Another episode of the Wheel of Time and more changes from the story that are happening, but in the case of The Flame of Tar Valon, I don’t think that they were bad changes. I’ll talk about them in the spoilers. But it was a solid episode, in general, that ran a little bit too long. It needed one more thing to happen in it to make it really good. You can check out my previous reviews here.

The Flame of Tar Valon Recap

With everyone converging on Tar Valon, Moiraine is working to keep her plans in order. Not only that but the Amyrlin seat is returning from Caemlyn to Tar Valon, and Moiraine, Alanna and Liandrin are going to need to face her for what they did to Logain in gentling him without a trial. All the while, Moiraine is finding that the others have made it to Tar Valon as well. But separately and she must bring the group together again and figure out what the next steps are which may include the Ogier Loial.

What Didn’t Work

This episode was 60 minutes, I don’t mind have 60 minute episodes of The Wheel of Time. In fact, if more were that long, I’d be happy. But as rushed as the first episode was, this one was too slow. Now, not to say that important things didn’t happen, very important things did. But more that the pacing was too slow. There needed to be another story element to what was going on.

As you can tell from my recap it is very Moiraine focused, and she’s a good character to focus on. But it did seem to leave some of the other stories generally hanging. I want to see more struggles of Nyneave not liking the Aes Sedai which we get hints of. or Egwene’s eagerness to start training. Or Mat not trusting them, Perrin not trusting himself, or anything with Rand at this point because they haven’t done much with his character.

What Did Work

I think that Sophie Okonedo as Siuan Sanche was good. Going from being quite formal in the halls of the White Tower, but then is much more relaxed and slips into her rough upbringing as the daughter of a fishing family. There’s some interesting stuff that they do with her and Moiraine’s relationship, though not in a way that affects the overall story. Is it a change from the books, sure, does it really matter that they changed it, not at all.

The Flame of Tar Valon episode also sets up and gives some reason for Moiraine to continue traveling. That’s one of the things in the book is that she is never there. Liandrin has been trying to get Moiraine to return. Her own Aja, the blue aja, wants her to stay in the tower more. So I think a change that was made so she can travel more easily and more with those from the Two Rivers makes a lot of sense.

The Flame of Tar Valon Final Thoughts

This was a good episode but not a great episode. I thought that there was some good story progression, and also reason for them to progress in a specific direction that the books go. If the episode hadn’t ended up the way it did, it really would have started to diverge even more heavily from the books.

As an adaptation of the books, I think that the Wheel of Time is doing fine. And this episode is one of the weaker in terms of a direct adaptation. But in terms of the story, I do think that they are doing a solid job with it. It feels like The Wheel of Time even if it doesn’t match up perfectly with the books.

With that said, this episode is kind of like the first, it gets a lower score around a 6.5-7 out of 10 range. Do important things happen, yes. Does it matter massively for the plot, yes. But it just felt a little bit lacking in what it did. Like I said in my negatives, the episode needed tighter editing. There is a difference between deliberate pacing and slow pacing. This fell on the slow side of things where it could have be deliberate pacing with the same thoughtfulness and just less shown.

What did you think of The Flame of Tar Valon?

Spoilers

The jumping off point to talk about I think it would be Moiraine’s romantic relationship with Siuan. I think that for some people this is going to be something that bugs them. And I’m just looking at it from the perspective of it not being part of the books. But when I look at it from a plot, it doesn’t matter. It kind of makes sense in some ways, I know there are book things that might contradict that, but not major plot points.

Then at the very end, as they go into the Ways, Mat seemingly doesn’t come with them. Now, this is again, a does it matter change? Mat seemingly has already been healed from his connection with the dagger, that doesn’t happen until later. He also doesn’t trust Aes Sedai or want to be there. In the show he really doesn’t want to be there because he’s worried about his family. So I don’t know that there is a major importance for him being on this journey.

Overall, I get the changes they are making from the books, and I’ll keep on coming back to this. I think that they are doing the story justice and keeping the tone right. Would I love to have seen more of Shadar Logoth and other characters and places, most certainly. But it’s more about the tone of the show for me. And this is the first time that I thought it’d been too slow, generally they have paced it well.

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