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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.

I have been watching "Rings of Power" (warning: thoughts below) and it reminded me again how effective the pilot of "Once Upon a Time" was. In one hour, I cared about all the characters and they had nuance and complexity, with fun call-backs to a pre-existing universe. "Rings of Power" could not do that for me with a two-episode opener (or really, with an entire season). Emma was such a strong female protagonist but you could immediately sense a humanity behind her tough exterior. On "Rings of Power", they had a very strong Galadriel, but she was so stoic and abrasive that it was difficult to care for her all season. In some ways, she was written like Merida or Murderella. When you put it like that, Anakin does seem Regina-ish. From reading fan comments, it does seem like a lot of the blame for his turning evil is placed on the Jedi council. The Emperor is basically Anakin's Rumple. At least there is a bit less victim blaming with Darth? Was as much blame placed on Obi-Wan? I recently rewatched the first two prequels, but I'm trying to watch the animated Clone Wars before the third prequel movie, so details are not as clear in my mind. With the Obi-Wan series, one of the new villains

I agree with that article the episodes were too repetitive, in that within each subplot, similar events occurred over and over again. The most egregious example was the Harfoots subplot, where we had the Stranger involved in accidents that made Nori question him multiple times, and then coming to the same realization every time. So to me, the episodes were not too long. If anything, we needed more time. It was a poor allocation of time. I agree there were too many characters, to the point, where I personally could not "taste" enough of each dish to care about many of the characters and subplots. So I ended up with an experience which felt very empty. The actors themselves I would say were solid and the visuals were nice. But each of the societies - Lindon/Eregion in particular, but also Numenor (and to a lesser extent Khazad-dum and the South Lands) needed more worldbuilding. We needed to see more of the political situation in the Elven lands. What did all the other Elves think and how did their society even work? Without that context, the whole dire dying tree scenario felt like an artificial obstacle. Similarly, the politics and factions in Numenor needed to be fleshed out a lot more before the whole issue of whether to send troops with Galadriel came up. I felt like I did not see enough of Gil-galad, Celebrimbor, Miriel, Pharazon or even Elendil and his family to care about any of them or understand their motivations, so they felt like cardboard cut-outs moving from one place to another doing stuff that the plot demanded of them. Even characters that got screentime like Elrond needed more fleshing out. The show can't just expect us to assume the backstories based on Tolkien except they are changing the lore left right and center. All I saw was Elrond claiming to be a great friend in one episode, and then acting like a suspicious jerk in the next, and then hapless indirect oath-breaker in the next, and then back to BFF who would sacrifice all for their brotherhood. I had variations of this type of issue with almost every character on the show, making it difficult to like or identify with them and making the show less immersive. If the dialogue was better and more efficient, it would have allowed better character development and building with the given time. But not only was the dialogue (especially in the first half of the series) clunky, the characters spoke in cryptic lines that told us nothing about them or felt disingenuous. Elendil responds to questions by talking about the sunrise or quoting platitudes half the time, so he was ultimately a very basic character who was grieving his wife when there was supposed to be a lot of complexity about his allegiance and what he wanted for Isildur. I hope the showrunners don't listen to simplistic criticisms like "The first episode was boring" and respond by just packing more action into every episode. The issues were much, much more complex than that. I'm trying to figure out though why the show did keep drawing me back, because I did want to watch the next episode right when it was released (compared to other shows). I wonder if it is the fact that it's set in Middle Earth (even if it's a warped version of it). Anyway, it does tell me that I could potentially really like the series, and I hope it drastically improves next season, though some of the somewhat dismissive words of the showrunners give me pause.

And then once he is discovered, he can put on a scraggly wig with acorns stuck to it and call himself Halbrandyfoot.

I was thinking about that too. I suppose the writers could argue that the South landers didn't keep their history, so a hopeful myth could have been passed down over those 1000 years of a lost heir to the throne who will reclaim the kingship on a future date. When Galadriel threw down the scroll, I half expected Halbrand to explain that his ancestor was an illegitimate child of the last King of the South lands who was secretly adopted and their family had to keep this secret over the generations since it is said his return would be accompanied by darkness or some other drivel.

