TV Series Review- Wheel of Time Episodes 1-3

 

Hi Readers,

I'm going to do something that I've never done before! I'm going to give my thoughts on a TV show. I did a watch party with Tress last night and got the first three episodes of Wheel of Time in. I've been obsessed with the book series for a few years now and have been absolutely geeked beyond all belief that it was getting a TV show adaptation. If you want to see my reviews on the books I've read so far: Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising.

I wanted to give my thoughts on it because some die-hard Wheel of Time fans are absolutely pissed about the show.  Currently, the ratings on amazon sit at a little over 50% for five stars, 30% for 1 star, and some ratings scattered in between, averaging 3.5 stars. 

I actually really enjoyed the first three episodes. I knew going in, there were going to be some changes to the story. I typically try to keep up with the going on's of shows I'm interested in. I didn't know what the changes would be exactly, but I never go into a book to screen adaptation thinking it would be a direct copy of the books. Truthfully I don't actually want that. I want to see film and tv makers' take on books. If I wanted word-for-word adaptation, I'd just reread the books. Which I may do once I finish the series.

I really enjoyed the changes that made their way into the first three episodes. I thought the changes made it a more polished story. I won't go into great details about the exact changes, but I felt that the differences in Perrin and Mat's stories actually made them better characters and have more depth. In the books, Mat annoys the ever-loving hell out of me. He's whiny and seems worthless. In the show, I actually really enjoyed him as a character. Perrin's change was the most shocking to me, and it actually made a lot of sense. I think it gave a rhyme and a reason for the way he carries himself in the books. I don't really feel like that was present in the books because they're so heavily focused on Rand. The show takes that focus away a bit to get to know all of the characters, and I really appreciated that. 

With book-to-tv adaptations, there is a lot in books that can be written out and explained to readers versus being shown on film. With TV and movies, it has to be a lot more visual and can't just be left up to the imagination.  I love the visualization the show creators gave to the one power. It's so internalized in the book that it was nice to be able to picture it. I thought there was a lot of symbolism instead of explained, certain things in water or in the scenery. Even some costume choices, I believe, symbolized some details of the books. 

I really felt like Rosamund Pike, and Daniel Henney embodied the Aes Sedai/ Warder relationship. I adore Zoe Robins as Nynaeve. I thought she was so fierce and badass. Kate Fleetwood's portrayal of Liandrin looks a lot like what I expected. Overall, I'm impressed with the cast as a whole. There was not one casting in the first three episodes that I thought didn't work. I thought each of the actors really brought their characters to life. The Trolloc costuming and make-up was A+.

Overall, while there are some changes, I think that the cast and crew did an excellent job sticking with the story's essence. If you are a fan of the books, you will need to separate the screen from what you've read. Otherwise, you're just going to be bitter and angry about the changes. It's for entertainment; allow yourself to be entertained. Trust me, I get how frustrating it is when a screen adaptation just fails to meet expectations. However,  with this particular version, I think the cast and crew did an outstanding job keeping to the heart of the story. The changes made appear to give more depth and make the show be able to last for a lot of seasons. I've definitely encountered a lot of book-to-screen versions of different stories where the book was, at best, a loose guideline. I don't think this is one of them. I still felt like I was getting the story, just in a different way. I think a lot of the complaining about the show is because people can't separate one medium from the other.