TV Review: "The Wheel of Time: Seeds of Shadow" (S3, Ep. 3)
Manipulation, grief, and clandestine meetings combine to make the third episode a tightly-woven and compelling piece of fantasy TV storytelling.
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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
Whew, it’s quite a marathon of watching and reviewing the first several episodes of the third season of The Wheel of Time, but it’s just so much fun watching this show and digging into the details. Besides, I love being able to share my love with all of you, dear readers, and with the broader Wheel of Time show community. There’s still so much negativity surrounding the show, and it’s good to know that there are people out there in the world who do enjoy the Amazon adaptation for what it is and for how it brings Jordan’s works to life in a way that feels authentic to the author’s vision.
This episode, like the first two, hits the ground running as we join Lord Gaebril in a sinister-looking location. It’s not long before he’s revealed to be yet another of the Forsaken, Rahvin, who has managed to create such a powerful aura of Compulsion that everyone who comes into contact with him believes that he has been with Morgase for a decade. He’s soon joined by both Lanfer and Sammael, the former of whom has summoned them all to form a coalition against Moghedien, her great enemy among the Forsaken. It’s quite a delight to see Sammael, and it’s a good decision to have him portrayed by an angry Scottish short king, and Cameron Jack, like so many other people in this show, is perfectly cast.
As with the previous episode, this one crams in a lot of plot. Nynaeve, Min, Elayne, and Mat all have various encounters in the White Tower that make them realize that getting out of there is in their best interests, and so they set off for Tanchico. Rand, Moiraine, Egwene, and Lan all find that getting along with the Aiel is harder than it seems. Meanwhile, in the Two Rivers Perrin meets a young woman who will change his life and, along with Alanna and Maksim, attempts to fight back against both the Trollocs and the Whitecloaks.
Every time I read The Wheel of Time, I’m struck anew by how fun it is to spend time with, and Ch the Forsaken. Of all the things the Amazon series gets right about Jordan’s work, it certainly recognizes that these mustache-twirling villains are just a hoot to watch as they scheme and work against each other, all in pursuit of becoming Nae’blis. Lanfear, certainly, recognizes that her fellow Chosen are useful as allies, even if she can’t entirely bring herself to trust them entirely. It’s enough, though, that she seems able to bring them around to her way of thinking, even if she doesn’t know that Rahvin is already allied (and perhaps in a romance with) Moghedien.
Adding to the pleasure is the fact that we now know the identity of all but one of the Forsaken that are presumably going to be shown, with Rahvin’s name-dropping of Graendal and Semirhage. We have yet to see the latter two on screen and given that we’ve already seen quite a few Forsaken this season, I doubt that they’re going to put in an appearance. Still, we know that they’re around doing something. Sammael and Moghedien and Ishamael are all accounted for and, if you were to ask me, I’d say that it’s Asmodean who will be the eighth. I suppose we’ll have to see.
At the heart of the Forsaken story is the fact that none of them can ever entirely trust the others and that, as they did in the Age of Legends, they’re going to destroy themselves before they even have a chance to force a confrontation with Rand. At the moment, Moghedien is being set up as the season’s big bad, and though she might be a coward, and though she might prefer to manipulate and scheme from the shadows, you have to admit that this has worked out pretty well for her, so far. What she lacks in raw power she more than makes up for in subtlety. Laia Costa is also simply sublime in the role, neatly capturing this character’s sinister and slithery mannerisms.
The Forsaken aren’t the only ones hatching schemes against one another. In the White Tower Elaida continues to make moves to undermine Siuan Sanche, reintroducing herself to the Red Ajah and attempting to seize the power that has slipped away while she was serving Morgase. As she did in the premiere, Aghdashloo shows why she is the perfect person to portray Elaida, and she neatly captures the character’s inner strength and outer fortitude. Not content to simply sit back and see where things go, she takes the initiative, and she delivers scathing contempt to anyone she views as beneath her, whether Siuan or Verin (the latter of whom she denigrates with a snide comment about libraries and honeycakes). It won’t be long before she shows everyone that she is one of the most formidable women of the Age.
