Eyes Without Pity is without pity. It’s rough, and it’s also excellent in many, many ways. That’s The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 6, and it’s another excellent episode from the folks over there at Amazon.
We’re staying on the path we’ve been on, which is skipping the hard line, inch by inch review and evaluating the episodes on their own. I really, thoroughly enjoyed this one. Once more I found myself not once thinking, but the book is different than that. I’m here, I’m engaged in this story, and I’m enjoying the story they’re telling.
Thank you to everybody who’s commented and given us all the insights, because I’ve got to tell you, you’ve been jogging my memory. The last time I read these books was right before Brandon Sanderson put out the final book. I did a reread, and that’s the last time I picked them up. It’s been a few years, and you see how much material I review here. So I really do appreciate you guys in the comment section, even when some of it is backhanded. That’s okay. You don’t go in the comment section if you ain’t ready to have thick skin. Thank you for keeping me on the straight and narrow. Mrs. Know-It-All and I are reading them right now, midway through book two, and I believe during the downtime between Seasons 2 and 3 we’re going to get caught up with most of these, if not all of them.
The Mat I Always Wanted
We started off pretty much where we left off, and we got much more of Mat. He intersected with Rand, and that was such an awesome moment. Rand just stopped, because he knew it was Mat’s voice. You just know your best friend’s voice.
As I’ve been saying since the beginning of the season, this feels like the Mat I always wanted and envisioned in my head when I was reading the books. His personality, his demeanor, all the stuff he’s doing. I’m enjoying it.
Rand tells Mat the truth. Everybody else thinks he’s dead, and Mat hears it and right off the bat he’s like, bro, you look crazy, but you’re my boy. I’m down. Let’s go. That makes the decision Mat makes not to follow him even sadder in the moment. He’s going to follow him anyway, because they’re all going to follow him anyway.
And then there’s Min, telling Mat, you don’t understand what I’ve given up to tell you this. He’s like, no, no, no. And I’m like, bro, stop being a dick. She’s given up a lot, man, and you don’t even know.
I did say last week we were probably going to lose some folks, and we didn’t get any coverage of Perrin, because he was unnecessary for this little bit of time.
Where I Think the Horn Is Going
My memory is fully jogged, by the way. I remember exactly this. I know who the boat captain is. I know for a fact it’s going to be Bayle Domon, who’s going to take them home, back to Tar Valon.
I’m very much about getting everybody over to Falme and seeing what happens, and ultimately seeing Mat. Before the season is out, I believe he’ll blow the horn. I don’t necessarily know that he’s going to blow it before we see that battle. I think he may blow the horn and they cliffhanger us, because they’re all headed over that way. Either that, or he blows it in the penultimate episode and the final episode gives us the entire resolution. In the books, in the jump between book two and three, some of the heroes stay behind. Birgitte. Strongbow, I think, or Silver Arrow. Silverbow. And Gaidal. I’m digging deep. I know you guys are going to eviscerate me in the comments, her name is this, and that’s fine. That’s what I need.
Rand, Lanfear, and Taking the Show at Face Value
Then you get this really interesting meeting where Rand starts trying to strike a deal with Lanfear. Good, bad or indifferent, I’m like, bro, why would you trust her?
Any knowledge I have from the books, I’m putting away, and I’m taking this show at face value, because Mrs. Know-It-All doesn’t have a reference point for a lot of this stuff. Last week some of you asked whether I was holding back so people wouldn’t get spoiled. I’m purposely treating this as if I’m ignorant and want to walk into it and take it on its face. And on its face I’m just like, Rand, why, dude? Why do it?
What Lanfear does with Liandrin’s son is traumatic. And she’s right. Liandrin made her own oath to the Dark One.
Nynaeve Finally Starts Doing Nynaeve Things
Then we get this really interesting reveal. I want to say it’s Ryma Sedai who Nynaeve has to tell: Liandrin’s a Darkfriend. That means Black Ajah, and that really shakes them to their core.
We’re finally seeing Nynaeve begin to do some of the spectacular things she does in the books. I loved how the Yellow talks to her, because the Yellow is literally like, it’s the same way you do this as a Wisdom. I said to Mrs. Know-It-All, I bet more Wisdoms join the Yellow than anything. I’d love to see this Yellow say, in another world, another life, I was a Wisdom, or something along those lines. The minute Nynaeve does that thing where she accidentally bursts, and she’s like, it needs to be healed, it’s broken, she knows immediately how to identify it and what it does.
She’s going to become so dope. I need her to stop being so obstinate. Sometimes she just doesn’t listen.
Mrs. Know-It-All is in the same place. Nynaeve still rubs her the wrong way. The first thing they were told was stay here. So when there’s trouble, she wants to go, and it takes somebody else to stop her. She got fed a little of her own medicine when Elayne said to her, I’m not going anywhere, because she’s my friend.
We also got a cool name drop: the Amyrlin had visited Caemlyn, which we do see in the books. That’s a great way to do it while we’re not in Caemlyn. Frankly, the only thing that comes from being in Caemlyn is some introductions to characters we’ve already been introduced to. Originally that’s where Rand meets some people, you get some back and forth, and you see Elayne before she ever came to the Tower. It’s all backstory you don’t need, so I understand why they cut it. We don’t get to see Caemlyn, but we do get to hear about it.
