The Wheel of Time takes us to the world of dreams—and beyond—in episode five

Summary

Andrew Cunningham and Lee Hutchinson have spent decades of their lives with Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's Wheel of Time books, and they previously brought that knowledge to bear as they recapped each first season episode and second season episode of Amazon's WoT TV series. Now we're back in the saddle for season 3—along with insights, jokes, and the occasional wild theory. These recaps won't cover every element of every episode, but they will contain major spoilers for the show and the book series. We'll do our best to not spoil major future events from the books, but there's always the danger that something might slip out. If you want to stay completely unspoiled and haven't read the books, these recaps aren't for you. New episodes of The Wheel of Time season three will be posted for Amazon Prime subscribers every Thursday. This write-up covers episode five, "Tel'Aran'Rhiod," which was released on March 27. Andrew: Three seasons in I think we have discerned a pattern to the Wheel of Time's portrayal of the Pattern: a mid-season peak in episode four, followed by a handful of more table-setting-y episodes that run up to a big finale. And so it is in Tel'aran'rhiod, which is a not-entirely-unwelcome slowdown after last week's intense character-defining journey into Rhuidean. The show introduces or expands a bunch of book plotlines as it hops between perspectives this week. Which are you the most interested in picking apart, Lee? Anything the show is tending to here that you wish we were skipping? "Let it go, let it goooooo..." A Sea Folk Windfinder, doing her thing. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios "Let it go, let it goooooo..." A Sea Folk Windfinder, doing her thing. Credit: Prime/Amazon MGM Studios Lee: Yes, this was a good old-fashioned move-the-pieces-into-place episode, and you gotta have at least one or two of those. I think, if I were coming into this having not read the books, the most puzzling bits might have been what’s going on in the White Tower th...