So this third entry in this series has been a long while coming.  I'd like to it's because the show has caused in me a brain aneurysm which had left me comatose until this morning.  Alas, while the show is sufficiently awful to cause such a misfortune (or a blessing, depending on one's perspective) that was not the case.  More than anything I was mulling over whether an undiscovered blog site is the best place to document the ongoing rape of a beloved (my most beloved) intellectual property.  Other mediums, particularly Reddit and the Whitecloaks subreddit, and some YouTubers (particularly Shad Brooks' Knight Watch, and Disparu, who seem to be the brave voices in the wilderness among astounding shills for the show) have been doing a very good job of detailing the show's failings.

The more I thought about it, the more I believe that a blog is a better place to document matters for posterity; old videos can soon become hard to find in a content creator's library; old reddit posts soon become buried deep below the newer ones.

Therefore, my goal with the blog is now to take my time breaking down the show.  I cannot be as granular as I was with the trailer, or with the WineSpring Inn scene.  And I also want to exploit the benefit of knowing what happens later.  Many of the early problems flagged in Episode 1 were often shrugged off at the time; people presumed something would come along an fix it.  I don't believe that is the case anymore.  This show is a complete disaster.  Not a dumpster fire, not Chernobyl, but a Bhopal chemical leak disaster, which is leading to the mental retardation of thousands.

Naturally, there is no way one person can find everything wrong with this show on their own.  I am indebted to the Whitecloaks subreddit, as well as the aforementioned Knight's Watch (highly entertaining fellows, if you have the time; I recommend).  Hat Tips galore to all of these fine gentlemen (and any Lady Whitecloaks).  So in this post, I aim to cover the introduction of the first episode, up until Moiraine mentions that there are four (that's right, 4) ta'veren in the Two Rivers.

Be forewarned, spoilers abound.  I have read the books many multiple times.  I was an fan theory board poster in the late 90s, I have seen all of the episodes.  I would rate my Wheel of Time knowledge as Expert, and I presume most people who would be interested in this blog are the same.

So let's get started.

We open on Moiraine Damodred getting dressed.  She has an opening monologue that contradicts the lore and kicks off a battle of the sexes.

"The world is broken.  Many, many years ago, men who were born with great power believed they could cage darkness itself.  The arrogance.  When they failed, the seas boiled, mountains were swallowed up, cities burned, and the women of the Aes Sedai were left to pick up the pieces.  These women remembered one thing above all else: the man who brought the Breaking of the World, and Him, they named Dragon.  Now this man has been born again, we don't know where, or to whom, if he was reborn a girl or a boy; the only thing we know for certain is that this child is coming of age now, and we must find them, before the Dark does."

OK, WOW.  There is a lot to unpack here, as nearly EVERY STATEMENT runs counter to the source material and in an honest adaptation would just be flat out WRONG.  Every statement: let's go through it:

• The world is broken
• No it isn't, it WAS broken, but that was about 3,000+ years ago.
• Are you saying that the women of the Aes Sedai couldn't fix things a little bit in 3,000 years?
• Kingdoms have risen and fallen in this time; this is akin to still complaining of the Sea Peoples and the fall of Mediterranean empires from before the TIME OF HOMER
• Many, many years ago
• 3,000+ get it right
• Believed they could cage darkness itself.  The arrogance.
• Ok, wow.  This is an utter betrayal of the lore and the War of Power
• It was women AND men that sought a new source of power that could be wielded TOGETHER
• They inadvertently bore a hole into the Dark One's prison, allowing him to touch the world
• One of the lead researchers was Mierin Eronaile, who became LANFEAR of the Forsaken
• Lews Therin Telamon and his Hundred Companions ENDED THE WAR with their assault, which they had to do alone, because the female Aes Sedai refused to help
• This sentence makes it sound like LTT and the men unleashed this evil
• When they failed
• Which was because of the women not helping
• The seas boiled... cities burned
• This sentence neglects to explain that it was the Dark One's COUNTERSTROKE, which tainted the male half of the One Power, saidin, and that this taint drove Male Aes Sedai insane
• This is not the arrogance of men, it's a tragedy. ffs
• The women of the Aes Sedai
• There were MALE Aes Sedai too
• Him, they named the Dragon
• No, he had that name already
• Because he went MAD, and killed his whole family, he got the new name Lews Therin KINSLAYER
• We don't know where, or to whom
• He was born on Dragonmount, as stated in the prophecies:
• "On the slopes of Dragonmount shall he be born, born of a maiden wedded to no man, he will be of the ancient blood and raised by the old blood."
• If he was reborn a boy or a girl
• This is such a disgusting change
• The Dragon Reborn is a feared savior precisely because he is supposed to use tainted saidin
• This is the most egregious lore break of the show, and it's utterly unnecessary; it basically ruins all of the world building
• Bhopal chemical spill in progress
• The only thing we know for certain... we must find them.
• Moiraine has been searching for the Dragon Reborn for 20 years, and all she knows is "their" age; basically, she can count how long she has been failing at her quest
• Our "protagonist" is an admitted incompetent by the first minute.
• Before the dark does
• Dark One, or The Shadow; seriously, this isn't hard

EVERY GODDAMN LINE.

