The camera pans to a woman in a bath less than halfway through the first episode of The Wheel of Time. A powerful Aes Sedai, or conjurer, washes her shoulders. The shot shows Lan Mandragoran, a man who is sworn to protect her, entering the tub with her. I knew how the scene would play out when I saw Lan's butt. Instead of pushing a young boy out a window, Lan and Moiraine just relax in the hot bath, pondering who the chosen one is, and then the camera cuts away.
After pumping billions of dollars into Prime Video, Jeff Bezos ordered the platform's original programming to shift away from niche slice-of-life shows and toward genre series with broad appeal. According to Brad Stone in his new book, Bezos told his executive team that he wanted his own show. The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time were both adapted by Amazon in the following year. The show is based on Robert Jordan's 14-book fantasy series. Prime Video's most recent series is wrestling with the legacy of the era-defining HBO epic.
The idea that shock value isn't the only way to make people pay attention is what Wheel of Time is banking on.
The story of The Wheel of Time is so large that it would be difficult to tell it on-screen without some details. The showrunner is a Wheel of Time superfan and a former contestant on Survivor. History repeats itself over and over again in the World of the Wheel. The ability to wield the One Power has been lost. The Dark One is trying to break the world and now women, Aes Sedai, are the only ones who can channel it. An extremely powerful user of the One Power, the Dragon, successfully defeated the forces of evil in the past. The Dragon was reborn as the Dark One came back. They need to uncover who they are and guide them to save the world.
Bards who know more than they share, magical women with hidden agendas, monsters of all kinds, and cursed objects are just a few of the things that make Jordan's novels classic high fantasy. The streaming adaptation is very similar to its on-screen predecessors. Wheel of Time begins with a focus on a central journey and there are a lot of walking scenes. The show was filmed in the Czech Republic and features characters traveling on foot or on horseback. Wheel of Time uses practical effects to bring the Orc-like creatures of the Dark One to life. The shadow of Game ofThrones looms large. The first season of Prime Video's series cost a reported $80 million to make and resulted in impressive special effects. The success of Game ofThrones paved the way for a show like Wheel of Time, which proved that fantasy can be taken seriously.
The bath scene shows that Wheel of Time is very different from Game of thrones in key areas. Game ofThrones highlighted how tediously prestige television has come to rely on rape, both as a catchall and as a form of entertainment. There is almost no nudity in the six Wheel of Time episodes that are available to critics. The sex scenes on the show are loving and consensual. Men and women are often touching or offering each other comfort in scenes that could become sexual, but still remain platonic. Like me, viewers who are familiar with Game of thrones may not be able to wait for these sweet moments to turn sour, but so far they never do.
Wheel of Time values representation and believes that women are more than bodies to be violated or damsels to be rescued. The cast is diverse, yet no characters are tokenized or suffer because of their race. According to Judd, reading Wheel of Time with his mother helped him and his family process his coming out at 18. Almost all instances of violence feel necessary to the story.
The first episode of Wheel of Time is not perfect, but it is not a bad example of fridging. Wheel of Time is still a breath of fresh air after years of Game of thrones controlling the parameters of violence and sexuality.
Wheel of Time is banking on the idea that shock value isn't the only way to make people pay attention, unlike Game of Throne and other popular shows that use excessive brutality to attract viewers. The show's audience only continued to grow after the show toned down depictions of rape. The story of Wheel of Time is entertaining and good enough to be enjoyed on its own.
Wheel of Time is not a response to Game of Throne. Wheel of Time came first. The first seven books in Jordan's series were published before George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire was published. The world is full of people of different ethnicities. Many characters are queer. There are elements that already exist in the books.
The viewing experience of Wheel of Time is less painful than one might think. The new series is not as heavy as Game of Throne. The show's darkness was one of the biggest gripes of fans. The Longest Night was one of the episodes that had scenes so dimly lit that viewers had to squint or turn up their TVs to see what was happening. Wheel of Time is a source of light. The show is bright enough to make sense of fast- moving battle scenes. The costumes of Lord of the Rings and Game ofThrones were mostly gray and brown. In the Prime Video series, characters wear brightly colored tunics, plush cloaks, and jewel-toned gowns, which are a feast for the eyes if a little incongruous.
Some viewers and not others may benefit from the creative changes. The streaming series at times feels more like The 100 or Shadow and Bone than the books, which is sure to turn off some Wheel of Time fans. The adaptation works well as a complement to the books. The first six episodes of the streaming series evoke the scope of Jordan's fictional universe, thanks to strong performances by Peike and others. The second season has already been greenlit. The earnestness and hope of the novels are retained by Wheel of Time. But it also gives viewers something new.
If Game ofThrones was just a bunch of dragons, then Wheel of Time is a good change for many. The strategy of Wheel of Time seems to be working. The premiere of the series was the most watched of the year and in the top five of all time, according to the head of Amazon Studios. Since the Game ofThrones finale, the TV audience has splintered so much that it will be difficult to duplicate its hold on the cultural conversation. Who knows? The Wheel is moving.
The piece was originally written with the wrong name.
