#evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Season 2, episode 1

I'm at it again! I know I never posted the season 1 finale review, and maybe I will go back and do that later. But for now, I just finished the season premiere, and I have to say, Perrin is 100% correct. The five of them are much more impressive together than apart. Which isn't to say I disliked it. They are all on the struggle bus, but that is where character development is at its peak, and where we get to see their true inner strength. Which is to say, I LOVED it. Bring on the angst!

The season opener with the round table of evil plotters was a fun and clever way to deliver some exposition without boring us. Having a little girl crawling under the table, disturbing the Very Important Shadowy Cloak Meeting really humanized every single one of them, and seeing the Fake Dark One be so gentle and patient with her gives some insight into how people can become dark friends. They are just concerned parents. I am now calling him Nancy Reagan, since he is their leader. I also definitely want to pet a trolloc. They look much cuter when they aren’t being ordered to kill everyone in sight. Are they tamable? Or...redeemable? I am still not sure of their level of free will/sentience, so I am not sure which word applies.

The first scene post-credits is Moiraine working hard to take her Very Sad Alone Time Depression Bath. Just one woman, chilling in a hot tub, cuz the water gets cold without magic. It was a very good idea to show the first hot tub scene in the recaps, so I could get the full emotional subtext here. Bathing is a communal activity in this culture, but she can’t handle having someone else see her in such a vulnerable position when she already feels so vulnerable all the time. But the longer she spends isolated, the more alone and vulnerable she will continue to feel.

She and Lan are hiding out with their friends, Sassy Twin, Serious Twin, and Tom. Tom is married to one of them, but I forget which one. Without the warder bond, Lan must have lost the rapid healing that allows him to withstand his severe clothing allergy. Good thing the Sassy Twin is there to helpfully point out additional clothes that might be hurting him, and to reassure him it would be fine to remove them in her home. She truly speaks for all of us. I’m glad Lan has these three friends around to support him as he supports Moiraine. This poor man is having to learn, at the tender age of forty-something, to use his words to describe how he feels. He is afraid for his best friend, he is hurt about being pushed away at a time when he would expect to be leaned on even harder, I am pretty sure he blames her for blocked bond because she had put the block up prior to being shielded, and he feels like he is losing his only purpose in life.

And in the face of all that, he has to exhibit so much patience as Moiraine acts like every insecure teenager ever and tries to push him away. His previous experience with teenagers taught him what this behavior is like, but not how to handle it. Her “I am so aloof and do not care at all about the feelings of others” routine was incredibly transparent to everyone except Lan. He really needed his friends to lovingly slap him in the ego and remind him that the only way to truly help her is to let himself be the vulnerable one, so she can see how it' it's done, and realize it's something she can live with.

But now he has to do it the old fashioned way, by walking upstairs to check on her. Good timing, too. Slightly worse timing for Serious Twin, but at least she could handle all the Eyeless. Hopefully one of the twins does healing.

Meanwhile, at Aes Sedai High, Nynaeve and Egwene are in novice training. Egwene is dealing with a bit of culture shock. She accidentally witnesses an actual, honest to Light, bisexual orgy on screen. She is going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a big fish in an ocean surrounded by other big fish, but she is handling it better than I expected. Nynaeve is handling the entire thing exactly as I hoped she would. While Egwene focuses on adding extra challenges by learning to weave with both hands tied behind her back, Nynaeve is semi-consciously stopping herself from doing any magic at all. Polly tries playing on her pride, by saying she is just scared, and Nynaeve responds by drinking dirty dishwater while making direct eye contact. Such a power move, there. Unfortunately, it leads directly to an unwanted face-to-face discussion with JK Rowling, which quickly turns into a surprise duel. I thought JK was torturing Nynaeve by hurting her, but my husband said she was only making the air too thick for Nynaeve to move through. And really, nothing could possibly torture Nynaeve more than placing an unwanted restriction on her. She did end up shielding her, temporarily, and that was described as one of the most brutal forms of assault. Pretty sick, but also pretty consistent with boarding school hazing rituals.

Later, Nynaeve and Egwene read the letter from Perrin, where he hopes they will all stick together. And JK Rowling goes down to her secret Man Dungeon For Men to read a heavily edited version of the letter to her prisoner, New Mat. And, to this I have to say, come on JK Rowling! Why do you go and pull a stunt that the actual JK Rowling also used in her own book? Your name is getting more and more accurate as time goes on, and that is not a compliment. Anyways, Mat responds in pretty much the same way Harry Potter did, by trying to break out of jail. I’m not sure how I feel about New Mat so far. He seems a bit like a soggy bed sheet, but he is also in the exact circumstances that would lead to soggy bed sheet behavior. His puckish attitude was mostly a mask he put on to lift the spirits of those around him, and his private moments were entirely spent dwelling on his own misery. Presumably the only person he has interacted with for months now is someone who actively feeds on that misery. JK Rowling is a cursed dagger unto herself.

We get a brief glimpse of Rand, with his new haircut. He is sad and has no lines. I assume he will be more present in future episodes. He lights a lantern, presumably for his mother, but maybe for the innocent version of himself that will never exist again. Maybe for his friends he thinks he can never see again. They light the lanterns for those they lost, which might not necessarily mean the ones who died.

Perrin, meanwhile, is on a quest to find Padan Fain and steal back the magic horn. He has found another Wolf guy, who seems to be teaching him how his wolf powers work. Apparently he can see the past? Maybe he is smelling the places where things used to be, like Angua does in Discworld? So then, is he a werewolf? This is a very confusing power that has still not been explained at all. I would have liked to see Perrin get a training sequence similar to Egwene and Nynaeve, but the defining trait of wolf guys is that they aren’t a chatty bunch. They find a bunch of bodies of the traitors from the final battle, presumably disposed of once they were no longer useful. The group holds a proper funeral for them, which confuses Perrin. He doesn’t understand how they can go to such effort for the people responsible for the deaths of hundreds. The prince guy responds that if his people spent their time seeking revenge on those who betray them, they wouldn't have time for anything else. It is more helpful to the ones left behind to let it go and focus on the mission. Sort of the way of the leaf, but with a more productive twist. Perrin is really on a quest for a moral philosophy that he can live with, and this one seems slightly more compatible with him.

At Bel Tine, he lights a lantern for his wife. The first time he has to do so. He places his wedding ring on the lantern, but takes it back at the last second. He isn’t ready to let go of his own guilt just yet, but at least he can move forward while carrying it now. Loial seems good for him. And Perrin is good for Loial. He’s way more likeable now that he has gotten used to the wonder of living in the human world, and stopped condescendingly and incorrectly explaining how it all works. They are both figuring that out together. I am not sure how he survived being stabbed with the cursed dagger. By all rights it makes no sense. So I guess… Loial returned somehow. And we are also moving on from it and focusing on the mission, even if we carry our confusion with us.

Other episode reviews

#wot on prime #wheel of time #wot season 2 #wot prime spoilers #wot s2 spoilers #wot s2 #evilphrog reviews

[the-timelord-a-tardis-stole]

I posted 2,971 times in 2022

14 posts created (0%)

2,957 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@knifepatron

@elven-child

@partywithponies

@evilphrog

@lokis-tardis-companion19

I tagged 1,020 of my posts in 2022

#lotr - 172 posts

#lotr newsletter - 128 posts

#dracula daily - 115 posts

#the magnus archives - 99 posts

#bbc ghosts - 86 posts

#rtgame - 76 posts

#the late late toy show - 52 posts

#gaeilge - 44 posts

#goncharov - 27 posts

#ofmd - 24 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i generally go with the idea that jonah was sick of hiring stuffy academic men as archivists so he chose the angriest young woman available

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I love the fact Sam agrees to leave the Shire like "oh yeah, I'll go with Frodo. And I'd love to see some elves". Then it's literally day 3 of travelling still in the Shire when he gets to meet them. Because it means from here on out, Sam's motivation is 100% love and loyalty

37 notes - Posted September 25, 2022

#4

I had 2 thoughts about Tom Bombadil when we were reading about him:

One of the possible in-universe explanations for Tom Bombadil is that he is God. While this is good idea with all Tom Bombadil's singing and Illuvatar's connection with music, it is way funnier is Tom Bombadil is a different being. Like imagine creating an empty world out of The Void, and you look in and theres just Some Guy Vibing

All his nonsense singing reminds me a bit of that episode of Stellar Firma where Trexel is making up riddles but they end up steadily turing into funny little nonsense rhymes.

40 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

#3

There's a couple of moments that we've read so far that will form interesting parallels later on (spoilers for the first time readers):

The hobbits feeling awkward carrying swords for the first time vs. when they return to Bree and Barliman is like "yeah, of course no one hassled you on the way here, you're all fully decked out in armour with swords" to which the hobbits are like "oh wow we forgot that was actually weird"

Strider and Merry meeting for the first time after Merry encountered a Black Rider vs. when Merry is one of the people Aragorn has to heal with his Kingly Healing Hands(TM)

Sam standing up to Strider when he first meets him vs. Sam's similar but even more defensive behaviour when they first speak to Faramir. I really love this one bc Sam is absolutely willing to challenge some Man who is almost twice his height and is skilled with a sword.

