The Wheel of Time

The series is only getting more ambitious as it moves into season 3, which rewards the viewer with greater stakes for core characters we’ve come to know.

There's a lot to keep up with, but for those willing to put their phones aside, Season 3 cements The Wheel Of Time as one of the best fantasy shows on TV right now. 

While the final episode of The Wheel of Time’s three-part season 3 premiere is too cluttered with setup, the latest chapter of the Prime Video show is off to a great start.

Season 3 is a marked improvement over the series' second outing, and genuinely fun in a way some of our current moment's other sprawling fantasy adaptations can't seem to manage. Perhaps the Wheel will never weave this show into the version some of us (read: me) want it to be. But there's certainly still plenty to enjoy about the one we have.

Criticisms seem to have been taken on board, with the season providing rich and complex storytelling, with numerous bold moments interwoven in, and particularly developing the stories of Rand and Perrin, while catering to the book audience in key scenes.

The Wheel of Time is coming into its own as the slow and steady saga that could well finish top of the class. It (finally) looks great, and the cast has committed to the silliness. True, the weird names and labyrinthine mythology will put many viewers off – but for those open to the show’s grandiose charms, it might just cast a spell.

With season three, it finally feels like “The Wheel of Time” can become the show it was always meant to be. But, in a fantasy television landscape that grows each year, you can’t help but wonder if it may be too late.

While there's still plenty to like about The Wheel of Time season 3, its more compelling elements are dragged down by stories that don't hold much long-term interest.