiraine and Lan usually keep a low profile, stashing items that would make them easily identifiable, such as Aes Sedai rings and Warder cloaks.  It makes no real sense why Moiraine would let herself be known like this to the entire town of Emond's Field.  Especially if she's in town to ask after birth dates or if anyone was born outside of the Two Rivers...

Then we see the tables of mumbling townsfolk, as Moiraine heads to the hearth to warm up or dry off.

She turns around, taking in the villagers in turn:  Mat, Nynaeve, Egwene, and finally Rand and Perrin.

Then Marin al'Vere, who was standing right beside Egwene right before and right after the shot above ^ (where she is not in frame so we can see Rand and Perrin), says: "If you'll come this way."

Maybe Marin al'Vere has Lan's missing Warder cloak?  Seriously?

Marin then leads Moiraine away from the fireplace and the Aes Sedai's gaze lingers in the direction of our heroes...

And scene.

There is not really much to unpack here.

The dialogue is bad and disappointing.  Moiraine's (and Lan's) entrance is pedestrian and more of a television trope than anything else.  I strongly feel that the way the characters are introduced in The Eye of the World is vastly superior.

Ultimately, I am afraid the show wishes to pivot away from Rand al'Thor as the main character and therefore decisions are being made to make the show less about Rand.  Moiraine's introduction, to the whole village, openly as Aes Sedai, rather than the speculative excitable whispers of Ewin Finngar (AND tying the appearance of strangers back to the cloaked figure seen on the road!), falls flat this way.

While I'm not in the "Billy Zane's Version Was Better" camp, I'm getting really close.