![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessOn the one hand, this episode felt all over the place, but it had a big twist and finish and got us up to date on everyone. Nynaeve was promoted to be Accepted, very shut off and very clearly hurting, pushing Egwene away. We learned that Nynaeve in a mood can browbeat Elayne. I suppose the Egwene reveal was that she was trying so hard at the White Tower because she didn’t want to fail her friends again as she felt she had at the Eye of the World. Of course Nynaeve went and did something rash the second Liandrin dropped the news about the attack on Perrin on her (we knew that Perrin was well out of it, but I was reminded that Loial was still in trouble, although to be honest I care more about the leader of that company, but still, enslaved and all that.) Ditto Egwene the second she heard about it, and Elayne came along too, possibly because she’s glomped on to Egwene and wants to prove and show and experience the loyalty Egwene talks about WRT the Two Rivers five, and also maybe because she figured it might shield Egwene from the harshest punishment. But Liandrin stopped them getting very far. (I was confused, because it seemed like she’d zapped all three, but I presumed she had wanted Nynaeve and possibly Egwene to come along.)
Of course, even though I thought that, had she been less traumatised, Nynaeve might have realised Liandrin had her own motivations for telling her this news. We’d seen her needle the Keeper after disagreeing with how few Aes Sedai had been sent to deal with the attack, and learned a bit more about Tower politics. So, the Amylyn is away – doing what? The Keeper is politically bound to her. The big Liandrin reveal was that she’d sent Vision Girl i.e. Min to meet Ishamael, who was going to get rid of the visions for her. Min baulked a bit at first, but seemed to agree to take Mat where he wanted.
Yikes!
Perrin finally talked to Tracker, found out he was a Wolf Brother, so psychically linked to wolves. He made a friend in the beautiful Hopper, baulked at eating raw meat, and was informed that the Wolf Brothers were not friends with women who channel (er, that’s two of his dearest friends left.) Perrin was also still feeling loyal to the band of soldiers who were still, presumably, chained up by the slavers.
Very little Mat, beyond his being Min’s dupe.
Lan was trying to brood, but Alanna and her warders kept interrupting him with questions about his future and his feelings. We learned that there had been a lot of masking of the Aes Sedai-Warder bonds going on, Lan wasn’t going mad – didn’t think he was, but he definitely had complicated feelings, and was still loyal to Moiraine even if she’d hurt him, but he didn’t know what was going on with her. The fact that we could hear creepy whispering every time the folded prophecy was read was unnerving and worrying (and reminiscent of the One Ring.) And never forget the horrifying cold open where Ishamael resurrected a bloodied female figure of something.
I very much got a kick out of the fact that Lady Anvaere was Moiraine’s younger sister, and the dynamics between them. Nicesuggested reveal that Moiraine had got the False Dragon his place in this very part of the world. She wanted him to train Rand, apparently, and his prize would be a knife to kill himself, with the undercurrent that Moiraine understood his suicidal drive having been cut off from the Source herself. Nice reversal of the idea of the younger sister still wanting her big sister’s attention, when it was a whole lot more complicated than that, and Lady Anvaere was protective of what she’d built. Moiraine was looking for Rand, it seemed, and now that her sister owened her spy network, she’d have to ask her to find him instead of – how her sister enjoyed suggesting this – blundering about.
Rand, having burned the inn down, was relieved to find that Selene thought that the fire had been caused naturally, and was planning to take the week off in a lodge in the mountains. Rand went along.
I’d just started getting suspicious of who Selene’s ex was (and, total disclosure, could see she was important in the artwork advertising s3). Anyway, more confessions and artfully shot snogging in the uplands, and then one of the nasties came attacking Rand, who had to channel (something the False Dragon observed he was scared of doing) to protect them. Selene was all ‘What!?’ then ‘Get away from me’ – he was all ‘You’re the first person who’s seen me as a man’ (in a way that made him seem like a very young one) ‘I wuv you,’ and I had got as far as thinking that her response, her acceptance of this and his monstrousness didn’t really track...
