THE WHEEL OF TIME – Season 2 Episode 7 – SPOILERS

No gunpowder exists in the Wheel of Time universe, but some knowledge of chemistry survives, as we will see later. This episode begins with a flashback to twenty years ago, and a playful conversation between the future Amyrlin Seat and Moiraine Damodred as they discuss their retirement plans.

SIUAN: “With the war, it’s been so hard to think about any future beyond these walls. And when I think about us, where we’ll end up, it’s not in this tower with these gowns and the ring.”
MOIRAINE: “Well, where is it, then?”
SIUAN: “It’s in a bamboo hut on the river, like my father and I had.”
MOIRAINE: “And I’ll be your fishwife?”
SIUAN: “Uh, you’d make a bloody awful fishwife. Have you ever cast a net, Lady Damodred?”
MOIRAINE: “I might have. But we’re not gonna be here forever. We’re gonna serve out our time, and then advise the Daughter-Heir of Andor or the King of Altara.”
SIUAN: “Do you mean that?”
MOIRAINE: “Yes, but you will be my fishwife.”

They visit Gitara Moroso (Hayley Mills) to tell her the Aiel War has ended. Soon after their arrival, Gitara has a vision of Tigraine Mantear (Magdalena Šittová) giving birth to Rand, apparently in real time. “The dragon is born again,” Gitara says. “I feel it. It’s happening now. The baby lies in the snow and cries like the thunder. It burns like the sun. Tell no one, my sisters. You must find the Dragon Reborn, and prepare the world to follow…”

In present day Carhein, Leandrin (Kate Fleetwood) visits the House of Damodred to give Barthanes (Will Tudor) an order. He is to kill his Aunt Moiraine. (“Take her off the board”, Leandrin says, using a chess metaphor.) And if his mother learns anything about it, he is to kill her as well. Fortunately, Anavere (Lindsay Duncan) is listening in on the conversation, and tricks Barthanes into a prison cell.

Ishamael (Fares Fares) has Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn) over for hallucinogenic tea (possibly ayahuasca from the look of what Ishamael whittles pieces from). Matt is warned to drink only one cup, and told it will allow him to see his past lives. Matt’s mother Natti Cauthon (Juliet Howland) appears to him, and he has a vision of himself drowning someone in a bucket, and of a person who looks very much like himself who has been recently hanged. The line “just like him” is repeated throughout the visions.

When Ishamael returns, he tells an enervated Matt: “You see it now, don’t you? We keep living these lives. Trying again and again, but for what? The Wheel turns and people hurt. It’s a simple fact. And even with the freedom of death, we just come back, again and again. And all I want is just to close my eyes one day and never have to open them again.”

Meanwhile, Lan (Daniel Henney) has become suspicious of Moiraine’s condition. He asks her if she has contemplated suicide since being stilled, pointing out that of all women who have been stilled, only two have failed to kill themselves. She responds with an emphatic “no”, so Lan goes to see Logain (Alvaro Morte) who is using his time in prison to perfect strategems for the game of Go. (The women in this story play chess, it seems, and the men play Go.) Though he has lost the ability to channel, Logain retains the ability to see weaves done by men. He explains to Lan that Moiraine has not been stilled, but is shielded by self-sustaining weaves knotted around her.

Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo) is upset, mainly because Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) did not tell her about being stilled. The Amyrlin summons Rand (Josha Stradowski) and explains that she does not want to gentle him, but rather to cage and control him. This sounds somewhat similar to the way the Seanchan treat women who channel. When Rand suggests he is tired of being a spoke in the wheel, Siuan tells him: “You’re not a spoke, boy. You are the water that turns the wheel itself, or dashes it to pieces.” Fortunately, Alanna (Priyanka Bose) manages to free the Dragon Reborn, who then cuts Isamael’s shield from Moiraine, restoring her powers. But it takes Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) to get Rand, Moiraine, and Lan out of Cairhein.

Inside Falme (where the Dragon Reborn is headed, and where prophesy says he will proclaim himself “Bannered ‘cross the sky in fire.”), Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) and the Daughter-Heir of Andor (Ceara Coveney) find out where Egwene (Madeleine Madden) is being held, then use that metal collar they got from Ryma to turn a passer-by named Seta (Jade-Eleena-Dregorius) into a damane, likely so they can masquerade as her captors to gain access to the prison.

In the nearby desert, Egwene is undergoing a test of her power. The results please Renna (Xelia Mendes-Jones), but when Egwene is returned to her cell and Renna explains to her that they must stand together in the Last Battle to help the Seanchan Empress’ achieve her noble goal of world domination, Egwene calmly promises to kill Renna, who then is no longer pleased.

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All episodes of THE WHEEL OF TIME can be streamed on Amazon Prime.