TV Review: "The Wheel of Time: Eyes Without Pity" (Season 2, Episode 6)
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Spoiler Alert: There will be significant spoilers for the episode ahead. Proceed accordingly!
This is an episode that’s all about heartbreak and fractured connections, as our various heroes have to contend with their own struggles. Rand, after confronting Lanfear, also has a brief moment of reconnection with Mat, while Egwene, now in the custody of the Seanchan, learns of the true horrors of being a damane. Moiraine has a fateful confrontation with her sister, while Nynaeve and Elayne make sacrifices as they prepare to rescue their friend from the invaders. And Lan finally has to admit the truth to Alanna and her Warders, leading him to a fateful meeting with the Amyrlin.
Josha Stradowski continues to be a great Rand, and we finally get to spend more time with him than has been true for much of this season. I particularly appreciated the moment when he got to see Egwene in her captive state, as it brought home to him, in no uncertain terms, that his attempt to protect his friends by disappearing has had the opposite effect. As the series goes on he’s going to have to contend with the fact that, like it or not, he is the Dragon Reborn, and with such a position comes tremendous responsibility. Stradowski continues to have just the right blend of inner strength and vulnerability that are key to Rand’s appeal as a chosen one character.
As she has from the very beginning, Rosamund Pike continues to serve up tremendous screen power as Moiraine. We’ve seen several times this season how much her service to the Dragon Reborn has taken from her, and now we see the fruition of that in her incandescent argument with Anvaere. It’s been a blast seeing Lindsay Duncan and Pike go at it, with the air seeming to spark with the intensity of their long-bottled-up resentments. It’s a powerful reminder that, beneath that icy exterior Moiraine is a person like any other, with all of the emotional entanglements that entails.
The emotional centerpiece of the episode is, of course, Egwene’s torment at the hands of the Seanchan. This was always going to be a difficult sequence to watch, but I tried to prepare as best I could. Even so, it’s still wrenching to watch her endure abuse–both physical and psychological–at the hands of her captor, who will stop at nothing to break her spirit. Madeleine Madden gives her best performance this season, and it’s remarkable what she is able to do with her face. She allows us to see in Egwene’s eyes the agony of imprisonment, just as she also allows us to see how tempted she is by the Seanchan offer of power beyond what the Aes Sedai have so far allowed her.
As was the case in the novels, the most sinister and terrifying thing about the Seanchan is how much they truly believe in their mission and in their treatment of their damane. As Renna repeatedly asserts, from the Seanchan point of view women who can channel aren’t women at all; they are an entirely different sort of being, one that is meant to be chained and used as a weapon for others to wield. Xelia Mendes-Jones, one of the newcomers to the series, is extraordinary in her role, and you can see in her eyes that she is a true believer in the Seanchan way. This makes her quite dangerous, as Egwene finds to her dismay, and when she eventually breaks, it’s one of the most heartbreaking moments we’ve yet seen in The Wheel of Time, made all the more so by the woman in the next chamber, a former Sitter for the Blue Ajah whose spirit has been similarly broken.
It was always going to be hard to fully capture the true horror that the Seanchan represent, but the show has done a marvelous job so far. Rafe Judkins and company have given us a culture that is beautiful in its arrogance and hauteur. These are people who believe it is their divine mission to bring the entire world under their dominion, no matter how many lives must be trampled to achieve it. This is precisely what gives Ryma’s sacrifice for Nynaeve and Elayne its emotional punch. After all, she’s a woman who has devoted her life to healing but, when confronted with a threat that could destroy the sisterhood of which she is a part, she uses the Power to destroy her enemies. It’s one of the most gut-wrenching moments in the entire episode, made all the more so by both her failure to defeat the Seanchan and the fact that neither Nynaeve nor Elayne can interfere lest they jeopardize their efforts to save Egwene. As so often in The Wheel of Time, sometimes there is no right choice.
Of course, other plays are also in the mix this episode. Ishamael and Lanfear are still maneuvering, each pursuing their own ends (and, one presumes, those of the Shadow), while Lan feels himself torn between his loyalty to Moiraine and his duty to tell the Amyrlin the truth about what they’ve learned regarding the Dragon. These are some finely-wrought scenes, and they finally give Daniel Henney something to do rather than just brood all the time. It’s also fantastic to see Sophie Okonedo return at long last.
On top of all of this, both Liandrin and Min have to face some truly terrible choices. Liandrin finally has to bid farewell to the son she has spent so much time protecting, forced to do so by Lanfear (who is even more ruthless than she is), and it’s tremendously powerful to see both Kate Fleetwood and Natasha O'Keeffe in the same room. Here we have two women sworn to serve the Dark One, but each of them is far more than what they seem, and we have these two amazing actresses to thank for that.
If I have one complaint about this episode, it’s that I still can’t quite figure out what the show is doing with Min. Kae Alexander makes the most out of her scenes, of course, but still not entirely sold on the idea of her being in thrall to Ishamael, no matter how much of an emotional and spiritual burden her visions have been. However, if this show has taught me anything, it’s that it’s okay to have some faith in the creators.
One thing is for sure. I cannot wait to see what next week has in store for us!