It is incredibly frustrating to watch shows where the plot can only work if the protagonists are dense. Galadriel immediately went to chase Adar during the battle, but as you said, there was no urgency to catch up to Halbrand/Sauron before he got too far. Celebrimbor didn't need her to stand around to forge the rings. Halbrand's whole plot depended on Galadriel just believing that he was the king of the South Lands. One could say Galadriel was so single-minded that she believed what she wanted to. But Miriel and the other Numenoreans didn't ask for proof? Gil-galad didn't even question anything. We never saw Galadriel speak to him about the army that she promised Miriel. There were no scholars in Eregion or among Gil-galad's advisors who would know the history of the South lands? The rough outlines of this plot could have worked, but I agree that the path to the endpoint relied on plot convenience. For all the visual beauty, there was very little worldbuilding of Eregion and Lindon. All we got were the main characters interacting in front of a backdrop.

Don't get me started on that elf who was asked to be discreet about Galadriel's research requests, but brings the scroll right into the hub of activity to deliver it to Galadriel. Their hive minds clearly only share half a brain.

His contempt for the three of them was barely hidden. I was wondering how Celebrimbor was supposed to get everyone to leave Eregion. How much do the other elves (aka the voiceless extras) know? Shouldn't Gil-galad make a speech about what was happening? "The tree is poisoned and we're all going to die, so everyone pick up your express pass to Valinor asap."

I think Galadriel slowly suspecting Halbrand over a few episodes would have been more effective and ultimately more satisfying. I guess Halbrand injured himself so he would "need" elven medicine? I find it hard to believe that none of the others at the field hospital in the South Lands would have that need. Since the Halbrand reveal wasn't too surprising, showing a flashback of what we didn't see from Halbrand (eg. how he got on the raft) might have been more interesting and shocking. That line stood out at me too. It just did not need to be stated.

His expression looked sort of sinister to me. Letting unguarded randoms spend an hour with a weakened king in such divided times seemed a bit iffy.

I'm not sure what I thought of that. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't a very satisfying origin story for the rings. I think I liked it a little less than the last episode, and overall found it about average... watchable but uninspired and uneven. They sure were committed to making Gil-galad unpleasant. Couldn't they have spared a scene to show Gil-galad reacting to seeing that Galadriel was back? Though I guess getting out of dodge would have been for the best considering everyone else fell for Halbrand's schtick. From an entertainment perspective, a story where all the main protagonists were basically duped was just frustrating to watch. I'm not sure I would enjoy a rewatch knowing that Galadriel was instrumental in helping Sauron and fell for him in more ways than one. Were we to interpret that Halbrand/Sauron is a full-out baddie from here on out? Or were we meant to see him as a grey character who did want to forget his past and might have been neutralized if Galadriel hadn't rejected his offer? Why was he on the raft? What was his original plan? Speaking of which, thank goodness Halron was so sloppy at disposing of his enemy (Galadriel) and the evidence (scroll), eh? Galadriel didn't even tell Elrond about Halbrand's identity before they forged the 3 rings? So she started out the series obsessed with hunting down Sauron because he killed her brother, and now she will be just as obsessed because it's even more personal now. What an arc. The Cultists declaring the Stranger as Sauron was an unconvincing fake-out. It was satisfying to see them obliterated, though that battle was occasionally laughable, with one throwing a knife right into the older Harfoot, but somehow missing Poppy three times. Or Eminem keeping her fireballs walking in slow motion to give the Stranger time to defeat her. It might be interesting to see Rhun next season. Nori's goodbye scenes seriously felt like they lasted the length of an entire movie. So she started out the series wanting more than the Harfoot life and really, nothing has changed. Another great "arc". With all the tediously lingering scenes in Eregion, Galadriel's imagination, and with the Harfoots, they could have carved out a good 10 minutes for Numenor instead. Though I'm not sure I wanted to spend any time there either. I did like the short scene with Elendil and Miriel about committing to the way of the faithful. What was with Elendil's daughter getting access to the Palantir? She's a weird character being a blank canvas that we practically know nothing about, but getting a pivotal cliffhanger. Overall, the dialogue was slightly better than the very beginning of the season, but there were still a few big clunkers like "When in doubt, follow your nose". I thought I was watching a Fruit Loops commercial. I will watch the next season, but I would also not care too much if the series was cancelled. Whenever there was an effective visual, my next thought was what a shame the writing and the story was so subpar that I couldn't get myself to feel emotionally moved by any of it.

