The Wheel of Time (serial)

Season 1

The long awaited production based on Robert Jordan's fantasy series. It has been nearly a decade since I read the novels, so I clearly don't remember many details. Which is probably good since it seems like the plot mixes elements from different timeframes of the novel series in order to tell a coherent story for serial television. The basic story is classic good v evil, where the magical One Power (wielded by women of the Aes Sedai) has been tainted for men. In true epic fantasy style, there are many characters and many concurrent storylines. The main cohort of friends (Rand, Matt, Perrin, Egwene, Nynave) are led on a journey by mysterious Aes Sedai Morraine. By oath, she cannot tell a lie, but we all know that she does not need to tell all of the truth. So the friends (and viewers) are doled out information "as needed" along their travels, with everything pushing toward the goal of defeating the Dark One. I really enjoyed the casting, the storytelling, and the character development. And this season was a great intro to the series while also standing on it's own (it didn't feel like a full season preview, and didn't end with a giant cliff hanger). 

5 stars (out of 5)