Television The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Hopefully they will improve writing and direction in next season. Decent season overall but feels like a missed opportunity. Quality kept going down every episode. Although the final episode was better but felt they didnt need that Sauron reveal.

Seems like the script that was leaked was accurate. It mentioned major plot lines and everything happened exactly the same. Thats something Amazon has to put lid on. Too many people predicting the same stuff after reading that and ruined a lot of surprises for others
 
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Terrible finale, they basically shoe-horned in what should've been season 1's plot in about 30 minutes. Full credit to those of you who will be turning into season 2 as I won't be. Very, very disappointing.
 
lsd said:
How predictable was that?
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Dunno. If there was a undercover Sauron in S1 it was always going to be Halbrand. However having him get into barbrawls is not how i envisioned Annatar, but they did a good job of making him seem human. Havnt a clue why he was stuck at sea though. I wonder if we will ever find out if Adar killed his previous body. It would be a bit meh if he did. Him trying to romance Galadriel is a bit interesting though.
 
Credit to @glazed for sticking to their prediction throughout. I thought it would have been him after the end of episode 7, but definitely didn't up until then. I wanted them to go in a different direction to reveal him, but hey ho at least they didn't leave us 3 seasons to find out who it is.

Overall really enjoyed this season. For a starting point it was entertaining, beautiful to watch and can only get better from here.
 
I think the episode was a banger, and the show ends its first season on a satisfying note, a mystery-solving note, which places character and story progression ahead of swords and sorcery spectacle. There have been times when this show has strayed from the canon, but it hasn't done so without a purpose, filling in the lore with new stories based on Tolkien's appendices.
 
I really didn't enjoy that. The pacing felt so off to me, one of the most important events in Middle Earth lore takes place in the same span of time as it took the Hobbits to say goodbye to Nori. The show is called Rings of Power and yet they were far more focused on Gandalf rather than dealing with Sauron/Halbrand (sigh) manipulating the Elves. I can understand the decisions they made with the reveals, I guess the licensing issues meant using Annatar was a no go, so they invent Halbrand. I'm sure the casual viewer will enjoy that episode though. To think that the best smithy in Middle Earth needed a lesson in blacksmithing by an apprentice...

The part that truly frustrates me though is given that Halbrand initially told Galadriel that he took the pouch from a dead man, don't you think she'd be extra careful to research into Halbrand and ensure he is who he says he is. How would Sauron even know that Numenor kept records of the pouch and who's to say they wouldnt also have records to say that the line ended in Numenor too? To have the pouch means that he always intended on going back to Middle Earth otherwise he wouldn't need it. So his intention was never to stay at Numenor, so why go to Numenor in the first place? The whole Halbrand story arc is truly baffling when you break it down. If the reason for going to Numenor was to bring an army to kill Adar then he fecked that up by not allowing Galadriel to kill him...

If his main objective was to get to Erebor and create the rings, how would he know the forge had been built. Why would he go to Numenor? If he went to Numenor knowing Galadriel would be in the ocean and that would be the stepping stone to getting in with the elves, how would he know Galadriel was in the ocean... for a master manipulator and strategist he chanced his way through sheer luck.

I'll let the episode sink in a bit before posting any more. As maybe i'm being too harsh right now.
 
D. Grayson said:
I think the episode was a banger, and the show ends its first season on a satisfying note, a mystery-solving note, which places character and story progression ahead of swords and sorcery spectacle. There have been times when this show has strayed from the canon, but it hasn't done so without a purpose, filling in the lore with new stories based on Tolkien's appendices.
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Im with you on this, thought it was a cracker and looking forward to s2
 
RedSky said:
I really didn't enjoy that. The pacing felt so off to me, one of the most important events in Middle Earth lore takes place in the same span of time as it took the Hobbits to say goodbye to Nori. The show is called Rings of Power and yet they were far more focused on Gandalf rather than dealing with Sauron/Halbrand (sigh) manipulating the Elves. I can understand the decisions they made with the reveals, I guess the licensing issues meant using Annatar was a no go, so they invent Halbrand. I'm sure the casual viewer will enjoy that episode though. To think that the best smithy in Middle Earth needed a lesson in blacksmithing by an apprentice...

