The Wheel of Time

:

Season 1
Season #: 3, 2, 1
User Score
6.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 459 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 290 out of 459
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 459
  3. Negative: 148 out of 459
Watch Now

Where To Watch

Stream On

Review this tv show

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling

User Reviews

view
per page
  1. vdgjolly
    Nov 20, 2021
    4
    Is it true to the books. Hell no.
    Is it still a good show. Also no, unfortunately.
    Acting and dialogs are not naturally, somehow. The characters do not connect with me. Many things happen more out of convenience, because the writer wants it to happen, but not because it make sense to happen. The setting looks to me as if someone was not sure if it should be medieval fantasy or western    Is it true to the books. Hell no.
    Is it still a good show. Also no, unfortunately.

    Acting and dialogs are not naturally, somehow. The characters do not connect with me. Many things happen more out of convenience, because the writer wants it to happen, but not because it make sense to happen.
    The setting looks to me as if someone was not sure if it should be medieval fantasy or western style.

    If you are not too picky, do not care about the books and enjoy the fact that it is part of Prime membership, you might be able to kill some time watching it. Perhaps at the side during doing something more interesting (like playing Solitaire).    … Expand
  2. connoragnarav
    Nov 20, 2021
    5
    As I've been told so many times by multiple different people, any adaptation of a book isn't going to compare to your own imagination. There will be discrepancies. However after the first three episodes, I feel like this is very loosely based on the books and that more has been changed than you would normally say is down to artistic license. On a positive I feel Rand and Matt are as IAs I've been told so many times by multiple different people, any adaptation of a book isn't going to compare to your own imagination. There will be discrepancies. However after the first three episodes, I feel like this is very loosely based on the books and that more has been changed than you would normally say is down to artistic license. On a positive I feel Rand and Matt are as I imagined both visual and in character.
    This is pretty much the only thing I feel positive about, as everything else seems to feel very average or even worse, sadly lacking. Even if you're not a fan of the books as a series it feels clunky, disjointed, fast in parts and slow in others. The sets have been very well made and the landscape is beautiful, but it reminds me of watching The Legend of Hercules or Xena Warrior Princess back in the 90s.
    I've read other reviews and I know some fans are enjoying the adaptation, however not that my opinion means much, but I'm not sure how. I'm not gripped, I struggled with watching the first three episodes and I'm not sure if I can sit through anymore unless it gets drastically better.
    As I've said, just my opinion for what it's worth, but I will not be recommending it to my friends and family.    … Expand
  3. OliSanearth
    Nov 19, 2021
    4
    Feels cheap somehow. Didn't like the book that much, liking the series even less.
  4. Dee-Jay_Deli
    Nov 19, 2021
    6
    Decent, but "by the numbers" interpretation of Robert Jordan's epic novels.

    In 2009, this would have been a ground-breaking show. It has good production quality, beautiful scenery and solid acting. But in 2021 it feels a bit lackluster in the writing department. The characters seem bland with little personality beyond what the plot requires of them. And in general, it all feels a bit    Decent, but "by the numbers" interpretation of Robert Jordan's epic novels.

    In 2009, this would have been a ground-breaking show. It has good production quality, beautiful scenery and solid acting. But in 2021 it feels a bit lackluster in the writing department. The characters seem bland with little personality beyond what the plot requires of them. And in general, it all feels a bit "by the numbers".

    But just like the Witcher, it might just need to hit its stride....    … Expand
  5. Adamhh
    Nov 20, 2021
    5
    A vast disappointment. Like somebody just read the cliff notes of the series.
  6. HughMBehavior
    Nov 21, 2021
    6
    About Me & Wheel of Time:
    I've read em all. Pretty solid up until 7 or 8 when Jordan goes senile & spends half of each book w/ 3 page descriptions of dresses & tea sets. Sanderson manages to wrap it up competently into a B-level series. Props to Jordan for being a man of character & making sure the story got finished for the fans.... unlike SOME authors we might mention who will never    About Me & Wheel of Time:
    I've read em all. Pretty solid up until 7 or 8 when Jordan goes senile & spends half of each book w/ 3 page descriptions of dresses & tea sets. Sanderson manages to wrap it up competently into a B-level series. Props to Jordan for being a man of character & making sure the story got finished for the fans.... unlike SOME authors we might mention who will never finish their series.

    (That's right, he ain't never finishing. Put it out of your head, GRRM fans. And he said he won't pass the outline on, the schmuck.)

