On a pure technical level, by which I mean everything that has to do with telling a story on screen, this season as a whole fails spectacularly. Bad writing, amateur directing, bland cinematography, messy editing, cheap effects, uninspired soundtrack. All the money in the world won't do a thing if you lack vision and/or basic knowledge on storytelling and filmmaking. This is my main gripe with this season and everything else stems from it.
Soulless is how I'd describe it. I simply don't feel the passion behind this project. It doesn't make me feel invested in this world or care about the people in it. It doesn't convey any kind of emotion through the screen. For contrast, in one episode of The Witcher's second season, I shed a couple of tears when Roach received a fatal wound and Geralt had to put her out of her misery. For a horse I barely knew ffs! WoT on the other hand doesn't make me feel anything at all; be it sadness, joy, anger, or anticipation. It comes off as hollow and sterile.
Acting is another issue. EF5 already suffers from bad writing and they don't have good acting chops either which makes their scenes cringy to watch. Seasoned actors/actresses do generally better but even Rosamund Pike doesn't seem fully invested in her character and every now and then gives a "wtf am I doing here" vibe.
On a semi related note, I really don't like the direction TV/streaming has been going for the past five years or so. I grew up on shows with 20-ish episodes per season which gradually got lesser over the years and here we are now stuck with bite sized shows specifically tailored and produced for binge watching/fast consumption. Don't get me wrong, it does work well for certain genres/stories, and I know WoT was released weekly but still, 8 episodes per season is nowhere near enough to properly adapt an epic fantasy story.
With all that said, I'm kinda curious to see whether or not the team will manage to fix the issues of the first season and where things will go from here story wise so I'll likely watch the second season as well.
Random tidbits:
- My favourite characters so far are Moiraine and Nynaeve followed by Lan and Thom.
- I'm a sucker for elemental magic so seeing fireballs and lightnings on screen is awesome.
- Aes Sedai, their politics and other similar conflicts in the wider world intrigue me more than EF5 youngsters.
- I already knew before watching who the dragon reborn was.
- This season made me lower my expectations for the upcoming Middle Earth show but who knows, it may just turn out amazing. Fingers crossed!
