Moiraine strides through this episode. By turns towering, scheming, political, vulnerable and broken, she is never less than completely focused on the future, on the duty to which she has sworn herself.

It’s a brilliant turn from Rosamund Pike who effortlessly brings us each of Moiraine’s challenges without it feeling anything other than a natural set of performances Moiraine has to deliver if she wants to achieve her goal.

Around her, at last, it feels like a city is trying to peel her back and undo her for what others perceive as her arrogance and her crime of being her own woman. For Moiraine has no alliances, no confidants she’s willing to share her plans with except one and even that must be kept so secret her Warder, Lan, does not know what it is she is doing.

The friends from the Two Rivers are, once again, together in pieces and there are signs of growth in them, no matter how miniscule. Perrin seems surer of himself, Egwene open eyed about the future laid before her and Matt, poor Mat, is certain he’s afraid and wants nothing more than to go home.

As for Rand, he takes it in with only a couple of things in his mind – the first is to make sure his friends are ok and the second is to understand what the hell is going on. In contrast Nynaeve finds yet more patience from those around her this episode and is presented, full on, with how her anger and reticence has harmed those she claims to be angry on behalf of.

Unlike in episode 5, Nynaeve is given a bit of room in this episode to act past the shonky dialogue she’s given (like her first words to the Amyrlin Seat for instance). We see the fear, the insecurity and the refusal to be cowed by these things, to admit she is a bumpkin relative to the Aes Sedai all around her. There is depth here from Zoë Robbins and I hope they give her more room to grow the character from the rocky start she was dealt.

The politics is a show not tell kind of demonstration and, if you haven’t read the books, it’s pretty much impenetrable – there is a definite argument for telling sometimes and the different alliances and squabbles between the different types of Aes Sedai would be better felt with a bit more telling and a little less showing. When you have to make shorts and add in additional contextual elements through Amazon’s ‘X-Ray’ feature to explain what’s going on then it’s a sure sign you haven’t done enough world building within the borders of the show itself.

What comes through most strongly for me though is the theme of exile in this episode. From the beginning where we learn about Siuan Sanche’s exile from home as a young child, to the truth that none of the young friends from Two Rivers are ever going home right through to Moiraine’s self-determined Exile from the White Tower, each and every thread is about leaving.

In no sense have any of these threads been about going on a grand adventure; instead they are truly about exile – about escape, survival and doing what is necessary to survive and each are heartbreaking in their own way.

Of the friends, I think Barney Harris gives us the truth that only Mat really understands what is going on for them, who senses the bigger world into which they’re being dragged. In his expression I could see the worry about those he’d left behind and the knowledge that even if he refuses to go along with what’s being put in front of him there is still no going back.

Those on two of the three paths of exile are refugees; it is only Moiraine who chooses it and one suspects those around her fear for her mental health as much as they suspect she has no idea what it is she has chosen. It’s an odd thing to think most of those watching won’t connect Rand or the Amirlyn Seat to the refugees on the news but their journeys are no different – whether it’s fleeing persecution or war, they are the faces so many of us can’t bear to consider human when faced with them in reality.

What I loved here was the clear sense that with one of the friends being the Dragon Reborn and Siuan Sanche becoming the Amirlyn Seat – we dismiss those coming to us in need at our own peril for who knows what glory and grace they bring with them.

This episode wins big in the bringing together of the friends, in the aftermath of their journeys, and in how those journeys have changed them, even if only a little.

The other element which elevates this is the relationship between Siuan Sanche, the Amirlyn Seat, and Moiraine. With almost weekly chances missed by Marvel to show actual diversity in their relationships rather than implying it, The Wheel of Time gets it right.

There’s no preening, no ‘look at us’ and no sense of the relationship between these two immensely powerful women being on screen as a token exercise. In the context of a society in which women exercise all the power and do so in close relationship with one another it should come as no surprise that their relationships extend to the physical.

Their love and their duty intertwine and I felt like they were partners who knew one another, who had experienced one another in the way that people do when they can finish each other’s sentences.

Setting aside the representation, this relationship was the heart of the episode and everything which happened led to these two, their intimacy and what they were prepared to sacrifice to live up to the duty they held sacred. It was great seeing people live according to their ideals without a hint of corruption or self-indulgence.

That doesn’t mean they made the right decisions, perhaps not even for the right motives, but they are that most precious thing – characters who feel consistent.

Not quite as emotionally powerful as Episode 5, this nevertheless moves us on with alacrity, gives a sense of a big world (at last) and explores vital themes for so many in the world today.

I am now really very eager to see how the rest of their journey goes.

Rating? 8 Ogier out of 10

Stewart Hotston