[Formendacil]

More sustained thoughts to come later... the TLR is that I generally liked things in this episode but generally feel--like last episode--that the pacing is wobbly and there are inexplicable adaptational choices made. I think it ends the season on a comparative high note, but that's not without many, many caveats.

• Wow, it feels like ages since I watched this--the recap feels ancient, including stuff that JUST happened.

• A mysterious apple-thief/spy? Haven't you introduced enough new--oh, oh never mind. It's the creepy white cloaks.

• Well THEY think he's Sauron, anyway.

• I will miss the opening credits being in my life each week.

• Lindon looks impressive--or is that Eregion? Does Eregion exist in this world?

• Oh, are the Rings supposed to be the back-up plan to the Mithril Sun-Baths? It's... quite the dramatisation, but...

• Elrond, YOU are the healer, right? Why aren't YOU doing any healing?

• "The only thing we can do" just doesn't hit--hackneyed writing!

• Oh, do we get an actual Celebrimbor scene?

• Even if Halbrand isn't Sauron, this is a good Annatar-baity scene.

• "A gift"--okay, that's even more Annatar-baity.

• "Forge a tomb"--you don't forge tombs, Pharazôn!

• Why are you talking to Númenor's apprentices? This sounds very plot-convenient, Pharazôn. You should be talking to the island's master craftsmen.

• While he's a bit atextual, crazy seer Tar-Palantír is effective.

• Gil-galad being the one who DISLIKES this plan feels out of character for THIS Gil-galad, but closer to the book. I don't understand this Gil-galad's motivations.

• "Return to Lindon"--okay, this hastily-erected city that looks ancient actually is Eregion. Gotta keep it.

• More Halbrand-is-Annatar bait.

• The fact that Galadriel is researching Halbrand's background feels like more Annatar-bait. But at what point do I have to admit it isn't bait but what the plot actually is.

• Well, that was ominous, Halbrand--the point seems to be coming. So, of course, let's switch to the Starman plot.

• Okay, but why are the stars strange in the East? That's not exactly how it works in this world. And, yes, Aragorn spoke of walking far in the east--but also the south!--where the stars are strange. Is this just bad research or a comment on the flatness of the world?

• Look, Harfeet, at some point you should just consider him lost on the road--this seems a very bad--oh, hang on: we have Blue Wizards, me thinks! Or some sort of weird duplication.

• Awww, no, it's not two Starmen--it's a disguise.

• These White Cloaks continue to be sufficiently creepy.

• Wait, the association with fire is supposed to be a Gandalf thing, isn't it?

• Too much CGI.

• "Istar" well, that would seem to be confirmed, whichever Istar he is.

• This is an overly dramatic death scene--and your magic wizard is RIGHT THERE.

• Also, doesn't dawn seem to have arrived really conveniently? Like, right after midnight?

• "Does not merely mean one who loves the stars" is a nicely tight and understated--and unspoken--way of saying it.

• Well THERE are the black, erm, sails of the Númenóreans--kinda. Context is all wrong. Dramatic, but not consistent.

• "Ourselves," Galadriel? You're not quite part of the smithing, are you?

• Well, Halbrand, I guess you're Annatar by default now.

• I feel like Arondir or, say, Bronwyn should have told you this, Galadriel. The way they responded to "King Halbrand" makes this look like a last minute change.

• But it is a dramatic reveal. The music works, and that's some of his better dialogue.

• Oh yeah, that's what they thought Finrod looked like...

• This is a nonsense dream? mind-invasion? scene--but the lies Sauron is whispering are fairly in character.

• The Ring always offered power and rule, I suppose.

• I don't know if we can believe a word this Sauron says... but if we could, it's got some textual support.

• "Three Rings for the Elven-Kings," I guess.

• Giving up her blade for the Rings is... unexpected, but I suppose I like it.

• So we just need confirmation if Starman is Gandalf or a Blue Wizard--the indications would seem to be Gandalf. A Blue Wizard I'd enjoy... Gandalf annoys me: it's such a case of prequelitis (stuffing things into the prequel from the first story "because" when it doesn't have to be there.

• I do sort of thematically like the idea of Gandalf getting to meet the Hobbits before they can possibly remember it, but it offends my sense of timeline--and how is Gandalf to get Narya from Círdan as he arrives at the Havens?

• Hobbits imparting advice at parting is nice as a concept.

• Was that supposed to be a Gandalf pre-quote?

• You don't look hot next to this forge, Galadriel. An elf is supposed to always look cool, I suppose.

• Travelled to Mordor rather quickly, didn't we, Halbrand?

• It's weird getting end credits...

• So, do we get a new set of Rings at the end of each season? Dwarves at the end of 2, Men at the end of three, Sauron at the end of 4--and then the Last Alliance in Season 5?