Wheel of Time - Book 6 to 10 review

 Wheel of Time 

By Robert Jordan

Book 6 - Lord of chaos

Well, it has one of the epic ending of the entire series, Dumai Wells, - a fight with multiple tribes fighting at a common scene, some for the hero, some against. Other than the ending though, Robert Jordan continues to build on this fantasy world. New systems like asha'man are introduced and built. Lot of interesting character movements especially for the three women (Nyaneve, Egwene and Elayne) who are shaping well. However, the bit of born with gifts continue on. Example Nyaneve knows how to heal stilled folks and Elayne can make duplicates of Ter'ngreal by studying them, both lost powers are now discovered. It is a bit too much and little too much. However, overall plot developments are very well done and book moves at a quick pace. 

A point to note is that the book remains shallow in many aspects. For example - Egewne becomes Amrylin out of the blue. In contrast, remember how Jon Snow gets elected as the Lord Commander of the Watch in GoT. Similar scheming happens here but Jordan does not dwell much on the scheming. He shows a flashlight that such schemes occurred but refuses to go deeper into them. 

Whenever he goes deeper, the book becomes richer. For example Rand's capture is nicely detailed and is a great arc to follow. 

Book 7 - A Crown of Swords

Things take a turn post Dumai Wells and shape most of the events that follow. However, we also start to see the verbosity starting to creep in. Siaun always complains about washing the smallclothes of the general. The whole Ebou Dar arc and Egwene rebel Aes Sedai is beautiful in conceptual development but it could have been done much better in prose. For example, you would expect that Egwene being so young will need help to manoever things and likely need a confidante, she gets one too in the name of Siuan but there is rarely a bond between the two. Infact both seem to taunt each other and it gets annoying. 

Pacing at Ebou Dar is very slow and here too - you would assume main characters to be friendly to each other does not happen. Elayne, Nyaneve keep Mat out and sneer at him. In every good vs evil story, the hero has friends while the hero may lack in strength, it is the friendship that is the true power. In Wheel of Time, this friendship is not only taken for granted, but outside of the need, there is always tu-tu-main-main between these friends.  This is a trend that goes into book 8 and 9 as well. 

Book 8 - Path of Daggers

Finally, the bowl of winds, Ebou dar arc comes to an end. Where Jordan excels is the world building, there is a notion of similarity that gets repititive over pages - the Kin group and their hierarchy, the sea-women,  Seanchen, the forsaken, all have levels, rules and an inherent notion of slavery. Jordan defines slavery in various forms, it is penance in Aes Sedai, ji'e'toh for Aiel, each society has its rules, its culture. But each society is one dimensional after a point. It is just different flavors, different renditions of the same raaga.  

Overall, one thing is clear is that this is far away from the happy world of Two-rivers aka Shire. It is much bleaker world than GoT

And beyond a point it makes no sense. For example. the sea-women as part of their bargain get agreement that they will get Aes Sedai to train them but then they treat the Aes Sedai like a slave instead of a guest. An instructor who is a slave is a pattern that repeats - Rand-Asmodean, Rand-Moraine, Egwene-Siuan. In this particular instance, it does not makes sense. 

Overall. things move slow in book 8. Book 8-10 are considered slog books of the series. It was evident why. 

One other aspect of Jorden's writing is that he introduces many characters, what they wear, describing places as they occur in detail and it takes a lot of page. It is not important to describe the neckline of each woman's dress. However, considering everything Jordan does it well. However, the inner monologues of each character are okay-ish. Where Jordan excels is to not explain things in detail and letting audience connect. An important aspect like Ashaman going mad and then put to sleep is covered in mere two pages and if you are not paying attention, they tend to slip away fast. So, amid the verbosity of world building, such important incidents tend to get missed and I had to refer to web couple of times to understand how did that happen. 