Also, this is less of a parallel and more of a common thread throughout the story but I love the frequency with which the hobbits have been meeting unexpected friends after leaving Bag End. There's a quote from Elrond when the fellowship is being formed about meeting "friends unlooked for" or something (I don't remember the exact phrase) and I love that this theme was set down immediately after the hobbits left

42 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

#2

I find it very interesting that when the hobbits were like "tell us one of the Old Tales" and Aragorn chooses a comforting one in the form of the Tale of Beren and Luthien. In isolation, it's a good choice. There's hope amid hardship and people achieving impossible tasks with the power of love. It's very comforting if you're about to be attacked by evil creatures.

However, with the context of Aragorn and Arwen, you have to ask how many times has that been Aragorn's comfort to himself? How many cold nights in the wilderness has Aragorn spent imagining Beren doing the same thing? Does the successful taking of a Silmaril turn Aragorn's task of becoming King of Gondor and Arnor from "Impossible" to only "Very Difficult"? Or does it turn it into a sort of destiny that can and will be fulfilled? That he won't be stuck roaming the world alone for all his long life?

76 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

That kid really committed to the munchikin bit

96 notes - Posted November 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #nice i posted on average more than once a month this year and all my top posts werent toy show related #its a low bar but i cleared it #also yikes 52 posts about the toy show im almost sorry to all the non irish people

[all-about-the-tea-parties]

Every day that is another day @evilphrog doesn’t release the wheel of time part two finale review is a day I get closer to challenging god

#and since I now have COVID #the probability of me getting to make that claim true has increased #gotta love the holidays #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot #wot spoilers #the wheel of time

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Season 2 Episode 3

Rand gets Pretty Womaned. Perrin has to once again make a choice between the hammer and the axe, and once again lets someone else make that choice for him. Nynaeve is missing, presumed dead, until she literally breaks the laws of physics to get back home because nobody tells her what she can and cannot do, not even reality. Egwene never stops believing in her. Mat escapes with the psychic bartender, but it was actually all orchestrated by the biggest bitch on the wheel.

Rand is the personal attendant to the False Dragon, who is now more of a lizard. He desperately begs to be taught how to control his powers before he suffers the same fate, but Lizard was never all that empathetic to begin with, and now he is actively suicidal. He agrees to teach Rand everything he knows, at the price of some fancy wine. Rand knows exactly how to earn that, and turns on the charm for his landlady. Selene really skeeves me out, for more reasons than just the predatory relationship with a barely legal guy who is clearly very mentally ill. I think it is the way she keeps trying to pretend this is more than a transactional relationship? The way she plays at romance, while still reminding Rand at every turn that she holds all the power? The way she pouts at him when he refuses to play along? I don't know, maybe she just has a sinister personality.

She gets him the wine, and an invitation to a dinner. He makes friends with some older lady who looks like Moiraine in disguise, who snarks at him about how much rich people suck. Okay, Not!Moiraine, way to hypocrite all over the place. Anyways, Rand is incredibly upset to realize the lady that has been preying on him is also preying on other desperate souls, so he runs off to Lizard. Lizard approves of the wine, and delivers the entirety of his advice: accept the madness and eventual death, because there is no way to avoid it. He then returns home where his landlady assaults him, and then they bang. Or maybe he just fell asleep and had a sex dream/hallucination. Either way, he accidentally Mannels, and burns down her inn. She rushes from the flames to find him, and I still get the feeling she's just Off.

Perrin and his friends have all been captured, except his Wolf Buddy who looks like Discount Heimdal. These are apparently the Seachan I have heard so much about. I now realize it is pronounced Shaun John, not See Chan. If there are no special effects from here on out, at least the rest of the budget was well spent on the Shaun John costumes. They are creepy as hell. Nancy Reagan is with them for reasons yet to be explained, and he keeps checking out Perrin. They take the Eyepatch guy up to force him to swear fealty to their throne, and immediately kill him when he refuses. Everyone else submits without question, though Perrin is still angry about it.

At some point he must have been knocked unconscious, because he wakes up alone, chained up in a carriage with Nancy Reagan. This dude is playing jumprope with the line between sweet grandfather and sexual predator. He wolf-baits Perrin, and comes out as the Dark One, which is still a lie. Perrin asks what he wants with him, and Nancy leans in like he is about to kiss him, and says he wants Perrin to be his. GAAAAAAYYYYYY. Heimdal and the wolves break Perrin out, and Perrin wants to rescue the others. Heimdal has another plan. Run away. Perrin follows along, but I sense some complaining in his future. He hates the choices other people make for him, but goes along with them because he still can't handle the thought of being responsible for another major mistake after his last one. Someone should tell him that choosing to follow orders is still a choice, and he is still responsible for the consequences of his choice. I fear he is going to find that out the hard way.

So onto Nynaeve, the heavy hitter of the episode. She is presented with an opportunity to walk through the swamp three arches, where she will face her greatest fears without even the force one power to protect her. If she succeeds, she will become a true Jedi master Accepted Aes Sedai. Her three greatest fears are really all the same fear. Watching people she loves suffer and die and choosing to leave them to their fate rather than fighting to save them. First up is her parents, then the Two Rivers folk, and finally, a brief flash of visions that end with her covered in blood. That last one haunts her so badly that she chooses to leave the tower, run away with Lan, and PSYCH! She was in the arches the entire time. She didn't even notice the archway return for her.

When the arch lit up and faded, the head Aes Sedai all realize she has been lost forever. The Principal of Novice School wallows in guilt, but has enough left over to remind JK Rowling that her self-righteousness won't actually wash away the blood on her hands. JK actually seems to feel shame, which I wasn't sure she was capable of before. She is suddenly more complex than the cardboard cutout lunch room bully she has been up until now. No more likeable, but painfully realistic with her ability to justify any and all actions as a defense against the deep self-loathing she can't afford to face. We all know someone like this. Someone so dedicated to their cause that they can't see the fact that they have become the exact thing they claim to fight against. In this case, She Woman Man Hater, Protector of Girls Everywhere has manipulated and murdered a young woman by treating her as a tool to power, rather than a person. But she doesn't have a penis, so she must still be Good. Right? Right? Her shields are failing. I wonder if she thought she loved Nynaeve, in whatever way her shriveled husk of a soul could comprehend love.

Egwene has recovered from her self-pity sleepover with Elayne, and is committed to appreciating Nynaeve a lot more. She goes to wake her up for school, but finds the Principal there instead. Principal stiffly and woodenly informs Egwene of Nynaeve's death and then walks out, in a way that seems cold to Egwene, but like she is inches from breaking down sobbing to the audience who saw her earlier performance. Elayne tries to comfort Egwene in her sincere, awkward way, but Egwene has just lost her final tie to home, and is not ready to pour her heart out to someone she met yesterday. Read the room, Elayne. Not that you have ever had this skill. Aren't princesses supposed to get etiquette training? She must have failed that class.

JK Rowling does find a way to blame a man after all. She WOULD have prepared Nynaeve properly, if only she hadn't been stuck tormenting Mat for no real reason except that she likes manipulating people. It is really all his fault, for being so manipulable. She releases him, after delivering a scathing rant about her own insecurities projected onto him. Someone in that room is certainly an insidious coward who mistakes their own moral failings for cunning and wallows in self pity. He and Min make a run for it, but Min goes back for a quick chat that serves no purpose except to let us the viewer know she's been working with JK all along.

Egwene goes to the arches, and pours everything she has into opening the archway for Nynaeve, but it just isn't enough. Elayne comes by for a second attempt at comfort. She is able to convince Egwene to stop trying to kill herself by overchanneling at the arches, but promises to sit with her until she's ready to leave. Maybe she CAN learn how humans work after all.

Nynaeve, meanwhile, has been living peacefully in a fantasy similar to Rand's. She and Lan are happily married, with a rambunctious daughter. They live in the Two Rivers with Mat and Perrin, and get letters from the Powerful and Amazing Egwene Sedai. After many happy years, however, her home is invaded by trollocs. She has to hide her daughter in a cellar, while she tries to fight, in a clear parallel to her own memories of losing her parents. The adults do their best, but Mat, Perrin, and Lan all die brutally within seconds of each other. Nynaeve rages so hard that she channels inside the arches. Okay, I understand. Her biggest fear is that being an Aes Sedai will keep her from protecting her loved ones because her duty will come first. She has overcome it by realizing that her power is the one thing that could have saved them all. But now for the final test. Her daughter comes upstairs for a hug, just as the archway appears. Nynaeve knows she must walk through, but she can't abandon her child to her fate. So she gathers up the girl and rushes through, only to emerge empty-handed and covered in blood to a shocked Egwene, who hugs her as she cries. Was that life ever actually real? Is there a world out there where a little girl closed her eyes and trusted her mother to carry her to safety, only to end up helpless and alone against a horde of monsters and the corpses of her family? Nynaeve will never know. Congratulations on becoming an Accepted, and on never knowing peace again.

