QuantumMechanic

There's no way Janice has access to "terawatts of power" to leap herself. I think it's pretty clear she's trying to build herself her own imaging chamber (one of the reason she got the OG Ziggy handheld from her mom's place). I assume to contact Ben so she can work with him on whatever scheme they cooked up together. On another topic, I could have sworn some pieces of that set were literal Westworld sets. Some major deja vu.

There was, as my 1985 high school yearbook shows.

Not really. The Telegraph isn't a tabloid like the NYP is.

That was TWoK music when Wayfarer came zooming in to save the day, right?

I think a whole season in the human realm would have been quite "meh" and a big waste of time. But one or two episodes covering some of the stuff we saw in the scrapbook and opening montage would have been nice and then the 3rd and 4th episodes could have been what we just saw.

Well that was wild! So when is the second episode?? I don’t see it on my TiVo’s schedule for next Saturday? Are they gonna make us wait forever between episodes?

Quinton is quite out. All the articles about him joining the Rams' squad mention he's gay.

Of course, they should have been around for about 1000 years by this point, but oh well. Really, the compressed timeline is the original and irredeemable sin of this show. From that decision all sorts of big problems and character assassinations flowed. They should have had each season set at a different point in Second Age history. Yes, that means different humans each season. But you would have the elves for at least some sense of continuity. And they should also have had writers who could do better than the howlingly clunky dialog being inflicted on us and could avoid idiot ball plots.

Ugggggggggh. Today’s really was the tear canon to tiny bits, burn it, and stomp on the ashes episode. Boy - if this series is Simon Tolkien’s idea of honoring the original works it’s gonna be scary to see what garbage we see in future years.

They (especially her) didn't really provide good advertising for their motivational speaking business! I was joking that she had apparently switched into the demotivational speaking business.

For example: (tagged because it's from a book (The Hobbit), not because it's a spoiler for this show)

Yes, exactly! That would have been much better than this mess they've created with the pancake timeline.

Any news on broadcast times in the US? Are they going to do a simulcast and then a repeat showing in US primetime? Or will US just be a primetime showing?

There's only one answer to all of that: "Who the hell knows???" The problem is that the show's timeline has fuck-all to do with the canonical timeline. The show is set somewhere in the last 200 years of the Second Age. We know this because of the existence of Elendil and Isildur and their ages. In the books, the 3 rings were forged about 1800 years before this and the One was forged about 1600 years before this. The Nazgul first openly appeared about 1000 years before this. So as you can see, there is really no way to reconcile the show to the books. The show's decision to use a compressed timeline ("let's make most of the 3400-year Second Age happen in a 5-10 year period") means that virtually nothing can happen in the show as it happened in the books, save the end of Numenor and the Last Alliance against Sauron.

wasn't a movie creation; it happened in the books, too (or at least was very heavily implied).

We finally have an actually release date! Nov 3, per their official Twitter today.

After todays episode I am even more firmly convinced I could go to An Archive of Our Own and find significantly better fanfic than the dreck Rings of Power is inflicting on me. With less clunky dialogue, too.

"Evil will always triumph because Good is dumb."

Mostly a waste of 12.5% of this season. Not a fan of this one. If this were a 15 or 20 episode season it would have bothered me less. But we get so little time with the real characters that sidelining them for an eighth of the season really grates. You want to set up some "evil computers fight back" story? Fine. But how about doing it in a way that actually uses the cast.

(deleted because Anduin already said it)

I gripe that someone who is 3000+ years old at this point remains unable to not be a tactless, abrasive ass in moments where some diplomacy is needed. They should have just made up a new female elf character, used the same actress, given her all the same lines, had her act the same way etc. That would also have the advantage of stripping away the plot armor from the character. Every time they try to put Galadriel in danger (like at the end of this episode) it inspires nothing other than big yawns because she can't die because of plot armor.

Yes, exactly. The silmarils themselves were pure, hallowed objects. To the extent people were corrupted by them it was their own, innate desire for possession doing that. By contrast, the Ring was a baleful, intrinsically evil object that worked its own corrupting magic on people, amplifying innate desires.

To wit: ”Vowing to pursue with vengeance and hatred to the ends of the World Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn, or any creature, great or small, good or evil, that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession.”

Also, unlike in the real world, in Tolkien’s subcreated world there is absolute, first-person knowledge that a god of evil literally exists and of the things he’s done.

Worst episode yet. I hate with the fire of 10,000 suns lazy writing that requires the characters to be total idiots, and this episode was full of it.