My favorite character is Rand -and Josha is doing a great job. I can't wait for seasons 3 and beyond. Also, Lanfear. Show Lanfear is actually so much better than Book Lanfear.
That's really hard. The end of this episode makes me want to say Egwene. That final look on her face filled me with such joy. That look of defiance. Beautiful.
Madeline Madden (Egwene) & Zoë Robins (Nynaeve) both get really meaty material & lots of opportunities to shine this season, & they both knock it out of the park. For non-main Characters, Nyokabi Gethaiga (Ryma Sedai) made a huge impression with only minimal screen time so far, & Kate Fleetwood actually made me care about what's going on with Liandrin
The thing it’s hard to sell in the show is truly there is no “lying to herself” or playing it smart. In order to touch that water she has to truly believe she can never fight back
I really like y’all’s reactions! You have interesting and insightful readings. I can safely say I would personally REALLY enjoy seeing more raw, less edited reactions. When you said you had two hours of reaction recorded, I was like “I wanna hear it all!”
They have so many characters to set up in this series that I can definitely see it difficult having a favorite at this point. In the books my first time through, I’d say my favorites were Rand, Perrin, and Nynaeve at this point. Book 3 and beyond, and Mat was added to the list, and in many ways, he may be my favorite character, because throughout all the bs they go through, he keeps the lightheartedness you see in this episode in particular. This new actor seems to play his character exactly as I imagine him. I just wish he had some more screen time! Perrin will definitely get more interesting as he series goes on and should have a very significant storyline next season!
It seems like a lot of book readers really like Matt so I hope they can bring that energy to the show. Part of the reason for his limited screen time is that they filmed a lot of the scenes with the previous actor before they stopped filming during COVID. When they came back he didn't return so Dónal Finn had to fill in but they didn't reshoot all those scenes again as that's expensive. Hopefully next season we see more of him. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Then I will be looking forward to Perrin to appear more. I'm curious with him and his dog pound is going to be up to. Or rather if he turns more into one of the wolfs in attitude rather.
I’m not sure if they want the audience to dislike him, but us book readers LOVE Matt and are disappointed he’s not featured more often. I was SO excited when he actually showed up this episode. Then the whole thing was overshadowed by Egwene’s ordeal. Super emotional.
I *love* Mat’s story in the books but he’s barely a participant in the story until the end of book 2. Very generally, (mild spoilers) Mat’s narrative trajectory in the first two books is a descent. He takes the dagger early in book one and it poisons him over the course of the book. By the time they reach Fal Dara (the northern city they travel to in episode 7 of the first season) he’s similar to Sméagol from LotR and the dagger is his precious. Moiraine temporarily heals him near the end of book 1, giving us a glimpse of what he’s going to be like later in the story for a bit, but Padan Fain steals the dagger and the horn in the beginning of book 2. Mat can’t be healed properly because they don’t have the dagger, and he goes through a more intense version of dagger sickness again, eventually entering a paranoid delirium as he falls in and out of consciousness. Thus he gets little page time except through other people’s reflections on him in book 2 until near the very end. One major difference for show Mat vs. book Mat is that show Mat stayed behind in Tar Valon when the rest of the group traveled to Fal Dara. This only happened because the actor left the show as the rest of the cast returned from Covid, and they had to rewrite a bunch of the last three episodes to explain his absence. Do I dislike him? No. I dislike early book Mat much more than early show Mat. I feel bad for show Mat, but I can see the glimmers of his personality shining through here more than in the books at this point in his story.
Book readers have their favorites. Each character has a unique arc through the books. Matt may actually be the favorite arc by the numbers. It is pretty special. I'm more of a Perrin Stan... also Rand too. Can't wait til the next episode. @@UnofficiallyOpinionatedRnR
WoT the books and show are not afraid of giving our protagonists flaws that make them unlikeable for periods of time, so that characters can develop into better people. It is typical to like some characters while disliking others, and disliking books/chapters/episodes when your favorites aren't getting screen time. As for Mat, I seem to recall you know that the original actor unexpectedly left partway through s1, prompting them to recut and chnage his s1 story so he doesn't go through the Ways (a change from the books) and recasting him for s2. Some readers will object, but I think the show is adapting his book 2 character development (but not his exact plot) - Mat repeatedly turns away from his friends, only to develop and progress into becoming a reluctant hero. After that change, he starts getting more character development and favorable attention the books - I imagine it will be the same in the show. I think you're underestimating how well our younger characters are doing after unexpectedly having the fate of the world thrust upon their shoulders (when they don't want that responsibility). In contrast to a lot of other series, WoT tries to realistically explore the psychological challenges of this kind of plot. (The book series was written by Robert Jordan, a Vietnam War veteran among other biographical details).
