Camera One

This episode was a masterclass in bad formula writing. "So now what?" was pretty much the line the characters said after every calamity ended in a convenient solution leading to yet another moment of "what the heck are we going to do next?". The whole plan to hijack a wagon and get into the building to "rescue" Wolf Snack and Pre-Med from 1988 was about as threadbare as all out. And then we got yet another completely unrealistic "plan" to somehow rescue all the enslaved workers from the mine. I guess all's well that ends well on this week of La Convenience. Rebecca is goners, but now we have Grandma answering questions with non-answers like "There's a lot that needs to be done". Then we had those life and death scenarios or tense do-or-die escape/rescue sequences where characters launch into a long drawn out stories about how their older brother drowned when they were 13 and "since then, I've had deep anxiety issues". I know it's the norm in movies and TV shows, but this series just does it so much more clunkily. I liked Izzy but she was nothing but a downer liability to the mission. Scratch that, turns out she could participate in the oh-so-easy takedown of armed Exile guards! With a rock and a song, anyone can fight off muscle men brandishing large knives! I too thought Paara's husband recognized Gavin and just let them go. The alternative is that he is really, really stupid. We should mourn his death early, since we know we will need to cry some tears when we find out he was coerced by the evil mastermind in the tower to mine precious rock but eventually he will do the right thing and sacrifice himself to save his former village family. So Paara's people are now A-ok with supplying troops to help them fight their ex-rebels who they avoid conflict with? At least wound your ex-husband and take him prisoner or something, no? Isn't your community all about justice? That Nigel guy sure was helpful. He escaped from the Exiles and willingly went back to help them look over the precipitous with an awesome view of the mine, which would have been the ideal spot for a guard post? Spiders from 10,000 BC can't crawl through cracks between rocks? This show is full of tidbits of learning.

I was surprised corporate was fine with them wearing overtly political campaign shirts on opening night.

If they wanted the rings being forged to "cap off" the end of Season 1, why didn't they just tweak the sequence of what happened? They could have Halbrand giving the smiths of Eregion/Celebrimbor the idea to forge a bunch of rings with a single drop of mithril in each. For this, it would have been ideal if they changed the pacing of the whole season and have Halbrand arriving in Eregion one episode earlier to provide a bit more time for him to gain the trust of Celebrimbor. After that, Galadriel deduce his identity and can confront Halbrand/Sauron, who leaves. Then, Galadriel actually tells Elrond and Celebrimbor that Halbrand = Sauron, and that's when they create the 3 rings in secret with the rest of Elrond's mithril sample (which Halbrand did not see, so he assumed they used up all the mithril already). Then at the end of Season 2, Halbrand/Sauron attacks the Dwarves to get mithril (if they must do this mithril plot), and then forges the One Ring at Mount Doom. Then in Season 2 or 3, he can attack Eregion to steal the lesser rings and distribute. That would have kept a bit more of the books while not changing what the show writers seem to want to do. Unless the entirety of Season 2 relies on Galadriel keeping everything secret from Elrond and Celebrimbor.

This one was amusing, but I also agree with some of the criticisms. I think the charisma of the cast made it work overall. I was a little wary of the jump forward/"earlier that day" format (not sure if it has a name), since it's been so overdone. I was thinking that the restaurant opening mess would be due to one of the unstable guests being invited (aka Pei-Lin of the Inner Alchemist or Henry of the Inner Compass). That campaign manager bossing Jin around was annoying. You can't treat volunteers like that. I thought he would get fired by the end or something. When Nicky was telling Henry that he can still be part of the "family" and she will still be here for him, I thought maybe he was thinking about what happened with Evan, relegated to that male friend who sticks around and helps. I agree the Ryan subplot shouldn't have happened in this one, not when his mom was getting ready for the big opening. Tracy was pretty despicable and deserved more than being placed into her mother's custody. Somehow, it's hard for me to fully trust that corporate lady, even though she has been nice so far. Overall, I still liked the episodes and have enjoyed the season so far. I really hope the CW keeps the show.

