There are still plenty of moments where I have to stop and think and mentally figure out which is left and which is right!

The end result is I'm left with this feeling that really, I'd rather be rereading the books. I'm not going to stop watching the show, and I'm not sure there's really a good solution to this problem, but it's something I'm definitely feeling.

And again, with the limits of television and scope of these stories, it makes sense, but it can make the payoff ring a little hollow. Perrin and Rand have both felt like they're suffering at the hands of that this season, at least to me.

There's this problem I find with a lot of adaptations— both Netflix's Avatar and Shadow and Bone in addition to WoT are great example— that I sometimes call in my head "Just Enough" storytelling where you only get just enough scenes or information to set something up.

And it makes sense!! The Wheel of Time is massively long with character arcs that span the entire series and while RJ's pace and prose can be meandering at times, there's a depth and nuance there that's going to be lost in bringing that on to the big screen.

Even as someone who is generally very positive on the show, I feel like it's at it's best when it's really synthesizing and coming up with new and exciting interpretations. But I think a lot of adaptations have this problem where the more you try to strictly compress, the more hollow things feel.

But that said, even without talking about the increasingly obvious colorism problem, last night's episode really encapsulated something I've been feeling all season: the closer they try to adapt the books, the more they feel like discount versions of the books.

My assumption is that's the cause of this. They felt like it would make for a more compelling character arc for her through the rest of the show. I think so far, it makes Faile an interesting counterpoint to the sympathetic Darkfriends in the show. Interested to see where this goes!

Yeah, it's only really in retrospect that I disliked his S2 arc? A lot of why I liked it was because it felt like it was building towards his TGH finale which...... didn't really end up happening in a way that I personally found satisfactory.

If you don't like a choice, say that but stop assigning motives to the writers and actors. And if someone is flipping out over a choice, also give them some space to work through their feelings instead of coming at them and making things worse.

But IDK man, people over there just need to not go to hyperbole and also allow each other some space and grace. The whole community feels like it's imploding because everyone's coming at each other with like knives unsheathed.

And like this is not discount the importance of criticism. I am not a fan of how Rand's plotline ended up playing out in S2! I think Mat's been underutilized and don't love that Nynaeve hasn't used the One Power in a substantial way since like.... S1E4.

It's really fun, isn't it?! I know moving little moments like these around rubs some people the wrong way, but I liked it, too. It feels very true to who Show!Moiraine is!