Wheel of Time: Season 1

  

Based on: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

Developed by: Rafe Judkins

Starring: Rosamund Pike (Moiraine), Josha Stradowski (Rand al'Thor), Marcus Rutherford (Perrin Aybara), Zoë Robins (Nynaeve al'Meara), Barney Harris (Mat Cauthon), Madeleine Madden (Egwene al'Vere), and Daniel Henney (al'Lan Mandragoran)

Bear with me on this review, because I have no prior exposure to the series and everything is very brand new to me. I'm clinging to every shred of understanding I can, which isn't a lot. 

I also watched with my friend Josh who has read (most of) the books, and I'll take his word for it that they changed........... a lot. 

But I'm no stranger to series adaptions changing a lot; I still watch the live action Titans series, and even though my base knowledge for that is the 2000s Teen Titans cartoon instead of comics, I still feel justified in feeling fairly affronted at the the changes. But like my willingness to continue Titans and view it as more of its own thing, I appreciated Josh's willingness to roll with the several blows slung at him from Wheel of Time and strive to appreciate it for its own thing. 

I knew I was getting into quite a big world, so I tried my best to pay full attention and let the series take me away. I was mostly successful. We watched the first two episodes and I feel drawn in to a very epic world with a pretty huge history. I couldn't help comparing it to other shows, though. I kept thinking Lord of the Rings? the whole time. That never went away and the vibe still lingers. Camera shots, epic scenery, ancient locations, and mysterious, beastly creatures chasing our main characters over the landscape all contributed to this sensation. When our group of heroes stopped for a brief respite in an ancient, abandoned city with an overly tone of great evil, I couldn't help but think, Moria? 

And that leads me to the only criticism I personally have for these two episodes. I feel like they fail to truly establish the world or story as its own. Coming off two hours, I don't think I've watched a show that's it's own thing. My mind continues to jump to other shows as comparison. Game of Thrones? Earthsea? Eragon? All of these came to my mind over the two hours, but it has not yet given me its own stamp of originality. 

Which, of course, leads me to so much more that I enjoyed about it. Primarily, the characters. I really like our band of heroes so far and I feel pretty invested in them, though I have very little idea who they are individually. I like the Aes Sedai leader the most (Dune? Bene Gesserit?), I feel like she's proving herself to be a dedicated leader and truly invested in taking care of her potential Dragons. She seems to have their safety and preservation truly in mind, at least until they get to this White Tower place. I like her assistant a lot (I really don't know a more accurate way to refer to him, nor the character's name, and definitely not the actor's name); the way he handles himself and speaks to others shows respect for himself and for Moiraine and a strong sense of boundaries and honor. I appreciated all those a lot. I also like how her team seems to be conducting themselves, especially considering the circumstances. They're all fairly clueless but doing their best to keep up with her, and, well, survive. 

And I'm very excited about the world. I'm really interested to learn more about the places they go and their history. I also want to know more about the antagonist--especially since my friend Josh says this has much more to do with their dreams than anything else. Very exciting!