TV Review: "The Wheel of Time: The Road to the Spear" (S3, Ep. 4)
In the season's best episode yet, both Rand and Moiraine confront the past and the future in the mist-shrouded city of Rhuidean.
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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
Well, it’s finally here, one of the most significant moments in Rand’s development as a character. Having finally made his way to the fabled city of Rhuidean, he now has to pass through its strange crystal columns in order to prove to both himself and the Aiel that he is indeed the Car’a’carn, the key figure in the many prophecies of the Aiel. To do so, however, he has to face the wrenching nature of their past, experiencing secrets that are so dangerous and so shattering that they often cause aspiring clan chiefs to take their own lives rather than accept the truth. Suffice it to say that Rafe Lee Judkins and the creative team have really outdone themselves this episode, which marks a high water mark for both this season and the show as a whole.
Even before we get to that point, however, we are introduced to the Shaido and their leader, Sevanna. Book readers know that both Sevanna and the Shaido more generally will become a real thorn in Rand’s side as he attempts to bind the world together and forge the various nations into a force that can defeat the Dark One at the Last Battle. Part of me was hoping that Judkins and company might choose to cut them out, since I hate them almost as much as I hate the Seanchan, but we all know that good fantasy needs a good villain, so here we are.
In any case, the lead-up to Rand and Moiraine going into Rhuidean is heavy stuff. There’s a well-choreographed duel between Aviendha and Lan, a poignant conversation between Lan and Rand about the flame and the void and the latter’s sense of being cut off from who he is, and a fateful conversation between Rand and Moiraine that reveals just how far apart they remain on the key issue of trust. All of the actors continue to deliver some truly superb character work, giving some grounded and human stakes to the epic drama in which they are enmeshed. Thus, even before we get to Rhuidean we’re already nicely immersed in the world of conflicted feelings, whether it’s Aviendha’s deep hostility toward becoming a Wise One or Rand’s insistence that Moiraine fully abase herself to his own desires.
It all leads up to the journey into Rhuidean itself.
I’ve always found this part of The Shadow Rising to be both poignant and tragic. For the past three books we’ve heard a great deal about how the Aiel are a relentlessly (one might go so far as to say ruthlessly) militaristic culture, and now we learn the truth about them: they were once a resolutely peaceful group sworn to serve the Aes Sedai until, over several generations, they abandoned their oaths and began to split apart, eventually becoming the Aiel and Tuatha’an of the present. Several moments are particularly devastating, particularly the flashbacks which force Rand to inhabit his father’s subjectivity and has to see his mother’s dead body sprawled in the snows of Dragonmount and Lewin, whose attempt to rescue his sisters leads him to kill and thus be abandoned by his mother. The latter is particularly heartbreaking, and I give a lot of credit to Josha Stradowski for bringing out the anguish and turmoil of this character as well as his steadfast desire to protect the other Aiel who will not and cannot fight.
Just as importantly, the flashbacks eventually take us to the Age of Legends itself, that period of time that has loomed large in the consciousness of the series as a whole. And, because this entire sequence is essentially played in reverse, the full scope of what was lost–and how much damage the maddened male Aes Sedai were able to inflict as they were driven mad by the Dark One’s taint on saidin–becomes ever more apparent. Even though we only see it in bits and pieces, it’s still clear that this period was the apex of human achievement, the moment when the use of the One Power had brought about a sort of utopia (even if, as Lews Therin observes in the books, there was probably a great deal of rot and unrest going on beneath the surface that the Aes Sedai either would not or could not acknowledge, even to themselves). Unfortunately humanity’s hubris and desire to move beyond its limitations brought about its own ruin, and the Aiel were caught up in the midst of it.
The center of it all, of course, is Charn’s encounter with Mierin, the researcher who would one day become Lanfear. This whole scene forces us as viewers to grapple with what might have been had Mierin not pushed so far and so fast, had she not sought out a power source that would be available to everyone. Just as importantly, it also reminds us that very few people are evil in the beginning. Indeed, even the most evil and despicable people often start out with good intentions, before their own commitments to their purposes push them into the darkness.