You are correct that teens/young adults would probably behave this way. We were being cranky old guys. LOL! It will make it all the more exciting when they start coming into their own. Thanks for hanging with us. :-)
You know, this is why I love comments. Because while reacting we tend to get into our own heads and yes, kind of forget the bigger picture of what is happening. I have hopes for Mat but the way he is currently written makes me feel more apathetic than, I assume, I would if I had read the book.
In the books we are told that the creator of the A'dam was not a sister of the White Tower, but an Aes Sedai from the Seanchan continent. After the breaking, the Aes Sedai there did not unite into one self governing organization like those of Tar Valon, but became competing warlords. Note that those Aes Sedai were never bound by the Three Oaths, so they were free to use their power as a weapon against anyone who did not submit to their rule. Channelers on that continent thus came to be even more feared than those on the main continent, and seen as something other than human. After Luthair Paendrag Mondwin, the son of Arthur Hawkwing, arrived on that continent, one of those Aes Sedai warlords tried to make an alliance with Luthair's armies to help her conquer her rivals. She created the first A'dam and shared it with Luthair's armies in hopes of securing an alliance against her enemies, but they immediately used it on her instead. She became the first Damane and was forced to make many more A'dam to use to capture all the other Marath'damane that had ruled the continent. That is the official history that all Seanchan are taught. Later we learn another origin story of the A'dam. It was modelled on the Domination Bands, which were an experiment by Aes Sedai on the main continent shortly after the breaking of the world who were looking for ways in ways to control male channelers who had gone mad due to the Dark One's taint on Saidin (the male half of the One Power). Rather than being forced to kill or gentle a dangerously insane male channeler, this ter'angreal allowed one or two female Aes Sedai to take control of him and use his power to do things that would be impossible with Saidar (the female half of the one power) alone. The domination bands were a failed experiment though. Using Saidin though this ter'angreal would cause the women to go mad in much the same way as the man himself had. It happened a lot more slowly if two women worked together to control him instead of one on her own, but was inevitable in the long term. Worse yet, the captive male could eventually reverse the workings of the domination band, preventing the women from removing their bracelets and taking control of them in much the way that they initially had control of him. This project was abandoned and forgotten by the time the White Tower took on its current form with a Red Ajah devoted to gentling male channelers (and stilling dangerous rogue female Wilders or runaway Accepted who could not be brought under the rules of the Tower).
To answer your question about Mat, it's somewhat complicated. His character in the first 3-4 books is kind of a selfish annoying troublemaker, so in that respect they're actually nailing how he is when the story first starts. The complication is that the original actor for Mat quit and left the show with 2 episodes to go in the first season, so they had to scramble and rewrite all the intended story for him. It doesn't happen this way between him and Min with Liandrin putting him in the cell and all that, so this is a tweak on a storyline that actually isn't supposed to happen till later on. He just flat out hasn't gotten enough screen time to this point, but I can tell you it's coming around and Donal Flynn's portrayal of Mat is really on point. Keep an eye on this character, your perspective may shift.
Mat isn't fully fleshed out until much later in the books. Still, all his changes are primarily due to the original actor, Barney Harris, not returning after a second COVID shutdown. That was a significant part of why episodes 7 and 8 of the first season weren’t as strong as people would have wanted. The show had to go back and edit the first six episodes for continuity, rewrite 7 and 8, and then pick up Mat from a very different plotline in season 2 and try to take him by the end of the season where he should be for Season 3. I see them getting there, But certainly, the character is behind in development for these reasons.
