Grimnar

From trailer it looks like another average blockbuster. Not confident that this will be close to the level of first movie.

I saw it today and it is ok I guess if you don't have expect much. What bothered me most was the animation. Not the anime style but the smoothness of the moves, it looked often as some frames were missing in scene. Story was kind of ok but I expected more from Helm during his raids. In books it was described much better. Here it was reduced to one raid unless I confuse it. Weakest character was certainly Wulf who just doesn't work as main antagonist. Some easter eggss were ok, some were just bad(watcher in the water).

I agree, it is difficult to go from Luke, who tried to save Anakin, someone who was on dark side for 20+ years, to Luke who thought that maybe killing his nephew due to bad dream is good idea.

I wonder about 2 things for future seasons. 1. Will there be some significant timeskip or Rivendell, Barad-dur and later Osgiliath, etc will be build in few days/weeks? 2. How is Pharazon going to attack Valinor when they established in first episode that there is not straight sea route to Valinor?

Celeborn wasn't missing in the lore. Missing Celeborn is invention of showrunners so they could have Galadriel and Halbrand shipping.

To western part of Numenor, where should be his second son Anarion, maybe even Elendil's father.

I assume that orcs will be explained as Sauron put them under his control/spell as he did with elves(any logic to it be damned). No, you didn't missed any scene. Either they forgot that Arondir was wounded or they cut scene where someone healed him(but it has to be only Adar with Nenya).

That was ... not good. Dwarves' storyline was praised as best or among the best in both seasons but how it ended was just disappointing. King of course released balrog as was teased in previous episode but don't worry, he again trapped him. Army, which was needed and couldn't go to help Eregion, wasn't involved in that and then make stealth ambush in city, which even elves would envy. And of course there is Durin's brother, who wasn't mentioned at all(please correct me if he was mentioned in previous episodes or season), and is ready to cause trouble because the neclace which Durin wore doesn't mean that he is heir. Strange that no one is worried that there is balrong just few rocks away(please don't read article in Variety where showrunners are explaining why they sealed balrog again, doesn't meke sense at all).And it seems that Durin will hand rings to other kings. Stranger and hobbits storyline keep its "quality". Stranger is finally confirmed Gandalf(Stroots never saw elf, Stranger looks like man but let call him Grand-elf), Tom Bombadil was Bombadil for one episode and when they used all his lines from books, he became different character(he evokes Olivander from Harry Potter this episode). Poppy and Nori decided to help Stroots and part ways with Stranger. It kind of seems like waste of time this storyline. Númenor wasn't much better. Pharazon came with paper that Miriel is collaborating somehow with Sauron so let the terror begin. Miriel is arrested and Elendil is heading west where is his second son who didn't bother to visit his father before his execution. Kemen needed just to kick puppy and steal some candy from kid how cartonishly villain he is. Isildur almost had girlfriend, very "fulfilling" storyline. And Numenor now decide to colonize Middle Earth when in previous seasons were againts it? Eregion was sacked, Celebrimbor killed. I wonder if the elf who was healed by Nenya died when Adar's injuries came back after he handed ring back to Galadriel. Morfydd Clark's strong suit are not action scenes. Arondir's wound was probably only flesh wound, because he was completly fine this episode. Orcs endeed turned againts Adar but in the end found that it was mistake. Sauron is not afraid that he will be "Ceasared" again. I was little surpised that no one try to stopped them when they attacked Adar, not even orcs which bringed Galadriel. To overall my overall feelings about this season: It may seems harsh but at this point Amazon should replace showrunners and probably also all writers. They don't have any idea how to build storyline which will spread entire season, how to work with scale and time, how to have logic in their storyline. People are teleporting as needed. The plot points are so rushed as there is no buildup - Durin Elder put ring on and is immedietly greedy, Numenor is now pretty much anti-Valar(don't really know what Sauron is going to do there) until they follow Valar's signs, rings are made overnight unless we have to stall, elves are not listening to Celebrimbor till Galadriel say that he is their lord, etc. There is missing logic in storylines - dwarves rings are corrupted because we lied to Gil-galad so to fix it, let's make more rings. Eregion city built walls between seasons, Adar suspects that Halbrand is Sauron but let him go, orcs turn againts Adar because we need to have them under Sauron, etc. Gil-galad is so dissapoting as character. There are no consequences for character's actions - for Galadriel no punishment that she didn't tell who Halbrand is, Elrond is still hanging with Cirdan after Cirdan betray him, etc. The easter eggs or using lines from books or scenes from movies are more miss then hit and usually done in so heavyhanded way. In the end improvement over first season but still at best average fantasy show.