Book 9 - Winter's Heart

A very bold plot premise - Rand wants to remove taint from the Saidin. But it is never explained how this will work. Yes, there are couple of points to explain it but then more logic here could have helped. Overall, the final sequence is written from multiple povs and it is done well. However, it comes so late in the book, so definitely book is slow. Matt's chapters are much better to read but somethings like bellfounder makes no sense. Overall, a decent end. 

Book 10 - Crossroads of Twilight

I skipped this book since so many had told that this is a slog. Read the chapter summaries on dragonmount.com and I kinda agree. Many arcs are not yet resolved. So, I am jumping to book 11. 

Ranking of this series -  6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10, haha, this is linear.  Looking at my first part review, my overall ranking would be -  4 > 2 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 1 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10

We made a beautiful bouquet - Breaking down the romantic movie genre

 We made a beautiful bouquet - Movie review

What makes a really good romantic movie? 

Yes, it is a generic question and there are many aspects but there is one which is undisputed. There are a lot of romantic movies our there - Netflix is now the new Hallmark (unpopular opinion of yours truly) with a lot of mushy mushy shows,  there is classic romcom genre, there is teenage first-love romance trope, and there is the Bollywood style urban-rich trope with some parental issues etc. These are all one-time watchable but you do not care for them after watching. You do not remember their names or anything later, like episodes of Law and Order :)

In past, as part of Silver Linings Playbook review, I wrote that how romantic films have to go into niche spaces to make it truly work and stand out.  Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind is just genius to the power of infinity, a movie which is my all time best yet I have never written about it because it is that great, yet it is a romantic movie at its core. Perhaps the best that ever will be :)

While romantic movies made with niche genres are really awesome, the traditional and classic romantic films are hugely enjoyable when done well. I am talking about You've got mail, Sleepless in Seattle kind.  The familiarity of the structure, execution done well, good actors are needed but it is so rare to find. When was the last time you watched a traditional romantic movie and said - I love it. Think about it. 

At-least for me it has been ages. This made me thinking - why most of these are forgotten the next day?  aka what makes a good romantic film? 

And I found my answer in We made a beautiful bouquet - a cute Japanese film (saw this part of Japanese film festival Bangalore, 2023) with a highly classic traditional romcom structure. And I loved it. Just adored it . And wondered, why are there no more movies like this one? 

As I was thinking, the answer came to me - a really good romantic film is when the audience, that is me, feels that the two people should be together. It does not matter if they see it or not but I see it, I feel it . If a movie is able to convince you, makes you care for them, then it is a really good film. It could be because they share the same interests - same books, same authors, same shoes, they discover each other by luck and their chemistry lights up the screen. I as an audience member is rooting for them to be together.  It then transforms into the sports movie where you are the underdog waiting for this relationship to happen against the conflict, whatever the film thinks of.  A great romantic movie convinces you of this underdog feeling.  

See the Before-* movies, absolutely convinced. We just can not fathom that they will not hook up after what we have seen. 

Once - Two gentle souls, chance discover each other on the streets of Dublin, their mutual interest in music, their collaboration leads to an awesome album. You just want them to be together and do more. This, their being in the studio, her on piano, him on guitar, that is the happy space. 

Most romantic films fail to do so. Take for example the insanely hit romantic film - Hum Aapke hain Koun and if I ask you - why do you think Madhuri and Salman's characters should be together? The movies has done zilch to make us root for them in terms of character development, other than just put the pieces in a way that we should care. Ditto goes for SRK/Kajol flick DDLJ - Yes, Simran is being forced into a bad relationship, anyone like Raj will be better but why should it be Raj only? Most Bolly films just tell you and then build things around it to fit this. It is for this reason, HAHK is totally unwatchable now as a movie, other than the pure nostalgia that it provides. 

We made a beautiful bouquet is that classic romantic film that I have not seen in a long time but I would rewatch it anyday. Beautifully acted. The title has the ending written in it - 'made' is a past tense verb. So, along the whole film, I was rooting to prove the title wrong. Yet, it is inevitable. It is painful in a good way - leaves an ache in the heart. The conflict is also not contrived - it is everyday life, it is money/job - means to sustain,  a job - not even a glamorous job but an average job. It is such a simple movie about everyday life that it transcends it. 