As I’ve noted before, I love what this series is doing with Lanfear’s development as a character. In the books, she largely emerges as someone who is absolutely obsessed with Rand–or at least the bits of Lews Therin that she sees in him–and she is also someone who has truly sold her soul to the Dark One. Here, however, we get to see her in all of her complexity, which shapes our understanding of her in the present. Yes, she is still quite capable of cruelty, as her torturing of Egwene in the World of Dreams makes very clear, but I do get the sense that she truly loves Rand and wants to find a way to be with him. Whether or not this would be a healthy relationship is an entirely different question, but as her past self makes clear, there was once something more to her than just a yearning for power and a desire for Lews Therin/Rand that goes beyond all reason or rationality.
Rand’s visions of the past end, appropriately enough, with the immolation of the floating orb known as the Sharom. In addition to being a remarkable use of CGI–arguably one of the best in the entire series to date–this moment marks the beginning of the end of the Age of Legends. From this moment forward the Dark One’s touch on the world will only grow greater, and nothing for any of the people who live in this world will ever be the same.
As much as Rand is forced to bear witness to the troubling history of the Aiel–which they have done a great deal to suppress and deny–Moiraine also has more than her fair share of trauma to contend with, bearing witness to numerous turnings of the Wheel and several iterations of her death and/or that of Rand. I love the way that this entire sequence plays out, with the screen simulating these many turnings, showing all of the ways in which their fortunes may change depending on their actions. The scene in which she encounters Lanfear, who has managed to turn all of the Emond’s Fielders to the Dark, is particularly potent.
Moiraine’s challenge is a nice echo of that of both Min and Elaida, both of whom have also gained glimpses of the future and have to decide how to deal with them. As the latter pointed out to Min in the third episode, knowing the future is a perilous thing, a sentiment echoed by Melaine and Bair. Moiraine has already shouldered a number of burdens as she has attempted to lead the Dragon Reborn down the path that he must take in order to be prepared for the Last Battle (or at least to be prepared in the ways that Moiraine has determined are the best, which may not always align with what Rand might want to do). As this whole episode demonstrates, however, this is just the beginning and, going forward, the two of them will be ever more tightly bound together.
Narratively and structurally speaking, it’s really quite brilliant to have this whole episode focused on the key events at Rhuidean. Yes, there are many things going on in the rest of the world, but for Rand–and for the Aiel–this is arguably one of the most important. There can be no going back from this, this episode makes clear. Just as importantly, Rand and Moiraine, who have been bound together since before he was even born, will find that their path forward is even more complicated than they could have imagined. Now that he has shown that he is the one that has been foretold, there is a long and perilous path ahead for Rand al’Thor. I give a lot of credit to Josha Stradowski for fully coming into his own as this character, making it own and making Rand alive and breathing and bearable in a way that his novel counterpart never became.
Moreover, there’s something both poignant and tragic about the fact that this young man now stands at the nexus of several competing prophecies. After all, it’s not as if the Dragon Reborn is the same as the Car’a’carn. As Aviendha pointed out some time ago, the prophecies that tell of the Car’a’carn’s coming say that he will remain a figure of essential contradiction, binding together mutually exclusive states of being. Rand’s task as the seasons go on will be to balance these various competing loyalties, all while trying to find some way to bring the peoples of the world together to fight against the Dark One and the armies he has managed to accrue.
Long story short: I loved this episode. It was beautiful, haunting, tragic, and rich with philosophical questions. In other words, it was exactly what you would expect of a strong screen adaptation of Robert Jordan’s work. It condensed the relevant part of the book into its necessary parts, without feeling as if we’d lost anything. It had some titanic performances, and it nicely paves the way for the future, both in this season and subsequently. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next week!