Other episode reviews

#wot on prime #wheel of time #wot prime s2 #nonreader #wot s2 spoilers #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Season 2, episode 2

I am going to have to post this as half a review again. I had a lot of feelings, and I am never going to get around to watching the rest of the episodes if I don't just post what I have. I still haven't covered the Moiraine or Perrin plotlines, but believe me when I say I adore them also. You can read about the rest of them below.

We finally get to see what Rand has been up to all this time: having nightmares about hurting everyone he loves, and whoring himself out for room and board. It’s like he got separated from the group and immediately thought “What would Mat do in this situation?” He is also working as an orderly in a mental hospital. Ah yes, I see. He needs to prove the intrusive thoughts wrong, by being extra caring and kind. Someone should let him know that command hallucinations are not a predictor of violence on their own, and one of the best protective factors is having a robust support network that keeps you grounded in reality. In other words, he should be doing the opposite of what he has done. But that’s Rand. His head has never contained any thoughts except “Gee I sure love my friends and family” so it was the perfect place for Nancy Reagan to move right in. Just a big house with five bedrooms, cathedral ceilings, and only two cardboard boxes stuffed in one corner of the garage. The first was labeled “willingness to do anything for my loved ones” and the other was labeled “nuance.” The second box was empty. This will not go well for him.

He’s been caring for a man who survived the Aiel wars, and got some serious PTSD from it. He’s a sword master, and has been teaching Rand some proper forms. Too bad some absolute caricature of a douchebag working at the hospital likes to pick on him for no reason. Rand responds in the way every mental health worker witnessing an abusive staff member dreams of. He calms the patient, finishes out his shift, then follows him home and beats the shit out of him. But whoops, he underestimated his Manneler strength and maybe killed the guy instead. It’s hard to know for sure, since Rand has some major hallucinations going on most of the time. I feel for him here. In Rand’s mind, he was standing up to a bully as his equal. But Rand has no equals. He is quickly realizing that no fight involving him will ever be fair.

Douchebag fails to show up for work, so Rand gets promoted to the garden, where all the famous patients hang out. And his first patient of the day is Logain, the false dragon. Dun dun DUN!

Meanwhile, at the White Tower, Nynaeve is busy being wooed by an increasingly desperate JK Rowling. Unfortunately, her main selling points are gender supremacy and pre-crime. The fascism isn’t even thinly veiled, she just comes out and says it. Nynaeve isn’t interested. JK needs to change her sales pitch. To cope with the rejection, she goes and torments her pet Mat for a bit. He tolerates it, and as soon as she is gone, continues his Shawshank Redemption plan. He eventually succeeds in tunneling through his wall, only to discover another cell. At least this one comes with company in the form of Min, the psychic who bailed on the final battle. Once in the presence of another human, Mat’s charm immediately returns. Thank the Light. I like New Mat after all. He wants to know how Min ended up in Aes Sedai Jail (because she’s a girl), but Min has no clear answers for him. She does have wine, though, so now he has a drinking buddy. He offers to also be an orgasm buddy, but she has a vision of him stabbing Rand with the cursed dagger, which is a major lady boner killer. The rags and prison smell are probably also a factor.

A new girl has moved in to Novice school. Obnoxiously, with all her furniture blocking the hall. Egwene goes up to yell at her, and I get to meet Elayne, the girl everyone has been screaming about since the promo photos dropped. First impressions of Elayne: I want to hate her, but I just can’t. She is naive, but earnest. She’s very excited to be “just like everyone else” but can’t help mentioning that she’s the princess three times per conversation. I have to hand it to the actor. This character could very easily be played as condescending and out of touch. But instead, her sincerity bursts out of her with such force that I can’t help but like her. She latches onto Egwene like a lovestruck koala and never lets go. She propositions her in the first conversation, and says she hopes they become soulmates. Egwene is redheaded channeler catnip.

JK’s new sales pitch is apparently accidentally-on-purpose getting caught caring for her son, who is dying of old age. Or maybe it was a genuine accident. It is hard to tell with her. Nynaeve shows concern in the only way she can, by helpfully pointing out a mistake JK made, and telling her how to fix it. That earns her a slap in the face, which was pretty much what she expected, but JK does take her advice.

Meanwhile, Egwene figures out that Elayne is making up excuses to spend time with her. Good. She really needed this, because she has finally fallen into Gifted Kid burnout. She cries to Elayne about how Nynaeve gets all the praise without even trying, and meanwhile, she struggles to even get noticed. Elayne tells her jealousy isn’t a good look on her, in a voice that strongly implies she thinks nearly anything at all would be a good look on Egwene. I told Husband that Elayne is going to leave her morning whippings and run straight to Egwene to rub soothing lotion all over her. He said that’s actually canon.

Sadly, Nynaeve overheard this conversation. The thing that upset her wasn’t any kind of insult or character assassination. She is hurt that Egwene feels abandoned. She pretty clearly only joined Novice school so she could watch over Egwene and protect her. She is being harangued every day by the people she hates most, and now she’s being accused of ENJOYING it? Oh no! I hate miscommunication as a plot device, but I like this show’s spin on it. Another show might have Nynaeve walk away with the impression that Egwene has upgraded her best friend to the princess of the kingdom, and no longer needs the peasant from the two rivers. That was what I was worried would happen. But once again, the soul of the show is the way these five all love each other so much and know each other so well. I now have more hope that Mat isn’t as fooled by JK’s cursed dagger behavior as he is pretending.

JK interrupts Nynaeve’s angst to come extremely close to apologizing, and even closer to saying thank you. But her evil plan to force Nynaeve into an acceptance speedrun has already started, so there’s no turning back now. Nynaeve must walk through the arches and face her biggest fears, in order to become a full Jedi master Aes Sedai. Dun dun DUN!

Other episode reviews

#wot on prime #wot prime spoilers #wheel of time #episode review #nonreader #wot season 2 #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: masterpost

I decided to bundle all of these into one big post, so I can link more easily to new reviews as I make them. Click through to find the review you're looking for

Season 1:

Episode 1-3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Season 2:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

#wheel of time #wot on prime #wot prime apoilers #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

I posted 870 times in 2022

44 posts created (5%)

826 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dont-offend-the-bees

@evilphrog

@seducingavampire

@kd-heart

@treesinspace

I tagged 240 of my posts in 2022

#wheel of time - 50 posts

#discworld - 13 posts

#life advice - 10 posts

#loki - 8 posts

#parenting - 7 posts

#gnu terry pratchett - 6 posts

#goncharov - 5 posts

#unreality - 4 posts

#sam vimes - 4 posts

#mental health - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 106 characters

#as when my kid’s principal explained how they will maintain social distancing during active shooter drills

I sent 1 gift in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

The real mystery was how Goncharov thought he could act this way and NOT get betrayed

183 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

#4

Vimes: As a Watch captain, I have very high standards.

Sybil: Swamp dragons are deeply misunderstood creatures. They only seem useless if you judge them by their ability to do things they were never designed for. If you understand them properly, they have a lot to contribute!

Vimes: oh no, she’s meeting all of my standards!

Later on

Vetinari: Rats are deeply misunderstood creatures. They only seem useless if you judge them by their ability to do things they were never designed for. If you understand them properly, they have a lot to contribute.

Vimes: Oh gods please, no!

209 notes - Posted September 22, 2022

#3

I was all set to believe Vetinari/Vimes was a crackship. Then I read Feet Of Clay and saw this.

And… yeah okay I guess the text DOES support it…

283 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

#2

421 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

how we feeling today, local WWDITS fans?

423 notes - Posted August 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Episode 6

I really liked this episode, but my husband hated it. He said that he couldn’t tell me why without major spoilers, but he was very Unhappy. We did spend some time laughing though, because his coworker has been sad that there was “no nudity” in the show (apparently Lan’s entire ass didn’t count) and now he got shadowy boobs in the background of the communal bathing scene. Thank you to this show for letting boobs obey the laws of physics instead of taping them up underneath to look like perfect globes at all times. Gravity exists. My only personal complaint about this episode was that there was too much Mean Girls reenactment and not nearly enough Perrin.

Aes Sedai High:

We started out on the little girl sleeping, and I said to my husband “yes, I am going to love this kid. I know nothing about her, but she’s my new favorite.” Then her dad called her Suian and I realized this is the girl you all have been obsessed with seeing. You are all correct, I fully get the hype now. Her dad is a lot like every good dad I’ve ever met, where he sees his kid do something dangerous, and he immediately lectures her but can’t quite resist telling her she’s also Super Impressive. Poor kid. I can’t tell if someone saw her right then, or if they had just suspected her for a while, but it must have made her feel some intense guilt to be a normal kid playing and then come home to her house burned down intentionally. Not sure why her dad couldn’t have gone with her on her journey. I am torn between being mad at him for making her go alone and impressed that he didn’t underestimate her just because she was his precious little baby. But yes, I love her, and love her even more as an adult.