The part that truly frustrates me though is given that Halbrand initially told Galadriel that he took the pouch from a dead man, don't you think she'd be extra careful to research into Halbrand and ensure he is who he says he is. How would Sauron even know that Numenor kept records of the pouch and who's to say they wouldnt also have records to say that the line ended in Numenor too? To have the pouch means that he always intended on going back to Middle Earth otherwise he wouldn't need it. So his intention was never to stay at Numenor, so why go to Numenor in the first place? The whole Halbrand story arc is truly baffling when you break it down. If the reason for going to Numenor was to bring an army to kill Adar then he fecked that up by not allowing Galadriel to kill him...

If his main objective was to get to Erebor and create the rings, how would he know the forge had been built. Why would he go to Numenor? If he went to Numenor knowing Galadriel would be in the ocean and that would be the stepping stone to getting in with the elves, how would he know Galadriel was in the ocean... for a master manipulator and strategist he chanced his way through sheer luck.

I'll let the episode sink in a bit before posting any more. As maybe i'm being too harsh right now.
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I think they definitely should have spent more time with the forging of the rings and Halbrand as Annatar. Agree with you on that. Apparently in an interview, the actor who plays Halbrand says that in S2 we will see much more of Sauron and also how he ended up at sea in the first place. So that will be interesting. I will be so dissapointed if Adar killed his previous body.
 
I just don’t get what they’ve gone for, seems such a hodge podge of a storyline. Will be intriguing to see viewing figures as the series goes on.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
I just don’t get what they’ve gone for, seems such a hodge podge of a storyline. Will be intriguing to see viewing figures as the series goes on.
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Considering is the most popular fantasy epic in history(or is that Harry Potter?) I think tons will keep watching it no matter what.
 
Gehrman said:
Considering is the most popular fantasy epic in history(or is that Harry Potter?) I think tons will keep watching it no matter what.
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I have no doubt people will still tune in but will be interesting to see the change (whether it’s up or down) given there was a huge amount of interest at launch. 5 seasons is really long project without any meaningful source material.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
I have no doubt people will still tune in but will be interesting to see the change (whether it’s up or down) given there was a huge amount of interest at launch. 5 seasons is really long project without any meaningful source material.
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Dunno, I will watch it, because I was a major tolkien nerd as a teenager. In some ways, the fact that they can make up whatever fan fiction they want opens up a lot of content. However, a bit like GOT after they ran out of canon material, they aren't great writers. Personally, I think the villains are more interesting, so now that they can have Sauron as a major on screen player rather than be in the background, is kind of exciting. All of course depending on whether they can do it well.
 
Sparky_Hughes said:
Im with you on this, thought it was a cracker and looking forward to s2
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In about 18 or so months.

Gehrman said:
Dunno, I will watch it, because I was a major tolkien nerd as a teenager. In some ways, the fact that they can make up whatever fan fiction they want opens up a lot of content. However, a bit like GOT after they ran out of canon material, they aren't great writers. Personally, I think the villains are more interesting, so now that they can have Sauron as a major on screen player rather than be in the background, is kind of exciting. All of course depending on whether they can do it well.
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Given the massive financial outlay involved, they will almost certainly have to improve on the underwhelming aspects of season 1... unless Ed Woodward is an executive producer.
 
“I am…good!” :lol: Not so fast not-Gandalf, y’all got some issues. Why are we spending 5 minutes with a goodbye no cares about set to dramatic music but rushing through the crucial storyline?

At least it’s ‘so bad it’s good’ in parts. What a disappointment…at least it is a beautiful disaster.
 