Interview with Charlie Vickers (Halbrand): Here's another actor from the show who read up on Tolkien as research for their roles. Regardless of the quality of the writing, it makes me want to support these actors, who are trying their best.

So far, the Harfoot storyline hasn't been connected to the other stories at all. So I wonder if Galadriel and Halbrand will bump into the Stranger, the cultists or Nori's company in the last episode. I was expecting Galadriel to spend most of next episode with Elrond and Gil-galad, but I wonder if her journey will be featured instead, considering the distance is far (though the writers don't tend to care about that much). I'm not watching previews, so I guess we will find out next week. I can imagine the Stranger having a negative reaction to Halbrand, which will fuel further speculation that he is Sauron. I can also imagine a scene where the cultists attack Nori and friends, and Galadriel arrives to save the day.

A wolf attacked him early in the pilot, I think?

Took me a few days to get motivated to watch this episode. I thought it was relatively engaging, which is weird since I find myself completely uncurious about all the mysteries they are trying to bait us with. I can't get myself to care less about what the Exiles are mining, or what Scott saw, or who Silas is. I'm trying to figure out what drug this show is pumping through the TV screen that still makes me mildly entertained by it. The reunion scene with "Everyone! It's Eve's husband. He's Isiah!" was so unintentionally hilarious. As said above, everyone was like oh ok, that's not weird at all! Dr. Seal was so on edge last episode, and now, he's all dandy? I actually liked his scenes with Izzy, though. If they don't trust Silas, why don't they go ask the village people? Surely they know where the Exiles are. But nooooooo, we need to have Gavin take Silas, who totally won't escape. I guess Silas was confident the Exiles won't just murder Gavin in there? Does he carry all his maps around with him? Wolf Snack really is dumber than a door knob. What a great idea to sneak past and outrun all these cops up the steep hillside in broad daylight. At least Riley seems to have a brain. So did the huge tidal wave in Santa Monica not happen because of Wolf Snack and Pre-Med help? It's not like they know anything specific that could help anyone to stop a sinkhole event. I'm glad Eve and Fighter pilot guy's idiotic plan to get the fellow captives to rebel didn't happen. It sure looked like the guards outnumbered them, and even if that wasn't the case, the guards have weapons and are in good physical shape. If there had been an escape, of course Virgil and the redshirts would have been the ones to die. Oh, what nice guards to put those two in a private room! Now how will these brilliant writers conspire to have Gavin enter that room next episode right when they are having sex?

Alternate Season 3 premiere. The parents attend an aerobics class which ends up unlocking their inner ninjas. "Nicky, you save the world. We will take care of the stolen appliances!"

I wonder what resolutions we will get in the next episode. There will no doubt be some great twists. Scene: LINDEN GALADRIEL: I demand to speak to the King. ELROND: We are dealing with a very serious gardening issue here. Look, this tree is sick and we're all going to die! GIL-GALAD: What the hell are you doing here, Galadriel! Look at this tree, it is all YOUR fault! GALADRIEL: Did you not get the memo? Orcs are alive and well in the Southlands and the agents of Sauron have caused a volcanic eruption that will darken the skies as dank as the cellars of Aule. GIL-GALAD: Well, all will be well. I have some wonderful new advisors who are helping me with my decision making these days. Adarina, are you here? And coven of Eminem? Four cloaked figures enter, their faces concealed. ADARINA: You called, my lord? GALADRIEL: You look sort of familiar. ADARINA: Yes, I totally didn't have a conversation with you in a barn in the South Lands but I took a detour and got here half a day before you. THE OTHER 3 CLOAKED FIGURES: So did we. NORI: Sorry, I was following these three. Am I interrupting a meeting? HALBRAND: I'm sorry, but I have a wound. Can someone heal it? STRANGER: I help. My beard made of mithril. MIRIUM: Hello, I decided to drop by in case anyone needed a Palantir. This port is on the way to Numenor. DISA: And you have my axe! GALADRIEL: The Palantir is giving us a message. SAURON is in the room with us RIGHT NOW. One of us is Sauron! FADE TO BLACK. Who is it? Who is Sauron? Join us for Season 2 in 2024.