The Aes Sedai lunch table is really heating up. Most of the politics stuff I kind of zoned out for. I have a lot of trouble following it all, but from what I can tell, it is forbidden for Suian to be in a relationship since she’s the queen, and JK Rowling was basically putting the two of them in a situation where they would be forced to either end it or be outed, because she wanted Moiriane out of her hair. Gosh she’s so the worst. Props to the actor who plays her for portraying such an intensely dislikeable character, but still making her three dimensional. Fucking “gold star lesbian” with a secret boyfriend she can’t admit to because she’s head of the Biphobic Misandry Club.

Had to laugh at Lan feeling their connection close for five seconds and immediately coming in like “Hey do you really have to mute our telepathic groupchat to go bang right now when everyone is plotting our deaths? Bros before hos, Moiraine!” And she’s just like “Lan, I haven’t had sex in two years, just do me a solid and babysit for a few hours, jfc.” Then she walks into the secret sex room and Suian tries to scold her but Moiraine is just like “I’m sorry, mommy, I’ve been a bad girl.” NDLRAI (Aes Sedai keysmash) guess I was wrong about Moiraine being asexual, but good for her. The fish-based pet names are further cementing my belief that the blues are the mathletes of this high school. Fucking nerds in love. I now have more context for her and Lan crying last episode. They are intentionally walking into a situation that has been prophesied to result in the death of all non-dragons. And both of them are exactly self-sacrificing enough to not step out when they have the option. Suian knows it too, and their scenes were so heartbreaking. I can’t believe we have a canon same-sex forbidden lovers plotline where the tension has absolutely nothing to do with them both being women. This fucking show means so damn much to me

Did Moiraine and Suian get married when they had their weird Spirit Stick ritual? It did not escape my notice that Suian told her to swear fidelity to the Seat, but Moiraine changed the words and swore fidelity directly to Suian. If they think their relationship is actually a secret, they are showing exactly the level of social awareness I have come to expect from Moiraine, because that was some X rated finger contact.

Village Polycule of Chaos:

Looks like my “the dragon is all 5 of them” theory is coming together after all. I mean, they have shared dreams, they can sense if the other is still alive, they all have nebulous magic powers, it just Makes Sense.

Glad Loial told Moiraine about where Mat and Rand were hidden (presumably) and I had to laugh when she told Nynaeve off for not coming for help sooner. She might be the only one who could get away with talking to Nynaeve like that, and only because they’re both in Worried Mom mode at the moment. This was the most Malcolm Reynolds move Moiraine has made so far. She could have easily just told Rand what she was going to do, but instead she just got annoyed that people weren’t doing the thing she told them to do. Rand being overpowered by Lan seemed a bit unlikely to me, unless he knew deep down that he needed to trust them. I mean, if the boy can bust down ironwood to protect Mat, there’s no way he couldn’t push Lan off him. That shit is dense as fuck. I guess leverage could be at play a bit, but that door was a minimum 5 times heavier than Lan. To me, it seemed more like he knew that whatever Moiraine did to Mat wouldn’t be worse than what he would have to deal with if she didn’t step in. He was just scared. Props to him for thanking her later on, and props to her for telling Rand how pure-hearted Mat actually must have been in order to fight off possession for so long.

This is Rand’s thing. He has very strong opinions, and makes snap judgments, but he’s quick to acknowledge when they were incorrect or unfair. I don’t know how anyone could dislike him. He just wants to protect the people he loves, and he doesn’t understand anything that lies outside that world view. He has an ego, sure, but that is how he can go through so much and not break down. He is able to rush into action without stopping to doubt himself because he is free from the burden of complex thought in the moment. Afterwards, he does take the time to stop and think about everything. Probably Perrin’s influence. He’s a sheltered kid who has only ever known love, safety, support, and community. He dedicated his life to showing that to all his friends. When he got thrust into the seedy underbelly of society, he only became more pure of heart. His default setting is Undying Loyalty, and there is no off switch. He trusts quickly, easily, and forever. He genuinely does not comprehend that anyone else would ever feel differently.

In contrast, Mat has always been in the seedy underbelly of society. He’s widely considered to be the irresponsible one of the group (at least by the rest of them) but I think he’s the most responsible one besides Nynaeve. He’s had a really terrible life, but most of the rest of the group seem entirely unaware of 90% of the struggles he’s faced beyond “Mat is poor.” They see him making self-destructive choices all the time, but he does that because he spends all his energy taking care of others and has none left to make sure he’s okay too. He consciously made a choice a long time ago to sacrifice his own morality and reputation so his sisters could have a shot at a normal life. Perrin and Rand clearly always try to help him, but they don’t seem to understand what he really needs. And he doesn’t know how to explain it to them, because their worlds are so different. Mat never grew up feeling a sense of community. He grew up being seen as the delinquent son of the town boozers, who was tolerated but not accepted, except for his body (RIP to whichever person on the show is responsible for making so many realistic references to this that apparently fly right over most people’s heads, I hope the success of this show means you can now afford therapy). So he loves his friends, but he doesn’t trust them. He can’t ask for help, because he’s never had the experience of being able to count on someone. He feels inherently less valuable than everyone around him, and even his closest friends constantly call him selfish and unreliable.

The show framed it like we were supposed to be shocked that Mat stayed behind, but it was the only choice his character could have made. He has been clear from the start that his priority is his sisters, and that he thinks he’s a weight around the rest of the group’s neck. He doesn’t believe he’s the dragon, so why would he jump through a magic portal to die alongside at least 3 of his best friends and the woman who just saved his life? No, he’s going to try his damndest to get home. Wonder if he might meet up with a certain gleeman who will be able to convince him to get to the eye of the world…perhaps through the power of love? Perhaps by being the first person who Mat has ever been able to count on to show him kindness without judgment, and to follow through on his promises? (No, I don’t think there’s even a passing chance that Thom is actually dead.)

Egwene was just waiting to make that badass bitch entrance. Oh, I happened to get something for you *mic drops fallen sisters’ rings* and btw I totally killed that guy. You’re welcome. I think she was hoping for a bit more praise than she got. She has an unrealistically positive view of the Aes Sedai, contrasting nicely with Nynaeve’s unrealistically negative one. Moiraine has to try to convince them both to dial it back a few notches, without accidentally reinforcing the other one’s beliefs. That is not an easy feat, especially for someone who struggles so much with conversations involving multiple people.

Egwene and Nynaeve had a fantastic dynamic when talking to Suian. Nynaeve thought they were gonna do a solidarity rejection and Egwene kept trying to get her to shut up because she’s focused on her career. This was an interesting break from what 90% of media would do, having Rand try and talk Egwene out of being an Aes Sedai. Instead, he was basically like “Yep, my best girl left me for a big city job but I love and support her through my heartbreak” and Egwene had the “Don’t treat me like a fragile little flower” conflict with Nynaeve. This show has a continued dedication to subverting gendered tropes and I scream every single time it happens. The difference in their views probably has a lot to do with the fact that Egwene chose her path as a Wisdom, while Nynaeve never had an option. She was raised into the life of a Wisdom from the moment she was adopted. I am actually now forming a backstory wherein the old Wisdom realized Egwene had power after that story about her fever, and wanted to bring her on as an apprentice. But Nynaeve fought hard to give Egwene a chance at a normal life, and to not start training her unless she freely chose it as an adult. I could see Nynaeve being frustrated that she worked so hard for the past 10 years to protect Egwene from being forced into a Grand Destiny, only to have her jump at the first chance to throw away her Normal Life.

Other episode reviews

#wheel of time #wot prime spoilers #nonreader #liveblog #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Episode 8 part 1

Since I ended up making an entire thesis paper just on this episode, I am splitting my review up to make it more readable. Read on for the mother/son camping trip to Hell

Looks like Rand finally decided Moiraine is trustworthy enough to add to his “People I will unquestioningly risk my life for” collection. I think it is interesting that here, Moiraine explains the least she has ever tried to explain. And here, Rand trusts her the most. He isn’t stupid, all appearances to the contrary. He is very aware of when someone isn’t telling the truth. His perspective on life is far too narrow for him to discern the actual truth from the subterfuge, and I get the impression that is something he relies on Mat and Perrin for, but his initial bullshit detector is off the charts. It’s just that he isn’t nearly as concerned with factual honesty as he is with emotional honesty.

He was initially skeptical of Thom, because Thom hid his reason for helping them so much (and also probably a bit out of jealousy, but that’s another story). Once Thom confided about how he was unable to protect his nephew, Rand realized that the thing Thom was trying to hide was grief. He trusted Dana, because she was very emotionally honest. She genuinely did like them, and genuinely believed she was helping them and the world.

He trusts Moiraine, now, because she is finally allowing herself to be EMOTIONALLY honest. She openly displays the affection she has for him, for Lan, for the rest of the group. She expresses fear, discomfort, doubt. He still knows she is keeping things from him, but he now trusts her motivation enough to feel comforted by her, rather than suspicious.

