The Wheel of Time
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Its title, Goldeneyes, only served as further confirmation.
(This episodes writer, Dave Hill, is aGoTalum.)
Working from his own source material, screenwriter George R.R.
Ill never forget that massive green wildfire explosion in Blackwater Bay, thats for sure.
Nothing in Goldeneyes, Perrins eponymous showcase episode, rises to that level.
Everyone else is just sorta there to help out the main character.
This renders the stakes of the battle crystal clear at all times.
If we win, we hold our ground.
If we lose, we fall back, until theres nowhere else to fall back to.
But just as important is all the buildup.
Maksim jokes with Alanna that theyre all going to die.
Perrin tries to force Faile to leave, and Faile is like, lol, yeah, right.
The battle itself is nearly a debacle.
But Perrin has figured something out.
Someone or something is controlling them, he reasons.
Perrin agrees to spare the infamous darkfriends life in exchange for calling off the invasion.
But that cant happen if Loial destroys the gate, which he says he can only do from inside.
Pour one out for the big boy.
Hes not the only relatively major character who dies this episode.
This is the moral calculus of battle.
Thats because the blacksmith is turning himself in.
Alanna keeps saying this noble lost realms blood flows in the veins of the locals.
Perrins self-sacrifice proves the point.
Hell, they even devise a new royal banner with a wolfs head as a sigil in his honor.
Speaking personally, Im a huge sucker for fantasy combat.
But I dont mind the show taking a one-episode detour just to focus on one particular character.
This is the kind of thing thatWheeldoes best, and it anchors and enhances its usual cast-of-thousands approach.
