View Single Post
Old 09-18-2022, 04:37 AM   #8
Thinlómien
Shady She-Penguin
 
Thinlómien's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,385
Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.
We just watched this yesterday alongside episode 3, and I'm again having trouble separating what was in which episode and wish to discuss the overall development, so you can take this as a mix-and-match episode 3&4 post. Anyway:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Formendacil
Is Míriel having the Faramir dream? ... Seems so...
It was great... except I was way too distracted by her kidnapping that random baby while the mother presumably ran away without her child.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Form
Did he say his name is "Kevin?"
And here I heard "Clement".

Quote:
Originally Posted by Form
Wait, is a that a palantír--it is! Why are six missing? I mean, it makes sense that they're in Númenor--and that's kind of under-developed by Tolkien: what were they doing in the 2nd Age? Did the House of Silmarien have them all? Were there others? How did Elendil end up with them all?
I guess there's not really a particular reason to stick onto canon in this. For the large audience they only need to show two palantíri making it to Middle-Earth. I was more preoccupied with Galadriel's claim of having looked into several palantíri - when and why? But I guess it can make sense as an inspiration for her mirror. And speaking of the palantíri - I liked how they drew a parallel between Míriel and Denethor, both seeing the destruction of their kingdoms in the stones and the despair eating them up from the inside.

Random notes:

- I liked the visuals of Númenór, but the culture/politics felt pretty lazily written. (You could make so much more out of the cultural/ linguistic / dare I say religious conflict. Also "Elves will steal your jobs and Middle-Earthers will steal your women"? Ughhhh tired.) I liked the portrayal of all of Míriel, Elendil and Pharazon.

- Why are there compulsory 2-3 slow motion scenes in every episode? The effect is mostly... comical. Like the whole Aroboromir sequence that set up his death which didn't happen, not to mention the weirdly cringeworthy Galadriel riding scene.

- I continue having mixed feelings about the portrayal of the Dwarves. The secretiveness, family bonds, and Disa's eerie song to the stone were all great. Disa joking about Durin having a girlfriend, plus the absolutely unnecessary thigh high slit in her dress less so. It would be great to see a Middle-Earth story where Dwarves are not the comic relief.

- Out of the mysterious characters, Adar is my favourite. Actually no idea who he is, unless he is Sauron. The only thing we seem to know of him is that he's an Elf. (The name, plus pointy ears.) But why is he so twisted and chilling with Orcs? What happened to his face? Is he some kind of Gwindor Jr who was captured and tortured by Orcs and changed by it, but instead turned it to his advantage?

- I don't know why everyone thinks Halbrand is Sauron, apart from him being somewhere in the jerk/villain territory plus ogling that smithy. Compared to most other characters he actually has a lot of backstory and character motivation already, and that would be wasted on a decoy. I think his character doesn't need the extra layer of being Sauron in disguise, it would actually make it less deep. But future nazgûl? Very likely. (Maybe even the Witch-King, given how big a role he's playing so far?)

- So, the very end heavily implies The Stranger is Sauron. I would take this with a pinch of salt. Or let's say I very much hope it isn't the case. Everything in the portrayal of the Stranger has been screaming Gandalf so far - the actor's looks and mannerisms, the connection with both fire and hobbits, the PJ-y bug obsession - and if he's someone else, that's wilful misdirection of the audience with no other purpose than a cheap "gotcha" and that's just incredibly lame.

- Also our four-'downer home audience was inspired to go on a pretty advanced conspiracy theory of the show actually covering multiple timelines simultaneously à la Westworld, including Halbrand actually being the same character as either Theo or the creepy old man he's speaking with in the end of the episode. This would also allow for Sauron to be multiple people within the series. Personally, I think that would be cool, but I don't really have that much faith in the writers...

All in all, the show continues to be visually stunning, and intriguing to watch from the simple perspective of how they're going to portray various canon plots/ characters / elements. Writing-wise, I'm still very disappointed in it because I think it's simply bad. The plotting, pacing and characterisation are all over the place, and after four episodes they've failed to make me care about what happens to any of these people (with the possible exception of Nori and Poppy). I also don't know who any of them really are like as people. But the worst crime in my mind is still the dialogue which is just atrocious. The tone and vocabulary are a mess, and half of the time the stuff the characters are saying doesn't even mean anything.
__________________
Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer
Blood is running deep, some things never sleep
Double Fenris
Thinlómien is offline   Reply With Quote