#please watch

Season one is a little rough. Power through. It feels kind of self conscious as it tries to set up what is a very big world. Also they get hella fucked by covid shut downs and then protocols for the last two episodes. I wrote about what, how, and why that happened here. (edited to add: I liked season one, but I’ve seen a number of people complain it felt too slow and they got bored and gave up.)

Season two is much more confident. A much better season. The characters really start to develop and come into their own. The world grows. Yes there are a lot of characters - roll with it. Focus on Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, Min, Lan, and Moiraine. The rest may come and go, you’ll pick them up over time. Don’t let it overwhelm you yet.

Season three, so far, is like they went “fuck it!” and hit the gas. We’re going big and grand. The characters know who they are (well, maybe not Rand, but that’s kind of his thing for a bit), the story knows where it’s going. It starts out slightly claustrophobic (for character reasons) in Tar Valon, but then it goes vast and beautiful. Really, ep 4 was phenomenal. People who say it may be the best hour of fantasy tv ever are not exaggerating. Moving, sad, huge, tight story, and lovely.

The show might not follow the books exactly, but that’s a good thing to me. The books have some issues. Some. Many, maybe. I’ve read them since they started, so I do love Jordan’s world, but I can admit the flaws. The show hits the right beats from the books, while giving room for exploration of different aspects of the world or characters, that maybe didn’t get the time they needed in the books. With this show I get so much more the feeling that this isn’t just a bog-standard fantasy world, this is a post-apocalyptic world that, 3,000 years later, is still struggling to recover and understand what happened, and over everything is the pervasive terror that it will all happen again.

Then aside from story, the show is truly beautiful . The cinematography is stunning. The world building vfx are grand- the reveal of the bore is terrible and breathtaking. Also, you will not find a better show for costuming - the fabrics, the textures, and how each country/culture has a distinct and “real” look. Look, it’s just a gorgeous, gorgeous show.

Not a single season is bad, each far surpasses my expectations and it ENRAGES me the way everything went down with it

I have re watched the show I think at this point maybe over 10 times, because it just means so much to me

I remember I saw Season/Book 2 at a time when I was really struggling with my identity as a trans-masc nonbinary person. Lake really resonated so deeply with me, and to this day the scene where they are begging to be seen as a person makes me cry

Honestly i fully believe everyone should watch it at least once

It's hard to find as it is no longer on any streaming services but it is worth it

I don't think there is any show that I recommend more than Infinity train

relaxing speedpaint of suguru geto, sorry for the unskippable ads