Welcome back to the blog readers. I finally got done with the three-episode premiere of Rings of Power's second season, and I definitely think we are starting off on the right foot in terms of quality and character, even though last episode was kind of a stumble with the Men and the lack of focus in the show's strengths, including the stories with the Dwarves and the Elves. Would we get back on track though with this episode, titled "Eldest," written by Glenise Mullins, and directed by Sanaa Hamri and Louise Hooper? Stick around to find out.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
Now that we are officially halfway through the season, I want to take a minute to reflect. After thinking that the first two episodes were incredibly strong, I felt as if last episode was kind of a letdown in a ways. We spent way too much time with the Men and their separate journeys, with us getting only a small glimpse into the main plot of the series, which involves the Dwarves, the Elves, and Sauron. I think that with this fourth episode, we are kind of backsliding into first season-level quality because I was not a big fan of most of this episode. Mostly everything felt like it dragged and I do have to admit we have too many plots and storylines this season. I can count on two hands how many we have, and it is really hurting this show. We need to clean up or combine these plots because it is getting out of hand here. And unfortunately, there are no notable performances in this episode to highlight.
Normally, I would spend the first two to three paragraphs highlighting some performances from the episode that I was a big fan of, but there were none to note. This whole review will be talking about the many plot points of this episode, because there are like five or six and it gets hard to keep count if I am being honest. The first one I want to discuss regards the Harfoots Nori and Poppy and where we leave off with them following the end of the second episode. The two were blown away to a different region where they stumble upon another group of halflings called the Stoors that have been living there for a while. When they reveal they are searching for a Wizard, the Stoors vote to cast them out until they realize they are descendants of a Stoor that was looking for a permanent home for halflings with green hills called the Sûzat. This was the second weakest storyline of the episode, and one that does really nothing to advance the overall plot of the series. All this does is tease the Shire, where the Hobbits wind up living later on in Middle-earth history. And again, the member berries strike.
Adjacent to this story is that of the Stranger (who I already discussed is basically Gandalf in everything but name at this point) as he searches for Nori and Poppy after he blew them away in a sandstorm. He goes on to find a stranger that sort of invites him into his house after he is devoured by a tree. When in the house, he introduces himself as Tom Bombadil and learns what this guy is all about. He claims to have been around since before the stars and calls himself "eldest." He also says that he went there to see what had become of the once beautiful land, now turned to shit by the Dark Wizard. He also explains to the Stranger that his task is to defeat the Dark Wizard and Sauron. I honestly do not know how this storyline is going to pan out, but I hope it winds up being something good because I am not a big fan of this character so far.
Next we will talk about the storyline of the Men. This storyline has been so boring and worthless that I could care less about any of these characters. After Theo is taken by some mysterious force, Isildur and Arondir make a plan on how they will get him back. Arondir winds up figuring out that the girl Isildur found in the last episode is one of the Wild Men working for Adar, but it deems like she is going to turn on the two. After the two are devoured by a Mud Beast, she saves them and changes their opinion. The three later find themselves face-to-face with giant tree-like beings that captured Theo and the Wild Men as retaliation for the Orcs and Wild Men in chopping down the trees in the forest. When threatened, the Elf promises to protect the trees and gets the blessing of these trees. Theo and the Wild Men are released, as is Estrid's lover, which pisses off Isildur. Like what is the purpose of this story? What are they trying to tell here? This is absolutely boring and has no place in this show. Now they're adding a love triangle that makes no sense. Try to make it make sense.
The final story point I want to talk about in this post is what happens with the Elves on the way to Eregion. Elrond has been leading this small legion to Eregion to warn Celebrimbor about Sauron's influence. When they are about to cross a bridge, they notice that the bridge was collapsed and Galadriel fears it was Sauron. When left with no choice but to find another route, Galadriel sees a vision from her Ring of Power that warns her about the danger their new path chooses and warns Elrond and the company, but he rejects the warning and proceeds down that path anyway, where they face off with a bunch of Barrow-wights that wind up killing one of the members of the party. When they approach an impasse and notice a bunch of Orcs marching towards Eregion, they decide to go back and warn Lindon, but Galadriel offers to stay behind and buy them time, while also giving Elrond her Ring. He comments that she isn't saving them, but she is saving the ring and holds off a few Orcs before being captured by Adar himself. This was the best story of the episode by a mile and left so much promise for a tense confrontation between her and Adar after what happened last season in the creation of Mordor. And this could potentially lead to the teased battle of Eregion in a way that I did not expect.
Rings of Power stumbled with its third episode, but stumbles further this episode with storylines that divert from what we have known and add more than we can handle. Thank you for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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