TV Review: "The Wheel of Time: A Question of Crimson" (S3, Ep. 2)
The second episode of the third season of Amazon's sprawling series sees more confrontations in the White Tower, some exciting and dangerous new characters, and heightened tensions everywhere.
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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I have been very excited and gratified to see the third season of The Wheel of Time finally getting the love that this show has always deserved. As of this writing, the third season has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is really quite an accomplishment, considering how much opprobrium the series still receives from book fans who just can’t wrap their heads around the fact that a TV adaptation is always going to make changes to the story, particularly when it’s as sprawling as what Jordan created. In any case, I’m absolutely loving the third season of the show, which continues to show the extent to which The Wheel of Time has really matured as a piece of fantasy TV.
The second episode begins with a bit of a terrifying cold open, featuring Morgase at her moment of triumph during the Andoran civil war. Having achieved the submission of her foes, she gives permission to other members of their families to kill them, leaving her utterly unopposed and the kingdom safe for, hopefully, generations to come. Though some might blanch at the idea that Morgase would ever be so ruthless when it comes to her fellow claimants to the throne, this is again one of those changes I approve of. Book Morgase might not have been the type of person to order a cold-hearted execution in front of the gathered notables of Andor, but she was definitely the type of person who very nearly had Thom Merrillin put to death, despite their former closeness.
Meanwhile, Rand continues to make his way to the Aiel Waste while sparring with Rand and grappling with Lanfear’s presence in his dreams (to say nothing of her constant jealousy of Egwene). Moiraine views this with some skepticism, since it seems as if Rand is avoiding his duty to learn how to channel, while Egwene finds herself tortured by Lanfear in the World of Dreams. While all of this is going on, Perrin travels with Bain, Chiad to the Two Rivers, while Mat, Min, Nynaeve, and Elayne all find themselves manipulated in one way or another by Siuan.
Let’s start with the portions of the episode focused on the royal family of Andor. Book readers know that there’s far more to Lord Gaebril than meets the eye and that, in fact, he is Rahvin, one of the most skilled and powerful members of the Forsaken. (Spoiler for episode 3: he has managed to influence everyone who comes into contact with him through the use of the weave known as Compulsion, which essentially forces everyone to obey his will). Nuno Lopes is perfectly cast as the character, with his suave grace and his seemingly effortless hold on Morgase.
Morgase, for her part, is a steely character, and she makes it clear that she isn’t going to be pushed around by the Aes Sedai and that she also isn’t going to just take Siuan’s word about anything that is taking place, particularly when it comes to her daughter, Elayne. Williams manages to give us the steely queen and the concerned mother at one and the same time. I only hope that the show doesn’t go down the rabbit hole with Morgase that the books did, where she became little more than a love object for various characters, losing much of what made her so compelling in the first place. Thankfully, this episode gives Williams a chance to shine, and I particularly enjoyed the scenes between Elayne and her mother, all of which show the extent to which the younger Trakand is just as willful and subtle and indomitable as her mother.
Unsurprisingly, for me the very best thing about this episode was the highly-anticipated reveal of Elaida, one of the most important (and villainous) of the Aes Sedai that we meet in The Wheel of Time. Unlike so many other of the evil channelers, however, she is not a member of the Black Ajah. Instead, she is merely a woman who genuinely seems to believe that her way is the best–or, indeed, the only–way for the White Tower to be run. This puts her on a collision course with Siuan, who has repeatedly shown that she has her own way of doing things and will suffer no fools. Indeed, she shows as much this episode, particularly in her dealings with Mat, Nynaeve, and Elayne, all of whom he seeks to put to use in defending the Tower.
I remember being absolutely thrilled with the casting announcement of Shohreh Aghdashloo as Elaida, and let me say without reservation that I was not at all disappointed. With her smoky voice and her icy demeanor, this is the Elaida of the books that Jordan wrote brought to life (even if she is also slightly older than her book counterpart). Watching her lock eyes with Siuan has to be one of the true highlights of this episode and, while the first episode might have been full of fire and fury during that fateful encounter between the Black Ajah and the various members of the Hall, this one is equally consequential. It’s clear that there is more than a little bad blood between these two powerful women, and the fact that Siuan actually defeated Elaida in the pursuit of the Amyrlin Seat adds further stakes to their dynamic.
What makes Elaida so fascinating is that, as a Red, we’re already primed to see her as an antagonist, if not already a member of the Black Ajah. However, it’s pretty clear even this early on that she might be ruthless, and she might be opposed to Siuan and her administration, but she isn’t allied to the Dark One. This is part of why I’ve always loved her as a character. For all that Siuan, Leane, and Verin might despise and distrust her, and for all that she is an opponent of the characters that we’ve come to see as the heroes, she’s not evil, just misguided.
On the lighter side of things, this episode also sees a marvelous sword fight between Galad and Gawyn, two characters who are intensely irritating in the books and seem to be at least marginally better in the show. Book readers will recall that everyone in the Tower–whether novice, Accepted, or full Aes Sedai–spends a lot of time watching these two men spar with each other and with the Warders. We also discover that they are quite willing to take advantage of the desires running rampant through the Halls of the Tower. Given how hot they both are, however, I think it’s easy to forgive the novices who have decided that such male beauty and virility shouldn’t be wasted (I’m also secretly glad that Galad isn’t such an uptight prig as he is in the books).
Rand has also been doing some sparring of his own, both with Lan and with Moiraine. I’m glad that we finally get to see the training sequences with Lan, since these were a key element of Rand’s character development in the books. Likewise, I was really impressed with the brief but meaningful conversations with both Moiraine and Lanfear, both of whom are pulling on Rand and trying to nudge him. Josha Stradowski has really grown into the role of Rand, capturing the character’s inner turmoil and innate stubbornness without making him the irritating twit that he is in the books. I’m really looking forward to seeing how he grows and develops as the season goes on.
I give Rafe and the writing team a tremendous amount of credit for managing to come down off of the high, and the devastation, of the first episode of the season to give us an outing that is as fulfilling. It’s been such a pleasure to watch this show grow and mature with each season, and while I’m on record as stating that the first is much better than people give it credit for, there’s no doubt that this one has seen some significant strides in terms of its storytelling abilities. Even the Perrin storyline in the Two Rivers feels compelling in a way that it never quite does in the books, and it’s a genuine pleasure to be back in the mountains among the humble folk of Emond’s Field.
Moreover, I love that the show is really leaning into its queer sensibilities. It’s not just that we get to see lots of pretty boys–though that’s true–but also that we get to see various female characters mothering all over the place. There’s just such an intense and gratifying pleasure at seeing these powerful women sparring with one another, whether literally as in the first episode or more subtly as in the confirmation between Elaida and Siuan. There’s also something slightly queerish about the relationship between Mat and Min. I’ll go on record as saying that I continue to find Dónal Finn one of the most irresistibly alluring characters in the entire show, and it’s a lot of fun to see these two characters find their way back to a friendship despite what happened in the second season. And, as time will tell, Mat is far more like Siuan’s uncle Huon than he would like to admit.
Whew, that was a lot, wasn’t it? There’s just so much to gush about and love this season but, for now, I’ll sign off. Stay tuned, though, because we’ll be back tomorrow with a closer look at episode three, which heightens the stakes and deepens the storytelling of this already great season.