According to this picture, it seems that elves built walls between season 1 and season 2. Wonder if showrunners forgot to add them in season 1 or if they just decide to add them for battle/siege. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ost-in-Edhil#/media/File:The_Rings_of_Power_(TV_series)_-_Ost-in-Edhil.jpg

Let's agree to disagree because I don't see Galadriel in that situation as victim of deceit that Halbrand is king. And if yes, it as Sauron did 5% of deceit and remaining 95% were Galadriel's doing.

But the assumption was her own, he didn't say it belongs to his family or something similar. He didn't say that he is Sauron but all other conclusions were her own. There was no deception in making her belive that Halbrand is from royal family.

I don't think that Celebrimbor and Galadriel's situations are comparable. While Celebrimbor admited that he knew that there is something wrong with Annatar and still go with Annatar's plan, Sauron had to actively work to keep Celebrimbor and other elves under deception. Problem is also that rings of power in show are not vanity project of elven smiths. Elven and dwarves rings are created to heal/fix existing problem(dying tree and Khazad-dum without sunlight) which is presented that crisis for each race. On other hand Galadriel saw the crest and then just assumed that Halbrand is lost king, here Sauron didn't have to do any/almost any work. Galadriel came to conclusions herself. She dismissed any parts which weren't convenient for her. We don't see any manipulation from Sauron's part in order to persuade Galadriel that Halbrand is lost king and she need his help in Southland.

I kind of disagree. During their stay on Númenor, it was Galadriel who was pushing that Halbrand is king of Southland, that he has to return and reclaim crown even when he told her several times that he found the crest on dead man and he is not from king's line. We can even say that Galadriel was manipulating Halbrand for her purpose.

Well, what to say about this episode. Visually good and probably best episode so far in this season but writing is not good and most of the time not even decent. I don't know if it is fault of showrunners or writers but no one has any sense of time, scale, scope or story logic. Again people are teleporting when needed. Dwarves learned that Eregion is under siege. Also dwarves are aware there is some monster in deeps or probably right behind the tunnel guarded by Durin and Disa(I think it is telling that writers have to use story from Third Age to have any storyline for dwarves). I take it that king Durin is practicaly deposed. Durin's speech about helping their friends came kind of flat when we didn't see any friendship between elves and dwarves(and friendship between Durin and Elrond is too little, especialy when Elrond lied to Durin half of the time). Dwarves are ready to march but in the end don't send any army because everyone has to restrain king? I wonder if remaining dwarves rings are still in Khazad-dum or we are supposed to assume that other kings already paid and recieved rings. Elven army finally arrived(and now they have even horses) but orc army is 10 times larger, which begs question how they wanted to invade Mordor. Orc army just destroy mountain with catapult, river dissapear in 5 minutes and of course there is no mud when needed to have army to assault walls. Troll was little underwhelming. Gil-galad is also so far underwhelming as High King of Noldor in Middle-Earth. Celebrimbor finally see through ilussion(he didn't notice sooner that he is using still same candle) but everyone in city is under Sauron's influence and literally he is controling even their bodies. I don't understand Sauron's plan to provoke Adar to attack Eregion and then pressure Celebrimbor to finish rings because they don't have time. Celebrimbor's tragedy is undermined when he admited that he knew that Annatar is evil but still go through with his plan because he wanted surpass Feanor even when they didn't establish this desire in previous season and it was mentioned in one sentence in this season. And why is there conveniently old dwarf tunnel which lead to city build by Celebrimbor? Will Galadriel face some consequences for not telling about Halbrand's identity when it lead to destruction of Eregion and Khazad-dum? Do you think that Adar will be killed by orc who seems as his second-in-command? I know that there is still one episode but Isildur's storyline in second season is that he escaped from cave and helped rescue Theo?

My bad, I meant Nienna but wrote Nienor. Thanks for correcting. About the not many witnesses during trial, I think this is one of the issues of the show. We have elven cities, Númenor, Southland village, etc but every time it seems that there are 20-30 people max, which makes everything small. At some places it makes sense or can be explained like Harfoots tribe or faithful in shrine on Númenor but during coronation, Adar's army, elves in Lindon during healing of tree, etc it doesn't make sense to have present only 30 people.

I would say that Númenor schism between faithful and Pharazon's group is not depicted very well in the show. They will probably spend more time on it in next season but so far it is not exactly clear what is supposed to be general feeling of Númenor regarding Valar.

I will reply in spoiler part

I don't think that Sauron is creating illusions for all elves in the city. If he would be that powerful where he can much control whole city/region with his magic, it would kind of undermind his initial deception of Celebrimbor, because it wouldn't be due to him being deceiver but more about him being strong in magic. On other hand I am little confused about Númenor and their faith in Valar. So far I got impression that Pharazon and king's men abonded their faith in Valar. But Pharazon is crowned because they interpreted eagle as Valar's blessing for Pharazon. Then they demolish Nienor's shrine. Then they came with trial where Valar are supposed to decide if Elendil(Miriel) is guilty. It is supposed to be mock trial(I assume that they thought that Elendil will be just killed by sea monster and Valar are not involved) but when Miriel survive it, they proclaimed her queen based on Valar's will. One small detail, I wonder if casual viewer think that Ar mean king and Tar mean queen or if they know that one is in Númenor's language and second is in elvish but meaning is same.

