LotR: The Rings of Power 2.04
In which a previously unfilmed LotR character makes his screen debut, and lives get saved in practically every storyline.
Now I had never any problem with both the Sibley written BBC audio adapation and Jackson cutting out Tom Bombadil, because when I read the books I was an earnest teenager and he was just a bit too twee for me, but either middle aged me is way more receptive to whimsy or Rory Kinnear is just that awesome, because I loved good old Tom B. here. Possibly the fact he interacts with We-re-still-not-calling-him-Gandalf instead of the Hobbits also makes a difference? Anyway, Rory Kinnear last impressed me as Caliborn/John Grey/The Creature in Penny Dreadful (and also in that one flashback episode of s3 as the person later providing the Creature's body), and while he was completely different here, there was a quiet intensity under the cheerfulness that made TB suddenly believable aas the embodiment of nature to me. Also the fact he had ended up in a desert and remembered in being green.
Meanwhile among the Southlanders (and one Numenorian): Arondir deducing pretty quickly that the girl Isildur had met en route was in fact one of those survivors who'd taken the oath to Adar to survive was a relief, I wasn't really up for a spying storyline, whereas I continue to like the greater shades of grey this show is adding to what previously were just barely fleshed out concepts, in this case, the humans who side with Team Overlord(s) (be it Morgoth, Sauron or Adar). Some are true believers, like the late unlamented Waldof (spelling), and some just didn't want to die, like Estrid, who shows her continued capacity not just for courage (for which you don't have to be good) but compassion when trying to help Arondir and Isildur in the swamp.
Arondir and the Ents reminded me of Arondir's visible flinching and suffering back in early s1 when Adar's Orcs made him and the other captured Elves hack at trees; it was a lovely scene. (Also: going by the voice one of those Ents was an Entwife. Well, we are in the Second Age, so presumably they haven't taken off yet.) And I'm glad Arondir and Theo made up, of course.
Nori and Poppy end up with the Stoors (spelling?), like the Harefoots proto-Hobbits, only not nomads but already settled down and in fact older, with the wandering Harefoots a branch that got lost. (Literally.) Who encountered a Wizard before, to wit, the Dark Wizard played by Ciaran Hinds. I didn't mention this before, but I don't think the Dark Wizard, who turns out to have been behind the Acolytes last season, is Saruman - that would make no sense since Saruman only fell in the era between The Hobbit and LotR. So while I still think the Stranger is Gandalf, I am now also willing to entertain the theory voiced elswhere that both the Stranger and the Dark Wizard are the two Blue Wizards whose fate no one can quite remember in the Third Age; at the very least the Dark Wizard is a Blue.
No Numenor and no Sauron seducing Celimbror this week, but Galadriel and Elrond, still at odds, along with their small company find out what happened to Gil-Galads previous messengers and have a satisfyingly creepy encounter with the Barrow Weights (spelling?). (Another bunch of characters like Tom Bombadil who were in the book but not the movies.) During which they save each other's lives, and I like both that Elrond figured out how to deal with the monsters du jour (the show doesn't forget he's well versed in history and learning) and that Galadriel's self sacrificial act has an ambiguity for him since he sees it not her saving him and the others but Nenya, the ring. (I think he's somewhat unfair since she clearly wants to save all of the above, and also for Galadriel those three rings have already proven themselves in terms of stopping the Fading and unlocking the gift of foresight for her, so clearly the Elves need that ring more than they need her, the person.) And then Galadriel ends up facing Adar again as the episode's cliffhanger kicks in. I may have squeed, because their s1 scenes were disturbingly intense, and now of course not only are their positions reversed, but Galadriel knows something Adar does not, to with, Haldbrand = Sauron.
So..... Dark Elf/ Elf-in-Crisis alliance, y/n?
Now I had never any problem with both the Sibley written BBC audio adapation and Jackson cutting out Tom Bombadil, because when I read the books I was an earnest teenager and he was just a bit too twee for me, but either middle aged me is way more receptive to whimsy or Rory Kinnear is just that awesome, because I loved good old Tom B. here. Possibly the fact he interacts with We-re-still-not-calling-him-Gandalf instead of the Hobbits also makes a difference? Anyway, Rory Kinnear last impressed me as Caliborn/John Grey/The Creature in Penny Dreadful (and also in that one flashback episode of s3 as the person later providing the Creature's body), and while he was completely different here, there was a quiet intensity under the cheerfulness that made TB suddenly believable aas the embodiment of nature to me. Also the fact he had ended up in a desert and remembered in being green.
Meanwhile among the Southlanders (and one Numenorian): Arondir deducing pretty quickly that the girl Isildur had met en route was in fact one of those survivors who'd taken the oath to Adar to survive was a relief, I wasn't really up for a spying storyline, whereas I continue to like the greater shades of grey this show is adding to what previously were just barely fleshed out concepts, in this case, the humans who side with Team Overlord(s) (be it Morgoth, Sauron or Adar). Some are true believers, like the late unlamented Waldof (spelling), and some just didn't want to die, like Estrid, who shows her continued capacity not just for courage (for which you don't have to be good) but compassion when trying to help Arondir and Isildur in the swamp.
Arondir and the Ents reminded me of Arondir's visible flinching and suffering back in early s1 when Adar's Orcs made him and the other captured Elves hack at trees; it was a lovely scene. (Also: going by the voice one of those Ents was an Entwife. Well, we are in the Second Age, so presumably they haven't taken off yet.) And I'm glad Arondir and Theo made up, of course.
Nori and Poppy end up with the Stoors (spelling?), like the Harefoots proto-Hobbits, only not nomads but already settled down and in fact older, with the wandering Harefoots a branch that got lost. (Literally.) Who encountered a Wizard before, to wit, the Dark Wizard played by Ciaran Hinds. I didn't mention this before, but I don't think the Dark Wizard, who turns out to have been behind the Acolytes last season, is Saruman - that would make no sense since Saruman only fell in the era between The Hobbit and LotR. So while I still think the Stranger is Gandalf, I am now also willing to entertain the theory voiced elswhere that both the Stranger and the Dark Wizard are the two Blue Wizards whose fate no one can quite remember in the Third Age; at the very least the Dark Wizard is a Blue.
No Numenor and no Sauron seducing Celimbror this week, but Galadriel and Elrond, still at odds, along with their small company find out what happened to Gil-Galads previous messengers and have a satisfyingly creepy encounter with the Barrow Weights (spelling?). (Another bunch of characters like Tom Bombadil who were in the book but not the movies.) During which they save each other's lives, and I like both that Elrond figured out how to deal with the monsters du jour (the show doesn't forget he's well versed in history and learning) and that Galadriel's self sacrificial act has an ambiguity for him since he sees it not her saving him and the others but Nenya, the ring. (I think he's somewhat unfair since she clearly wants to save all of the above, and also for Galadriel those three rings have already proven themselves in terms of stopping the Fading and unlocking the gift of foresight for her, so clearly the Elves need that ring more than they need her, the person.) And then Galadriel ends up facing Adar again as the episode's cliffhanger kicks in. I may have squeed, because their s1 scenes were disturbingly intense, and now of course not only are their positions reversed, but Galadriel knows something Adar does not, to with, Haldbrand = Sauron.
So..... Dark Elf/ Elf-in-Crisis alliance, y/n?