The Wheel Of Time S3E4 Review – It’s Rhuidean And It’s Great

Well here’s my The Wheel of Time S3E4 review and folks it was the Rhuidean episode, more importantly, it was a great adaptation. As always, this is a SPOILER Free review and this week especially, I will be treading carefully.

I will have a few comments as a fan of the books, as you’d imagine. However, I’ll be careful how I word my thoughts.

An Episode Apart

In many ways, Episode 4, The Road to the Spear is an episode apart from the rest of the series and the formula we have become accustomed to. Normally Wheel of Time episodes begin with a cold open. A moment defined by being apart from the main plots, or a self-contained tale. The episodes then break into the main plot lines as we left them last.

This episode switches that around. We begin with the main plot of the Aiel Waste group as if we haven’t been away. However, after the credit screen we then begin to focus solely on the Rhuidean plot itself. Rand has soemthing to do here which I won’t spoil details of. I will say this plot focuses on filling in a lot of backstory which lead us up to this point in the larger story. Any good fantasy needs good world building. This is the world building Wheel of Time needed at this point in both the books, and the show.

We can therefore think of Episode 4 as one long cold-episode, as we spend more time in the past than we do the present.

Significance as a Book Fan

The Rhuidean Chapter! Mention that to any Wheel of Time book fan and you are on the same page. This moment happens in the 4th book of the series and for me as a reader, it was a key moment. Suddenly the whole series widened, deepened and got a damn site more enjoyable for me. I remember wondering after book 3 how this series manages to go on for another 11 books? Once I had read book 4, I understood there was a depth in this tale I hadn’t yet glimpsed.

That’s a lot to live up to for Season 3, and one moment amongst them all would be key, Rhuidean. I’m pleased to say as a book fan, that they’ve done this moment justice. This is a really good adaptation, given the season lengths at play. The showrunners have seen the importance of this moment and essentially dedicated an episode apart to it. There’s no moments at all from any of the other plots this week. We get the ‘warm open’ and then the episode focuses on initially Moiraine and Rand, until almost completely being Rand focused. Clan Chiefs see the past, Wise Ones see the future. We get small glimpses and flashes of the innumerable futures Moiraine sees, but the focus is on Rand’s experience as he journey’s through his ancestors past. What he see’s, I won’t reveal.

RELATED: The Wheel Of Time S3E3 Review – Two Marks, Each

As a book fan I will say that not every flashback is covered here from the books. There wasn’t enough time for them all. The ones chosen though, were done very faithfully and any changes for the show were well handled. I also really liked Josha Stradowski playing his ancestors. Okay, we knew this was happening ages ago through interviews. However, it worked for me and Stradowski really gets to act, finally.

For those wondering, where’s Matt? All I’ll say is that for Matt to be relegated to a secondary character in this storyline after S1 and S2 would’ve been a bad idea. I think Matt’s journey will still happen in Season 3, just not in Rhuidean. I actually think they made the right call on this one bookcloaks.

Did They Pull It Off?

Yes, this episode was excellent and well handled. Rhuidean is visually brilliant, as are the flashbacks. Emotional acting, especially from Stradowski. I’ve chatted to a few book fans and my sentiments seemed to be echoed by most, if not all who have been chatting online. There are a few flashbacks which I wish we got that we didn’t. That’s pretty much what most folks are saying. However, we can also see that making this a shorter, sharer episode was wise. They pulled it off.

My favourite moment in the Episode was seeing as far back as we can to the Age of Legends, before the war, or the Breaking of the World. The cities and technology, and the people we meet, which I’ll avoid saying. However, to see one specific moment I won’t say happen visually, was a real treat.

GRADE: A+

Who can say if this is an A+ episode for a non-book fan? I guess we will find out when I speak to Kyle and Christine on The Dragon Reviewed this week. You can watch our Episode 1-3 reviews below.

For me though, this wasn’t just the best episode of the season so far, but of the series as a whole. One of my favourite chapters of the book, adapted really well, what more can you ask for? It’s the first episode this season where I’ve finished watching it and simply began from the start again, just to drink in some of the detail presented.

What do you think of my Wheel of Time S3E4 review? What did you think of the Rhuidean episode, either as a book fan, or a show only fan? Thoughts below.

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