Well, I suppose that for Rhun and Númenor storylines writers took inspiration from Empire strikes back and Clash of Titans. Rhun storyline is stalling as there is probably not enough story. Yoda ... I mean Bombadil gave some lectures to "Gandalf" and of course he will choose Nori and will pass test for his staff. I don't think that Bombadil is supposed to be teacher for heroes, at least from book he didn't come as this person. Númenor was kind of meh. They are now starting probably romance between Miriel and Elendil. Does it mean that Miriel is queen now and Pharazon was deposed when people started chanting her name? I think that the Valar judgment as concept didn't make any sense and writers should come with something else. And palantir doesn't show possible future. Adar has great information(better than scouts in Eregion) because he know that there are 3 elven rings and that Lindon was healed. Also he suspected that Halbrand was Sauron but for some reason didn't kill him because reasons. And orcs are no longer suffering under sun? Dwarves are afraid of bats. I wonder if the carts with gold were taxes or dwarves already mined gold and made some goods from it. Balrog in fire had subtlety of sledgehammer as future fate of Khazad-dum. Why it looks like that Sauron is taking advantage of person with dementia? Sauron is teleporting between Khazad-dum and Eregion. In middle of square is dead soldier but Sauron ordered to bury him not to cause panic because certainly not many elves didn't see him. Elves don't notice army and siege engines till they are attacked. And for some reason we spend more time with creating nine rings than with three and seven combined. I have to say that writting is still biggest weakness which make this show just average fantasy show(as adaptation of Tolkien's work I see it as below average at best).

For me isn't problem that Adar reached Eregion in 1 or 2 months. For me the problem is that timeline doesn't work between each storylines. I mean that if Sauron and Celebrimbor storyline and Adar's storyline took few months(Adar had to gather army, cross Anduin will be difficult as there is no bridge yet and then march to Eregion), how much time passed for Elrond's, Stranger's and Númenor's storylines in comparison with previous two?

Maybe I don't remember first episode that well but I think Halbrand told Adar that Sauron is in Eregion and is making with elves weapon againts orcs. So Adar know that Sauron is in Eregion but doesn't know that Halbrand is Sauron. I assume that during battle Sauron will take Halbrand form and would trick Adar and maybe backstab him after battle.

The show can have good music, visual and actors but the writing is poor and there isn't much improvement. Dwarves storylines is still best(mainly Disa and younger Durin) but here we have speedrun in corrupting power of ring. We have dwarves needing sunlight to be able to survive(produce food) and at same time speech how dwarves actually are not slaves to sun. Númenor also is on speedrun where King's men are oppressing Faithful. How is Sauron going to corrupt them when they are already there? Please, don't let Kemen be future Witch king. Witch king deserves better than most pathetic character in whole Númenor. I assume that no Anarion in the show. I hoped that Miriel will show more fight and don't let Pharazon just take over. So dwarves rings are maybe corrupted because Celebrimbor lied to Gil-galad and how to fix situation is to create more rings but if they will try enough it will somehow redeem the situation? Can Sauron just wear robe where will be 'I am evil'? He is supposed to be master manipulator but it is needed to earned, not that Celembrimbor and other elves will just buy every word he say even when it contradict what he said 1 minute before. Elrond ran whole episode. I complained in last time that characters are just teleporting from one place to another but here it was just worser than last time. How Celebrimbor's message made it into Lindon and not just encounter Elrond on the way? Durin is just casually walking from Khazad-dum to Eregion and back. And elves don't notice approaching army till it is close to the city. Do you think that Southlanders are wondering where is their king? I saw one question in one review and it was: who is target audience for Rings of Power? There is too much lore changing to be accurate for book fans and at same time it is quite slow for casual audience.

While it is still possible that they will be blue wizards, it would be pretty bad decision at this moment, if at least Stranger wouldn't be Gandalf. It would be lazy writting to have so many hints for Stranger to be Gandalf and then say it was misdirection(why use same saying as Gandalf about the follow your nose, he need gand, grand elf, etc) and Hinds costume evoke younger looking Saruman.

In one review it was mentioned by one of the journalist that people are not interacting very much with environment in built sets.

I know barrows are on more than one place but it is necessary to have them there or it is just another easter egg? The sigil is Sauron's, not Saruman's. It is map of Mordor but it was also on Finrod's body(which beg question why Sauron/orcs are using map of their "secret" base as sigil). If they would say that it was Sauron's eye it would be better.