karaddin

There's never going to be a bipartisan option while Dutton is leader, his personal feelings are going to block that.

Yeah I was saying pretty much the same thing in the last thread once it was clear support was collapsing and they weren't doing the work required to sell people on it. Trying and failing is so much worse than delaying.

That line is why I kept thinking it was a fake out right until it hit, I was sure something was about to change lol.

I'm really worried about the psychological impact of a no result on indigenous Australians. It's not exactly that long since the same sex marriage "survey" and that did a fucking number on me even when winning by a considerable margin, this is going to be a lot worse for them.

That's why I think Day isn't an outlier, so this is the expected outcome and it's got to be a trap of some kind. Also

I don't think

Actually they did set up wards - Kerene had them set around the camp with Logain. The explanation was minimal and I think assumed familiarity with the basic concept and just gave the vibe of an alarm, but it did seem like setting them up was more involved than the impression I have from the book. I guess that could just be the need to traverse the perimeter as you set them up so putting them around a hut would be easier. I think the "didn't want to risk Rand noticing" combined with arrogance is plenty of explanation though. I agree it's definitely time to bring in dreaming, they certainly put a lot of weight on dreams having significance in the first season so I think the groundwork is there for that.

Lol I managed to miss those were both 8. Yeah that sounds solid then and a change I think is necessary for a television audience. That also puts the circle in the season 1 finale much closer to the max number - 5/8 compared to 5/13 has them much closer to the max boost they can get from circles which might help some power scaling concerns.

If you leave Halsin alive when you do that he isn't very happy about it all. at your poor Astarion Leofric. I remember your first post saying that had happened and the idea of him still being there after all this real world time is hilarious. Act2 spoiler below

Oh do we have something from Rafe that confirms the 8 number? I've had so many conversations about this with my wife and I think 8 is what we keep settling on as well lol. I really don't see these as remotely comparable, Rand and the audience might think she's dead for all of 20 seconds in the show. Moiraine doesn't, she immediately tells Rand she isn't and the audience immediately sees it's true - in terms of what they're doing it's more like one of them was teleported far enough away from the other to escape, not actually harming Lanfear. Back to the Forsaken - I kinda hope if both Demandred and one of Rahvin/Sammael make the cut that one of them has changed motivation as well - it feels like half the male Forsaken's reason for falling in the books could be boiled down "Lew's Therin made me feel like a cuck" lol. With a sprinkling of "because I'm short" for Sammael.

This just seems like quite a leap to think this is meant to be that - the only thing in common is the two characters. It's not doing any of the same things and it's far too early to fill that role - that was OG Lanfears exit from the story, this is her introduction. I'm not assuming that scene will still be in it because there's a lot of potential changes that could really block that scene from happening, but I doubt this scene is intended as a replacement for it and if it is cut.

Where did I criticise all of his ideas? I'm talking about specific ideas I didn't like based on memory from several years ago - that the sequel would go onto your microscopic level with the whills and stuff. That's very different from saying all his ideas suck. I think the prequels had some solid ideas and set up the board for some interesting stories, but the execution wasn't there. He works best as part of a team with others covering dialogue, directing etc.

I wanted to see Minthara so I had to go all in, but yeah it definitely is the "alternate" option with less resources in it

That was not at all how I expected that episode to end when I start it. Lots of revelations, lots of development, lots of remaining questions. I really enjoyed it. Also an incredible verbal burn from one character to another that I really wasn't expecting.

Yeah that rough pitch for what his ST would have been sounded pretty dogshit. Maybe something good would have emerged from it, but just from what I saw of it I don't think it turns out any better than the ST we got. I'm with Kal on Trevorrow's script sounding like a solid attempt to actually follow TLJ rather than retcon it out of existence. The whole thing is just a remarkable case of utter failure by the studio to have any kind of plan for it to even be a trilogy. The fact they half assed something worth so much money is almost as enraging as the fact that despite this mismanagement they've still made a fuckload of money from buying the IP.

I enjoyed the warders parts of this episode personally but I agree it's run it's course for now. I hope to see Lan either with the bond passed and doing whatever comes next or back with Moiraine (whichever they're doing) by the end of the next episode. Also hoping that if the shield theory is correct then Rand notices it next ep and manages to remove it by the end of ep 6 at the longest or even notices and removes it in the same episode. I know they need to spin out narrative consequences from showing that happen to her at the end of season 1 but with the time skip they were able to show the end result of a lot of that rather than needing it on screen, unless there's something coming that relies on her not being able to channel this is long enough

Yeah my feelings on it were that TLJ set up Kylo to not be redeemed but the studio was entirely opposed to that. They should never have let RJ make that film when they had no interest on following through on that story. Instead we got the shit Palp resurrection with an even less deserved redemption than Anakin's.

Yeah I'm perfectly open to my memory simply being faulty on the wastes front lol, but that expectation is part of the lens that I'm viewing this season with. Would be funny if it's wrong but makes it more enjoyable for me anyway. Not sure what Lanfear might have been about to do, beyond it has to relate to her confession (however far that was going to go). She might have simply been revealing she could channel - maybe it was a sex weave lol. I'm assuming they're being so heavy handed with Mat constantly losing at gambling so that the audience can realise there's something going on when he starts winning before he realises it himself. I also really liked Min opening her eyes to Ishy with no viewings at all, great way to make him pop out and I'm assuming that's going to be something specific to just him not all forsaken. On filler - I just don't find it a useful concept for this. Yes it's adaptation only content, but filler (as I'm familiar with it at least) is about killing time while waiting for the source material to get ahead so you don't run out of it. They're adding this not to fill time but because they think it adds to the version of the story they're trying to tell, or at worst because they need to come up with stuff for an actor to do during a period they aren't in much of the source material. I don't think the latter really applies, so either they're putting a lot of weight onto Lan and Moiraine's relationship or this is what they came up with to fix a mistake at the end of the first season with shielding/stilling Moiraine. I think it's at least partially setting up Rand's big mistake about thinking he needed to be hard and push people away to protect them - Moiraine is making the same mistake just with smaller stakes.

Saw it pointed out on reddit that

I once again feel like I'm watching a different show to some of you lol, I liked it. No idea how this can feel like nothing happened plot wise though, it felt the opposite to me.

I thought it might have been easier to have Rosario do a bunch of the choreography with only a single blade, so the choice was made to have more of it performed by her rather than stunt double. I haven't rewatched to check how much her face is clearly visible though. I'm just thinking Ahsoka's dual blade style is extremely athletic and acrobatic and while Rosario is still in great shape she's still in her 40s.

I was feeling melancholy about him just from the trailers and this episode really didn't help that

Yeah Sheriam is a late reveal isn't she? Not just for Egwene but for the reader?

Yeah that's the simpler explanation

And the part about failing her can be viewed as true purely on the objective level despite not being reasonable. He did not pick up on the fades as fast as he could have, so the oaths are OK there too.