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Old 10-22-2022, 03:22 PM   #15
Legate of Amon Lanc
A Voice That Gainsayeth
 
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
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Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.
Pipe

Okay, that was it. Let's cut to the chase.

Bad things: again unnecessary slow motion, and too many PJ referrences (staff-battle having person in white throwing Gandalf around, rotating him 90 degrees etc.). I am beginning to realise that this was actually never a show for Tolkien fans, this was a show for the movie viewers, not even those who have read the books (and therefore Appendices) afterwards. Because despite the fact that the showmakers had the access to the books, what they put in is literally just stuff that could be prequel to the movies, but not to the books. That is it. It makes perfect sense.

This is probably the time when the steeds are yet noble and speedy like Shadowfax, since after in the previous episode the Númenoreans somehow got from Anduin to Gorgoroth in one day, now Galadriel and Mr. Halbardsson got to Eregion in six days.

Questionable things:

So this show (or season) is about Galadriel encouraging a future Nazgul to become a fighter and Sauron to become Sauron. Well done.

The Galadriel-and-Harbinger sequence by the brook (apparently Glanduin, as attested by Elrond later) leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I do like that THIS IS FINALLY ANNATAR. This is how he should have been all the time, Master Deceiver, blah blah. Not some pseudo-aragorn who crawled out of a ditch.

I am somewhat freaked out by the near-romantic suggestions between the two of them. Though I admit that the suggestion of the alliance is cool. It is a different take on Galadriel's primary temptation, but it maintains the spirit. It is only a pity Galadriel did not have the "will to power" manifested basically at all throughout the entire season and, just like every plot here, it came pretty much out of the blue (ie, if you hadn't known about the Frodo-offering-the-Ring-temptation-scene, you'd probably be "where did this come from?").

The scene ending with them screaming at each other however was just ridiculous. If it was in a parody of PJ, I'd accept it, but this was meant to be serious. (I assume.)

Speaking of pseudo-aragorn who crawled out of a ditch. I do not know what I would have thought of the show had I not been spoiled about his identity beforehand (thanks Nogrod). I think I would have opposed the notion to the very last because it simply goes against everything I believe to be in the fundaments of Tolkien's world that Sauron would disguise himself as a "Strider". Meaning, just like the Hobbits tell Strider in Bree, an agent of evil would seem nice and clean on the outside and be foul on the inside, not the other way around.

Things I don't give a broken horseshoe about:

Sadly probably Nori and Mr. Mysterious Stranger. I kind of hope that their journey in the next season (if such season comes) will take them to proto-Erebor and proto-Dale where their plotlines could converge on, say, the plot of two out of Seven and Nine Rings (that's what I'd do if I was given this setup, probably).

Things that do not make any sense whatsoever:

Galadriel, who had been "vengeance, vengeance for my brother" the whole season, hunting for Sauron who everyone was convincing her was not around anymore, finally gives up her dagger the moment right after she actually found Sauron and had a confirmation that he lives. NOW would be the moment for her to don her shiny armour and ride out chasing him on a horse, screaming "vengeance!" But no. She casts away her dagger.

Continuing along the same plotline, I am able to feebly understand that Galadriel would want to hush-hush the fact that she had been trotting along with Sauron. But I do not understand that she does not say "ok, guys, abort the Ring-making process now, this is shady" and/or say "ahem, Mr. Harbsson disappeared pretty quick, don't we want to send a patrol after him? What if he stole something? (Such as your copyright, Celebrimbor?)" Or "ah guys, I just remembered I forgot my comb in Míriel's camp, can I just borrow the fastest horse? Be back in a moment."

Things that I sorta like:

Despite everything I have said about Mr. Hurdle-burdle, if I take a step back and cast away my presuppositions, I have to say that they handled Sauron pretty well in terms of not making him the stereotypical villain, and not even the stereotypical sneaky tempter (a la e.g. Chancellor Palpatine). I think the show has decidedly played on "everyone has good intentions": Sauron wants to heal, Adar wants his Orcs to have living space, Galadriel wants vengeance for her brother (ahem, that's actually a "bad" motivation... but let's say she wants justice upon the perpetrator of evil and his neutralisation for future... or wanted to), even the Dwarves seemingly will want to dig mithril not out of greed, but out of friendship.

So basically this show can be summed up as: everyone's motivations are good. But the means are what corrupts. Which is actually pretty cool.

And overall the show preserves the spirit, like I have said numerous times. Events do not happen in the chronological order that is in the books, they even happen completely differently, etc. But somehow the themes, the spirit as opposed to the letter, are preserved in one way or another.

I am glad that the plot had a focus from point A to point B, which is sadly not a given these days (looking at Star Wars sequels. Basically: if SW sequels had the pre-planning and focus this has, they'd have been ok. And vice versa, had RoP had at least the writing of dialogues and characters the SW sequels had, it would be a decent, okay show too.)

Yes, sadly, what sucks is the writing.
-no foreshadowing in plot, lots of red herrings that serve no purpose
-no buildup, things just happen and people just decide to do stuff,
-characters arbitrarily switch their priorities (we must do X - no wait I am breaking down and I am not doing X - ok no I am doing it after all; this all often happening within a single scene - I'd be okay with it if it at least happened during the span of an episode or ideally the season. See: Elrond's admission to Moria, Bronwyn giving up to the Orcs, Nori deciding she's leaving the Stranger, among many other things)
-the audience is given no explanation as to why someone is doing something or why is it important (the Key etc.)
-especially Elven dialogues sound 90% of the time like someone gave 5-year-old a thesaurus of fancy-sounding words and told them to write a story.

Final verdict? Will I watch another season (if one happens)? Honestly can't say. Probably would watch for interest's sake, or for the sake of a BD discussion.

If I had to express some thoughts in one sentence... Since I said that this show works in the spirit, but not in the letter, I would say this: I hope that on the long run, this show will bequeath its spirit, but will be forgotten in its form. (But I am similarly critical of PJ. In his case, I wish that about 50% of his form and 100% of his spirit - meaning everything that he brought in that was not Tolkien - was forgotten. So RoP really did much better on the spirit level, it brought new themes that are Tolkien-esque yet have not been touched before - e.g. the whole Orc redemption thingy, or the take on "everoyne had good motives", or the mortals-vs-immortals perception of time-dichotomy.)
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"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories
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