The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Page 5 of 5)

When someone like Gil'galad uses words like "It is said that the deceiver (Sauron)...blah blah" my cringe-meter goes to an 11/10.
The people talking here are two of the oldest elves in middle-earth, who were born and raised among the Valar and Maiar. If at all, they are the people who "say things"...not the other way around.
Minor detail, but dialogue like that pisses me off...

With Galadriel I think the creators listened too much to the critics and toned her down too much. She is way to subordinate which doesn't compare to her in Season 1 at all.
I get that some fans weren't happy with her demeanor but changing her in Season 2 like that is just making it worse.

The dwarves story...I don't get it. So their light tunnels collapse and they are worried about crops. Fair enough. But they still have communication and travel to the surface available? So whats the problem?

The Dark Wizard (according to imdb) calls Gandalf an Istar...either they are suggesting this isn't the first time someone from Valinor was sent to intervene or that dude came up with the phrase himself.
Then Sauron tells Celebrimbor that he practically is an Istar...but without using the word. So neither Sauron nor Celebrimbor know the term.

Galadriel and Elrond...this relationship just gets worse and worse storywise. Don't forget that at some point he will marry her daughter...

So far, my favorite part of Season 2 is still Gandalf and the Hobbits(!) journeying across the desert. Absolutely love them.

Isildur escaping the spiders was boring...we all knew he had to escape.
The dwarfs are still struggling for food.... even though THEY CAN LEAVE THE MOUNTAIN !...and it's not like the don't have anything to trade.
The dwarfs giving more Mithril to the elves....we all knew it was going to happen.

The eagle...that was just stupid.... Yeah sure Manwe would sent an eagle to alter a political struggle.... Tolkien's work is all about bloodlines - an eagle would've never been sent for something like that and it obviously didn't happen like that in the Silmarilion.
And I don't think Pharazon would be able to manipulate an eagle in anyway.

About the elves...
This was probably the worst display of elves so far...their behaviour, skills and knowledge are far beneath what you would expect.

They travel from Lindon to Eregion and have to discuss which path is the best?! as if they haven't traveled these paths hundreds of times.
Oh yeah and where are the horses?! - Isn't speed of the most importance to their task? Why they walkin'?

The fight against the barrow-wights...omg.
- one elf dead but they only draw their weapons after Elrond says "prepare yourself"
- one elf doesn't know what they are
- Galadriel knows what they are but doesn't know how to defeat them
- Elrond knows how to defeat them but only spills the beans after he let the warriors try a couple of times by regular means.

Elrond was kinda a douchebag in this episode.

Tom Bombadil...
It was ok....not as bad as I feared.

They throw the words Istar and Wizard around far too lightly. So the dark wizard was also sent by Valinor?, he was not a former servant of Morgoth? This I could've believed much easier. To my knowledge there were more Maiar who followed Morgoth and it would make sense that not just Sauron survived but another one as well.

But another Istar from Valinor turning bad....that's just not good enough. Sarumar should've been the exception.

And wizard...I get the humans and hobbits calling them that. But Tom Bombadil using the word "wizard" feels just wrong.

The humans from the south...
I could not care less about their story...

The hobbits...
For all I care, this show could just be about Hobbits.

The Dwarves
When they "reopened" Khazad-dûm for business - since apparently when the lightshafts break down but you can still leave the mine at any time, but you are still trapped somehow - Durin said:

Well...the whole point of the first 4 Episodes was, that they were could not survive for much longer without the lightshafts - aka "The Sun" - so what is he talking about? You could argue, that they are even more so slave to the sun than the surface-dwellers.

But other than that, the dwarves were OK in this Episode.

However, with a title like "Halls of Stone" I expected to see a lot more of the Glory of Khazad-dûm. What we got were scenes in small rooms, stuffed marketplaces or (very short and almost still) wide shots from the exterior. Nothing from the interior except for one short shot during the "reopening".  And that scene with the (probably) Balrog roaring was too dark imho.
Kinda disappointing. This could've been the moment for some epic score and scenery.

Even the first look at the Gates of Moria was almost boring. He could've whispered the password to make it glow or something like that.

Númenor
Hmm..curious where the drew their inspiration from, for what went down there - yes, of course, ancient rome

Eregion
This is an absolute fact: There are no Elves in Eregion, only humans with pointy ears !!!

Lindon
Stupid, just stupid... why is it a choice to either go to Eregion or sail to Mordor? Eregion is on the way to Mordor. Two birds with one stone...some Commanders and High King they are who planned countless battles in the old days....
Oh and Celebrimbor can send Gil-Galad a letter "all is good in Eregion" but Gil-Galad can't send a letter "that dude you played with is Sauron"... come on.
And btw. where are all the armies of the Elves? They have 4 Commanders: North, West, South, East - so four armies at least - are they all in Lindon? That's not very clever.

The Orcs
Yepp, I think this episode made it official: They want us to feel bad for the Orcs...somehow this reminds me of "The Acolyte" where suddenly the Jedi are the bad guys.