Gehrman said:
Dunno, I will watch it, because I was a major tolkien nerd as a teenager. In some ways, the fact that they can make up whatever fan fiction they want opens up a lot of content. However, a bit like GOT after they ran out of canon material, they aren't great writers. Personally, I think the villains are more interesting, so now that they can have Sauron as a major on screen player rather than be in the background, is kind of exciting. All of course depending on whether they can do it well.
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This is the crux. I’d say first season was more disappointing than positive for me, I’d give it a middle of the road 5/10. Not awful, not great. Elrond/Durin/Adar being positive points with the Sauron reveal, the action scenes and general writing being negative. I really wished they’d kept him secret a lot longer though.
 
"Ive come to serve you, Lord Sauron"

nooo-no.gif
 
I don't understand how Amazon can spend the money they have and end up with this writing team. The show is beautiful but don't think at all about anything beyond the spectacle, it falls apart otherwise. These scripts would be rejected by guilty pleasure trash like Xena and Hercules back in the 90's.

Despite all this the show still has huge potential and I really hope Amazon leaning as hard into the "all criticism comes from racist, sexist incels" as they have is about protecting their investment and not being blind to the shows flaws.
 
mu4c_20le said:
I turned it off right there.
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You may want to go back and carry on :lol: Anyway, there’s clearly stuff wrong with the show and I had very little interest in much of the Harfoot stuff but I think it gets a lot right, had some very high peaks during the season and it kept me invested throughout. It’s laid solid foundations for season two - If they take the learning from some of the criticisms I think it’s in a good place to have a really good second season.
 
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Yeah called both of those reveals. It’s been decent if unspectacular. Will see where S2 goes.
 
As someone who was enthusiastic about this show for much of the season, I've given up. The writing is atrocious, I could have written a better script. Much of the story logic makes no sense, the slow pace to the crazy acceleration in the last episode, the show creators need to be sacked if they want season 2 to be better.
 
That was a decent season finale. They've kept a lot of scope to play with almost all of the subplots.Season 2 can be taken up a notch, looking forward to it
 
Wasn’t happy with the reveal as thought that would have been too obvious.

enjoyed the episode though. It’s a good!
 
Season 2 will start like this :
- The balrog has destroyed Khazad Dum (off screen)
-Isildurs father will do something bad because he thinks his son is dead, wich we all knows he is not, but they will do a grand reveal after. ”Look, the man who is one of the biggest reason LOTR happens was alive this whole time, such suspence”
- Gandalf will keep throwing out nostalgic qoutes before he said them the first time, just so we can do a Leonardo DiCaprio meme at the telly.
- Batman will make the ring and kill of Adar pretty quickly so that we will have no good characters left.
- Female Sam will become the leader of the Harfoots for no other reason than because.


Or they can change the writers and do good in S2. I loved this show up untill episode 6, but that was because i felt it was building up to something amazing. The last two episodes was not it, not it at all.
 
Both reveals have been obvious for ages. I’m not too bothered

Thought it was a great episode and the best of the 8. Overall I’ve really enjoyed the show. Perhaps it came out at a bad time for some as game of thrones is the better show so it brings it up for constant comparisons

For me it’s been a great few weeks. GoT on Monday, Star Wars on Wednesday and LOTR on Friday. It’s like nerd heaven
 
The reveals had been fairly predictable for a couple of episodes, but I enjoyed the finale and the season as a whole. The production has been great.
 
Felt like a box ticking exercise rather than a story. Speeding through the bullet points of history, with a few nostalgic references to the films. The logic and mechanics of the reveal are so, so fecking messy.
 
So many people saying the reveals were obvious for so long. Yet I've only really seen @glazed mention a reveal and stuck with it throughout. A lot of you are not being honest with yourselved are ya :p

I enjoyed it but again I'm probably a casual towards the whole lore so have no idea what canon is broken or not or whatever most of you are complaining about

I'm seeing
annatar mentioned a lot on this thread. Who or what is that? Is this non show stuff? Or did I miss something completely?
 
Thought it was a good season over all, the finale was also good but I think that they should have drawn out the under cover Sauron arc for a lot longer.
 
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