The Wheel of Time Review: Blood Calls Blood (Season 1 Episode 5)

The Wheel of Time Season 1 Episode 5, “Blood Calls Blood,” is the first episode so far that feels slow. The hour drags quite a bit, which is disappointing for a series that has managed to make each hour captivating in some way or another.

Initially, with the time jump and the realization that everyone is making their way to the White Tower at about the same time, there’s some excitement at all the reunions that will be happening.

Except, that doesn’t happen. There’s only one reunion during “Blood Calls Blood,” and it’s not one that anyone would’ve predicted — it’s still a cute moment though, don’t get me wrong.

Instead of moving forward with the next step in Rand, Mat, Egwene, Perrin, and Nynaeve’s journey, The Wheel of Time Season 1 Episode 5 focuses on the fallout from The Wheel of Time Season 1 Episode 4, “The Dragon Reborn,” specifically on Stepin’s grief with some Aes Sedai politics sprinkled in.

Every now and then there’s a great scene in the White Tower that draws our interest, such as anytime Liandrin appears, but for the most part, nothing all that exciting happens.

It doesn’t help that, for fellow non-book viewers like myself, we don’t quite understand everything yet, so we feel a bit lost during some of these scenes.

I’m still learning names, and so some of the Aes Sedai politics and chats between warders go a bit over my head. There’s not enough of an explanation that will allow you to become invested and want to learn more. Instead, you find yourself waiting for something a bit more engaging to happen.

What we are all waiting for is the reunion between our motley crew of potential dragons and exploring their powers more, so the fact that they are all essentially in the same area but not actually reunited is frustrating and disappointing.

We are so close to taking the next step in this journey, but The Wheel of Time decides to make us wait an episode longer, which isn’t the best of decisions.

Seeing as how big of a deal the guy made about remembering their faces on The Wheel of Time Season 1 Episode 2, “Shadow’s Waiting,” it was only a matter of time before someone crossed paths with him again. Perrin and Egwene happen to be the unlucky ones.

Their encounter with the children of the light does give us a glimpse at both her and Perrin’s powers. We haven’t seen Egwene channel in a while, so it is great to see that she can manage to do it on her own, without any guiding or coaxing from Moiraine.

We are all on the same page that Perrin is a werewolf, right? This is The Vampire Diaries lore, but Perrin took a life, which obviously triggered his werewolf curse.

We’ve now seen his eyes change, which is a new development, and he’s had non-life-threatening run-ins with wolves before. While we’ve seen trollocs, it is possible that werewolves aren’t as common in this world, even for people who deal with magic fairly regularly.

Hopefully, someone makes this connection soon because what else can it be?

What did you think of this episode of The Wheel of Time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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