This is the actor describing older Cal. I'm not looking forward to seeing Cal's usual antics played out by a fully grown man.

There are certainly plenty of places in Khazad-dum where Durin III can trip and fall to great depths.

That is the question. I personally did not know much about the lore of mithril until I read up on it and listened to videos by Tolkien devotees. So essentially, if there was no source material to adhere to (and putting aside the "Is it Tolkienian" question), is the mithril story a good one? It was pretty much told over 4 episodes. A group (elves) is slowly fading away but only the king and a select few know that a magical mythical metal can restore them back to health. A king sends his unwitting diplomat to a builder who needs more workers, and the diplomat suggests getting a workforce from another group, to which his best friend belongs, but he hasn't checked in with his friend for 20 years. The friend is initially angry, but an apology and intervention from his friend's vivacious wife leads to a quick reconciliation. Soon after, the builder suggests the friend is hiding something, so the diplomat snoops and eavesdrops until he finds out about a magic metal being mined. The diplomat swears a solemn oath to his friend that he will keep this secret and if he does not, his descendants will suffer. The diplomat's king asks him about the magic metal but he refuses to tell, but the King reveals he actually intentionally sent the diplomat to discover the metal, which is needed to prevent their whole group from dying. The king pressures the diplomat to tell if his friend's group has the magic metal but the diplomat tells the king he swore an oath not to tell if his friend has the magic metal, which sorts of suggests that his friend does have it. The diplomat also gives the sample of the magic metal to the builder for testing. Then, the diplomat goes back and tells his friend about the dire situation and the friend wants to help because he can't imagine life without his bestest of friends. The diplomat tries to negotiate with the friend's father, who is the king of his people, but that king refuses citing safety concerns, and the diplomat is kicked out and the diplomat's friend disowned. This occurs just after a large vein of the metal is found, and the metal is confirmed to have magical healing powers. So now what? How is the diplomat and his people going to get the magic metal? Is his friend going to revolt against his father? And now the diplomat's people will need this magic to give them the strength to fight against a great evil coming out from the southeast. Is this story good on paper? Was it well told over the course of Season 1? Do viewers care about what will happen next?

It seems like some of the problems on this show can be fixed with a bit more thought and oversight. For example, if they wanted Galadriel and Theo to be separated from the rest and spend half an episode together, they could have had the two of them on the outskirts of the village at the end of the previous episode (separately) for some logical reason. Then, at the start of this episode, they could have shown a wall of flames that blocked them from the rest of the village or large pieces of rubble that landed between them and the village, so they had to detour around. It would be interesting to analyze the season as a whole after. Each of the overarching subplots, from the Elrond/Elves/mithril one, to the Numenor one, were plotted out in a clunky fashion. The simplest subplot to look at is probably the Harfoot one over the last few episodes. The Harfoots' yo-yo-ing of "We hate you" and "We like you" towards the stranger (and Nori's alternating trust and distrust of him) was unnecessary and a bit of a waste of time. Don't have the Stranger save the gossipy lady from the wolves, and don't have Nori almost freezing herself by interrupting the ice healing ritual, or this episode's dumb tree branch accident. The wolf incident could have instead changed the mind of Nori's parents, maybe the stepmother, if she were to join the quest at the end of this episode. Nori could have watched the ice healing and become uneasy for some other reason... maybe the ice spreads to and freezes a plant or a bird or something. Then, in this episode, when Nori and the family arrive finally at the orchard, have this be the first time the others see them since they were at the back of the caravan. The other Harfoots would force the Stranger to leave, and before he exits, he does whatever he did with the tree. As it was, the Harfoot leader hadn't seen the Stranger do any supernatural things - why would he expect the Stranger to be able to help anyway? So then, the next morning, when they see the apple trees revived, the other Harfoots would realize the Stranger was trying to help them and change their mind about him and maybe feel some remorse that the Stranger demonstrated the "help each other" mantra more than them.

