[Harry Lime]

Fair enough, for sure.

I'm not sure if someone coming into the series just as a watcher and not reader would get the post-apocalyptic part, though. It would be nice to see some more random wreckage, Ozymandias style in the countryside.

Something about the countries not being really vastly different from each other kind of makes the world smaller for me. There is a lot of political hatred amongst factions in this world, and I don't know why that would naturally happen at this point. I'm holding off full judgement until we see Caemlyn and the Seanchan.

The Aiel have certainly been different, and that works for me. In retrospect, they have actually done a good job of presenting the Whitecloaks, considering they have had so little screentime. They are a military force, so the immediate pride and arrogance in their uniforms creates a group personality.