That was her plan to escape; the same one she used in the Age of Legends. Her plan was to scare her captors silly, and it was working. Divide and conquer? Why bother when they were already doing that by themselves. Subtlety? She knew of no allies among Rand's followers and had no way of communicating with them. In fact, she couldn't do anything much besides talking at her interrogators.

The spanking scene seems a little easy, but was it? Semirhage was not used to dealing with humiliation. Her initial reactions to being treated like a child destroyed any credibility she had with the Aes Sedai and even the servants, any chance of intimidating them further, any chance of escaping under her own power, and destroyed her reputation among the Chosen once they found out. Semirhage was not destroyed by being spanked; she was destroyed by acting like a child.





Yes, well the task she set herself was always going to do that. She simply did not have the chance to show her flaws (with a few exceptions). The other characters looked less important because they were told from Egwene's PoV, and I'm sure Cannoli will post a thesis on this issue in the next installment of Egwene's Evil. Elaida's breakdown was expected, considering she was just talked under the table by a Novice; other than that, she wasn't acting any differently. The BA hunters were being careful, but they were being too careful. They really missed a chance at taking down the Supreme Council. With Tarmon Gaidin immenant, that chance was totally worth the risk with careful planning.

I don't like labling characters as Sues. Any PoV character who gets things done, and has a high opinion of themselves, will come out looking exactly like Egwene. Also, considering you liked her sections, I don't know what you're complaining about.