Rewatching "The Wheel of Time": Season 2
The second season of the Amazon series excels the first in every way, delivering a strong and moving season of fantasy television.
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Having finished the first season of The Wheel of Time, I decided that I might as well keep on going and plunge right into the second season. And, if I’m being honest, this is just a world that I love getting to spend more time in, and I continue to find these irritating, exasperating, utterly lovable (and sometimes utterly doofy) characters impossible to resist. Whether it’s Nynaeve and Egwene finding that they’re a little jealous of one another or Mat struggling to make do while being imprisoned in the Tower or Rand simping after Lanfear, these are people that I want to get to know better, even if I also want to slap some sense into them. After all, it wouldn’t be The Wheel of Time if you didn’t find yourself pulling your hair out due to characters acting like dunces.
When the second season of The Wheel of Time begins, Moiraine is still grappling with what it means to be cut off from the True Source. Even though I have a feeling that this particular storyline was a rather late addition, it works surprisingly well, and I applaud the writers for finding a way to use this to interrogate the relationship between Aes Sedai and Warder when under extreme duress. It’s really quite heartbreaking to watch Moiraine turn Lan away, despite all of his efforts to get through to her and let her know that he cares about her and wants to continue helping her bear the burden of helping the Dragon Reborn. It’s not until very near the end of the season that they end up finding their way back together, and it’s a reunion that pays off in a big way.
Though the second season has a bit of a slow beginning, it's not long before things are heating up in a big way. At the beginning of the season two of the Forsaken are out and about and wreaking havoc, and while Ishamael is busy hosting a meeting of Darkfriends–and having a little girl cuddle a Trolloc–Lanfear has her beautiful fingernails sunk quite deep into our dear Rand. By the end of it all of them are roaming around, with Laia Costa giving a deliciously unhinged performance as Moghedien (can’t wait to see more of her in season three!)
Indeed, the strength of The Wheel of Time–both the books and the TV adaptation–has always been the characters, and this is as true of the second season as it was of the first. The characters that we’ve already grown to know and love continue to mature and grapple with a variety of challenges in the second season. The season features some truly heartbreaking moments for both the heroes and the villains.
Some, I know, have raised an eyebrow at Liandrin getting some much screen time, and at the hints that there is more to her than meets the eye. It’s important to remember, though, that there are a ton of Red Ajah characters who end up becoming big bads, while Liandrin herself is largely a nonentity the further into the books one gets. It thus makes sense that Rafe and company would want to give her more to do rather than just tossing her aside. And, let’s be real, even the members of the Black Ajah are still people with their own motivations and their reasons for doing things. This is precisely makes them such compelling villains.
On the hero side of the ledger, this season also gives Zoë Robins a further chance to shine as Nynaeve. Like her book counterpart, she is deeply reluctant to truly buy into the Aes Sedai schtick, and it’s thus no wonder that, when faced with the challenge of the Accepted test she takes the chance to flee (even if it is just part of the test). The moment when she stumbles out of the Arches only to find that her daughter has been left behind, assuming she ever existed at all is one that is seared into my brain. Her anguished screams that conclude the episode are haunting, and they are a reminder of the extraordinary price that all women must pay if they hope to be raised to Aes Sedai. As time will tell, it’s just the first of many gut-punches this season has in store.
This season sees some notable additions to the cast. Ceara Coveney simply is Elayne, and I love the glimpses of the Aiel that we get (Ayoola Smart is particularly commendable as Aviendha). Lindsey Duncan acts the hell out of her character of Anvaere, and Meera Syal is a sharp-eyed Verrin. Arguably the most important of the new cast members is Dónal Finn, who steps in and replaces Barney Harris as our dear rascal Mat Cauthon. While I enjoyed the work that Harris was doing in the first season and the skill with which he captured some of the darker aspects of Mat’s character, to me Finn simply is the Mat that we meet in Jordan’s books. He’s a rascal, to be sure, but there’s a lot of warmth and generosity to him, and it’s really quite heartwarming to witness his reunions with his old friends.
For me, though, the most compelling new addition is Natasha O’Keeffe, who of course portrays Lanfear. I honestly find this iteration of the character–and her overall story arc–much more captivating and convincing than her book counterpart (I’m definitely glad they cut out the part where Rand and several others, including Lanfear, journey to different realms). From the moment that we meet her, in her guise as the tavern owner Selene, it’s clear that there is far more to her than meets the eye and that there are many depths to her character. When it comes down to it, Lanfear might be cruel, and she’s undoubtedly capable of inflicting tremendous pain on anyone who crosses her, but O’Keeffe’s performance leaves us in no doubt that she actually does love Rand, or at least Rand-as-Lews-Therin.
As he did in the first season, Fares Fares gives a similarly nuanced performance as Ishamael. In the books he’s always something of a shadowy character, driven largely by his antipathy toward Rand and his desire to control him and bend him to the Dark. Here, though, it becomes clear that he really does believe in the promise that the Dark One will overthrow the Wheel and stop the relentless cycle of rebirth that has plunged so many poor mortals into eternal and unending misery. To that end he’s willing to do almost anything, including aligning himself with the invaders from across the sea, in all of their rapaciousness and cruelty.
All of which brings us to the dreadful and loathsome Seanchan. I’ve hated these invaders ever since I first read The Great Hunt decades ago, and my loathing of them has only grown more intense with the passing of the years. It’s not just that they enslave Aes Sedai and pretend that this is some sort of social good–though that’s bad enough in itself– but they’re also just terrible people. The series, like the books, heightens the stakes of the invasion by having Egwene fall into their hands, and the scenes in which the sul’dam Renna tortures her into quasi-obedience are some of the most difficult the show has produced so far (the same goes for both dear Ryma of the Yellow Ajah and Maigan of the Blue). Through Egwene’s eyes we come to see just how horrible the Seanchan really are, made all the more so by their belief in their own rightness. The fact that the sul’dam are themselves women who can channel makes their hypocrisy all the more galling.
There’s thus something remarkably cathartic about the moment when Egwene, having finally figured out how the collars work, ends up turning the collar back on her tormentor, ultimately using it to kill Renna and secure her own freedom. Book readers know that her time as a prisoner of the Seanchan is something that will stick with her through the rest of the series, and I think it’s safe to say that it helps to explain many of her subsequent actions, both wise and foolish. Once you’ve spent time with your body being at the beck and call of others, there’s no way to ever go back.
For Moiraine’s part, as the season draws to its close she has endured extraordinary heartbreak, particularly since she has now openly defied Siuan and left her wounded on the backstreets of Cairhien. It’s deeply tragic, and haunting, that these two women, who so clearly love one another and had every intention of one one day pursuing a life together, have been driven apart by their commitment to the Dragon Reborn and to ensuring that the Light has a real chance of beating the Dark in the Last Battle. Theirs is a queer tragedy that is beautiful in its own way, thanks in no small part to the terrific performances from Pike and Okonedo. They’ve been crushed between the rocks of duty and desire, and it remains to be seen what lies in store for them or whether they can ever rebuild and regain what they've lost.
By the end of the season our characters have been through hell and back. The second season does a very good job of twining together plot threads from both The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, both of which, I think it’s safe to say, are books that are primarily used by Jordan to figure out just what the hell kind of story he was actually telling. There’s a focus to the storytelling here that was somewhat lacking in the first season, and you can feel the show gaining in confidence.
I predict nothing but greatness in season three!