As always, spoilers for the previous Episodes which you can read the non-spoiler reviews of them here.

Blood Calls Blood

Mat and Rand work on completing their journey. But Mat continues to fade with the taint of Shadar Logoth on the dagger that he has. Meanwhile, Lan, Moiraine, and Nyneave work their way towards Tar Valon with the other Aes Sedai. And Stepin struggles with the loss of his Aes Sedai and the pain of that bond breaking. Finally, Egwene and Perrin travel with the tinkerers, trying to decide what to do next when they come across an old face, but not a friendly one.

What Doesn’t Work?

I don’t have a problem with anything, really, in this episode. I think that they do a solid job of creating a story that feels like what I’d expect from the books. Where everyone meets up might be confusing to some people, the characters don’t all get there for a long time. But I think that it works pretty well. It makes sense, though, some of the parts of the book that are more fun are missed because of locations that have been skipped over.

What Works?

Mat and Rand manage to meet up again with one of the more iconic book characters. I won’t spoil who, now, but I will later. And while I think that the look of the character might not be quite right, I do think that they were able to pull off the character well. The mannerisms are great, and the voice work is perfect on this character.

I also think that the stuff with Stepin, the majority of this episode works well. In the book we get conversations of Moiraine and Lan about the connection between a Warder and an Aes Sedai. We know that when an Aes Sedai passes, it’s like part of the Warder passes with them. I’m not sure they nail it perfectly of showing that with Stepin, but they get it very close. And it works as well as it can for the show because in the book it’s conversations, which don’t provide much action.

Final group, I think that Perrin and Egwene’s story works as well. Now, they meet up with an antagonistic group, and not the people they do in the book, but it helps set-up some things. And it shows who the Tinkerers really are, I think the Tinkerers have been portrayed very well. And this is the first real time we get to see some things hinted at from Perrin before.

Final Thoughts on Blood Calls Blood

This feels like The Wheel of Time to me. Yes, there are massive changes that get highlighted in this episode. But I don’t think they weaken the story much. I still have some characters I like a lot that I want to see when they show up. But I feel like we are getting close to seeing some of them, and I’m excited for that.

What I really want to know is how the scenes with Stepin play out for non-book readers? To me, it’s like a lot of the Perrin set-up, I can get why they do it and it makes sense. In this case, it feels much less heavy handed than the Perrin storyline, because the story is given a lot of room to breath throughout the episode. And I like that Nyneave is there to witness it because she’s kind of the audience, not knowing everything.

Like I said, this is probably my favorite episode. I’d give it a 9 out of 10. Did the story need to slow down after a lot of action, I think so. While The Wheel of Time has action in it, and considerable amounts at times, it is a story that builds slowly to action and then slows, and builds again. This feels like one of those building moments as we get to know more of how the world works.

Spoilers

We get to meet Loial. And I was a bit concerned when we did. Now, they nail the setting for Rand and him meeting. And I liked Rand’s reaction Loial. The look is a little bit off, but the mannerisms are just amazing. And the voice is perfect, it is going that slowly and just that thought that is put into everything, and Loial is a hasty Ogier.

I also think, and I couldn’t talk about this too much in the negatives. that they are trying to play the shell game too much with who is the Dragon still. The whole Logain looking as if he was staring down Mat instead of Rand, conversations with Nyneave from the other Aes Sedai. It’s a bit too obvious who they aren’t suggesting might be the Dragon out of the whole group.

And let’s talk a little bit about everyone meeting in Tar Valon instead of Caemlyn. It’s an interesting choice, but I get it. They are trying to limit the massive locations that we need to know right away. And I think it kind of works in that we get to meet Loial, seeing them take Logain there makes sense. For me, it’s a bummer, though, because I love the scenes of Rand trying to see Logain in Caemlyn and just what that leads to. It’s such a great introduction of a few characters. And we miss out on that, though, with the characters being older, I get some of that change in terms of tone.

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Note: I am going to try and not do spoilers and keep a spoiler section at the end, but an episode recap might spoil what has already happened.

Shadow’s Waiting Recap

The group, led by Moiraine are on the run with trollocs chasing at their heels. They run across other threats as they travel cross country. The White Cloaks question them but with a little misdirection Moiraine leads them away. Moiraine is able to maintain their energy, but with hers flagging and being wounded by the trollocs, they are forced to secret refuge in Shadar Logoth.