I thought the device of Alanna showing Ihvon the prophecy and the reveal that the most powerful of the foresaken was female and likely to be the Dragon Reborn’s lover was a bit clunky, (as was how I put that.) But Moiraine coming and impaling Selene and then slicing her neck for good measure was cool. Rand, who’d been tied up and expecting some sexytimes, even though Selene was starting to get worrying by announcing she was a monster too and about to channel or something, was not impressed that Moiraine had done this to his lady love. But she made the excellent point that she was bound to tell the truth, (something Liandrin had been telling Nynaeve earlier in the ep) Selene wasn’t and he really should let her go and run. He accepted this, and we saw Selene/Lanfer start to come back to life or whatever. Which is cool in terms of a new antagonist (and good that there are female baddies).
Dunno how the False Dragon is going to teach Dragon!Rand to channel under these circumstances, though.
Of course, even though I thought that, had she been less traumatised, Nynaeve might have realised Liandrin had her own motivations for telling her this news. We’d seen her needle the Keeper after disagreeing with how few Aes Sedai had been sent to deal with the attack, and learned a bit more about Tower politics. So, the Amylyn is away – doing what? The Keeper is politically bound to her. The big Liandrin reveal was that she’d sent Vision Girl i.e. Min to meet Ishamael, who was going to get rid of the visions for her. Min baulked a bit at first, but seemed to agree to take Mat where he wanted.
Yikes!
Perrin finally talked to Tracker, found out he was a Wolf Brother, so psychically linked to wolves. He made a friend in the beautiful Hopper, baulked at eating raw meat, and was informed that the Wolf Brothers were not friends with women who channel (er, that’s two of his dearest friends left.) Perrin was also still feeling loyal to the band of soldiers who were still, presumably, chained up by the slavers.
Very little Mat, beyond his being Min’s dupe.
Lan was trying to brood, but Alanna and her warders kept interrupting him with questions about his future and his feelings. We learned that there had been a lot of masking of the Aes Sedai-Warder bonds going on, Lan wasn’t going mad – didn’t think he was, but he definitely had complicated feelings, and was still loyal to Moiraine even if she’d hurt him, but he didn’t know what was going on with her. The fact that we could hear creepy whispering every time the folded prophecy was read was unnerving and worrying (and reminiscent of the One Ring.) And never forget the horrifying cold open where Ishamael resurrected a bloodied female figure of something.
I very much got a kick out of the fact that Lady Anvaere was Moiraine’s younger sister, and the dynamics between them. Nicesuggested reveal that Moiraine had got the False Dragon his place in this very part of the world. She wanted him to train Rand, apparently, and his prize would be a knife to kill himself, with the undercurrent that Moiraine understood his suicidal drive having been cut off from the Source herself. Nice reversal of the idea of the younger sister still wanting her big sister’s attention, when it was a whole lot more complicated than that, and Lady Anvaere was protective of what she’d built. Moiraine was looking for Rand, it seemed, and now that her sister owened her spy network, she’d have to ask her to find him instead of – how her sister enjoyed suggesting this – blundering about.
Rand, having burned the inn down, was relieved to find that Selene thought that the fire had been caused naturally, and was planning to take the week off in a lodge in the mountains. Rand went along.
I’d just started getting suspicious of who Selene’s ex was (and, total disclosure, could see she was important in the artwork advertising s3). Anyway, more confessions and artfully shot snogging in the uplands, and then one of the nasties came attacking Rand, who had to channel (something the False Dragon observed he was scared of doing) to protect them. Selene was all ‘What!?’ then ‘Get away from me’ – he was all ‘You’re the first person who’s seen me as a man’ (in a way that made him seem like a very young one) ‘I wuv you,’ and I had got as far as thinking that her response, her acceptance of this and his monstrousness didn’t really track...
I thought the device of Alanna showing Ihvon the prophecy and the reveal that the most powerful of the foresaken was female and likely to be the Dragon Reborn’s lover was a bit clunky, (as was how I put that.) But Moiraine coming and impaling Selene and then slicing her neck for good measure was cool. Rand, who’d been tied up and expecting some sexytimes, even though Selene was starting to get worrying by announcing she was a monster too and about to channel or something, was not impressed that Moiraine had done this to his lady love. But she made the excellent point that she was bound to tell the truth, (something Liandrin had been telling Nynaeve earlier in the ep) Selene wasn’t and he really should let her go and run. He accepted this, and we saw Selene/Lanfer start to come back to life or whatever. Which is cool in terms of a new antagonist (and good that there are female baddies).
Dunno how the False Dragon is going to teach Dragon!Rand to channel under these circumstances, though.
