Fire season 3 finale. Man, this show is sooooo great during season 3, I never thought I would say that after season 1.
Watched it all three seasons again this month. Took some time. But it helped. The vision is much clearer. And it was simply easier to watch season one again knowing more about the character's motivations. Overall elevated its' world building, pacing, circled in on a theme of letting go of control nicely, juxtaposed several moments perfectly to amplify the themes, built the back story which was sorely needed, developed a richer portrayal of the main characters, and some periphery characters, and the graphics and costuming are first rate now. Overall B+. It had two chilling episodes. Including the finale, And I do want to see more. They finally made it interesting and fun. Although they could still do better. Things to like - Sorcery combat looks fantastic. - Elaine. Great cast, good back story, likeable and easy to root for. But that red hair looks dangerous. - The undead forsaken witch who seduced Rand. - There was more banter which really helped lighten the intensity at times. - Rand has added some simmering intensity. Which was needed. Brought it. Dragon's hair has improved a lot since season one. - The Aed Sedai who wanted to usurp power had a wry look after her revolution. She's an A+ cast. Drips content. Easy to hate, but admire her strategerie. - Backstory. Even knowing the repetition of events to come, they maintain suspense as to what will happen, and how it will unfold. - More thoughtful deception from every character. Maybe too much betrayal at times as it was around every corner, but overall they did a very good job at it. - Moraine was more complicated. And she sold it. Things that were a little sketchy - When Naive gave up the collar to the red witch because she was too dumb not to stand in front of the entrance. Seriously. - The Trollocs second raid on Two rivers seemed to have no explanation. I mean why. Until the end of the battle, when mysteriously the baddie just gives up on the turn of a dime. So two things there, the Trollocs have no motivation for me. And the bad guy just flip flopped. - Moraine in a sombrero. Was this to make her not look so intense and downtrodden and highlight her looks, or was it the actress couldn't work in sunlight. - So we go the entire season to see Rand make it rain. Look, I liked the entire sequence, I just find it funny that making it rain is the key moment. And I get it, they are all water-based characters, which seems to be a theme. They made it suspenseful and look good anyway. - There are moments of potential sacrifice for the cause. But it never pans out. A few too many last-minute death escapes. Moraine, Matt, that White Tower Witch, The Undead witch, ect. It's time to let someone important die. - Callandor and the horn. The sword and horn seem a little too convenient and very Lord of the Rings. - The breaking of the aed sedai to the girls who stick balls in their mouths to control them. Did not quite buy into the process. They never sold it. And then have her control suddenly reversed at the end seemed convenient and not developed either.
Just finished watching the finale. Man, that was pretty incredible. This show is definitely hitting its stride. Loved Cara'carn stuff, loved the fight between Moraine and Lanfear, loved Siuan defying Elaida the way she did, loved Nynaeve's breaking through her block and showing off her power (though I wanted to see her actually fight someone rather than just calmly walk out of the ocean...especially when she had just given up a rather important artifact). As a book reader, I freaking LOVED how they did the Eelfin. I was worried they would be cut out entirely somehow, but they aren't and they made them the appropriate level of otherworldly but also creepy as hell. Can't wait for season 4! I'll spoil a few additional comments that are related to book stuff and might give things away in the future. Spoiler Siuan dying really took me by surprise. It was a good moment, and after some thought I realized if they are going to trim the story down from the books, reduce the character count and streamline things, her character and arc make the most sense. Her eventually having her stilling reversed was important, but they can do that other ways and her spending time in the forest being sad about being stilled but also trying to help was a bit boring in the books. Not sure what they are doing with Moraine. Wasn't that the moment in the books where she gets sent to the other dimension with the Eelfin? Maybe they figured they didn't want to banish Rosamund Pike from the show for multiple seasons, so they are forgoing that bit. They're setting up next season to be pretty awesome, between Tear and the new Tower leadership coming for Rand. Good stuff.
Couldn't agree more. This season hit all the right notes on pretty much everything except a few things,. This time, I agreed with all the changes from the books as well including: Spoiler Siuan getting killed, caught me by surprise as well but made sense. Same for Loial. Both got a good ending. Moraine still around is surprising as well, but I don't mind as she comes back later in the books. I miss that major showdown with Lanfear going nuts, and Moirane doing a huge sacrifice, but she is too good of an actress to get rid of her so early. Even Perrin giving himself up sets up into other book storylines later on. Some things I don't like. Aviendha/Elaine, it didn't make sense although they could be going away from romantic stuff for Rand due to obvious reasons later on in the books. Why have Lord Luc at all? Padan Fain not being his own entity of evil but just another pawn for the dark lord? Or the ending to the battle also didn't make sense with Padan Fain giving up, just weird. Wish they had the budget for wolves killing trollocs, but I understand. Overall, A+ third season, even with the stuff I would otherwise change.
Spoiler I’m pretty sure they’re going to cover Lord Luc and the wolf dream next season, it will give Perrin things to do while he’s in captivity. Also, I’m pretty sure Fain calling off the attack will be the official beginning of his arc as a rogue element. Also, I think they’re still doing the 3 girls thing, but making it more polyamorous. Elayne/Aviendha is kind of a fan theory anyway, so they just ran with that. My other theory is that Leandrin didn’t get the real collar, and that she just got played. That set up Moghedian going after them in the next season. Overall I’m pretty happy with everything and just hope it comes back. [/spolier]
Man, you gotta have a strong season 1, you can't suck like they did coming out the gate. Season 3 was peak fantasy but people were not willing to go through a bad season 1, a good season 2, just to get to a great season 3. Shame.
I hate this, because I feel like it used to be pretty normal for even the best shows to be middling in their first season or two. It's pretty unusual for showrunners to nail it out of the gate. I guess for a show like this it was just too much of an uphill climb since it isn't a property that the typical person is all that familiar with.
Game of throwns cost 1.5 Billion to make and "made" 3.1 Billion in subscriptions. It's the model. So it proved that a show can be scratched out of nowhere. I didn't pop in until like season 5 myself. But it's tough sledding when we have so many choices. The show has to have something that you can't wait to see each week. Probably not that different from a Reality TV show. You need to root for and hate characters so much you want to see where it goes. Even at it's peak, I don't think Wheel of Time got there.
It's a shame because this show is better than Rings of Power. But rumor is Bezos is a big Tolkien fan so he has more personal interest in ROP. Tough choice since they overlap in the fantasy genre.
So you invest in a show with a horrendous 1st season only to cancel it after a great 3rd season? Man it must be really hard to invest as an actor as well. They don’t gave the stress of being cancelled at any time, since seasons are guaranteed, but after that it’s just never sure. Numbers or success doesn’t mean anything.