Just as importantly, this whole exchange reveals just how far Elaida is willing to go in terms of getting the Dragon Reborn under the control of the White Tower. Not content to let him discover anything for himself, she insists that he be caged and controlled by the Aes Sedai. It’s important to remember that when all is said and done Elaida truly is a member of the Red Ajah and, as such, firmly believes that no man who is able to channel, not even the Dragon Reborn, should be allowed to wander loose around the world. While we might not want to admit it–given that we’ve already been led to identify with Rand and we’ve been primed to see Elaida as a villain–the truth is that she has a point. Rand is still a danger to himself and to others, at least until he is able to assert even the most basic control over the One Power. Given that Elaida is a member of the Reds, it makes sense that she would want to bring him under control before it’s too late.
The White Tower is also the setting for a truly divine moment involving Mat, Galad, and Gawyn. Book readers will recall that the duel between these three is one of the key moments in The Dragon Reborn that shows us just how much Mat has changed as a result of both his encounter with the Shadar Logoth dagger and blowing the Horn of Valere. Suffice it to say that it’s a simple delight to see Mat showing up these two spoiled princes and their sense of entitlement. Mat might be from the Two Rivers, and he might lack their exalted pedigree, but this doesn’t mean that he isn’t quite capable of beating the shit out of them when he needs to do so. It’s likewise gratifying to see him forge a peace of sorts with Min (and it’s even better to see Min’s suit, arguably one of the best sartorial choices in the season).
Fortunately for both of them, Nynaeve and Elayne have made some strides in their attempts to figure out what Liandrin and her fellow members of the Black Ajah are up to, and it’s not long before all of them are on their way to the dangerous and very seedy city of Tanchico, where they hope to find Liandrin and her fellow members of the Black Ajah. I love the way that this season is giving Elayne and Nynaeve some time together. It’s a bit of a remix from the books, with Mat and Min taking Egwene’s place, but it works really well, particularly since the cast has such amazing chemistry.
Speaking of Liandrin…Kate Fleetwood, you are a goddess. We’ve already seen how much Liandrin’s son’s death pushed her definitively over the edge, and now we get more insight into both her motivations–to shackle the Dragon Reborn–and also the grief she still carries with her. In that respect she has more than a little in common with Lanfear, who emerges from this episode (and the season as a whole) as far more complex and layered than her book counterpart. Though she might be faking it, Natasha O’Keeffe’s performance suggests that Lanfear really does yearn to be with Rand and to break her vows to the Dark One, even if she’s also quite willing to torture Egwene in the World of Dreams. Like I said, complexity.
Grief also marks the Two Rivers plot, which shows Perrin, Alanna, and Maksim all grappling with sorrow of one sort or another. I’ll admit that I care less about this storyline than I do the others (this is true of the book, too), but I give a lot of credit to Marcus Rutherford, Priyanka Bose, and Taylor Napier for all giving terrific and wrenching performances in this episode. This episode also marks the introduction of a character who will become very important–vital, even–to Perrin’s development as a character. This, of course, is Faile, the young Hunter for the Horn who has taken up residence in the Two Rivers. I love what Isabella Bucceri does with the role, and I can’t wait to see more of her.
Last but not least, we come to Moiraine, Lan, Rand, and Egwene, who are not ensconced with the Aiel. I will give the show a lot of credit for leading me to be engaged with this strange desert people, and I’ll go on record as saying that I always found the Aiel to be one of the least interesting cultures that Jordan created, mostly because he made their rituals and mores so arcane and mysterious–even to us as readers–that it became very easy to largely tune them out. Here, however, we get just enough of them to make us enjoy this strange new milieu without all of the complications that can make them so tedious in the books. I particularly appreciate the casting of Nukâka who, like so many other members of the show, simply is Bair. I also enjoyed getting to see Lan connect with someone else from Malkier.
By the time the episode has come to a close it’s clear that nothing is going to be the same for any of the characters going forward. Rand, in particular, is poised to learn a great deal about the Aiel that even the majority of the people themselves do not (or cannot) know or grasp. This season continues to build up the tension, and I am absolutely here for it. I can’t wait to dive into the next episode, in which we finally learn more about the sinister city known as Rhuidean.