TV Review: "The Wheel of Time: What Was Meant to Be" (Season 2, Episode 8)
The Amazon Prime series more than delivers in this expansive and exhilarating finale to its sophomore season.
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And so it comes at last, the finale of the second season of The Wheel of Time. I was very nervous going into this episode, both because of my rather lukewarm feelings of the first season finale and because, honestly, this season has been going so well I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to live up to their own good example. As so often happens, though, I was worried about nothing. The finale didn’t just meet my expectations; it blew them out of the water as completely as Moiraine did the Seanchan fleet.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
At this point, it seems clear that they have decided to merge the Battle of Falme with the later taking of the Stone of Tear (which happens in The Dragon Reborn and marks the moment when Rand is officially declared as such). This makes sense from a storytelling perspective, as it helps to clear the way for some of the bigger set-pieces and plot developments to come. It’s important to remember that the first three books are all basically setup for the grand moment when Rand claims Callandor and at last accepts (sort of) his destiny. By streamlining the story in this way, Rafe and his compatriots have ensured that we get to see more of the big battles and such that come along down the pike, rather than having to commit three full seasons to having Rand become the Dragon Reborn.
This merging also allowed this battle to have greater and more devastating emotional stakes for all of the characters, which wasn’t true in the novels. To begin with, it was beyond harrowing to watch Egwene have a series of confrontations with Renna as they prepare to defend Falme from the Whitecloaks’ onslaught, but what really hit home was the moment when, recovering from a bombardment, Egwene takes an a’dam and puts it around her tormentor’s neck. This is a very notable change from the book, in which Nynaeve and Elayne come to save her. Again, though, this is one of those changes that really does work for the better, as it both allows Egwene to finally seize control of her own destiny and sets the stage for some of her more ruthless actions to come. Having labored under Nynaeve’s shadow for so long, she finally gets to show her quality, and Madeleine Madden knocks it out of the park.
Perrin and Mat, meanwhile, get to their own moments to shine, and I wholeheartedly approve of the changes the series makes to their arcs. Mat’s been sort of on the periphery this season but, at last, he too gets to show what he’s made off, not only managing to turn the cursed dagger into a neat variation of the ashandarei from the novels, going on to sound the Horn of Valere and realize he is a Hero of the Horn as well. Once again, this is a story change that helps to give his arc some heft at a far earlier point than is the case in the novels, where he’s basically just a pain in the ass for the first several books.
Poor Perrin, though. On the one hand, it was nice seeing the vindictive Eamon Valda savaged by Hopper, but on the other it was just as devastating to see our favorite wolf brutally slain by Geofram Bornhald. Of course, this does give Perrin the chance to go full-on wolfbrother. Like Mat, he’s kind of hovered on the edge of the series this season, but this moment helps to give him some emotional growth, as well as setting the stage for the Whitecloacks brutalizing of Emond’s Field down the line.
How about that scene with Moiraine and Lan, though? It’s beyond heartwarming to see the two of them finally reunite, particularly since they’re never more imposing than when they’re working together as a team. Though Lan could be forgiven for turning his back on her once and for all, he does the opposite, welcoming her embrace and the bond. The image of them on the beach, rejoined as Aes Sedai and Warder, is beautifully shot, as is the moment when Moiraine unleashes a brutal fire attack on the waiting Seanchan fleet (who have shielded Rand so that Ishamael can strike him down). Watching her unleash her power is tremendously satisfying: it delivers a long-awaited blow to the Seanchan; it allows her to reclaim the agency she has been missing the entire season; and it acts as a nice parallel to her actions in The Dragon Reborn, in which she balefires a Forsaken. Truly a brilliant moment.
And then there’s Rand. As in the novels, this version of the character is, at this point, something of a passive hero, someone to whom things happen rather than who takes the initiative. I know that this might sit well with some people, but I think it works, and he does have his own heroic moments in the episode, particularly when he finally strikes a killing blow against Ishamael. It’s a well-timed and choreographed moment, made all the more potent by the fact that he’s joined by his friends, their strength supporting his own. Likewise, I’m glad they dispersed with his duel with Turak, which would have felt a little out of place given some of the other changes. Hopefully we’ll get to see him doing more sword training in season three!
The question now is: what becomes of the Forsaken? We now know, thanks to the epilogue, that Ishamael, (wisely) fearing that Lanfear would betray him, has subsequently unleashed the others on the world. The confrontation between Moghedien and Lanfear was beautifully done, and Laia Costa is absolutely perfect as the Spider. If you’ve read the novels, you know that Ishamael is actually brought back to life by the Dark One, in the form of the sinister Moridin, so if that makes it onto the screen, it will be a lovely bit of tragedy for his character who has yearned for absolute death above all else. Ishamael and Lanfear have been perfect foils this season, so it’s fitting that we get to see him embrace death even as she has to grapple with her divided loyalties.
Overall, I thought this was a marvelous way to end the season, though I would have liked to see more Nynaeve and Elayne, who were largely short-changed this episode (a casualty, I suspect, of the pacing problems caused by that pesky eight episode cap). As has been clear from the beginning, there is a special bond that exists between these five young people, and as they stand on the tower at the end of the series, they are very much the team that they’ve always been. There are going to be some very tough days ahead of them as they start to prepare in earnest for the Last Battle, but if Rafe and his fellow creatives have shown us anything, it’s that they’re more than up to the task of giving us more of what we love.