The Wheel Of time

Hey everyone and welcome today we will be talking to season 2 of the show The Wheel of Time. Fun Fact, The Wheel of Time is based off books by Robert Jordan and the series consist of 14 volumes and one prequel with the last 3 in the series completed by Brandon Sanderson because Jordan passed in 2007. This season came out in 2023 and stars Rosamund Pike, Josha Stradowski, Madeleine Madden and was Developed by Rafe Judkins. So without further ado let’s get right into it.

Season 2 of the wheel of time picks up with the group from the two rivers all on separate journeys and all believing rand to be dead except Moiraine.  Moiraine is trying to keep the secret that Rand is alive and is the Dragon reborn but that is becoming hard when the forsaken Lanfear is getting close to him with hopes of him switching to the dark side. Slowly the group learns more about themselves but also what role they play and must figure out how to stop these evil foes.

The Wheel of Time is a fantasy show that can be a little confusing and is filled with lots of characters, It has similar vibes to Game of Thrones, Shadow and Bone, or the Witcher.

Season 2 I felt like was going to be a hit or miss and I’m glad it was a hit. I think season one felt a little dull at times and needed to explain things a little bit more and felt like it was missing something but it was still good and I think season 2 had a great balance of action and story while also introducing us to not only more characters but also more locations.

Let’s start by saying that whoever got Rosamund Pike to star in this show deserves a promotion. She plays characters that can manipulate so well and I loved to see Moiraine manipulate people with the way she answers questions without lying but telling the truth in a way that answers the question but also doesn’t tell the whole story. I feel like every show where someone has powers always has a moment where the person with powers looses them which I hate because in this season it was moraine but they did do a good job of using this as a lesson on what happens when someone is cut off from the one power. When she does get her power back they showed us how good she is with one power and definitely someone you want on her side. I still am a bit confused what the Blue Ajah do but they should be happy they have moraine.

I love how we got to learn more about Moiraine’s family and learn more about why she’s the way she is and the complicated family structure. This also was great to show the lack of aging with Aes Sedai because we saw her younger sister who looked older than her. I was sad that her nephew betrayed her but so happy that her sister didn’t join him and locked him up to protect her sister.

I thought Josha Stradowski did a good job as rand this season who is trying to learn more about what is expected of him as the dragon while keeping it a secret that he’s alive. I like that as he’s learning we are also learning and seeing him pave his on path because people on the dark side and light side both didn’t really seem to care about him but only his power. They did a great job of showing that he is powerful but there are skills that he needs to learn and raw power is not everything. I was wondering why he was carrying that sword all season because he didn’t seem to use it once throughout the season.

This season  explained the Amyrlin seat more which is something that confuses me because I wondered how much power she had. We see how much she is respected but this season showed that she can physically control Ajah who are not listening to her orders like when she was talking to Moiraine and forced her to close the way gate. When talking to Rand we also see how she is pretty powerful because she shields him from the one power with ease. We come to find out that even tho she is powerful she is no match for Lanfear who takes her down with ease but luckily Lanfear decides to keep her alive.

Natasha O’keefe was so good as Lanfear who really kept the viewer on their feet because we didn’t know what she was up to . We learn that she dated a dragon in the past and thinks that she somehow can get him back. Her character was so interesting because she seemed to have a plan In place to get rand into Falme but was also working on other things at the same time and was so smart and I really couldn’t hate her even though she was the villain. She also was a force to be reckoned with with her attacking the city where a bunch of Ajahs were and then singlehandedly taking down the Amyrlin seat and probably had one of the coldest lines of the season, A broken Amyrlin is more use to me than a dead one”.

Perrin learning more about his wolf brother was interesting and I want to see more about how it will benefit him. In season one they don’t really explain much but in this season he finds a mentor in Elyas Machera who gives us more insight on what Perrin is but I feel like he really hasn’t unlocked his potential.

I feel like Mat has been given the crap end of the stick because out of all the two rivers people I feel like he has been the one that people have lost faith in. He was imprisoned for most of this season but then is let free but its part of a plan for Liandrin and Ishmael to possibly kill Rand. Mat however is smarter than they think and at the end of the season he doesn’t take the ruby hilted dagger again and instead ties it  to a pole so he can use it without its control over him. In the end he blows the horn and brings back the heroes of the horn and blurts out that he remembers which I think means that he remembers that he is a hero even tho everyone views him as a failure.

I need to learn more about the Black Ajah asap. We know the Ajahs say the three oaths on the oath rod but I need a little more info on how the black Ajah can break these oaths and also how many are there. We know Liandrin is one and I’m interested to see what happens when people find out that she is a trader and what she will do to get out of that situation, I kinda hope they capture her because I hated her character cause she was rude but also think she would be a good little side villain.

This show is one that has lots of names thrown out that you may not know are important but you will slowly start to piece together who they are and realize that they are important. There are people on this show that have been around for longer than a normal life span so some of the characters are from there past or might be people who are alive and may be important in the future so you have to remember their names .

We are slowly getting introduced to new locations which show that where we were in season one is a small part of the world and the Aes Sedai aren’t viewed the same across the world. It was cool to see Seanchan and how they view channelers as lesser beings and have them be slaves or Damane as they call them. It was interesting to see how politics of the world are so different wherever you are and that the Amyrlin seats influence only goes so far.

The channeling in this show is so beautiful. I love how in the show they talk about the wheel and threads on the wheel and then have their version of magic look like threads of light. The movements that they use when using the one power is choreographed well to the point that sometimes if they are doing something big it seems like a dance like when Moiraine took out the ships at the end of the season. I also thought it was cool how Rands is like light and dark which to me perfectly showed that he is also in like not settled on what side he is on.

My favorite part of this season was Egwene’s storyline. She was one who was always in Nynaeve’s shadow while at the white tower but one thing I noticed is what she lacked in power, she makes up for in smarts. She is still very powerful but she uses her knowledge to get out of many situations and even though she’s always in Nynaeve’s shadow she still cares for her and is one person trying to make sure Nynaeve’s makes it out of her trials. I was so sad that she got captured and made a Damane but loved that she never lost her fight and was going to come out on top no matter what and vowed to kill her Sul’dam. During the final battle she sees her moment and the best part of the season was born, she puts a collar on her Sul’dam and displays her smarts while telling her that the reason they can control there Damane is because they have a bit of the one power but they are so weak and the sul’dam doesn’t believe her until that collar activates and she becomes Egwene’s prisoner and she instructs her to free Egywene which was so badass to use the slaves methods against them. She gets free and keeps her vow and kills her Suldam in an empowering scene. After all of this and being exhausted she is able to hold her own against Ishmael who is more powerful than her but she is able to buy the rest of the team some time so they can help Rand. Egwene is a force to be reckoned with. Im looking forward to her growth in future seasons.

The Wheel of Time is great addition in the fantasy world. Throughout the show we see the weaves that intertwine the characters and see how their individual weaves or storylines have gotten them to where they are and made them stronger and get hints at where they can possibly go. I really hope we get a season 3 because this show has so many more questions to answer.