Yeah, it's too bad real life got in the way but the show it still great. It could have been greater but it will definitely get there. Thanks for watching!
Might have been said by now, May actor left they had to rewrite the last 2 episodes plus find this new Mat actor that's a big part of the changes. Though Mats character didn't do as much early anyway, but definitely picks up!! 😁
The actor left in the middle of the first season so they had to change it. He was supposed to be with everyone. His storyline (and Mins) is totally different right now. Big things are in his future. It will be epic…I hope.
Mat doesn't have much of anything to do in the first two books or much development. You're right in he doesn’t leave the group in the books where he did in the show, but he's still mostly a bystander. They've made some changes to his backstory in the show, but they've been pretty true to his character in the show in terms of his impact, at least so far. He'll start gaining more dimension soon, but I dont know anyone who honestly cared a lot about Mat by this point in the books. It was definitely something i knew the showrunners would struggle with because do you heavily veer from the books and give him more depth earlier on at the expense of narrative payoff later down the line and at risk of riling up lore purists? He mostly just acts as an everyman for comparison to contrast against with the growth the others are undergoing, at least at this part of the story.
Who is your favorite character this season?
My favorite character is Rand -and Josha is doing a great job. I can't wait for seasons 3 and beyond. Also, Lanfear. Show Lanfear is actually so much better than Book Lanfear.
That's really hard. The end of this episode makes me want to say Egwene. That final look on her face filled me with such joy. That look of defiance. Beautiful.
It is a tie between Lanfear and Renna the Sul'dam.
Madeline Madden (Egwene) & Zoë Robins (Nynaeve) both get really meaty material & lots of opportunities to shine this season, & they both knock it out of the park. For non-main Characters, Nyokabi Gethaiga (Ryma Sedai) made a huge impression with only minimal screen time so far, & Kate Fleetwood actually made me care about what's going on with Liandrin
I know you all probably saw/heard me say it but I'm loving Ishamael right now. :-) Team Ish!
The thing it’s hard to sell in the show is truly there is no “lying to herself” or playing it smart. In order to touch that water she has to truly believe she can never fight back
With the pitcher.
@@csarmii yes with the pitcher lol
Keep em coming gentlemen! Loving these reactions.
We appreciate you. Thanks for hanging with us. :-) Hopefully you can attend our live show. :-)
I really like y’all’s reactions! You have interesting and insightful readings. I can safely say I would personally REALLY enjoy seeing more raw, less edited reactions. When you said you had two hours of reaction recorded, I was like “I wanna hear it all!”
Hahaha! Thanks so much! Keep an eye out. We'll have those on Patreon very soon.
💚💚💚 Awe!! Thanks!! Oh yeah the episode was legit 2 hours. We had a crazy impromptu discussion as well!
@@KingDomfaithlifecoaching That discussion was almost a whole podcast episode. LOL
They have so many characters to set up in this series that I can definitely see it difficult having a favorite at this point. In the books my first time through, I’d say my favorites were Rand, Perrin, and Nynaeve at this point. Book 3 and beyond, and Mat was added to the list, and in many ways, he may be my favorite character, because throughout all the bs they go through, he keeps the lightheartedness you see in this episode in particular. This new actor seems to play his character exactly as I imagine him. I just wish he had some more screen time! Perrin will definitely get more interesting as he series goes on and should have a very significant storyline next season!
It seems like a lot of book readers really like Matt so I hope they can bring that energy to the show. Part of the reason for his limited screen time is that they filmed a lot of the scenes with the previous actor before they stopped filming during COVID. When they came back he didn't return so Dónal Finn had to fill in but they didn't reshoot all those scenes again as that's expensive. Hopefully next season we see more of him. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Oh Man! I am banking on me some Perrin!! I'm crossing my fingers!
Then I will be looking forward to Perrin to appear more. I'm curious with him and his dog pound is going to be up to. Or rather if he turns more into one of the wolfs in attitude rather.
"I'm opposed to it, because... that women is crazy." 😂
I’m not sure if they want the audience to dislike him, but us book readers LOVE Matt and are disappointed he’s not featured more often. I was SO excited when he actually showed up this episode. Then the whole thing was overshadowed by Egwene’s ordeal. Super emotional.