He would have felt horribly betrayed if he realized ahead of time that she was actually there in case emergency murder was needed, but afterwards I think he understood and was grateful. He had underestimated the effect manneling would have on him, and she did not. He appreciates and respects that.

I believe this unique insight Rand has is what gave him such an easy time distinguishing dreams from reality. It takes a remarkable amount of self-confidence to stab yourself in the stomach. He didn’t even hesitate. Sexy Voldemort was being all cryptic and elusive, and Rand was just like “I would literally rather die than listen to you talk any more” and he fucking did it! He knew immediately that the world with Egwene was fake. He just wasn’t sure if she was actually fake or not. Same with the baby.

I do believe he was initially trying to mannel to make Joiya real. From his perspective, not doing so had to feel pretty similar to just letting his baby die, since she would stop existing if he didn’t act. But, ultimately, he knew himself well enough and knew he could never live in a world that wasn’t emotionally honest. Sexy Voldemort knew what Rand wanted most in the world, but he fundamentally misunderstood WHY Rand wanted it because he could not understand loving someone as they are more than as they could be. It’s like when my friend tries to cheer me up by buying store made hummus. It isn’t good, it’s not what I want, it’s just a sad imitation of what hummus could be. But he has no frame of reference with which to judge hummus, so to him it is the exact same thing as the kind I make.

Moiraine, for her part, has learned a lot about how to better connect with people like Rand. She is very used to hiding her inner thoughts, emotions, and values so they can’t be used against her. But that is precisely why Rand was wary of her. She had to learn to give up control, and put some faith in him to not take advantage of her trust. It sort of mimicked the very opening scene with Egwene and the river, where she had to stop trying to fight against the current, and just surrender to the flow and wait for her opportunity. Moiraine is learning how to follow the flow of human behavior, and wait for her moment, rather than try and force situations to go how she pictured.

She refused to teach Rand how to mannel ahead of time. After her story, it seems like she was more unwilling to do what she thought it might take to get Rand to channel, than that she was afraid of him going mad ahead of time. Killing someone to stop them from doing something you know they couldn't live with is a lot different than intentionally torturing them. She is so protective, and feeling a lot of guilt over her mission. Faith is not something that comes easily to her, so that final battle was just…amazing. She had no idea what Rand was going to choose, and she had a very limited window to intervene if he chose poorly. There was a point where she clearly thought she SHOULD kill him, and did not. I can’t tell whether her hesitation was because she believed he would choose correctly, or because she simply couldn’t bring herself to kill him after everything. Either way, she finally put faith in someone and does not regret it.

As far as her losing her powers, Husband explained to me the basic difference between being shielded and being stilled, and she was very clearly just shielded. Evidence:

Sexy Voldemort’s weaves fall over her like a net

The power flows into her, rather than away

He ties a small knot with his fingers right at the end

He mocked Moiraine for being able to feel the power but not touch it. If she was stilled, she shouldn’t be able to even feel it, based on what Thom described his nephew going through.

Still must be an awful experience for her, but it should be something she can heal from. And it will require her trusting someone else to know that she has no powers, and to free her. That is a big ask, given how many of the Aes Sedai genuinely hate her and how many of her supporters are unwilling to go against JK Rowling in order to help her. But that seems to be her major character arc: learning to trust people without trying to control them through fear/authority.

Rand being able to imprison Sexy Voldemort with Moiraine at his side is a good parallel to Lewis Theremin (yes I know it’s spelled wrong, no I will not look it up, this is his name now) being unable to succeed after his friend refused to help him. Who knows whether he would have succeeded before if he had help? But I do think it makes a very interesting point about needing both sides of the One Power. That feeds into the wider themes of gender equality that exist throughout the show. I was worried at the start that this would be some kind of “women hold all the real power” incel fantasy, but they have done a really good job of handling sexism and gender politics in a way that makes sense for both the world the characters live in and the world we live in. Apparently this is an improvement from the books, based on what I see a lot of people saying.

One final note: if Moiraine really thought the Dragon was Egwene, why would she be carrying a figurine that increases the power of mannelers? Nah, she was doing her Moiraine “Stay silent and let people draw their own conclusions” thing. It is pretty clever. When she actually doesn’t know an answer, staying silent makes her appear competent and secretive rather than confused. And then, no matter what the actual answer is, people will assume she knew it all along. Very clever of her. She just had all her bases covered, and probably had a similar figurine that amplified power for women also.

Other episode reviews

#wheel of time #wot prime spoilers #nonreader #episode review #part 2 coming soon #I had a lot of thoughts you guys #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

watching Wheel of Time without reading the books

I am making this chain specifically for my husband.  These are his favorite books, and he is curious how I will interpret the story differently from him. Writing this after the first 3 episodes

First impression of Rand: Oh no, a redhead.  Definitely thought he was going to be my fave, but he has far too many emotional outbursts.  Still very likeable, and at least he apologizes and tries to do better.  Thinks exclusively with his dick.  Head empty, no thoughts, just undying love for his best friends. Such a redhead. If he doesn’t end up being the dragon, I will be very surprised. Breaking the world on accident seems exactly in character for him.  

First impression of Egwene: Yeah I get why he’s in love.  I am so glad my expectations for a slow burn angst fest were subverted by these two banging in the first 10 minutes, and then her promptly leaving him to pursue her career.  I love that she can quickly adapt to the new circumstances of her life.  She seems very pragmatic, which is rare for female characters in fantasy series.  She takes the best option presented to her at the time, and does not waste time lamenting that she doesn’t have better options. 

First impression of Mat: Gee, this guy is pretty clearly in love with Perrin.  Poor dude.  His parents suck and he has to be the parent even though he has but two brain cells to rub together.  Yep, he’s my projection character.  Gay, parentified older sibling, makes terrible life choices, charismatic, slutty but desperate for love.  This one is me.  I see why husband had a crush on him this whole time. I really feel for him and the tension in his character.  Forced to mature way too quickly so he did it all wrong.  Forced to choose between abandoning his little sisters or leading monsters to kill them.  No good options there.  I sure hope someone shows him sympathy sometime soon. Maybe Thom can love him like he so clearly wants.

First impression of Perrin: Gosh, he’s so emotionally mature.  He has all the common sense in the entire village.  When everyone else chooses violence or self-destruction, he can talk them out of it occasionally.  Basically the Remus Lupin of the group (for some reason husband found this hilarious). I adore his backstory.  As much as I detest fridging, I love that the battles here aren’t unrealistic and glorious and stuff.  Friendly fire happens, and it is horrifying.  I hope they address this in a good and interesting way.  He is gentle and sweet and patient. Wonder if he and Egwene are gonna get together.  

Honestly, I could see all 4 of them just being in a polycule.  They are SOOOO in love with each other.  All of them.  Well, I don’t know if I see Rand/Perrin romance or Mat/Egwene romance, but I feel like they might all snuggle together at night “for warmth.”  Wonder if this is a monogamy-is-normal world or a marriage-is-a-political-contract-but-sex-is-free world.  None of them really seem jealous of the chemistry the others have together, except Mat being sad that Perrin appears to not be into dudes.  

First impression of Moraine: Is elf girl married to the quiet guy? (three minutes later) Oh I see, they’re platonic soulmates.  Shout out to healthy platonic bonds! Just two bros chilling in a hot tub 5 feet apart cuz they’re not like that. She is basically Malcolm Reynolds but with common sense.  She has trouble trusting people, doesn't show affection but is fiercely protective, will risk her own safety and wellbeing for those she considers under her protection, follows a strict moral code that has nothing to do with the way most of her society views morality, is obsessed with a war that has been over for ages but still affects everything negatively. She has very good plans that fall to pieces because they hinge on people doing exactly what she says and she doesn't bother to make people trust her enough to be able to follow those orders. She doesn't really understand the minds of emotionally driven people because she has had to detach herself from so many emotions in order to make tough choices that ensure survival. She projects an air of uncaring and pragmatism, and can only allow herself to be vulnerable around a single other person who she is deeply bonded to in a very nonromantic way.

First impression of Lan: Quiet, pragmatic, hard worker, understands what needs to be done and does it.  He acts like he has more sense than Moraine, and like she drags him against his will into these crazy situations.  But he’s trying too hard to project that vibe, which leads me to believe he thrives on chaos and can’t admit it to himself.  He is the kind of guy that makes sure everyone at the party gets home safe, and then intentionally takes the dangerous route to his own home so that when he gets mugged he can fight someone under the excuse of self-defense. And the next day he just says “Yeah I got home okay” and never mentions it again.  This is someone who would buy a taser and use it on himself just so he could find out what it feels like.

First impression of Nynaeve: She is the smartest person in the village, but also maybe the most unhinged?  She screamed back at a trolloc and I immediately got turned on.  Apparently most wisdoms aren’t aware that they have the same magic as the Aes Sedai, because Moraine seemed surprised that she knew.  When she came back after seemingly dying I literally cheered.  I love how snarky she is, and how much she cares for everyone.  I wonder why she went after these 4 instead of staying to take care of the village.  She exudes mom friend energy, which makes her seem older, but she’s really only like 3 years older than the rest of them, right?  

