mikemassimo-64860

NO Spoilers... I read Eye of the World when it came out. I was in high school. The finally book came out when I was 39. I have ever book, first edition, in hard cover. I've read this series so many times I can't count. I have a Wheel of Time tattoo. So, yeah, I'm a fan. Up until this episode, I have approached this tv series as "Wheel of Time adjacent". Changing characters, changing storylines, "Hollywood-izing" everything. There have been moments, but mostly "meh" for me. This is the first episode where I feel like they may have found something. Maybe it was the extra time with the Hollywood strike, maybe was some different people coming in and going out like happens with any group of creatives but this is the first time I feel like they're starting to capture something. I hope it's not a fluke and I hope it's not something that I just "wanted to see"... something I'm manufacturing it in my own head. The wheel turns but maybe it started rolling in a better direction.

The colors of their clothes, the language that they are using during their interviews, the practiced facial expressions and camera work when focusing on players to highlight specific actions, all feel scripted. I've been watching since the first season (I'm 52). While I've felt, in the past, that things have been nudged in a direction by producers, this is the first season that, right off the bat, feels manipulated. I hope the first episode was just a new production team with a new vision, and the season will settle in to the brand that we all expect and matches the overall concept that brings us back for 48 seasons.

I hope my review is long enough to make it... It really is simple. Everything in this show means something and every second is thought out. If you don't understand that, after the first season, I can't help you. To say this first episode of the second season is a throw away or irrelevant just proves you do not understand the vision of the writers and directors. They clearly know what they want to do and where they are going. The details that are carefully placed prove this fact. If, at the end of the second season you have issues, feel free to air them. However, to say you are disappointed because all of your questions were not answered from the first season in the first episode of the second season is absolutely foolish.