The Wheel of Time, episode 4 review: don't switch off yet – Amazon's fantasy has found its groove
Warning: contains spoilers
The Wheel of Time (Amazon Prime Video) struck a pothole with a first episode that was horribly choppy even before the huge hairy monsters with axes turned up. But in parts two and three, Amazon’s adaption of Robert Jordan’s fantasy saga found its groove and this grand tale grew in the telling.
So far, the series has had a bit of everything. Treacherous “Darkfriends” in cahoots with the forces of evil. Mystical Aes Sedai sorceress Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) turning a whiter shade of deathly pale as she fought a seemingly mortal injury to her neck. Swashbuckling shepherd Rand al’Thor and his amazing sheepskin coat.
This Jeff Bezos pleasure cruise is chugging ahead on all cylinders then. With half a season to go, moreover, there is clearly a lot of story left. And the plot advanced significantly in part four (scripted by Dave Hill, a writer on Game of Thrones). Action-packed and slightly scary in places, it added up to another grippingly solid hour of high fantasy and offered further evidence that the wobbly pilot was a victim of interference from executives at Amazon (as show-runner Rafe Judkins has hinted).
We were introduced to the “False Dragon” – one among a handful of men in this universe who can wield magic as freely as women. Elsewhere Rand (Josha Stradowski) and Mat (Barney Harris) were confronted with an existential horror even more troubling than Rand’s taste in outer-wear. And Egwene and Perrin proceeded with their long walk into the sunset with mystical glamping enthusiasts the Tuatha'an.
The excitement began with the entry of dubious Dragon Logain. Robert Jordan’s books skip Logain’s attempts at conquering the world. Here we encountered him in his full terrifying glory as he smashed and grabbed the kingdom of Ghealdan with the “One Power”.
As utilised by Logain, the power was markedly different from the energy channelled by Moiraine. It was corrupted with darkness, as has been the case with men since the Breaking of the World (think nuclear apocalypse mixed with the Fyre Festival and the Line of Duty finale). In this universe, only women may safely draw on magic. Men who do so risk madness – as demonstrated by the voices egging on Logain to ever great feats of destruction.
Happily, an angry man shooting wavy tendrils from his nostrils is no match for a phalanx of supernatural nuns dressed like pious Power Rangers (story, pacing and dialogue may have improved but Wheel of Times’ silly costumes continue to distract). And so by the time Moiraine, Lan (Daniel Henney) and Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) reached the Aes Sedai camp, Logain (Álvaro Morte, aka the Professor from Money Heist) was in a cage, restrained by a round-the-clock watch of Aes Sedai.
The one doing most of the restraining was Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) of the Red Ajah grouping within the Aes Sedai. Her colour may have been red – yet she was a black-hearted anti-heroine who believed the only good man was a man who had been magically neutered (a process called Gentling).
She and Moiraine – who belonged to the moderately less fascistic Blue Ajah – clearly had history and were soon clashing over what to do with Logain. Liandrin wanted to drain the prisoner of his power then and there. Moiraine felt should be brought to trial at the White Tower.
Half a world away, Mat, Rand and Rand’s coat were still on the run from the Fade (a chilling Nazgûl-adjacent lackey of the Dark One). With them was Thom Merrilin (Alexandre Willaume), a travelling tunesmith whom the Wheel of Time show has decided to depict as a Danish Eddie Vedder (in the books he is a twinkling joker).
They eventually stumbled across a kindly farming family willing to put them up for the night. This ended badly for everyone – Thom, Mat, Rand and especially the farming family. Mat hadn’t been himself since picking up that cursed dagger in Shadar Logoth. But if he wasn’t himself – who was he exactly? Thom shared with Rand his suspicion that Mat could channel the One Power. Which would make him the Dragon Reborn for whom Moiraine was searching (the prophecy being that the Dragon will defeat the Dark One in the final battle).
But for fantasy fans it was clear that Mat wasn’t cutting it as a Dragon Reborn so much as a Goth Jon Snow. As was the case with Jon towards the end of Game of Thrones, he spent much of his screen time wandering about blearily, not quite making sense. And when Rand woke to find Mat surrounded by the dead farmer and his family he understandably feared the worst. If Mat was the Dragon, had he succumbed already to that murderous madness?
The good news was that no, Mat hadn’t killed the family. The bad news was that they were slaughtered by the Fade, and it was waiting, ultimately unsuccessfully, for Rand and Mat in a bunk bed.
Back at Camp Aes Sedai, there was a hue and cry as Logain’s army attacked. This gave Logain the opportunity to break free of his Aes Sedai bondage. And, as his black magical tendrils lashed about, several of our favourite characters appeared to suffer mortal wounds (tough on Moraine, who’d only just been healed).
Next came the other big teaser to go alongside Thom’s “Mat is the dragon” speech. As Logain struck, Nynaeve unleashed previously unhinted at arcane talents and saved the lives of the mangled Lan and Moiraine. With Logain floored by Nynaeve and her surge of power, the Aes Sedai joined forces to strip him of his abilities. But it was the incandescent glare flashed by Nynaeve at the end that cut deepest.
Perhaps Thom was incorrect and Mat was not the Dragon after all. Could it be Nynaeve? The question loomed intriguingly at the end of an episode that saw the Wheel of Time picking up speed, those early bumps in the path long forgotten.
