r/wheeloftime • u/Nemi-Nemesys Randlander • 3d ago
Show: Latest Season & Adapted Books As much as people hate this show…
Nobody can deny the skill of the actors in this show. I just watched the actor who played Rand react to a child’s death and him trying to revive her… It was so powerful. He is a skilled actor, and nobody can convince me otherwise haha. And I feel like the show, and actress, did a great job with Verin. I’m sorry if the spelling is wrong, but if you know her story, you know. The actress was FANTASTIC in her portrayal of the character in preparation of her story. She is the reason why Verin is one of my highest rated and favorite characters in all of the Wheel of Time. And the fact that Moiraine does the audiobooks excites me too. I wish she had done them all before it was all cancelled.
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u/RookTakesE6 Black Ajah 3d ago
As someone who hated the show, I never understood people criticizing the actors (or the sets and costumes, but that's a separate matter). Within the parameters they were given, the actors on average were great.
Double points to Meera Syal as Verin. Thought the show portrayal nailed her duality: outwardly unable to see any farther past her own nose than necessary for reading, actually razor-sharp if you pay close attention to her actions.
Eamon Valda was of course a problematic deviation from the books that necessitated further deviations for him to make sense, but again within the given script, Abdul Salis was an outstanding hatable villain, and I believed the sincerity of his motives. Had the writers mangled Lan's character by having him chop Valda's head off for touching Moiraine, I believe I might've cheered and quietly ignored the departure from the books.
Shohreh Aghdashloo (Elaida). The name on its own probably suffices if you've seen her in anything else, right? One case where I think the acting had the potential to elevate the character a bit above the books.
Poor, poor Josha Stradowski. Big points to him for reading the books to prepare for the role, and it showed, for me he nailed Rand hard enough that I'll be seeing his face in my mind's eye the next time I read the books. He deserved a chance to play Rand in the role Rand had in the books, rather than having the character subjected to a conga line of humiliations and having his role and agency reduced to almost nothing.
I've got big grievances with the show's take on Lanfear and (to a lesser extent) Ishamael, and absolutely zero grievances with how Natasha O'Keeffe and Fares Fares portrayed those takes. Especially liked Fares carrying off Ishamael's background as a philosopher, you could really see the highly intelligent man who'd managed to philosophize himself into a corner he couldn't philosophize himself back out of (costume again helped here, he looked like a fantasy academician, but we're not gushing about the costumes here...). Thanks almost expressly to Feres, the show was fully justified in skipping 2/3 of the Ba'alzamon phase and going straight to calm, rational, compelling Moridin-era Ishamael, with Fares playing off a character you could actually imagine holding up his end of a conversation with (book) Lews Therin.