What Doesn’t Work?

This episode was a whole lot better for me than Leavetaking. This one moves very fast though as well. Now, not as fast as the last one in terms of action. The first episode has a big trolloc fight, here they are more on the run, it is what is going to be coming behind them. And while there is action around Shadar Logoth the feel of it is very different.

There are of course some more changes in this episode, I’ll talk about them coming up. But I don’t have as much issue as I did with the last episode in what they changed, places they bypassed and plot points likely going forward.

What Works?

I think they do a very good job of building up the tension between the Aes Sedai, Moiraine and Mat, Rand, and Perrin. Perrin can see why they have to leave and he is clearly running if you saw the first episode. But Mat and Rand are rightfully skeptical of what Moiraine has been telling them. After the moments of running from the trollocs and not seeing the trollocs for a little bit, they just can’t follow on faith anymore.

This also, with it being a slower paced episode, we get to dive more into the characters I feel. They do a good job of starting to develop Egwene and Moiraine’s relationship. And the hesitancy of the characters, in particular of Mat’s character in this episode. While they maybe don’t show it the best for how much time has passed on the run, this feels like the point in the book where they feel like they can stop running, at least for a little bit, which is saying something with the episode titled Shadow’s Waiting.

Again, I’m going to keep talking about this, they have done such a good job with casting. Mat really gets a chance to shine in this episode, I think, and the upcoming one as well. While there are some changes to his story, I don’t feel like it detracts or feels like they are forcing him into a story moment for the sake of drama. And a lot of that comes from the actor just stepping so well into that role. The story surrounding him works for the character and actor.

Final Thoughts on Shadow’s Waiting

Like I’ve said, I like this episode better than Leavetaking. I’d say that Leavetaking was a 6.5 out of 10, good enough that I’d want to watch more but probably not good enough for me to watch the whole series if it wasn’t one I was already interested in. Shadow’s Waiting to me took that up to an 8, it’s a very good episode and very good character development. They let the characters breathe as we got to know them.

Now, I get pushing the tempo for the first episode because the book spends a chunk of time before the action really starts. But we get an idea of the characters only. Here we get to know the characters. We get to see Moiraine in action in something that she’s more comfortable with. And the White Cloaks are terrifying, especially the questioners, which they should be.

To me, Shadow’s Leaving got me hooked more into the series. Even with difference, I think it still works. And we’ll have to see if that continues or not. But now that we are starting to get a foundation for the characters, I expect that I’ll enjoy it more.

What did you think of Shadow’s Leaving? Let me know in the comment section below.

Spoilers

Baerlon

Now, there are some changes from the book that I want to talk about. Firstly, they completely skip going to Baerlon this is actually not an issue for me. Baerlon was a good way to set-up that there are and can be dark friends everywhere, and a solid spot to meet the White Cloaks and Min, but it isn’t completely needed. I think that the introduction to the White Cloaks was more effective here.

In the book we meet the White Cloaks, people are giving them room and giving them a wide birth, but here we get to see a questioner immediately and how terrifying they are. And also got to see the difference between a Questioner and a regular White Cloak as well.

In terms of Min, I am fine with not meeting here there. I want Min in the show and I believe that she’s been cast so we’ll get to see her. But Caemlyn would be a perfectly fine spot to meet her. Or even have her already be at Tar Valon, but probably be ideal to meet her before then just for some story elements.

Shadar Logoth

And then let’s talk about the difference in Shadar Logoth without Mordeth being there and trying to get Mat, Perrin, and Rand to help him. Mat instead just wanders off on his own and finds a box with the ruby hilted dagger in it. That’s less exciting, and it was a bummer that we didn’t get to see Mordeth.

Now, it’s not so much of a bummer because it’s so important to the story. It’s more of a bummer because Shadar Logoth was an amazing location to see in the show. Mat’s reasoning still makes sense for taking the dagger. But to see the twisted and empty ruins of Shadar Logoth, that’d have been amazing. They made it look properly impressive and empty. The falling apart because it’s been neglected not because of battle works. I’d love to have explored it longer.

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