The Wheel Of Time season 2 review: Richer, more engrossing, and just plain better
The stakes certainly feel higher for Prime Video's epic fantasy series, which, considering they were sky-high last time, is no small feat
Photo: Jan Thijs/Prime Video
Robert Jordan’s sprawling fantasy epic, which spans a whopping 14 novels and a prequel, was never going to be easy to adapt for TV. Still, Prime Video has given it a jolly good try (and thrown a lot of money at it, too) in a bid to give Jeff Bezos his very own Game Of Thrones. And, to be fair, the first season of The Wheel Of Time was the streaming platform’s most-watched original series of 2021. It just—how do we put this?—wasn’t all that beloved by those who watched it, is all.
Most of us agreed that the world-building was amazing—as was, naturally, Rosamund Pike. But a lot of us also all concurred that that the eponymous wheel took far too much time to get spinning. Still, despite the lukewarm reactions from many critics and viewers, we have been gifted a second season, which premieres September 1, to … well, we’d say sink our teeth into, but The Wheel Of Time is a bit more like an aged whiskey. You sip it, you savor it, and you consider its many merits—all while wondering whether, y’know, if you actually like whiskey.
A lightning-quick recap, for those of us who don’t remember (or for those of us who, possibly as a result of losing a dare, are diving into season two blind): The Wheel Of Time is set in a matriarchal land overseen by the Aes Sedai, magic-wielding women who channel the so-called One Power to keep the peace. Once upon a time, men were able to get their magic on as well, until they were all corrupted by the Dark One and ruined it for themselves. Cue the Aes Sedai taking it upon themselves to hunt down and kill the few magical men left alive (it’s for their own good, okay?)—and Pike’s Moraine to [checks notes] hunt down the Dragon Reborn, defeat the Dark One, and save the world. No biggie.
As anyone who watched The Wheel Of Time’s season one finale will tell you in no uncertain terms, Moraine’s mission is far from a successful one. The Dragon Reborn himself, Rand al’Thor, ditches her at the Eye of the World when he realizes he’s slowly going mad. Yet another new threat lurks on the horizon in the Seanchen, too, which spells trouble for episodes to come. And, on top of all that, Moraine is left unable to even touch the True Source or wield the One Power. So is it any wonder that the season two premiere finds her filling buckets of water, lugging them up hills, pouring them into bathtubs, and taking emotionally sudsy soaks? (We get it: It’s how we handle bad news, too.)