The scene ends after Moiraine finished packing her dagger, putting on her ring-pop, boots and suspenders, and collecting her samurai.  I took issue with the costumes already.  They are terrible and they will not get any better.

We then open on some crags and two men from a Conan the Barbarian remake are being chased by five Red Power Rangers on horseback.  The concept is absurd.  I don't know if anyone here has ever been chased by someone on horseback, but it would be a pretty short chase.

Then, our evil Red Power Rangers begin acting stupid.  One of them, Liandrin, actually yells at him to stop, and then uses weaves of Earth to cause some rocks to block his escape through a long canyon.  Like a full-blown rock explosion: Asha'man style.  She does this even though Women have greater affinity for weaves of Air and Water.  She could have wrapped this fellow in flows of air, from far away.  But then we wouldn't have this dumb chase scene.

Then not-Conan begs the Red Power Rangers: "Don't hurt him," and pleads for the life of his companion.  But then Liandrin reveals that the man is already insane (duhn, duhn, duhn) and seeing people.  For the record, a better way to demonstrate the madness caused by saidin might be actually showing LTT in a room full of mangled corpses while he presumes Ishamael is a singer.  Just saying...

Liandrin then does the second stupidest thing in this scene, and LIES.  "This power, it's meant for women, and women alone.  And when you touch it, you make it filthy."  Liandrin is Black Ajah, and a Darkfriend.  She can lie, as she has removed the Three Oaths.  BUT, she says this in front of four other Red Power Rangers, who don't clue in at all (perhaps they are all Black Ajah too).  The other explanation is that the show is changing the lore and the dual-gendered mechanics of the One Power (saidin and saidar).  Remember, it's not men touching saidin that makes it filthy, the taint is already there.  Also, women cannot touch saidin, so I really wonder why she cares in this way.  The more likely explanation for this bit of exposition is that the show's writers have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what they are doing.  This is an early hint, but that is my main hypothesis having now seen 5 epsiodes.

But THEN, Liandrin does the most stupidest thing.  She attacks this guy with the One Power:

Maybe she linked with the other sisters and gentled this guy on the spot.  Maybe she just killed him.  We never see this guy again, so that's a distinct possibility.  The guy also cries out in pain; something not established as a facet of gentling/stilling (the only Aes Sedai that are stilled "on screen" in the books are the 3 that Rand crushes at Dumai's Wells, and they just fall unconscious).  Either way, Liandrin is COMMITTING A CRIME.  The worst interpretation is that she is violating the Third Oath against using the One Power as a weapon, in plain view of 4 Red Power Rangers AND MOIRAINE.  The lesser interpretation is that they are depicting The Vileness (which happens much earlier in the story, and led to some severe punishments on the perpetrators).  In EITHER CASE, Moiraine sitting up on the mountain and just watching it, is inexcusable.

Enjoying the echoing screams from the valley below, Moiraine uncaringly says "It's not him," and suggests to Lan that they make for the Two Rivers.  "There are rumors of four ta'veren there, all the right age.  The old blood runs deep in those mountains..."

This comment is monumentally stupid, and compounded by the fact that, to date, the show has not bothered to explain what a ta'veren is.

From the r/whitecloaks subreddit:

Ta’veren, as described in the lore (mostly by Loial at The Queen’s Blessing, and then by Moiraine as she explains to Perrin the effects of Rand’s passing in TDR) they act like correcting life threads in the pattern. Other threads swirl around them, get caught in their wake, etc.

In essence, what RJ was doing from a writing standpoint was giving himself unlimited Deus Ex Machina with 3 of his characters, when he needed it. Rand needs a general? Ok, here’s Davram Bashere. Why does Elaida & Morgase let him go (a chapter after we readers learn about ta’veren)? It’s a get out of jail free card. But I only begrudge RJ for brilliantly coming up with it first, and providing sufficient lore. He can always course correct his story, because his story IS the pattern.

That out of the way, it would be impossible for there to be rumors of ta’veren in the Two Rivers. The ta’veren would have been affecting their village for years- course-correcting the pattern already. The effects would not be visible.

Rand affects the pattern when he goes somewhere new and somewhere that had deviated. For the rest, adding Egwene to the list of ta’veren actually weakens her character. It robs her of agency and ability. It clearly shows the writers of this show don’t know what they are doing or what makes a good character.

Our heroes in the story only have fate and chance magically alter at their very presence AFTER they start on their adventure.  The pattern in and around Emond's Field is exactly how it's supposed to be; no one would notice anything amiss.

Anyways, that's the first 4 minutes of this Chemical Spill of a show.  Please give me some time to get through the rest.  Hat tips abound to those brave enough to call this show what it is, and hopefully they stop pumping more mind-killing chemicals into the cultural zeitgeist soon!

Constructive comments welcome, but i have no sympathy for the show's creators or aficionados.  They are destroying something that I care about deeply, and I have nothing but contempt for them.