Overall, I find the show really compelling.  The characters are all really likeable, but have clear flaws that make them relatable.  Platonic love and romantic love are not given strict distinctions or hierarchies.  Homophobia doesn’t seem to exist, and I kind of get the impression that bisexuality is the norm? People can just care about each other. Everyone has very clear motivations that are consistent with their personalities.  Even the minor characters.  Crazy bartender lady was in an apocalypse cult, but I could easily see her point.  If the whole world keeps repeating, and you know you are destined to relive the same life over and over, I could see how someone would arrive at the conclusion that the only true freedom is ending the cycle.  The gender politics are intriguing, but I worry it will tip into incel “women have all the real power” ideology. I hope it balances out a bit. The bard sung that song about a man who can’t forget, and I wonder if that is foreshadowing someone who can remember their previous lives? I would imagine at least someone can do that.  Otherwise, how would everyone know that time loops and reincarnation is a thing?  If it was simply a belief system, there would be other belief systems. It seems to be a known fact. 

Other episode reviews

#wheel of time #wot spoilers #spoilers #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Episode 5

Wow. Damn. That was a powerful episode. I needed some time to recover before I could write this up. This one hit home for several reasons. Advance warning, this is 4 entire pages long on my google doc, and much less funny than previous ones.

So we start off with the burial scene, which for some reason these people bury their dead about 2 inches below ground level? Why???? Is there an in-universe reason for leaving corpses completely accessible to the local wildlife? Is this some sort of eco-friendly thing? Is the ground too frozen to dig further, even with magic? Are they afraid of digging too deep and accidentally awakening the Dark One? Is that why the Dark One had followers in the mining town? Is his power stronger in places closer to the core of the planet? Did the set designer just think it would look cool on camera? This really broke my immersion, but then I was brought right back in when the guys actually had visibly longer hair after a month of travel. Yes, thank you! But also, this bit of world building confirms that Rand isn’t capable of growing facial hair. Don’t worry, Rand. You’ll get there in time.

The way they could introduce a character halfway through last episode and then dedicate the majority of this episode to his emotional battle, and have me actually care and then be devastated when he died? What fucking brilliant acting, brilliant scriptwriting, brilliant direction, just wow wow wow. Kudos to everyone involved, because I think this is a super rare thing for any TV show. You could see Stepin’s pain reflected in Lan and Moiraine, who we already cared about. But that wasn’t the only reason I cared. He gave such a realistic portrayal of grief in the early days. Just the absolute, shell-shocked numbness, the monotone recitations of his memories that conveyed so much emotion. The way all the other warders came together to support him because he was currently living their worst fear. He was so lost and scared and hopeless. And on the outside, his friends see him start to reach out for support, and think “Hey, he’s getting better.” But it’s just an illusion because the reason he feels better is that he has made his decision.

“Love is usually a bad idea. Still, we allow it to happen, or this life would be intolerable.” And then he kills himself. That isn’t someone who thinks he will never be happy again. That is someone who understands his capacity for healing and moving on, and makes a deliberate choice not to, because he never wants to feel further away from the person he loves. He isn’t scared of losing someone again. He is scared of finding peace and comfort, and that doing so would be a base betrayal. He is choosing not to let himself love again, knowing that it will mean his life is no longer worth living. Grief and loss are done so badly so often in media, but this show really gets what it means to everyone left behind.

Moiraine got a lot more depth in this one. I said to my husband “Oh wow, so Moiraine has a sense of humor. Is that new, or is it just because this is the first time I’ve seen her not actively dying?” He said that was actually the part of the show that had been bothering him most. He thought Moiraine was too serious, and is now relieved to see that was an intentional choice to drive home how badly hurt she was. As a nonreader, that didn’t really translate for me. I just thought she was a doom and gloom type person until now. It’s good to see her a bit more comfortable, even in a setting where she says she is least comfortable. I loved her interactions with Nynaeve juxtaposed with the other Aes Sedai. She may act like she doesn’t pick up on subtext or human emotions at all, but that’s not true. She is just way better at one-on-one interactions than in groups. No wonder she ran away. Her scenes with JK Rowling were so hilarious because JK is just trying her best to give backhanded compliments and keep everything as subtextual threats, and then Moiraine just drops a lead brick through the entire conversation like “You hate men, and my new bff thinks you’re a loser.”

She told the green Aes Sedai who I’m deciding to call Polly (genuinely, Moiraine is the only one I’ve met so far with a unique name. The rest of them were named by someone filling a bag with Scrabble tiles that only contain vowels and the letters N, L, D, and R, and then just drawing at random. I swear at least 4 of them are named Allana.) that she read about a way to break a bond between an Aes Sedai and her warder. That seems like foreshadowing. She and Lan really care about each other. I think that, as much as she wants to spare Lan the pain of potentially losing her, she also wants to spare herself the pain of losing him. Bad news for you though, Moiraine. Breaking your psychic bond won’t break your love for each other. You are going to be devastated either way. As a side note, everyone is saying it’s rare for an Aes Sedai to die before her warder. How long is their life expectancy? Because I have not seen a single woman over 50 here. Do they age more slowly? Are all these ladies actually like a hundred years old? Is this conversation hinting that Moiraine is actually dying? Or is it just that she’s the reckless one of the group, and therefore voted Most Likely to Die Violently in the Aes Sedai yearbook? She and Lan are in tears at the end, and I am wondering if they know something about each other’s fate/health status.

Seeing Lan express his emotions more openly was fantastic. I don’t just mean the screaming at the end. I am not sure whether that was part of the ritual or not, so I’m not counting it. I mean him talking about how he feels, hugging his friends, crying in front of others, etc. He isn’t Mr. Stoic all the time. He just focuses on the task at hand when there is one.

Perrin and Egwene’s arc:

Damn, lots going on there. When Aram led Egwene and Perrin off to run I was scratching my head at how they could possibly not be noticed running through such sparse woods dressed in bright rainbows. Then they were immediately intercepted and I was like "ah, yep. Not a plot hole after all."

Perrin is finally starting to share his thoughts, rather than just asking more questions to get more data/context. And all it took was literal torture. I knew it was coming, but Perrin begging to die because he thinks he deserves it was so sad and hard to watch. I adore Egwene’s ability to absorb all that information in .05 seconds before coming to the response of “No, it wasn’t your fault, and I’m going to make sure you live long enough to believe that.” And Perrin thought she meant she was going to sacrifice herself, but she had a Plan.

I can really see now why Nynaeve thought Egwene would make a good Wisdom. She too gets absolutely feral when she needs to, but has the self-control to turn it on and off as the situation demands. Props to her for learning the lesson of strategic non-truthing right out of the gate.

Egwene: Look at me trying my best to channel this tiny little fireball. I’m so helpless and pathetic. Oh, and I also freed my very pissed off best friend who could easily kill you. Oh, but I am also going to go ahead and be the one to kill you because I know his conscience couldn't handle having to make that decision. And now I have successfully taken care of the problem and am going to take this moment to fall back into panic mode.

And then the Wolf Friends came to the rescue, and I may have scared my husband a bit by gleefully laughing and cheering every time a Whitecloak got brutally torn to shreds. "Haha that's what you fucking get! Go wolf friends!" I typically cry when anyone dies, including villains, so that can tell you a bit about my opinion on the Whitecloaks.

Perrin has clearly been observing and thinking about this mysterious connection to his wolf friends for quite some time, without communicating it. He ran from the wolves with Egwene earlier, but only because she wanted to run. He was still processing and thinking about what it all meant. When he first had his hidden leg wound and the wolves were being so friendly to him, I was a bit worried he was slowly turning into a trolloc. They seem like they could be the type of species that propagates similar to zombies. Get bitten by a trolloc, the trolloc poison turns you slowly into one unless you get treated. But this appears to be a wrong conclusion. The cut was maybe a red herring, and Wolf Friends are just a coincidence? Is he like Aquaman but for wolves? His eyes glow gold when he’s in distress, but it doesn’t seem to unlock any superhuman strength. He’s strong, but just regular “My day job is blacksmith” strong. Is that how he channels the One Power? By psychically shouting for help from all nearby wolves? Does this work on other animals also? Are wolves the only ones we see because he has a special connection to them specifically, or are they just in a place where wolves are the most common species?

Mat and Rand: Dumb and Dumber but with more gay subtext.