And then there is a scene that just fills my heart with joy. (Spoilers ahead) At the climax, you know that they are there to break-up. The beautiful bouquet is now going to wilt. The girl sees it more clearly, women often do so. We have heard the boy speak so far and we know it is not working. It is the turn of the girl to share her side. You know what she opens with  - it is a feeling that is there in almost all romantic movies which leads to a breakup but never uttered once. Not even in Before-* movies. It is so obvious. She says - Thank you! Five years in a relationship and she has gratitude for the good times. Mind blown.!  You accept this movie also with the same feeling - gratitude. Thank you for showing such a nice romantic film even though it has this ending that you told us about. Plus the movie takes the breakup too maturely - not only they remain friends but they stay together for 3 months after breakup so that she can find an apartment. They do rock-paper-scissors for their cat. (Yes, there has to be a cat in every Japanese movie.) 

It is my kind of movie. If there are other romantic movies, let them be like this one. 

It is 4/5 

Ted Lasso - Masterclass of Show Don't Tell

 Ted Lasso review

Ted Lasso - the three season, multiple Emmy winning, sports-show set in England with a US coach is a masterclass in Show-Don't-Tell writing. 

It is also so evident that even I can spot it  :) 

Take the above clip - the famous Roy Kent interview. If you have not seen it yet, go on and see it. Then read the comments. Then watch the video again and look at the camera close-ups. 

The context is simple - the captain of their team was given a red card earlier in the game because he went and argued with one of the spectators who had heckled him earlier. Now, Roy has been sent to give the post match press conference where he is asked this as the first question.  Roy's character is shown to be terrible in people interactions and in general avoids such questions. So, for him to be a coach, he has to learn this skill and put himself out there. This arc has been going on and as you can see in the scene, he volunteers to take this conference. 

In the press conference, this is the first question that is asked and he starts off like in his typical mode to swear and belittle the interviewer. But, the reporter follows through and asks the reason for such an action. Roy smirks, but then he realizes that it is not enough and there needs to be a decent answer here. Because the answer is simple  - it is none of his business. But that is the 'tell' without the 'show'. How do you 'show' something here?  Pause for a moment and think how would you explain 'none of your business' ? It is damn difficult. 

This is where Ted Lasso is a masterclass in writing. Roy sits straight and then pushes himself back, this is to get support and be comfortable, and then he gives a story to contextualize the answer. The story is the 'show', it has got nothing to do with the current incident except that it provides an analogy for folks to understand. The camera work is brilliant and when you have good actors, their expressions, act as subtle hints to land the story. See Rebecca, Keeley and the press-woman's closeups. They are there for a reason.  

This technique is used many times in the series. 

(Big Spoilter alert) Or this one where all Coach Beard wants to communicate to Nate is - I forgive you. But, see how he says it - 

Ted Lasso is not perfect. There are many things that do not go well. In Season 3, the Zava character was just bad. Total Football strategy in mid-season is fairy-tale impractical. Season 2 had those Christmas episode or Beard after hrs that just fell out of place. 

But, there are just many many things that work here. The whole show's constant banter on pop-culture. Example - Rupert Mannion says that he had dinner with friends and calls them the Slacklers (the Purdue Pharma guys) - it is just one way of building context that Rupert is pure evil . Onkly few people caught it but when you do, it is just pure class. And there are many. 

The other awesome bit about Ted Lasso is the use of puns - and they are just amazing. 

Example - 

Or this one -  I loved Once so much that I saw it twice  and more . There is so much here that there are groups called lassoism.com and TedLassoIsLife  

Ted Lasso personifies the American culture that I love. It it the Stephen Colbert of the Comedy Show Central, the Steve Carell correspondent in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It is a light hearted show about some serious topics but done in a goofy manner that just lightens your heart. If shows gives you feelings then this is a show that just goes straight to the heart. Not heart warming but heart gratifying, heart soothing. I end this with perhaps is the best scene of the show -