Season 1 Episode 1 “Leavetaking”
After much debating, I have finally decided to give this show a try. You will find it on Amazon Prime and it’s one of many new shows Amazon provides as part of their service. The first episode aired on November 19th, but you can now watch all 8 episodes, I have watched a couple of other original shows like Hannah, and The Boys, so I have been a little skeptical of this show. Hannah was very good in season 1, but it did disappoint in season 2 for me. So, I had no real rush to start another show. But I decided to give it a shot.
This is your typical fantasy-type series. The battle against good and evil, the destruction of the world, and the chosen one. A couple of our main characters appear to be Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) and she plays Moiraine Damodred, Josha Stradwoski who plays Rand al’Thor, and Egwene, played by Madeleine Madden. And a host of other actors and actresses I am not too familiar with. It is a period piece, much like you would find in Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. It’s also fantasy so there is magic and other forces not yet known to us.
It seems like the chosen one can either be good or evil depending on who gets to them first. We do not know yet whether the chosen one is male or female. Although the magic seems to only reside in the women of this story. Moiraine is on a mission to locate that person and happens upon a tavern. However, before she reaches the tavern we are immersed in the lives of the characters who live in or around that tavern. Mainly a character named Egwene. She is also in love with Rand. Or they are in love with each other. At the beginning of the episode, we meet Egwene and it seems she i about to take some sort of test of magic.
So a little information there are things called Wisdom’s and the White Tower and the Dark One. The Dragon (chosen one) will either join the side of the dark or the side of the light. Moiraine is searching for the person who is the chosen one. The chosen candidates are Rand, Egwene, Mat, and Perrin. They all live in the same village.
Things are about to change for everyone with the arrival of Moiraine. Especially since she feels the Dragon is in this particular village. It seems that Egwene and Rand are at a crossroads and it will cause them to travel very different paths even though they may hate it. But there are other things to focus on in the small town. The townsfolk are paying homage to their ancestors with lanterns and music and dancing in hopes they’d visit. What comes to visit instead are horned beasts that are attacking the townsfolk and killing them and possibly eating them.
Along the way, Nynaeve, grabs Egwene and snaps her out of her shock. Nynaeve is wisdom, or at least she was trained by one. The woman who raised her died but not before passing on her knowledge. Anyways, the beasts are called Trollocs and they are big warthog-looking humanoids. We also get to see our first taste of magic when Moiraine demonstrates her powers to destroy multiple trollocs at once. But there are many and these people are barely surviving. The CGI by the way is beautiful. It is bloody and bloody and during one of the attacks, Perrin accidentally mistakes the love of his life for an attacker and kills her. (Not suitable for kids).
The town is decimated and many lives are lost but Moiraine has one more trick up her sleeve. As she draws light from any and every source and powers up to take out the enemy brick by brick. As she kills the last one, in the background a house collapses and she falls to her knees in the dust of the collapse and Lan rushes to catch her.
In the aftermath of the attack, everyone begins to realize what it is they actually lost. The depth of loss and pain can be felt as the sun doesn’t even shine as daybreaks. Some can be saved and some cannot. But something more has come of this tragedy, a crossroads for four of the villagers. Rand, Ewgene, Perrin, and Mat (he has no significant bank story). Moiraine explains that one of the 4 of them, will either join the Dark One or be on the side of Light to destroy him. Its imperative that they take a journey with her to the White Tower for their protection.
So, I must say I am intrigued. It’s very well shot and believable. And mainly so far unpredictable although the good vs evil storyline is pretty generic.