Mat may say he has been stealing to try and get home to his family, but I’m now 90% sure he is actually just starting a Cursed Objects collection. Items in the collection so far: demon knife, magic crystal, dog figurine, doll that definitely isn’t possessed. Hard to say which one is affecting him the most right now, but my money is on the knife. He pushed the little kid, and my initial reaction was “Hey, no, Mat would NEVER” but then I realized he is terrified of himself because he thinks he will black out and commit murders. Rand is the only one allowed near him, and I do not think it’s because he trusts himself to not hurt Rand. It’s because he trusts Rand to beat the shit out of him if he tries. His broken little voice as he asks Rand to tell him he wasn’t the murderer, and Rand emphatically assuring him that he saw the Fade kill the family when he in fact did NOT see any such thing just drives home how strong Rand’s loyalty and faith in his friends goes. He knows full well it could have been Mat, but just like Egwene and Perrin, he knows the only possible way Mat would have done it would be if he wasn’t in control of his own body.

When Mat makes Rand promise to kill him if he goes mad, I get the feeling Rand did not realize what he was agreeing to. I think Rand interpreted it as “Keep me sane and protect me from being caught” instead of “Murder me so I don’t end up as a sad caricature of all my worst traits.”

Rand meeting the ogier person, fantastic bit of levity that was desperately needed. Loial reminds me of my grandparents explaining American culture to us. He’s very passionate and excited about learning a new culture, but he’s also a bit condescending, and that leads to gaps in knowledge that have hilarious results. “Oh, you are missing a girl from the Two Rivers? I saw this girl with a braid, she is obviously who you’re looking for!” This is now the second hint at Rand being an Aiel, so I’m wondering about some things. We don’t know too much about his parents at this point.

The reunion with Nynaeve and the boys was so beautiful. Rand is so overjoyed and relieved, and I think a large part of that is “Oh thank the Light, finally there’s an adultier adult. Nynaeve can handle this!” He is not someone who is used to keeping secrets, or being the responsible one in the friend group. Props to him for doing the best he could, and even more props to him for asking for help the second he found someone he could trust.

Watching Nynaeve interact with these kids she grew up with versus the Aes Sedai and the warders is really beautiful. She slips right into Mom Friend mode and provides comfort and support. I am wondering how old she was when Egwene was sick. She tells the story as though she was an adult at the time, but she was 15 tops, maybe younger if she or someone else was lying about her actual age like I suspect. Must have been horrifying for her to watch a close friend nearly die, and I wonder if she unconsciously used her healing super powers for the first time then. Or maybe even consciously. Maybe she knew all along she had that much capability, but either didn’t know how to access it, or was warned not to ever use it because of the risk of burning out or something. Rewatching the end of episode 4, her facial expressions look less like “Holy cow I can’t believe I did this” and more “Oh shit, now things are going to suck forever.”

I adore the way this show portrays healthy platonic relationships. This entire culture seems to be very tactile with displays of affection. Holding hands, hugging, etc. It’s all just the way people show they care. That makes a lot of sense for a world where bisexuality and polyamory are so common. There would be less rigid distinctions between types of affection. Lan and Moiraine aren’t necessarily oddballs for this. Nynaeve and Rand can hold hands. Egwene can hang off Perrin’s arm. Rand and Mat can snuggle at night. Sometimes these are romantic, sometimes they aren’t. It depends on the context. Everything is so structured around community bonds and mutual aid. Men express their feelings and nobody mocks them for it. People ask for help when they need it, and actually expect to receive it because they have consistently received help in the past. It’s basically a giant middle finger to self-sufficiency. I love to see it. I want to live in this world.

Other episode reviews

#wheel of time #wot prime spoilers #nonreader #liveblog #meta #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: episode 4

Continuing this because it blew up much bigger than I expected it to.  Okay, folks, here are my thoughts on the new episode:

New theory: the dragon is actually all 5 of them.  They were reincarnated into 5 different bodies, for reasons I am not yet sure of.  But yeah, Nynaeve, Egwene, Perrin, Mat, and Rand are ALL one soul split into fifths.  Makes sense for why they are so devoted to each other, and universally supportive/forgiving of each other.

I really thought for a second that Mat had killed that family.  Like one, single, soul-crushing second. I thought the evil knife possessed him and he was going to have to wake up to the knowledge that his own actions directly led to him killing them.  And then I realized he was trying to protect them from the Eyeless, and my heart broke even more.  I can see his guilt complex blaming himself entirely, because he took the girl’s protection doll, and because he couldn’t stop the eyeless.  

Thom is very interesting as a character.  He says he knows the past.  I can’t figure out if he means that he remembers his previous lives, or that he studies history.  I love that his main concern upon suspecting Mat of drawing on the One Power is to protect him and keep him safe.  Getting strong shipper eyes for those two.  Mat has daddy issues as it is, I could see this working for both of them.  I might just see this because I am projecting hard onto Mat.  

My understanding of how magic works so far: men and women tap into the One Power from different sources.  The dark one tainted the source from which men draw their power, which causes them to go insane.  This can be very destructive, which is why magic is outlawed for men. But it also appears that men who draw on magic mostly do so by accident.  I get the impression everyone is connected to the One Power, and it is a source of their life force or energy or reincarnation or something.  Gentling severs that connection.  Thom said it is horrible for men who have tasted the power, but it must also be horrible for men who haven’t.  Otherwise, I feel like it would be common practice to just gentle every man upon birth, so they don’t risk falling into madness on accident.  Do people who are gentled lose the ability to be reincarnated?

The Aes Sedai interacting gave me flashbacks to middle school lunch tables.  The blonde one with the red robes I am going to refer to as JK Rowling from now on.  I know she has a name and  it starts with L, but she is 100% JK Rowling.  Anyways, she is the girl in middle school who has rich parents and can wear all Abercrombie clothes, who understands makeup before anyone else. By contrast, Moirane seems to be the girl who has a hyperfixation on insects and tries to connect with the other girls by showing them a really cool beetle she found on the playground.  I now have the understanding that she basically ran away, and I can see why.  She doesn’t really fit in with the other Aes Sedai any better than she does with the villagers.  Lan is basically her only friend in the world.  A few of the other Aes Sedai are willing to be nice to her privately, and seem to want to show support, but they ultimately follow whatever JK Rowling says because they don’t want to be kicked out of the lunch table and have to go eat in the bathroom.  Getting a strong feeling that JK Rowling orchestrated everything that happened there, because the only person to die was the one who spoke against her, and she got her way in the end, being able to gentle the false dragon.  

The nomad people, I am pretty sure, is where my husband derives his entire life philosophy.  He follows the way of the leaf for sure.  Listening to the grandma explain that the best revenge against death is life, and the best revenge against violence is peace, it gave me a huge insight for how my husband read these books as a child and how they shaped his life.  This is the opposite of the bartender believing the only way to end the cycle is to end the world.  This is “If the world is cyclical anyways, everything will happen as it is supposed to.  I do not have to go against my morals to make hard choices, because the choices have already been made and everything will play out as it is supposed to regardless.”  This is the same belief system interpreted in wildly different ways, and I appreciate that juxtaposition.  If the wheel keeps turning, why NOT choose to lay down your arms and accept death when it comes, secure in the belief that the world you are reincarnated into might be more peaceful?  I also love the mythology of the Song, and how the elders take religion much more seriously than the children.  That is a nice touch of realistic world-building.  Pretty sure the nomads are all low-key psychic.  Possibly drawing unconsciously from the One Power, but at a low enough level that they don’t get madness?

I hope Perrin finds immense healing in that life philosophy.  He is such a fantastic character.  Side note, but I love the actor who portrays him.  I don’t know that I could successfully portray “Appears vacant and stupid to others on purpose, but inside his mind is swirling with complex thoughts that he will not voice until he has them solidified in his head 5 days later.”  He does such a good job of showing extreme intelligence that he prefers to keep hidden from others.  I don’t think Perrin sees himself as intelligent, but he clearly is.  He seems like one of those uncommonly gifted and sweet and caring people, and when others tell him how rare and special he is, he doesn’t believe them.  He thinks most people are the same as him.  

The more I learn about Lan, the more my original impression holds true.  He is horny for anyone who can kick his ass, especially Nyneave.  They will 100% bone.  His warder buddies certainly seem to think he has a type, which has me wondering about his past.  I had originally read him as totally asexual, but he just isn’t isn’t attracted to Moiraine.  The two of them talking in the tent was hilarious.  

Moiraine: states facts, but also displays loyalty. Holds his hand, but still speaks neutrally.

Lan: God, you’re so emotional when I drink.  

Probably gonna make a few memes of them later, because they are RIDICULOUS. Remind me of Amy Santiago and Captain Holt trying to express affection for each other. I loved getting to see Lan with his warder buddies.  It was interesting that two of the other warders are clearly in a triad with each other and the one Aes Sedai.  That side bit let me know that A) yes warders and their Aes Sedai can be romantic, Lan and Moiraine just don’t see each other that way. B) homosexuality and polyamory are actually super normal in this world. There was a lot of world-building packed into that one little scene.  