You aren't the only one! Can't wait to see the version all of you book readers love. :-)
I agree. We need to see this version on Matt that you guys have so highly speaking about!!Lol!!
His luck will turn around soon! Maybe in season 3 if not episode 8. 🤞
I *love* Mat’s story in the books but he’s barely a participant in the story until the end of book 2.
Very generally, (mild spoilers) Mat’s narrative trajectory in the first two books is a descent. He takes the dagger early in book one and it poisons him over the course of the book. By the time they reach Fal Dara (the northern city they travel to in episode 7 of the first season) he’s similar to Sméagol from LotR and the dagger is his precious.
Moiraine temporarily heals him near the end of book 1, giving us a glimpse of what he’s going to be like later in the story for a bit, but Padan Fain steals the dagger and the horn in the beginning of book 2. Mat can’t be healed properly because they don’t have the dagger, and he goes through a more intense version of dagger sickness again, eventually entering a paranoid delirium as he falls in and out of consciousness. Thus he gets little page time except through other people’s reflections on him in book 2 until near the very end.
One major difference for show Mat vs. book Mat is that show Mat stayed behind in Tar Valon when the rest of the group traveled to Fal Dara. This only happened because the actor left the show as the rest of the cast returned from Covid, and they had to rewrite a bunch of the last three episodes to explain his absence.
Do I dislike him? No. I dislike early book Mat much more than early show Mat. I feel bad for show Mat, but I can see the glimmers of his personality shining through here more than in the books at this point in his story.
Agreed! It's great seeing all these comments with the same sentiment. We may become team Mat very shortly. :-)
Book readers have their favorites. Each character has a unique arc through the books. Matt may actually be the favorite arc by the numbers. It is pretty special. I'm more of a Perrin Stan... also Rand too. Can't wait til the next episode. @@UnofficiallyOpinionatedRnR
WoT the books and show are not afraid of giving our protagonists flaws that make them unlikeable for periods of time, so that characters can develop into better people. It is typical to like some characters while disliking others, and disliking books/chapters/episodes when your favorites aren't getting screen time.
As for Mat, I seem to recall you know that the original actor unexpectedly left partway through s1, prompting them to recut and chnage his s1 story so he doesn't go through the Ways (a change from the books) and recasting him for s2. Some readers will object, but I think the show is adapting his book 2 character development (but not his exact plot) - Mat repeatedly turns away from his friends, only to develop and progress into becoming a reluctant hero. After that change, he starts getting more character development and favorable attention the books - I imagine it will be the same in the show.
I think you're underestimating how well our younger characters are doing after unexpectedly having the fate of the world thrust upon their shoulders (when they don't want that responsibility). In contrast to a lot of other series, WoT tries to realistically explore the psychological challenges of this kind of plot. (The book series was written by Robert Jordan, a Vietnam War veteran among other biographical details).
You are correct that teens/young adults would probably behave this way. We were being cranky old guys. LOL! It will make it all the more exciting when they start coming into their own. Thanks for hanging with us. :-)
You know, this is why I love comments. Because while reacting we tend to get into our own heads and yes, kind of forget the bigger picture of what is happening. I have hopes for Mat but the way he is currently written makes me feel more apathetic than, I assume, I would if I had read the book.
In the books we are told that the creator of the A'dam was not a sister of the White Tower, but an Aes Sedai from the Seanchan continent. After the breaking, the Aes Sedai there did not unite into one self governing organization like those of Tar Valon, but became competing warlords. Note that those Aes Sedai were never bound by the Three Oaths, so they were free to use their power as a weapon against anyone who did not submit to their rule. Channelers on that continent thus came to be even more feared than those on the main continent, and seen as something other than human. After Luthair Paendrag Mondwin, the son of Arthur Hawkwing, arrived on that continent, one of those Aes Sedai warlords tried to make an alliance with Luthair's armies to help her conquer her rivals. She created the first A'dam and shared it with Luthair's armies in hopes of securing an alliance against her enemies, but they immediately used it on her instead. She became the first Damane and was forced to make many more A'dam to use to capture all the other Marath'damane that had ruled the continent. That is the official history that all Seanchan are taught.