Moiraine’s family dynamic is getting both better and a little more complicated. Mrs. Know-It-All had said that when you become Aes Sedai you leave those connections behind. I’m pretty sure you forsake all claims to those things. Now, that’s to the Tower. I don’t think the Tower tells anybody that, because everything’s a chess piece to the Tower. But at the end of the day, if you choose to be Aes Sedai, that’s your path, that’s your house, if you will. Any connections are just extra down the road, resources for you to use later on.
The Kennels
For those of you playing at home, the damane relationship with the sul’dam is such an important one, integral to the story moving forward. A lot of what happens in this episode is going to help shape the person Egwene is going to become.
Spoilers. If you don’t want to know anything about the books, turn away right now, or pause it, because I’m about to lay down what may or may not be coming.
Later in the books Egwene becomes Amyrlin. It’s a small offshoot, there’s a schism in the Tower, but at the end of the day she becomes Amyrlin. And the Seanchan are not something she at all wants to tolerate or humor, all because of what’s happening right now.
They call it the kennels for a reason. Listen to the way the sul’dam talks to her. It’s not your fault, you were brought up to believe you were more than you are, you didn’t know that you’re a damane. Damane is how they consider you. That’s like saying it’s your species, your race, whatever you are. You are that, just like she is a sul’dam.
Now the part they’re not telling you. Sul’dam are also women who can channel. I believe these are women who would’ve been turned away from the Tower. They can sense the Source, and they can even touch it, but they can’t utilize it as much as they wish. They can’t do it enough to be considered damane. They don’t know that part. They just think they have a particular skill level, with the bracelet and the whole bit. Much later, if I remember (see, more memories are coming back), I believe one of the sul’dam gets a collar put on her neck, only to realize, holy crap, they’re right. It shakes the Seanchan system to its core. That’s coming.
The Pitcher
She’s being tortured. They have to break her. Anybody who knows anything about horses knows you have to break a stallion before you can ride it, which is kind of crazy. Same thing here. The mentality isn’t even that she’s an animal. She has to be trained, she has to be brought to heel, the whole bit. And it all starts with this: she cannot consider things to be weapons to be used. If she does, she can’t touch them.
Touching it is painful. It’s like a shock that throws her all the way back across the room. And she looked worse in the end. Much worse.
Then there’s the time Lanfear brought Rand to visit her. In the books you see that scene from the other side. I think you do see them eventually, but you see it from Egwene’s side, where she sees a vision without understanding what’s going on, and then they explain it. Here you see Lanfear and Rand talking in Tel’aran’rhiod, or in his dreams, and she says, I want to prove that you can trust me, I’m going to show you something. She takes him there, and he gets to see Egwene and that this is happening.
Egwene hears someone on the other side of the wall, and that person’s just reciting the rules. Toward the very end, Egwene finally picks up the pitcher.
Madeleine Madden, the actress who plays Egwene, is doing such amazing work. She needs to win all the everythings for this episode, because you believe everything going on. Her performance holding that pitcher is a mixture of relief and shock, and the shame is there too. Clearly, if she can hold this pitcher, she doesn’t see it as a weapon. She does see this person as her master, or mistress, if you will. It was rough, man.
I asked Mrs. Know-It-All how that scene made her feel. Her heart broke for her, because Egwene knows that’s what it means. She’s sobbing so hard, for a long time, and she’s wailing. And from the other side of the wall the lady says, don’t cry, child. You lasted longer than I did, and I was a Sitter of the Blue.
We’d found out from the Yellow earlier: one of the sisters was killed, two have been collared, and one of the ones collared was a Sitter. A Sitter is supposed to be high ranking. Somebody with tenure, with time, with strength. It’s unbelievable.
I’m telling you, when Egwene finally gets let loose, it’s going to be a moment for the ages. She’s going to be pissed, first off.
Learning to Trust It
I’m really moved by this episode and the way they’re presenting things. I’m excited to see what the next episode has to offer. I believe we’re getting eight, and if we’re getting eight, the next episode is the penultimate. I’m excited regardless, because they’re doing really good, and I’m learning to trust what they’ve been doing to this point.
Mrs. Know-It-All says it makes her feel better that I can trust where they’re going. Finally. For real.
The Verdict
The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 6, Eyes Without Pity, is a 9 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
I had a real hard time with it. I didn’t want to give it a 10, because I still feel in my guts there’s something better. There are also a couple of little things, the nuances of acting and different things, that I would’ve preferred. But then there’s that performance by Madeleine Madden, and I’m just like, God, that really elevates this whole thing. I think I did a nine and a half last week. I’m going a 9 this week, because it was a standout, exemplary episode.
Mrs. Know-It-All has it at a 9.5. I was so close.
Tell us what you thought about the episode, and what you think is coming, whether you’ve read the books or not. Fair warning: don’t go in the comment section if you don’t want to be spoiled, because we like to talk about things here in the Know-It-All Nation. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
