The Wheel of Time: Season 1, Episodes 5-8

The Aes Sedai Moiraine and her Warder, Lan, have found four candidates who might be the Dragon Reborn, the prophesised reincarnation of a great hero who is destined to save the world, but in the process may break it one again. Separated into three groups, the candidates proceed to the Aes Sedai stronghold of Tar Valon, where they must negotiate tricky corridors of power. In the process they learn of a greater threat, and must brave a journey through the terrifying Ways to the frontier city of Fal Dara, where a confrontation between the Dragon Reborn and the Shadow awaits.

The first half of the first season adapting Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time novels to the screen was reasonably successful. A few baffling missteps aside, it improved episode-by-episode and made strong arguments for most ("Though not all," - Perrin Aybara's fridged new wife) of the changes necessitated by time and budgetary concerns.

The second half of the season, unfortunately, does not build on this success but becomes a lot more variable. Poorer adaptive choices are made, in some cases choices which dramatically slow down the narrative rather than speeding it up (surely the primary goal when you have less episodes than Game of Thrones to adapt a story almost three times bigger), and the show shows signs of hesitancy and uncertainty in how to handle its sprawling narrative. An even bigger problem emerges in how the show handles the abrupt (and still mysterious) departure of actor Barney Harris, who played Mat Cauthon, between the fifth and sixth episodes. His unexpected departure clearly left the writers and production team scrambling to accommodate it and they were only partially successful, with the transfer of some of Mat's story material to other characters being handled very awkwardly. 

Blood Calls Blood is a transitional episode, seeing the various sub-groups of characters reaching Tar Valon and regrouping. Perrin and Egwene are captured by Whitecloaks and tortured (in an attempt to force Egwene to channel, so she can be executed), Lan tries to console his friend Stepin after his Aes Sedai was killed by Logain, and Rand deals with Mat's odd behaviour whilst also making the acquaintance of Loial, an Ogier. The episode is a mixed bag, with Hammed Animashaun's superb performance as Loial being a highlight (and overcoming some variable makeup and prosthetics). The focus on a unique-for-the-TV-show side-character (Stepin) feels like an odd move, although it does set up the shattering grief that Warders feel on losing their Aes Sedai, which is reasonable foreshadowing. However, the episode feels a bit lopsided in pacing and could have been combined with elements from the subsequent episode.

The Flame of Tar Valon is stronger, mostly due to Sophie Okonedo's performance as Siuan Sanche. Okonedo and Rosamund Pike are two of Britain's greatest actresses of the moment, and seeing them spark off one another is a pleasure. The episode's slower pace allows for something of a refocus on the core characters of Rand, Nynaeve, Egwene, Mat and Perrin, though it's mostly done through Moiraine's eyes, and the episode arguably does more to establish Moiraine as a character than any before it. However, the episode ends abruptly, a result of Barney Harris's abrupt departure, and the reasons for the gang to take off for the Eye of the World feel more contrived than in the books (where at least it felt deliberately contrived). Still, this is the best episode of the back half of the season thanks to its focus and performances.

The Dark Along the Ways is misnamed as an episode, with only the first few minutes of the episode actually set in the Ways. The production team do their best with the resources they have, but the Ways fail to be as impressively eerie as in the books. Things improve once the team reach Fal Dara, a stunningly-realised location with some outstanding integration of CGI and location filming. The new castmembers introduced are very strong (particularly Kae Alexander as Min), and there's some excellent character work between Lan and Nynaeve. However a mid-episode descent into sub-Dawson's Creek teenage angst drama with some clunky scripting gives us the worst-written scene of the season. The episode recovers, and simultaneously gives us one of the best scenes of the season with its depiction of the iconic Blood Snow battle, where the Dragon Reborn is born on the slopes of Dragonmount and carried away to safety. Probably the most inconsistent episode of the season.

The season finale feels like it has been heavily compromised by the departure of Harris and the rewriting done to make the story work. Weirdly, Harris's story beats seem to have been transferred to Loial rather than Perrin, the far more logical choice, given Perrin otherwise has nothing to do other than standing around looking vaguely into space, which has been his characterisation for the second half of the season. Some elements of this episode work extremely well, particularly Josha Stradowski whose portrayal of Rand has really come into its own in the second half of the season. The decision to clean up the finale of The Eye of the World, which was vague and confusing in the novel, is a good one, but the storylines and cliffhangers that replace it end up being equally vague and confused. We do get a solid battle sequence as Trollocs attack Tarwin's Gap and some impressive effects as the makeshift circle of amateur channellers fend them off. The confrontation between Rand and the Shadow (personified in a dignified performance by Fares Fares, who banishes any memory of Billy Zane playing the same character) is also very well-handled. The epilogue where the Seanchan show up and immediately make an impression with their awesome (if random) display of the One Power is also striking. But the messy ending, some inexplicable changes to the backstory and the feeling that the show is making changes where they're not needed and not making changes where they are needed continue to make the series feel uneven.

Fortunately, Amazon's Wheel of Time has been enough of a hit out of the gate to likely mean it will get another couple of seasons to improve itself. The cast remains excellent and the visuals mostly impressive (though budgetary constraints feel a bit more obvious in the second season), but the pacing, characterisation, worldbuilding and dialogue in the second half of the season (***) remains too inconsistent. The Wheel of Time may eventually become Amazon's Game of Thrones, but it's not there yet. The season is available now on Amazon Prime Video.

The Wheel of Time: Season 1

• 5. Blood Calls Blood ***
• 6. The Flame of Tar Valon ****
• 7. The Dark Along the Ways ***½
• 8. The Eye of the World **½

Season 2 is approaching the end of production and should air on Amazon Prime Video in late 2022.