From article: I really didn't get the sense that "so much of the season" was about the Elves. The realm of the Elves was hardly explored except they had one dying tree. I just didn't find this explanation very satisfactory.

I would have liked to see a little more too. Though I can imagine that was all the writers wanted to show. She seemed stuck, and then surprise! It's all perfectly organized in an innovative way. Just to add a bit of levity into the episode.

I agree it just felt too sudden. I was thinking maybe they rushed it to get him back to San Francisco faster, and if it's linked to Zhilan, they want to move that along too. I agree the pacing could have been better. The Henry scenes in the first episode this season were pretty much a waste of time. Yes, he can be a cool bad boy too. This show tended to do this even last season and the secondary subplots do tend to be more sparse. Though I still find them to be entertaining. Ryan's storyline did cross with Pei-lin, Althea's did cross with her parents' and Henry's finally collided with Nicky's. It probably didn't help that we also took time off for Zhilan, which made it a four in one.

Those "warriors" were willing to put a spear through innocent people just because a few of them stole some food? Are they really any less psycho than the Exiles? Wolves are prowling and everyone in this amazing family wants to get out of their sheltered positions to "save" the other family members. The wolves could have just waited for them to come out willingly. And then that "awesome" plan to ignite the energy rock. Which could very well have made the bus catch on fire trapping everyone inside. Lucky they all have plot armor. Unlike the one-who-knows-too-much-who-must-die. This show isn't this show when it isn't the blind leading the blind so we couldn't have Aldridge leading them into the tower. Can't wait for Cryptic Grandma to join them before being stepped on by a mastodon. Surely the wolves would have come back immediately when they realized there was hardly any danger and snacks were all around having heartwarming moments in the evening. Any chance the clearing people will be pro-active to prepare for the next time they are attacked by ravenous animals and/or vengeful prehistoric folk? It was pretty obvious Ty was talking to a hallucination. I was ready for that guy to turn into a zombie and accuse Ty of not helping him so he committed suicide or something. The most entertaining thing about this episode was Gavin constantly tossing his head back like he was in a hair product commercial. Yes, that 10,000 BCE air really gives his hair extra body and volume.

I haven't listened to it yet, but maybe this is one of those shows where listening to the showrunners' thoughts is actually not a good idea. 🤨

It would be hard to find the motivate to sit down and watch all the episodes again. I guess at the end of the day, it should still make sense with a few "previously" scenes. It might be interesting to see the 8 episodes cut into a 1.5 hour movie.

I just got around to watching this one and these characters are really too dumb to live. This episode in particular was full of idiotic and frustrating decisions. Let's start with the mining camp where those "scary" Exiles keep putting Eve and Levi into their own private room. Like, why? Where did Levi get the dumb idea that the captives outnumber the Exiles? It was obvious "storming the gate" wouldn't work. Then, we got Gavin getting "punished"... beaten so badly that he could hardly stand in the cave, but after escaping, walking like he was totally fine across that meadow leading to their very special clearing. Meanwhile, at the clearing, I felt badly for Ty. The Silas thing wasn't really his fault, but he's surrounded by a bunch of annoying jerks. Next up was Lucas' idiotic idea to steal food, which would solve the problem for one or two days? Well, lucky for him, every hut in Paara's village is always empty. I like Scott, so it's annoying to see him as a mole for Aldridge, who's annoyingly cryptic. But as others have said, it's really hard to care about the Tower and the underlying "mystery". I did enjoy the various reunions, though, so there is at least something appealing about the characters? I have no idea what. But you know what? They've "used up" the main reunions we've been waiting for... Eve and Izzy and Gavin. I don't think anyone cares enough about Wolf Snack to care when he joins up again.

It's only in the Youtube description box. Which most people wouldn't read anyway.