    Me & This Show, Positives:
    Casting is pretty good. The kid's acting will improve.
    Adaptation isn't too bad. I don't mind that they adultified it. Jordan always seemed a bit infantile on that score, and this is not Lord of the Rings. You can bet I won't be so happy with elf/hobbit orgies in LotR (& they are coming, believe me,) but here it seems a good choice.
    Trollocs & fades look GREAT. I'm glad they went full-on with the violence & gore: it gives weight to the main characters' plight & mission(s.)
    Special effects & locations solid in general. They spent serious money.
    Rafe Judkins has real experience running shows, so this should get better. (Judging from Chuck & Agents of Shield, it should improve substantially s02 on. It needs to. My 6 is closer to a 5 than a 7.)

    Neutral:
    The Diversity: non-white actors gotta work too, and this ain't written to be purely Northern European mythos like LotR, so I have no problems with a multi-racial reiteration *generally.* The Questioner & Padain Fain are stand-outs in fact. However...

    Negative:
    The DUHversity: did the "Blood of Manethrin" somehow run down a thousand years+ sustaining multiple shades of people? That's DUHversity for ya. They should have just cast the whole Two Rivers with Indians/Bangladeshi/Pakistanis or Latinos or whatever. Doesn't fracture the 4th wall, and then Rand & Tam stand out more as outsiders grown insider.

    My other negatives are shared with the books. As I said, it's a B, B minus series overall. If I was gonna drop 10M an ep I would choose The First Law or The Name of the Wind (presuming I could see a good outline for the last of that trilogy.) Maybe even The Malazan Cycle.

    Fortunately The Wheel of Time is
    a. FINISHED
    &
    b. editable. The relative lack of plot in books 8-13 will be easily compressible by a good editor, and the show's editors will have had lots of practice if they make it that far. Sanderson wraps it up pretty well if so. There's a fair chance this could exceed the books.    … Expand
  7. Bulsajo
    Nov 22, 2021
    6
    Nothing seems lived-in, so while the plot, action and effects are great, the cinematography, wardrobe and sets leave with a feeling i can't shake, that I'm watching some elaborate new perfume commercial.
  8. BigDegs29
    Nov 22, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A solid "meh" with potential. And the only reason it reaches meh territory is because of the enormous budget that allows for wonderful set pieces, costumes and props. Acting is pretty good as well.

    That's where my praise stops though. Particularly in the first episode, the direction is slipshod, and pacing horrible. Both improve slightly in episodes 2 and 3, when they're not trying to cram a whole bunch of character development and plot beats into too short a time, but not to the caliber you'd expect from a $10M/episode budget.

    The writing...falls flat. Again, no where near the caliber you'd expect from a production of this magnitude. Now, I'm not going to compare this to Game of Thrones in the same way others are, because The Wheel of Time is a different kind of fantasy and tone. But there's one part I want to point out about where Game of Thrones went so right in the early seasons: they KNEW their characters. And almost always when they deviated from GRRM's script, it was in a way that SUITED the characters. For instance, the scenes between Arya and Tywin in season 2 were beautifully suited to developing their characters.
    In Wheel of Time, there's some questionable deviations. Mat's parents....why?! I can sort of understand Perrin having a wife, and his killing her as a sort of character development device to explain why he'll be so fearful of his connection with the wolves, but did he really need that? in the books, Moiraine and Lan warn the townsfolk of impending trolloc attack, but in the show they let the town get slaughtered at first. Why? It lessens their characters, for a cheap surprise moment for the audience.

    The biggest deviation I'm pissed about is the idea that Egwene could possibly be the Dragon Reborn. That totally goes against all ethos! How can the Dragon Reborn be a woman, when that would render pointless the idea of a Dragon Reborn, all the prophecy, and how the whole thing functions??? Just seems like they stuck that in there for brownie points.

    It just feels like the story beats aren't landing as solidly as they aught to, and that's disappointing. But that's how I've felt with a lot of Amazon shows. They're just not quite on the same level as Netflix originals.