I had Nyneave all wrong before.  She projects the unhinged full agro vibes because it is her armor against fear.  Very “courage is not the absence of fear, but choosing to do the right thing in spite of it” of her.  It appears that she tries to keep that persona on to stave off the panic attacks?  Wonder if her developing relationship with Lan will have her reworking her coping skills, since she seems to be more and more inclined to let her guard down around him.  Interesting that her village was invaded when she was a young child.  Explains a lot about her.  Was that the village of the two rivers, or another village?  I can’t remember if she moved there later.  If not, man that village has some shitty luck.  Love how she chose to hang with the warders, and not with the Aes Sedai.  Reminded me of Kaylee in firefly at the fancy ball surrounded by dudes asking about engine maintenance.  She’s actually not surly and a loner.  She just only opens up around people she feels comfortable with.  I was so glad to get to see a softer side of her.

Edit: I forgot to say, but I was super excited at the tiny touch of realism that the family at the farm had two Mediterranean parents with blonde children. I never see it portrayed on TV because I assume many white audiences would not believe the kids are biologically related to the parents.  I was so excited I basically screamed when I saw the kids.  It is such a tiny detail that probably meant nothing to anyone else, but it was huge for me.  (For non-Arabs, our hair frequently starts out blonde, then darkens up as we age. I have no idea why, and have never bothered to ask or look it up)

Other episode reviews

#wheel of time #wot spoilers #wot prime spoilers #nonreader #evilphrog reviews

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Episode 7

To say this was not my favorite episode ever would be accurate. But it was still an important one. People aren't always on their best behavior, and even healthy relationships go through hard times. Everyone has moments when they are overstressed, and when every part of the group has that moment at the exact same time, everyone communicates terribly. Being able to come together and resolve conflicts is an important part of any found family dynamic. Up until now, the show has been very escapist. Now, it is more realistic (but still hopeful). Read on for blatant defense of this episode, as well as my best attempt to shoehorn analysis of Mat into an episode where he did not appear.

The opening scene was very amusing for my husband to watch me watch. The Aiel woman was tearing through soldiers and being totally badass, and I didn't realize until partway through that she was pregnant. And actively IN LABOR! This was when I realized she must be Rand's mother, and we had to pause so I could scream "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? I WAS RIGHT?" for like five minutes straight. So. Rand's dad is a war criminal who stole a baby. Sort of. I couldn't see what he was up to during the battle. My impression is that he was in active pursuit of the girl for whatever reason, but then he saw her and his heart grew three sizes. Sort of a Snow White situation. Maybe the army was ordered to kill her because some king believed she would give birth to the Dragon reborn, but then he realized he couldn't go through with it, but it was too late to save her so he saved the baby instead.

Polycule of Chaos:

Rand's arc through this episode was absolutely beautiful. This poor kid can't catch a break. I loved the pacing and the timing used to reveal that Rand knew from episode 1 about all this stuff. It really reframes his decisions and his conversations throughout the journey. He was looking for any possible explanation that would make him Not The Dragon. Surely it is Egwene, because she is so smart and powerful. Surely it is Mat, because he has summoning sickness. Surely it is anyone besides the innocent little shepherd boy who just wants to be a stay at home dad while his wife becomes a senator.

Since Rand is a Manneler (man channeler) does that mean he is incapable of lying? I bet we'll never find out, because it will never occur to him to try.

The potential love triangle could go in a direction that annoys me, but for now, it still seems very typical for emerging poly dynamics. Rand's issue didn't seem to be "Egwene might love Perrin" so much as "I feel like Egwene is being selfish and asking me to give up every part of myself and doesn't even care about what I want so now I feel used and am going to say hurtful things without thinking because I am a redhead."

Perrin is objectively the best of all of them. I know, I know. This episode wasn't his most shining moment. But it was consistent with his character, and consistent with his main conflict of self-guilt. He worries constantly about being a bad person at his core. This is why he is the only one who can comfort Mat in any meaningful way. The two of them both identify with thinking they are the worst person in the group, and that their only value is in what they can do for others. I don't know too much about his past, but I am sort of coloring in the idea that he and Mat were both in a lower social status, but that Perrin was able to get an apprenticeship as a blacksmith pretty young and improve his situation. It would explain his marriage to his wife, which seems to be a very comp-het kind of situation. Not that he didn't care about her, but that he married her because it was what was expected of him. He did it to make her happy as opposed to making himself happy.

He doesn't see his own happiness as a worthwhile goal, especially when it contradicts someone else's. This is super apparent when he rushes to defend Egwene, but then makes no further moves. Even after Nynaeve cuts through the subtext, he just looks ashamed and backs away. In his own mind, it would be a base betrayal to ask out Egwene, even if she showed an active interest (I think she does, he thinks she doesn't), because it could ruin Rand's happiness and he sees that as more important than his own. But this leads to the issue all self-sacrificing people are familiar with, where continually denying themselves anything good for the sake of others builds resentment and frustration. Eventually, it boils over. He will need to learn eventually that valuing his own happiness actually helps his loved ones, because then they won’t have to feel personally responsible for providing it. They need to be able to trust him to be responsible for his own happiness, so they can be responsible for theirs (right now, this is a concept that no one in the group except Egwene fully understands).

Egwene continues to operate on 90% practicality. At first, when it looked like she channeled to push the trolloc away, I was Pissed. That is NOT Egwene's character at all. She trusts Moiraine (and by extension Loial) so she would NEVER risk using the One Power when she was told it would be dangerous. I was very relieved when it was revealed that Rand was the one who did it. That made WAY more sense. Other best Egwene moment was when she told off Rand, and he assumed it was about him implying she cheated on him with Perrin, and she just cut straight through the bullshit. She didn't for a second believe Rand was so pissed because she might like Perrin. She knew her boy, and knew his pain was more about him thinking she didn't like Mat. And she went ahead and stood up for herself. "I love your other boyfriend, dumbass. I feel personally hurt that he didn't stand by us because I thought we were a team."

Mat frequently went into Older Brother mode around Egwene, and as much as they fought, I think she took it for granted that he would keep showing up for them all. Watching someone walk away from her had to hurt, because she had to confront the idea that she is someone who can be left. If Mat can leave, who else could? She is very headstrong, and used to being the unofficial leader. She calls the shots, and everyone else figures out how to make it work so they can stay together. She had a stable, supportive family. She grew up used to the idea that people who love you will help you and stand with you (this is why she and Rand continue to work well together and why they can apologize and make up so easily).

The Adultier Adults:

Moiraine was in peak Malcolm Reynolds mode today. Intentionally hurrying everyone along knowing Mat would hesitate. Refusing to go back for him and not bothering to explain why. From what I can tell, she still believed the dragon was all 5 of them, and thought that Mat would be the most likely to join the Dark One. She also (probably correctly) assumed Rand and maybe Perrin would stand by Mat if he did that, rather than kill him to save the world. Maybe she sent JK Rowling after him because she thought if his Dragon powers were severed, the power would go to the other 4 and give them enough strength to defeat the Dark One. Presumably she has an even more forgivable motivation that hasn't been revealed to us as the audience yet, because she is also Malcolm Reynoldsing us.

I have my theory that what Moiraine senses in Mat is not darkness so much as fear, but that she doesn't understand it because she didn't grow up without having her basic needs met. This seems to support that. And yes, I know she is a lady from a fallen house, but there is a huge difference between someone who lived in poverty during their formative years and someone who experienced poverty as an adult. If you lose everything as an adult, it is easier to keep hope/perspective and easier to regain financial security (which Moiraine clearly did) because others in higher social spheres recognize you as one of them and are willing to help you out. When you are born into it, you grow up alongside the low-level panic of not knowing if you will have food, or heat, or clothing, or water. You are raised on the belief that nobody is coming to help you, and grow into an adult that nobody sees as worth helping. It permeates every decision you make. Mat does not have any reason to die to save the world. He has no reason to let his friends die to save the world. The world is not something he feels personally connected to in a meaningful way.

Nynaeve and Lan...so freaking cute. Get two people who are allergic to talking about feelings and then watch them try to bait the other into initiating something first. Nynaeve was raised as a Wisdom. Was that her first time? It certainly seemed like it. I loved the small moment of insecurity she expressed about Moiraine, and Lan immediately reframing his love for Moiraine as being the same as her love for her friends. No less important, but definitely not the same variety as his love for her. This was even more important as the younger members of the party struggle with jealousy and competitiveness. It helped balance the episode out so it didn't just feel like Relationship Drama Hour. Lan can love Moiraine. He can tell her that she gave him his reason to live and die. He can love Nynaeve and want to be with her romantically. There is no competition there. They are two distinctly different relationships.

My new crack theory that I don't actually believe but wouldn't be shocked about: The dragon is still all 5 of them. Rand's perspective of everything and all the stuff he has been seeing on his own to make him believe he is the Dragon is a result of his summoning sickness. He's going crazy. Moiraine was easily convinced because she was hoping for a way to avoid sacrificing everyone and, as we have already seen, Mannelers can be very persuasive. When they get to the eye of the world, Rand is going to be nearly overwhelmed because he only has ⅕ power. At the last minute, the rest of them will show up and come together Captain Planet style to defeat the Dark One.

Other episode reviews

#wheel of time #wot prime spoilers #nonreader #evilphrog reviews