I thought this was a solid season opener. The quality of the show has really gotten better since Season 1. The dialogue is much snappier and enjoyable. And this show has a fun light-hearted vibe while maintaining drama and suspense. An example was Althea and Ryan helping Nicky at the beginning. SuperHenry 2.0 was charismatic, and I was surprised to like him so quickly. I hope Henry will be back soon and I'm not a fan of triangles, but I thought he had good chemistry with Nicky and Althea. The bomb diffusing scene was funny but also might have been slightly too goofy, even for this show. And good point, as mentioned above, that Bo was a little too super with his talents. I was pleasantly surprised Nicky already suspected the Alchemist might be in Pei Ling. This is better than Nicky being fooled for multiple episodes. I like the actress so I'm glad she is able to play a bigger role. Nicky ditching everyone to find Pei Ling was understandable but rather inconsiderate, though they ended up not needing her help. I don't have a good feeling about the investor to the restaurant. The Henry scenes didn't tell us much. He better have a good reason for ghosting Nicky. In this day and age, it would be tough to find a credible excuse. I must say I was glad to hear Mia is away at a monastery. This show has enough characters to juggle and I think her arc was over. The Matron app was pretty funny. I agree it was ridiculous to have Dennis tending bar, given his background. It seemed like a cheap way to put a regular in one of their existing sets.

She was indeed very calm. The Galadriel from episodes past might have gone rambo on that group of orcs. To me, it seems like her nightmare coming true unexpectedly triggered a great deal of guilt. I was wondering maybe she was in shock in a some ways and the eruption and the widespread death brought back a lot of war memories from the First Age that she had suppressed. It was like she was so focused on finding evidence that evil was back that she didn't know what to do next because solving the Mordor problem is going to require more than simple battle. Though at the same time, she may be more empowered by the end since she now had solid evidence she can bring to Gil-galad. I hope we are not in store for a love triangle when Celeborn inevitably returns.

My thoughts as the episode began were, okay, so elves can survive pyroclastic flows. Super healing powers and all that. Then... oh, so Numenoreans can survive pyroclastic flows too. Since they were gifted with longer lives. And then came the parade of surviving Southlanders. Who knew that tavern was like a clown car and could hold so many people. I thought most of them died during the preceding battle. When Mt. Doom erupted, Galadriel was right in the village, and somehow she and Theo walked off in a completely different direction away from all the habitations? Galadriel only encountered a single survivor, when there were apparently so many? Did her wisdom tell her no one can survive a pyroclastic flow so let's not bother to look for and help survivors? She called Halbrand twice and Elendil once and then gave up. I would never have imagined it, but I think an episode with Theo, of all people, actually made Galadriel more likeable. She was able to show a bit of vulnerability and her consolation of Theo was actually quite kind and her wisdom and regret showed. So she met her husband Celeborn in a glade of flowers, and that was that was the last time she saw him? I must have missed the middle of that monologue when she was talking about Celeborn looking like a clam shell. Meteor man was trying to fix the tree, so let's just stand under it, and get mad at him when the branch breaks. I actually thought the Harfoot storyline in the first few episodes were a nice break from the grimness, but due to the horrendous writing, they've become such an oxymoron, emphasis on the morons. They chant they stick together, and then they leave invalids at the back of the caravan. One episode, the gossipy lady was all 'Let's all take away their wheels and let them die!' and now she see-sawed her way to 'Let's help warn Meteor Man about the ultra powerful psycho Eminem worshippers'? So I couldn't feel warm and fuzzy with this week's "We stay true to each other!" speech. For all we know, next week, they will devolve to cannibalism or something. It took them one day to hike to Numenorean base camp after an eruption. What if Arondir had led the Southlanders in this direction instead of heading back to the village, eh? The Numenoreans sure got to their ships quickly. Miriam losing her sight was kind of sad. I wish we got a bit more of her, though, since it was hard to know why she became more resolved to help Galadriel after what happened. Even Elendil was cursing the elf. Poor Isildur's friend. The Numenoreans will probably flock to Pharazon's side when they find out how many of their soldiers were lost. The sea is always right, but a volcano sure isn't. I disliked the Elrond and Durin stuff from a few episodes ago, but they won me back a little with their friendship in this one. Somehow, the scenes with Durin and his father sort of dragged. At the end, the changing of the words from Southlands to Modor with goofy Halloween font was amateurish. Though I was all ready to cringe since I expected Adar to say Mordor out loud.