Wheel Of Time S3E7 Review – The Battle Of The Two Rivers

Here’s my The Wheel of Time S3E7 review folks, and this one is all about the Battle of the Two Rivers, so was it any good? As always this is a SPOILER FREE review and as such this week I’m going to keep it fairly concise and vague.

The Battle

Okay, so I’m spoiling the fact this episode has a big battle in it, but we all knew this was coming based on last week right? This battle in the book was a particular favourite of some fans. So will it live up to expectations? I’m not sure, I genuinely think there will be mixed feelings on this one from bookcloaks.

The basic premise is, setup, training and prep, and then battle. It does all feel a tad rushed, which is basically indicative of every episode of Wheel of Time as they try to cram so much into eight episodes. I’m therefore left wanting both more set up, and also more of the battle itself. Runtime is just over an hour, but if budget had allowed I think this one could be stretched out to 70 or 80 minutes easily and be better for it. That of course budget wise was not an option.

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I also feel like again, I could see budgetary restraints in the battle itself. Especially when it comes to use of the One Power in which the director chose to keep this to a minimum through some usual plot mechanics. That being said, a lot works as well in the battle itself. If I comparer this to the far higher budget, but far more horrible Rings of Power, this is much better. It’s a smaller scale battle, but it feels kinetic and has moments of both brutality and emotion.

I’m not quite sure on the ultimate resolution of the battle, which I won’t get into. I kinda get the idea. However, at the same time, I haven’t decided whether I like it or not yet?

Perrin, Faile, Loial, Bain and Chiad were for me the standouts in this one. There really were some good scenes between many of these characters throughout the episode. Perrin and Faile having my standout scene of the episode with some clever dialogue and nice action.

Controversy

That might be seen as slightly controversial by bookcloaks. However there was also a climactic moment which will potentially be even more controversial for book fans. Some who hate any changes will likely be online reaffirming their hate for the series or potentially renewing it after warming to Season 3.

It’s tough to discuss without SPOILERS, but I think that’s probably an overreaction from book fans. All I’ll say to the Bookcloaks is this…

Think about how relevant this really is in later books, books that we know are going to already have massive plots cut. Given what you do know, was this truly such a bad call? There was more than one future plot point from the books which got cut here. But even the most ardent book fan understands there are reams of material that need to be cut from ‘the slog’ which won’t make it to TV.

My own opinion is simply, patience, for now. It’s not as controversial or worrying as some changes made in Season 1, and the show may benefit from this change in the long term. Additionally, who knows what could come back into the story in a later season?

Will non-Book readers like it?

Yeah, if you’re a fan of Wheel of Time and have not read the books then I can’t think of anything here which you won’t really enjoy. There’s plenty of cool scenes, drama, and some sadness as you’d expect from a battle for life and death.

I have to come at it from both sides though, and so….Yeah, I’d have some notes on this one. However, after speaking to the decisions makers, I’d be prepared to have them convince them they made the right calls here. I cannot pretend I didn’t really enjoy the episode from start to finish despite having some reservations.

GRADE: A-

That’s my grade but I genuinely think I may have been at A had I not read the books. I’d be prepared to upgrade this rating somewhere down the line in Season 6 if we ever get that far. If, it all worked out for the better that is. Equally I’d be prepared to go down to B if some decisions don’t work out down the line.

What do you think of my Wheel of Time S3E7 review? as always, leave your own Wheel of Time thoughts below.

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