It wouldn't bother me that much if the Stranger was Gandalf, but at the same time, it's just less interesting. The Stranger is already clearly a nice guy with great powers so how else does he have to change to become Gandalf-like? If the Stranger must be Gandalf, it might be interesting if next season, he meets the two Blue Wizards in Rhûn. And maybe seeing what they are doing/have become could help him to define who he wants to be/what role he wants to play in Middle Earth.

I thought the movie was watchable and mildly entertaining. The main character was a bit much at times, but was still somewhat likeable. I didn't find the script that funny (no real laugh-out-loud moments for me), but it was nice to follow these characters for a bit. The character journeys were alright but not too well developed. There were a lot of stereotypes. Overall, not a bad movie, but also didn't stand above. I hope lots of people watch it on demand and streaming, though, since it would be great if there were more same-sex romantic comedies in the future.

It's interesting that there has been this huge proliferation of Youtube channels that review genre shows, and a subset just hates everything. I only noticed it after Disney started putting out the Star Wars TV shows. Maybe because I watched a few negative "Obi-Wan Kenobi" reviews, and then Youtube started suggesting all sorts of channels in the same vein, so that's when I noticed them. For some of these channels, it seems they dial up the hate to get views and they had already jumped on the negative bandwagon with every trailer or casting news before the show even premiered. Granted, some of them do raise valid criticisms and some are even quite interesting to listen to. With "Rings of Power", there are also negative reviews who are coming from genuine Tolkien lore fans. These I find more interesting to listen to, because they are comparing the show's plotlines with the stories from the books. Though of course, this group tend to be more sensitive to even minor changes, plus as you said, we have to keep in mind the series literally cannot use many of the source books, so must diverge to some extent. I've also watched a bunch of neutral reviews, which are basically recaps, and a few very positive reviews, which are interesting in a different way because they seem to draw deeper meaning that I doubt the series even intended. I agree with that. Personally, I am okay with the show diverging from lore, but I still found the writing incredibly weak and sloppy, resulting in one-dimensional characters who I didn't fully like. At the same time, I found the show engaging enough for me to be interested to continue watching. It's like a 5 out of 10 show for me. It was almost the type of show that I watch more because I am interested to hear what other people think than a show I enjoyed for its own sake. As I have said before, the show isn't unsalvageable to me, and still has potential, but the thought and planning needs to improve drastically which I doubt since I'm not sure if these inexperienced showrunners are capable of better.

I haven't watched Season 2 yet since I was going to watch it with a friend. I wonder why they have decided the third season will be its last. I too am glad it will get a proper finale, but I wish it could have continued as well.

At the start, I was disappointed to hear that Pei-Ling had already met the family, and we didn't get to see it! But it was fun to see her with Ryan and then Mei-Li. I really hope she gets to stick around since she's a nice addition. I liked all the little subplots with the different family members. Ryan's fight with Sebastian was a bit petty, but understandable. Althea's organization of the supplies was amusing, though the menu must be small to have a separate station for every dish. I didn't even mind Zhilan's subplot in that otherworld. Hopefully, the souls can be released when the Harvester is defeated. Nicky moving on felt a bit fast. Henry leaving Nicky with no contact wasn't very well justified. I'm not sure I like the direction of Henry becoming the Compass Bearer, another mythical/magical position with the Genesis mumbo jumbo.

I think the last time they had a one-on-one conversation scene that lasted more than 40 seconds was "Lost Girl" at the beginning of Season 3. That's why I wondered if the actresses had a feud and refused to have scenes with one another. How else can you explain taking one of the best parts of the first season and eliminating it utterly and completely.

Well, doing "anything" would have been better than what we got. Her character was used to fill time or service other characters (eg. Regina) or provide some lame "hope" speech to show how hopeful this series was. Writing properly for Snow doesn't necessarily require more screentime, just better use of what she had.

Oh gosh, I didn't even think of that. In that case, they can play the triangle as The Alchemist slept with Bo, not me. Yikes. On the whole, I'm not fond of bodysnatching storylines.