    I'm going to continue watching, probably in a few weeks when a good backlog of episodes is up. I'm just not hooked enough to watch week to week right now. Hopefully it improves.    … Expand
  9. OnetrueGeth
    Nov 21, 2021
    4
    Enjoying the season so far, fast paced. Looking forward to seeing how they adapt the immense story.
  10. WatchinMovies
    Dec 30, 2021
    5
    This is a very slow and plodding series. The selection of scenes to represent the book theme was confusing. The visuals seemed lacking, like they skimped on the budget. All in all I was disappointed.
  11. HeyNow
    Dec 26, 2021
    6
    The book story has a passionate following, and there are changes in the TV version that have thrown people off. If you've never read the books or read them a long time ago then you might like this. I made the mistake of starting a "re-read" before the show came out. The differences are so jarring that it pulls you out of the story. The episodes are also hit-and-miss. I really liked 4The book story has a passionate following, and there are changes in the TV version that have thrown people off. If you've never read the books or read them a long time ago then you might like this. I made the mistake of starting a "re-read" before the show came out. The differences are so jarring that it pulls you out of the story. The episodes are also hit-and-miss. I really liked 4 and 7, for instance, but 5 and 8 were terrible. I think I'll end up sticking with this but all the excitement I had for this series has evaporated.… Expand
  12. Tiger13LHMK
    Dec 24, 2021
    6
    Edit Episode 8: I enjoyed it, but... :)) Yeah, too little consistency overall, too little explanation, a lot of the logic is wrong... and too little focus on the men and boys... It's a somewhat dumb show, but I shamelessly enjoyed it :) 6/10 last scoring
    Edit Episode 7: This one was great :). Back to the standard that the 6th episode lacked. Can't wait for the last episode :D. It didn't    Edit Episode 8: I enjoyed it, but... :)) Yeah, too little consistency overall, too little explanation, a lot of the logic is wrong... and too little focus on the men and boys... It's a somewhat dumb show, but I shamelessly enjoyed it :) 6/10 last scoring
    Edit Episode 7: This one was great :). Back to the standard that the 6th episode lacked. Can't wait for the last episode :D. It didn't resolve everything that was "weird" in the 6th episode, but it started to. Increasing my rating.
    2nd Edit Episode 6: Thought more about this, about the things that made me feel cold. I can't find any explanation for some of the things happening in this episode... so it's an episode full of plot holes and I think it expands to past and will expands to future episodes... So yeah. Still curios, but it's turning morbid :( Decreasing my rating.
    Edit Episode 6: I generally loved this episode, but the ending and the thing that Moiraine used to meet with you know who, those two things left me a bit cold, hmm. Also the EOTW explanation, but that did not last. Still extremely curious :D :)
    Edit Episode 5: I really love what they are doing... So many scenes that do multiple things (lore building, relationship expansion, foreshadowing, character development)... I loved the pacing and the themes in this episode a lot :D
    Episode 4: This is amazing and I want more of it :). The unreliable narrator (or whatever is called for Videos) is very strong here :D.
    Review after 3 episodes:
    Not perfect, but I am hooked. I really want to see what they do with story. I found the acting (almost) perfect to what I had in mind while reading the books.
    Writing was fine or better than fine most of the time, but I think the delivery of some things/ideas of the story was rather clunky (the Red Ajah chasing scene, the Moraine/Lan arrival at the inn scene).
    Special effects were pretty good (quite amazing half the time), but it's early in the season.
    Pacing was perfect for me (maybe a little slow in the second and third episodes)... don't know quite why :).    … Expand
  13. Kraelman
    Dec 21, 2021
    5
    I realized that this was going to be very meh in the first 30 seconds of exposition about finding the "chosen one" or whatever, and boy oh boy did this show not disappoint. There is no humor, which indicates that the show is trying to be very serious and dark. But for that to work you need strong characters with strong personalities and great dialogue to show those personalities (see:I realized that this was going to be very meh in the first 30 seconds of exposition about finding the "chosen one" or whatever, and boy oh boy did this show not disappoint. There is no humor, which indicates that the show is trying to be very serious and dark. But for that to work you need strong characters with strong personalities and great dialogue to show those personalities (see: Tyrion/Tywin/Bronn/ etc etc) and there's simply none of that here. Why is there a samurai guarding a wizard? What the **** is his deal? We get like two lines of dialogue about it, and that's it.

    None of the characters are likeable, being dark and mysterious and never explaining anything fully even when you're travelling together for several days is not a character trait. This is, at best, a very average experience.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Most Discussed TV Season of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 24
  3. Negative: 2 out of 24
  1. i
    Reviewed by: Emily Baker
    Dec 3, 2021
    40
    For such a potentially rich series, The Wheel of Time is curiously flat. Little time is spent on character development or exploring the politics, social hierarchy and cultural touchstones of its world. Instead, there are many beautiful, but unnecessary, sweeping shots of scenery and overdramatic, overextended fight scenes.
    Read full review
  2. Slate
    Reviewed by: Rebecca Long
    Dec 2, 2021
    85
    Wheel of Time succeeds in retaining the earnestness and hope that characterize the novels, and which Game of Thrones lacked. But it also offers viewers something new. ... Wheel of Time is more soft touches and sweeping landscapes.
    Read full review
  3. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Nov 22, 2021
    50
    While the lavish first season is eventful, it's burdened with clunky exposition, a deficit of whimsy and wonder, and thinly developed characters. [22 Nov - 5 Dec 2021, p.9]
See all critic reviews »