So I’m feeling a little uninspired, and in particular before I can dive in on my novel I think I might need to figure out how my True Speak language works exactly - namely, it feels like I should be able to provide examples of it in text in the novel, and that in doing so I may need to invent a whole fake language that makes sense to some degree, and that’s a monumental task which I’m not sure I’m up to, so until I think I’m gonna sit on it a bit until I either 1) design a language or 2) figure out some way to write it that I am happy with short of designing a language. Probably 2, because as I’ve stated, I don’t think I’m really up to designing a language. I took more than a decade of Latin, and six years of ancient Greek, but I was never -good- at either and always struggled, and quite frankly don’t think I have the chops to design anything remotely believable as a fake language, let alone one that purportedly would be a “True” language, i.e., a fundamental one upon which all others are derived or in reference to that also serves as a system of magic, which is my intent, so yeah, gotta figure that out. But anyways, I still need to write everyday, so I figured I’d just sort of dump random thoughts about the Wheel of Time TV show, which I have been working through lately.
So first off, it definitely gets off to a slow start. I didn’t mind the first episode, but a lot of that was I had just tried to watch Rings of Power, which was SO much worse, that it seemed better in comparison, but the second episode was a slog to get through and nearly sent me to sleep several times. I felt it began to pick ip a bit after that, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for just checking out in the first couple episodes and moving on, as I was tempted to do. They do neither a good job of making you engaged in the world, nor of liking the characters, nor of really establishing any real stakes, either. Yes, their hometown gets attacked and a bunch of people die, but because at that point I didn’t really know or care about any of those people, it fell kinda flat as a motivator. Honestly I blame this on weak acting - Rosamund Pyke is good, and the guy who plays her warder is also pretty good, but all four of the “heroes” - Rand, big guy, evil guy, and Egwene - don’t leave much of an impression. Its two seasons in and I don’t think I could tell you a single thing about big guy’s personality, who he is as a person, or what he values. I know he has wolf powers, I know he killed his wife by accident and that he probably feels guilty about it given how often it is flashed back to - notably the actor fails to sell it with his face - and we are told at the end of the first season he might have been in love with Egwene, although its honestly unclear of we are supposed to think that is true or if Rand and Nynaeve are just being weirdos assuming he is, but none of these really give me much insight to who he actually is.
Speaking of his wife, I’ve heard that she was invented for the show and that the leads were kids in the books, and assuming that is true, I am truly baffled why they added that. She shows up, he gives the vague impression of not liking her much, he kills her accidentally with the dumbest fucking look on his face, and then we alternate between forgetting she existed and flashing back to her death to remind us that he is a sad boy, because the actor cannot pull it off without that. Honestly I am being overly mean to the actor - its not like Rand or Egwene are better, or that I could do better - but if less time was spent establishing he is Sad about his Dead Wife maybe he could get some real characterization. Absolutely nothing has come of his dead wife, why was this done?
Nynaeve is a step better of an actress than her four young fellow leads but her character is honestly kind of confusing, I liked her for the first few episodes but then she seemingly just got super angry and suspicious of everyone and everything and stayed that way the whole rest of the show. She still is at the end of the second season. This honestly made the start of the second season confusing because she apparently had a “block” which prevented her from channeling but it read to me like she was just being petty and refusing to channel because she didn’t trust the Aes Sedai. Part of this is I think the show being a bit unclear about its lore, but I do also feel something with her writing or direction is off because it feels like she should have developed beyond this midway through Season 1, not still be stuck here at the end of Season 2.
Speaking of the lore, it’s definitely both the best part of the show, and incredibly unclear. The source material clearly has a lot going on that just is not making it on screen, but the glimpses we get are great. I almost certainly will read the books after watching the show - I only am not doing so now because I want to finish it first since I am sure if I read the books while watching the show they’ll ruin the show by being so much better, Despite my complaints, I like the show so far, so I want to keep liking it rather than have it ruined by the much superior version of the story. But in general, there is a lot about its magic system, gender politics, and world in general that is fascinating and that is really what has kept me hooked watching it. It honestly also had reinforced for me how live action adaptations don’t really need to be good to be worthwhile - while I cannot speak for an actual fan of the book series, just seeing anything from a novel, particularly a fantasy or scifi novel, fully realized in real life has intrinsic value on its own, even if the acting or narrative or ability to get everything from the page to the screen is lackluster.
I also do want to mention that the second season is a lot better. Part of this is better acting - the actor who plays Mat Caulthon was replaced, and while I think the original actor was actually probably the best of the main young leads, the way he played him was so unlikeable and mopey that I could not help but loathe his presence. The new guy makes him far more charming, which whether he is meant to be a hero, an antihero, or a tragic villain is definitely a better vibe. Its not just him, though - Lanfear is great, as is Moirane’s sister, as is her nephew. So too is Liandra, who was in the first season as well and good in that but really gets a lot of screen time here to shine. We also get lots of other side characters to take up screen time so we don’t have to rely on big guy, Rand, or Egwene to carry scenes, something none of them is really capable of, although I do think all three have improved in their roles since Season 1. Of the three, I think Egwene has improved the most - her mostly silent acting in the lesbian torture porn plotline far outpaces her acting where she actually says lines. I’m honestly not trying to be mean but its hard.
Speaking of the lesbian torture porn, Season 2 has a lot of fetish bait it seems. I don’t know how much of that is in the source material versus visual and narrative choices by costumers, set designers, and writers, but its… a thing. I don’t hate it, to be honest, although it does make me wonder at times whose psyche we are getting a window into. If you are into that sort of thing, this may be a big plus for you, although since it is portrayed villainously, perhaps not? Probably depends on your personal preference, since these are merely evocative of a lot of S&M sex play but not really supposed to be read as that. Well maybe Lanfear tying up Rand is. Anyways I mostly found it mildly amusing.
In general I really like the set design, costuming and effects, especially for second season. I speak entirely on vibes, but it feels like its mostly practical, except maybe panning aerial landscape shots and magic, and it does a lot of work setting the vibe of the setting. The Seanchan in particular are so alien and threatening, they’re great.
Overall, I’d say I’d recommend it to people who like fantasy, especially of the cheesy 90s TV kind. It has a lot of Xena and Hercules in is style and vibe. If you don’t like fantasy, don’t bother though, because none of the non fantasy elements are good enough to carry the show on their own - for a fantasy fan, they’re good enough you’ll have a good time past episode 2, I’d imagine for a Wheel of Time fan the same is largely true if you can get past the narrative and age changes which honestly sound like they might be hard to get by, but if you aren’t a fantasy fan, you aren’t gonna like it. Its definitely wasn’t the next Game of Thrones, if only because of its middling execution. As a fantasy fan, I love it, but since I am pretty sure this show was specifically greenlighted in hopes of riding GoT coattails, it really does underscore how executives miss that Game of Thrones was successful because it was good, not because it was fantasy,
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