But then the more time Halbrand/Sauron spent with Galadriel, the more the goodness - the pureness from Valinor - seeped through and entered his tortured conflicted soul and chaaaaaaaanged him for the better. Away from Galadriel, he finally truly recognizes this. He's different now, better, all because of her. He can stand there looking like a cool villain with dark winds blowing his new hairdo, but he can't even bring himself to kill Adar anymore! If ONLY Galadriel would give him another chance. He feels he can make his growing goodness headaches go away and mithril takes the edge off, but Galadriel is SO much more effective than mithril. But if she rejects him, then he has nothing else to lose and might turn into the biggest most evil villain ever, making ONE ring in a vain attempt to control Galadriel to make her love him. Sorry, I can't go on as I swoon at this tortured love story that even rivals Romeo and Juliet.

This was a good second episode. I did find some of the gang/security company/ordinance stuff and the alchemist lore stuff a bit convoluted and difficult to follow, though. I too was happy to see the K-pop guardian guy back, albeit in the afterlife. Normally, I hate redemption stories for murderers, but I liked that Zhilan gave a full-out apology with no qualifications or snarky jokes. I liked the scenes between Nicky and her Shi-fu. I'm glad we aren't seeing the evil Alchemist masquerading as Shi-fu fooling Nicky, which would have been frustrating. I'm sure the Alchemist isn't gone even with the pendant smashed, but hopefully, her evil plan won't activate for awhile. I'm not sure if that lady from the investor company can be trusted. But I think this was a good subplot for the parents. The politician guy who couldn't help his community was also sort of interesting and realistic. Henry's subplot was better this week, since it actually had a purpose. I guess Henry is also "special" in his own way. Warrior, Guardian and the third magical role - Court Archivist? It was a bit weird to see Ryan playing Henry's role as history/lore research guy. One year with no internet would be tough these days. But Althea was pretty awesome as usual. If she didn't actually delete the files off Evan's company, would that criminal guy even know?

I think they might continue a similar arc where she tries to continue the fight alone, and eventually she learns the very important lesson that she has to trust others? She will likely refuse to tell Elrond anything (or even lash out at him) and run off after Sauron. Since she is fighting her feelings, I guess she won't be able to bring herself to "killing" Sauron when they inevitably come face to face again. This isn't something I'd enjoy watching, so I hope they come up with something else and a more interesting arc. I could have imagined an attempted redemption storyline if it hadn't been so clearcut that Halbrand was fully Sauron. He also tried to kill her, and that's hard to overlook. Unless we're supposed to interpret that he couldn't bring himself to kill her, so just knocked her out. A "trying to fix him" storyline might be approached if they do a bunch of flashbacks showing how Sauron really was repentant and wanted a new start as Halbrand but was casted out into the sea and that's how he ended up on the raft. But if the flashbacks showed he manipulated everything from the start, how are viewers supposed to root for a redemption beyond the hotness factor? One would think Sauron would have chosen to appear as a more buff guy, LOL.

I was just reading an article titled, "The Rings of Power Fans Still Shipping Galadriel and Halbrand After Season Finale", and there was this interesting quote: So it seems like they are trying to take moments from the Peter Jackson trilogy and writing scenes on this show that re-contextualizes it. That shows a little about how the writers are making some of their story decisions.

My favorite scenes were some of the moments between Emma and Henry and Emma and Snow in Season 1. There was also a scene between Emma and David that I liked, but I don't remember from which season. 6 years ago on this date, we were all "eagerly" awaiting Season 6 Episode 4 "Strange Case": I don't remember the details of this episode, which I do not plan to rewatch. But on paper, those key events mentioned in the brief episode description could have been interesting. It didn't help that the overarching Evil Queen plot was uninspired. The flashback twist on the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde tale was alright. But on the more human, grounded subplots, the writers made uninteresting choices. Snow was getting no character development by this point. I'm not sure whether the "Emma anticipating Hook moving in" had any good character moments. It just reminds me again how this show became an empty shell of its former self.