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shallownessMostly satisfying, if at times confusing, season’s finale, with the kids reunited, the Dragon declared, most of this season’s baddies defeated, but the battle continuing. We had the return of the full credit sequence and a flashback to the previous Dragon putting Ishamael on ice for three millennia.
For some reason, I was surprised that Lanfear was in the ways with the other three. She reminded us of Moiraine’s way with words, and dropped Moiraine and Lan on the foreshore...somewhere, with instructions. They had it out, a bit, with Moiraine finally reopening the bond, but were sidelined until Moiraine got to do flashy stuff while her Warder did the fighty stuff, suggesting that the Two River five and their allies were the ‘heroes of today’. Moiraine did manage to destroy a flotilla and put on quite a show all on her own, though.
I was duped into thinking the Whitecloaks were headed for the White Tower. I was also mightily confused about their relationship with Falme (and again how so many people got there if it was ‘over the sea’ and far away. This is where I wish I was reading the book, where I might grasp these things better and there might be maps, except I understand the show has changed some things.) So, the creepy Whitecloak from season 1 was there, the Blonde Son who called Perrin Two Rivers, and his Dad, and it made for some unusual allies – absolutely all for fighting against slavers. Everyone (apart from the Forsaken and the trader from season 1) was claiming to be fighting for the Light.
Ishamael was miffed at having to move up his plans because of Lanfear bringing Rand and the rest to Falme already. She was swaggering around town, giving orders to the Welsh-accented merchant, backed with coin.
Rand didn’t have much of a plan beyond rescuing Egwene, not knowing that Perrin, Nynaeve, Elayne and Loial (at least) were on it too. The attack from the Whitecloaks meant that Egwene was dragged to the top a tower to fight it off, her handler now not sure that she could control her. (Objectively, better that she cut off Egwene’s hair than her tongue, but also such a bad move, because it was going to gee her up so much.)
Nynaeve was turning the tables on an armlet handler, and foreshadowing what Egwene would have to do. She was also (now with bonus dark eyeshadow) going pretty far down the torture route. Perrin and the three fighter ladies met up with Loial, the hot soldier and the horn.
Rand just dropping Turak and his soldiers with his power was satisfying, especially because Turak was annoyed that the horn had been taken (should have guarded it better, sir.) Although seeing the last man standing kill himself out of loyalty was horrifying. Lady Whinyvoice (Suroth) was miffed at not being able to take his place, but being given another, boat-based mission by Ishamael. Her servant’s reactions to bossy!Ishamael probably needed unpacking or there was just an inconsistency in the scene, but too much was going on!
Mat had quite an interesting episode, being left alone in a locked room with the temptation of the knife. He cleverly found a way to use it without touching it and made his escape. So, by the time he ended up with the horn, facing a horde on his own, and blew it in desperation, the reveal that he was one of the Heroes of the Horn (and those visions had been misleading) was very cool. I liked that they were a motley crew of many cultures, though the reveal that one of them was a fighter we’d seen die this season, while superficially cool, raised all kinds of questions.
All the while, Egwene was being used as a weapon, fighting against it in her own way, not knowing she’d been deliberately placed on the Tower as bait. She defied her handler over hurting civilians (make your own reference to real-life war crimes) and was going to get it, when they all came under attack. Every time we cut back to her, I thought she could do with a little help from her would-be rescuers, but Nynaeve was suffering through her new bond through the collar, losing the ability to weave, just after Elayne got shot by an arrow. Perrin got rescued by Hoppy (wolves not being dogs and having chosen not to stay put, but to come save his human), who then got killed by Papa Whitecloak, setting off a series of retaliations that will probably continue into the next series. (You killed my dad! You kiled my wolf, and you use the KKK as style icons!)
So it came down to Egwene, using her brain – loved her realisation that her handler did have some channelling ability – and the weapons to hand, and being willing to suffer the shared pain to get her freedom. She did come good on her word to kill her handler, and I know Ishamael was painting this as turning her into a killer and getting her along the path of the dark, but I mainly felt satisfaction. (Nynaeve torturing someone who was merely associated with the system that hurt her friend felt less righteous, but I suppose the main thing with her is that her ability to channel is so on and off.)
Loved Rand turning up to the rescue and realising Egwene hadn’t needed it. Bless, she, of course, had a lot to deal with and him turning up when she’d thought he was dead was one. More. Thing. They didn’t have long to chat, though, because Ishamael turned up. And then Rand got stilled because of Ishamael’s scheming.
I told Mat to drop his new weapon, but he was so very excited about having a chance to attack Ishamael, except the dagger ended up in Rand’s abdomen, as foretold. Loved that Egwene got right back up on her feet and found it in her to shield Rand until the others got there: Perrin with a literal shield, Nynaeve carrying a wounded Elayne who could nonetheless heal Rand – who had no idea who she was. (Surely the fact that she’s a redhead too is significant.) Moiraine followed Lanfear’s orders because she chose to support Rand, and therefore he was able to get up and give Ishamael the blessed relief of death (and me the blessed relief of never having to listen to his cod-philosophy again.) Somewhat like Mat, Rand seemed to have got more in touch with his past selves.
As Moiraine put on the Dragon lightshow, it was satisfying to see the gang back together, with Elayne joining them (and making it a gender-balanced six.) The survivors cheered because the oppressive regime was gone (although I guess the Empire remains) and the Dragon was back.
We had a coda, though, with Lanfear jauntily coming to take the rest of the Forsaken’s vessels to drop them at the bottom of the ocean, but finding one of them waiting for her, giving off creepy spider lady vibes (and wearing something similar to one of Lanfear’s outfits, heh.) Ishamael had thought Lanfear might do something like this, see, and the other Forsaken were a bit less involved with the Dragon, so they’d be taking over baddy duties. (In the mix of all that had happened, the suggested threat was that the Two Rivers’ kids fate could be something like Lanfear and Ishamael’s...)
