We’re going to be caught up on Wheel of Time at this point as we dive into the third episode “A Place of Safety”. If you want to know what’s happened in the previous two episodes, you can find my recaps and thoughts for Leavetaking here, and Shadow’s Waiting here. How does this episode hold up to the previous two?

Just a quick reminder, I am going to talk about the episode in broader strokes, there might be some spoilers, but I don’t want to get too far into detail. I’ll have a spoiler section at the bottom. There will be spoilers for previous episodes in what I talk about though.

A Place of Safety Recap

After having been split up at Shadar Logoth, Egwene and Perrin need to set out on their own, not really knowing where they are going, or where in the wilderness is safe. Lan needs to find a way to work with Nyneave in order to help Moiraine who is still suffering from the affects of their quick travels and the wound she look from the trollocs in Emond’s Field. Meanwhile Rand and Mat struggle between wanting to go home and fear of the trollocs following them. And when they find a town to stay at for a little bit, they find two interesting characters there.

What Didn’t Work

I thought that this was another strong episode in that it gave me what I wanted. Again, it jumped around some in the story and we’re still waiting on certain characters to show up that have already in the book. We get one of them here, one of the two interesting characters. And I think that they do a solid job with the character, but they are a bit more rough around the edges seeming than they are in the book. They still have the charisma that I’d expect though, and another very solid casting.

I also want more time with Egwene and Perrin, this is where a character is really missing, and honestly, I like Egwene and Perrin’s characters a lot. So I’d not complain about seeing them spend more time on their character. I also think that Perrin’s character needs to be fleshed out more. While him killing his wife in the first episode, on accident, does give him some of his drive to hate a weapon, they could have done more with it. And the introduction of the wolves is great, they do matter, but I want to see what they are going to do with them.

So really it’s less of two things that didn’t work, it’s more things that I want more of. So probably the one thing that didn’t work as well for me was the pacing in the episode. It felt rushed at times and while they did a good job of dwelling on Mat and Rand, a slight slowdown in the Egwene and Perrin storyline would make it feel like we know them more as characters.

What Worked

The Mat and Rand storyline worked. It works for multiple reasons. The first being they show how Mat’s personality is shifting. We know in the show that Shadar Logoth is a bad place, but we’re starting to see what that might mean. And I like the character development for Rand, again with the dagger but also the depth that they’ve given him about being a gambler, a risk taker, and a bit shady, but really doing that for the sake of his sisters and his concern for them.

I think that change for Mat is needed from the books and this is comes from the characters being older. In the book he is very care free and free wheeling at the beginning. Life is a big adventure and that’s all he cares about. He’s older in the show, so I don’t think he’d have kept that feeling as much. Mat is still the most care free of the group but now there’s a bit of motivation for some of his darker side besides the ruby hilted dagger.

We also meet two interesting characters, I kind of talked about it already, how it’s not when that character is introduced, but they do a good job with the character. Want to know more about him, spoiler section.

A Place of Safety – Final Thoughts

This was another good episode, I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t so sure while I was watching it though. Pacing on the episodes, like I said, is a bit off. I want more time with Egwene and Perrin, but I will admit that what they are doing now isn’t the most interesting. Instead they focused on Mat and Rand, and that is probably the right spot to focus right now.

Is this better than Shadow’s Waiting, I’m hard pressed to say that, but some of why I like Shadow’s Waiting is that it feels better paced, and better choices in it compared to Leavetaking. This one, I think, arguably has some more interesting story moments for Rand and Mat as well as Lan, Moiraine, and Nyneave. I didn’t mention this but for Lan, Moiraine and Nyneave, the story is diverging in characters introduced. Needed drama, I don’t know, but I don’t dislike it.

If I were to grade this one, and let’s be fair, I am going to do, I’d say it’s an 8 to 8.5. It is very similar to what the previous episode was, but a new character I really like helps it.

What did you think of A Place of Safety?

Spoilers

So, we finally get to meet Thom Merrlin, and it’s another very good casting. I will say that Alexandre Willaume plays Thom maybe a bit more rough around the edges than he seems in the book, but the charisma is still there. A friend on Twitter says that Thom is what everyone wants to be as a Bard in Dungeons and Dragons, and I think that’s pretty accurate. He captivates the room and can stab you in the back.

I also like that they begin to form a tenuous connection between him, Rand, and Mat. He protects them from the dark friend in the town. But he also spends time with Mat, and you get to see his more caring side. I am assuming now that he’s killed a dark friend in the town, and the town killed an Aiel for possibly stealing or some possible crime, they won’t want him around even for his songs and stories.

The dark friend also worked in the show. I do think they maybe needed Moiraine to tell them not to trust anyone and more about dark friends in the previous episode, so we’d know what they are. But for me, I did, it makes Rand and Mat’s position on their own seem more perilous. And I want to be suspecting everyone as a potential dark friend when it comes to those two characters. Especially Mat with his ruby dagger and the taint of Shadar Logoth should be extremely suspicious now.

I also thought it was interesting they introduced Liandrin Sedai already. She is introduced in the first book but not this soon. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to bring her in early though. She is an important character, same with Alanna Sedai. We’ll see how they are used in the show, but two interesting characters to bring in at this point. Even in my spoilers, I’m not going to say how they are and why they matter. But to see them with Logain, specially Liandrin as part of the Red Ajah makes sense.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.