LOTR - The Rings of Power [SPOILERS]

[Ollkiller]

Ok final episode. The scene with the wizard by far the best part (except the "I'm good" ffs). Sauron is a sneaky fella. Hopefully for the next season they get actual scriptwriters.

[John Kimble]

Hmm, I think when it comes to fantasy etc, there needs to be a degree of acceptance that script-wise, you're probably not going to get the same degree of nuance from a giant, talking tree as say, Tony Soprano or Jimmy McNulty. That said, absolute clunkers like "the sea is always right" can get fucked.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

'The sea is always right' reminded me of the kind of island mentality evoked by Synge. The sea as ultimate life providing and taking divinity (besides which, I'm pretty sure there is a god or demi-god of the sea in the lore). It was when we discover that Isildur's mother drowned in the sea that I got that vibe; he and Elendil have to accept her loss as part of an infallible divine plan. The sea giveth and the sea taketh away, blessed be the name of the sea. Or, the sea is always right. I think there must also be some kind of intended meaning related to what we know of Isildur's fate, i.e. that he will ultimately meet his doom in freshwater (one of the things we see depicted in the films too). Yeah, they could have found a more poetic way of turning the phrase, but what it means has been well utilized in the plot so far, imo.

[astfgyl]

Reminded me of the Iron Islands that whole "the sea is always right" thing. Pretty sure they had some similar mantra

[CorkonianHunger]

Cannot for the life of me get into this. Would consider myself a big Tolkien fan too. Didn't have high hopes at first but didn't mind first two episodes but can't grasp it at all. Couldn't even say what episode I stopped at but it was early. May or may not finish it.

[John Kimble]

Can't say I'd blame you but I'd give everything from episode 6 (I think?) onwards another go. I probably wouldn't bother with the first few episodes again but it does pick up.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I'd say I'll watch the whole thing again in the run up to the second season, but I'm home alone this weekend and planning on watching eps 6-8 altogether, movie style.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Happened to stumble upon good breakdowns of each episode. They were made and uploaded as each episode was aired, so there is a little bit of the guy trying to predict where things might be going, but their main interest is the deep dive lore reference stuff. Encyclopedic is not the word. Silmarillic? I watched them all over a couple of days and twas enough to send me back to the beginning for an unscheduled rewatch of the whole first season. Think I'm enjoying this watch even more. Also, yer man isn't fawning over the show either; he's direct about the things he doesn't like, but is even-handed enough not to let that get in the way of fairly assessing what he sees as good. So, if any of you feel like absolutely geeking out, look no further:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVxMjL0MC2c

[astfgyl]

Yeah I'm due a rewatching of the thing around now, these might make it more interesting

[Giggles]

4 episodes into the new season. Forgot how shite some of the accents are! Seems to be a lot of people ragging on it on the internet, but I'm enjoying it for what it is - fantasy entertainment!

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

All caught up now. Found the first three episodes excellent. Ep 2 the strongest so far in terms of character play, running themes of humility vs pride really nicely across the multiple arcs and in surprisingly subtle ways. As Kimble said, much better by comparison than S2 of House of the Dragon. Fourth episode was a bit weaker, primarily because of the Stoors. As with season 1, the story with the Stranger is decent, but the surrounding Harfoot story just doesn't really cut it, on several fronts.

Lots of very heavy hints being dropped that the Stranger is Gandalf, but I'm still kind of hoping that's not the case, and that maybe it'll be one of the Blue Wizards but somehow the name Gandalf remains among the Harfoots/Hobbits as lore which they will then later apply to 'Mithrandir' when he first encounters them. Or something like that.

Also, rewatching S1 in preparation but weighing up essentially everything Halbrand does from the get-go as either calculated plays or gambles for potential plays makes it well worth revisiting imo.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Forgot, a reminder for those who do want to totally nerd out: no better place than the Nerd of the Rings youtube channel. Breakdowns for each episode, mainly limited to narrative summary plus identification of visual and narrative references and nods to the legendarium:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZdHMEE6BIY

[Sworntothecans]

It's been alright so far, some absolutely excellent makeup fx/vfx. Think the only thing that wrecks my head is Celebrimbor as played the hell out of Shadow Of Mordor/War so I've that voice actors stuck in my head for him.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

That was a great episode, loads of great references to LotR and the legendarium, plus no Harfoots! Hopefully they can find some way to enrich the Harfoot storyline to a similar level as the other arcs are operating at, or else just reduce it to a bare minimum and let the Stranger arc dominate that side of events. Presumably next week's episode will feature them more, so we'll see. Not hopeful though. Apart from the girl playing Poppy, pretty much the entire Harfoot cast have been poor actors from the beginning, with yer wan playing Nori having if anything gotten worse.

Harfoots aside, I'm cautiously confident that, in the other arcs, this season is building to something quite memorable.

[Emphyrio]

Really good episode. They're kinda creating their own mythology in the making of the rings. Nothing wrong with that as there's little to base it off. This season is way better than S1.