For some reason, I was surprised that Lanfear was in the ways with the other three. She reminded us of Moiraine’s way with words, and dropped Moiraine and Lan on the foreshore...somewhere, with instructions. They had it out, a bit, with Moiraine finally reopening the bond, but were sidelined until Moiraine got to do flashy stuff while her Warder did the fighty stuff, suggesting that the Two River five and their allies were the ‘heroes of today’. Moiraine did manage to destroy a flotilla and put on quite a show all on her own, though.
I was duped into thinking the Whitecloaks were headed for the White Tower. I was also mightily confused about their relationship with Falme (and again how so many people got there if it was ‘over the sea’ and far away. This is where I wish I was reading the book, where I might grasp these things better and there might be maps, except I understand the show has changed some things.) So, the creepy Whitecloak from season 1 was there, the Blonde Son who called Perrin Two Rivers, and his Dad, and it made for some unusual allies – absolutely all for fighting against slavers. Everyone (apart from the Forsaken and the trader from season 1) was claiming to be fighting for the Light.
Ishamael was miffed at having to move up his plans because of Lanfear bringing Rand and the rest to Falme already. She was swaggering around town, giving orders to the Welsh-accented merchant, backed with coin.
Rand didn’t have much of a plan beyond rescuing Egwene, not knowing that Perrin, Nynaeve, Elayne and Loial (at least) were on it too. The attack from the Whitecloaks meant that Egwene was dragged to the top a tower to fight it off, her handler now not sure that she could control her. (Objectively, better that she cut off Egwene’s hair than her tongue, but also such a bad move, because it was going to gee her up so much.)
Nynaeve was turning the tables on an armlet handler, and foreshadowing what Egwene would have to do. She was also (now with bonus dark eyeshadow) going pretty far down the torture route. Perrin and the three fighter ladies met up with Loial, the hot soldier and the horn.
Rand just dropping Turak and his soldiers with his power was satisfying, especially because Turak was annoyed that the horn had been taken (should have guarded it better, sir.) Although seeing the last man standing kill himself out of loyalty was horrifying. Lady Whinyvoice (Suroth) was miffed at not being able to take his place, but being given another, boat-based mission by Ishamael. Her servant’s reactions to bossy!Ishamael probably needed unpacking or there was just an inconsistency in the scene, but too much was going on!
Mat had quite an interesting episode, being left alone in a locked room with the temptation of the knife. He cleverly found a way to use it without touching it and made his escape. So, by the time he ended up with the horn, facing a horde on his own, and blew it in desperation, the reveal that he was one of the Heroes of the Horn (and those visions had been misleading) was very cool. I liked that they were a motley crew of many cultures, though the reveal that one of them was a fighter we’d seen die this season, while superficially cool, raised all kinds of questions.
All the while, Egwene was being used as a weapon, fighting against it in her own way, not knowing she’d been deliberately placed on the Tower as bait. She defied her handler over hurting civilians (make your own reference to real-life war crimes) and was going to get it, when they all came under attack. Every time we cut back to her, I thought she could do with a little help from her would-be rescuers, but Nynaeve was suffering through her new bond through the collar, losing the ability to weave, just after Elayne got shot by an arrow. Perrin got rescued by Hoppy (wolves not being dogs and having chosen not to stay put, but to come save his human), who then got killed by Papa Whitecloak, setting off a series of retaliations that will probably continue into the next series. (You killed my dad! You kiled my wolf, and you use the KKK as style icons!)
So it came down to Egwene, using her brain – loved her realisation that her handler did have some channelling ability – and the weapons to hand, and being willing to suffer the shared pain to get her freedom. She did come good on her word to kill her handler, and I know Ishamael was painting this as turning her into a killer and getting her along the path of the dark, but I mainly felt satisfaction. (Nynaeve torturing someone who was merely associated with the system that hurt her friend felt less righteous, but I suppose the main thing with her is that her ability to channel is so on and off.)
Loved Rand turning up to the rescue and realising Egwene hadn’t needed it. Bless, she, of course, had a lot to deal with and him turning up when she’d thought he was dead was one. More. Thing. They didn’t have long to chat, though, because Ishamael turned up. And then Rand got stilled because of Ishamael’s scheming.
I told Mat to drop his new weapon, but he was so very excited about having a chance to attack Ishamael, except the dagger ended up in Rand’s abdomen, as foretold. Loved that Egwene got right back up on her feet and found it in her to shield Rand until the others got there: Perrin with a literal shield, Nynaeve carrying a wounded Elayne who could nonetheless heal Rand – who had no idea who she was. (Surely the fact that she’s a redhead too is significant.) Moiraine followed Lanfear’s orders because she chose to support Rand, and therefore he was able to get up and give Ishamael the blessed relief of death (and me the blessed relief of never having to listen to his cod-philosophy again.) Somewhat like Mat, Rand seemed to have got more in touch with his past selves.
As Moiraine put on the Dragon lightshow, it was satisfying to see the gang back together, with Elayne joining them (and making it a gender-balanced six.) The survivors cheered because the oppressive regime was gone (although I guess the Empire remains) and the Dragon was back.
We had a coda, though, with Lanfear jauntily coming to take the rest of the Forsaken’s vessels to drop them at the bottom of the ocean, but finding one of them waiting for her, giving off creepy spider lady vibes (and wearing something similar to one of Lanfear’s outfits, heh.) Ishamael had thought Lanfear might do something like this, see, and the other Forsaken were a bit less involved with the Dragon, so they’d be taking over baddy duties. (In the mix of all that had happened, the suggested threat was that the Two Rivers’ kids fate could be something like Lanfear and Ishamael’s...)