Later we learn another origin story of the A'dam. It was modelled on the Domination Bands, which were an experiment by Aes Sedai on the main continent shortly after the breaking of the world who were looking for ways in ways to control male channelers who had gone mad due to the Dark One's taint on Saidin (the male half of the One Power). Rather than being forced to kill or gentle a dangerously insane male channeler, this ter'angreal allowed one or two female Aes Sedai to take control of him and use his power to do things that would be impossible with Saidar (the female half of the one power) alone. The domination bands were a failed experiment though. Using Saidin though this ter'angreal would cause the women to go mad in much the same way as the man himself had. It happened a lot more slowly if two women worked together to control him instead of one on her own, but was inevitable in the long term. Worse yet, the captive male could eventually reverse the workings of the domination band, preventing the women from removing their bracelets and taking control of them in much the way that they initially had control of him. This project was abandoned and forgotten by the time the White Tower took on its current form with a Red Ajah devoted to gentling male channelers (and stilling dangerous rogue female Wilders or runaway Accepted who could not be brought under the rules of the Tower).
Ooohhh, spicy! Thanks for the non-spoilery insight. 😁
To answer your question about Mat, it's somewhat complicated. His character in the first 3-4 books is kind of a selfish annoying troublemaker, so in that respect they're actually nailing how he is when the story first starts. The complication is that the original actor for Mat quit and left the show with 2 episodes to go in the first season, so they had to scramble and rewrite all the intended story for him. It doesn't happen this way between him and Min with Liandrin putting him in the cell and all that, so this is a tweak on a storyline that actually isn't supposed to happen till later on. He just flat out hasn't gotten enough screen time to this point, but I can tell you it's coming around and Donal Flynn's portrayal of Mat is really on point. Keep an eye on this character, your perspective may shift.
The S1 Mat actor left before episode 7 daring covid. They had to rewrite end of S1 and make it work f9r S2.
Mat isn't fully fleshed out until much later in the books. Still, all his changes are primarily due to the original actor, Barney Harris, not returning after a second COVID shutdown. That was a significant part of why episodes 7 and 8 of the first season weren’t as strong as people would have wanted. The show had to go back and edit the first six episodes for continuity, rewrite 7 and 8, and then pick up Mat from a very different plotline in season 2 and try to take him by the end of the season where he should be for Season 3. I see them getting there, But certainly, the character is behind in development for these reasons.
Yeah, it's too bad real life got in the way but the show it still great. It could have been greater but it will definitely get there. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this. I will try to have patience, lol. Because overall, this series has me completely, completely engaged.
Might have been said by now, May actor left they had to rewrite the last 2 episodes plus find this new Mat actor that's a big part of the changes.
Though Mats character didn't do as much early anyway, but definitely picks up!! 😁
The actor left in the middle of the first season so they had to change it. He was supposed to be with everyone. His storyline (and Mins) is totally different right now. Big things are in his future. It will be epic…I hope.
Hope is definitely the feeling right now. :-) Thanks for watching
Mat doesn't have much of anything to do in the first two books or much development. You're right in he doesn’t leave the group in the books where he did in the show, but he's still mostly a bystander. They've made some changes to his backstory in the show, but they've been pretty true to his character in the show in terms of his impact, at least so far. He'll start gaining more dimension soon, but I dont know anyone who honestly cared a lot about Mat by this point in the books. It was definitely something i knew the showrunners would struggle with because do you heavily veer from the books and give him more depth earlier on at the expense of narrative payoff later down the line and at risk of riling up lore purists? He mostly just acts as an everyman for comparison to contrast against with the growth the others are undergoing, at least at this part of the story.
Makes a lot of sense. Thanks for watching!
Rand is my favorite always but this season its hard to beat Lanfear
I did dislike Mat during the first two books but he becomes one of my favorite characters by the end!
Everyone loves Mat! Thanks for watching! :-)
I feel like I am on the wrong side of Matt so far. I will have patience and wait and see..Lol!!
Matt’s character didn’t have a huge role to play until book 3.
I like Perrin but he doesn't get much time. Rand is my least favorite. Not a book reader.