[Snowdog]

Right. On to the last episode... where to start... a mixed bag for me, which kind of sums up my thoughts on Rings of Power in general.

• The highlight of the Season are the scenes between Charles (Celebrimbor) and Charlie (Annatar/Sauron). I had doubts about the look of Celebrimbor, but he brought his A-game to the role. In this episode we see the torment and death of Celebrimbor and I loved it. I loved how it was written. I loved how it was acted. I'm hoping it sets up the orcs taking the impaled Celebrimbor and use it as a banner when they attack the elves. Sadly, as much as I like to think of these awesome scenarios in my head, I'm sure the shallowness of the writers will gloss over it and miss the opportunity like they seem to do. Questions over the lore changes aside however, Charles and Charlie made this their own. It’s the MVP of S2, just as Elrond/Durin was MVP of S1.

• Arondir is still kicking. I hope they do more with this character in later seasons. There is so much potential with that character and actor. Sadly, the shallowness of how he seemed to miraculously recover from his beatdown in Ep 7 isn't explained. Probably the use of the rings and elven healing power ala Elrond in the PJ movies, and such off-camera, but at this point I've come to accept this is how this show rolls.

• We check in on Numenor and it all remains confusing, half sketched. They really need to flesh out what is happening in Numenor to land this entire enterprise. Again, I'm hoping they spend more of S3 on Numenor, and I am hoping that with Elendil riding away from the mob scene in Armenelos, he find's Anárion in Andunie in the west. I fully expect to be disappointed though.

• Gandalf is revealed (yawn) which to me is the worst possible outcome for the two-season investment. The writers could of had a freer slate had he been Saruman, for there has to be a lot of backstory there when he was good and had traveled east. Probably a rights thing especially with War of the Rohirrim bringing Saruman in. It is what it is. There is a weird dynamic going on with Gandalf & the (not Blue because licensing) Dark Wizard. A bit meh on it all to be honest. I really didn’t want the Stranger to be Gandalf. But he is, so meh. With the departure of Nori and the Stoors, maybe the proto-hobbits exit stage right will be the end of the whole hobbit side-plot? For some reason I doubt it.

• Adar is betrayed by his own, proving that karma is a bitch named Sauron. Again, the loyalties seemed fickle as they are in Numenor, but there was some hinting that all was not well with Adar in the minds of the Uruks

• We see Imladris before it becomes settled. The show could benefit with a little CGI to multiply the crowds some... here in Imladris, and in Numenor.

• We see Narsil in Elendil’s hands for the first time. Again, such a moment was seemingly rushed and really didn’t have the sort of impact it should have, but it was still cool.

• We see the Balrog too. Honestly, that scene between king & son, and that final shot of the king going toe to toe with the balrog in the most dwarfish way possible was pretty good. The balrog was deliberately a call back to the movies, and it works in the present -tense with the scene. Problem is I'm not sure how you put the balrog back in the bottle for the rest of the seasons though. Now that he's been disturbed, will he not go on a rampage and trash Khazad-Dum? This tweak of the lore timeline is as problematic as the rings being forged out of sequence. Also, the callbacks to the movies are generally lame and shows the shallowness of the writers. Those done in the stranger/hobbit scenes do not work. At all.

• S2 is much improved on S1. There’s a lot of room for further improvement, though. For instance, given the changes to the lore on Dwarf rings, how on earth are any of them distributed further?

• Will Kemen become the Mouth of Sauron? Hope so since he isn't worthy of being a Nazgul. There are so many callbacks to the PJ fanfic, a beheading would be a fitting end to the guy.

• Theo, I’m not thinking Witch-King. Given the relationship between him & Isildur, I’m thinking he might become the Lord of the Oathbreakers - those who Isildur cursed for betraying him.

I will make some hopeful predictions for S3 shortly, but I'm still stewing on them. After I re-watch S2 in binge format, I'll likely add/edit this... much of which I lifted from my wife's review elsewhere because I agreed with her assessments. I did clean up the language though. ��

I do have to agree that parts of the series seem rushed. I think what hits the cutting room floor would fulfill some of the seeming shallow quickness that things seem to happen. With 2/5ths of the series done, I don't have many expectations left for the rest. As much as I wanted some depth to the stories, I doubt they will be coming.

IF they are planning to take it up to the Last Alliance battle that kicks off the PJ movies, they will have to accomplish a lot.

In that time:
- Sauron needs to overrun Eriador
- Rivendell needs to be built (maybe Lórien too?)
- Numenor needs to somehow agree to come to Eriadior & bail out Gil-Galad/Lindon under Ar- Phârazon
- Numenor needs to capture Sauron & take him prisoner to Numenor
- Somewhere in all of this, the One Ring needs to be forged
- Sauron needs to corrupt Numenor
- Numenor needs to build a temple to Morgoth & start sacrificing the Faithful
- The Faithful need flee and arrive at Eriador
- Numenor needs to launch their assault on Valinor
- The Valar need to go Atlantis on Numenor
- Sauron needs to bug out back to Middle-Earth
- Gil-Galad needs to form the Last Alliance & assault Mordor
- the Siege of Mordor needs to happen
- Anárion (who has gotten two mentions but we haven’t even met yet) needs to be introduced so his death in this conflict means something
- Elendil, Gil-Galad need to die fighting Sauron
- Isildur needs to take up his father’s sword and sever the One Ring from Sauron’s hand
- The argument between Elrond & Isildur in Mount Doom needs to happen
- Isildur needs to be slain and the One Ring lost.
- Arnor and Gondor needs to be founded, because Pelargir is little more than ruins.
- Osgiliath, Minas Anor, and Minas Ithil need to be built.
- The seven and the nine rings need to be handed out.
- Oathbreakers need to be cursed.
- The Nazgûl need to be created.

I doubt most of that won't even be touched. Anyway, it's fun to hope, and also think of how I would have made the forty episodes.