"The Faithful believe that when the petals of the White Tree fall, it is no idle thing."
Hello everyone!
I feel like I keep repeating myself every single week, but I will say that, for the amount of money spent, I don't really see the results being executed all that well YET, and at this point we're halfway through the first season, which is slightly concerning.
I'm not the only one thinking like this, either, as there is a fair number of people who share my views, but we digress in any event.
Regardless of all of the above, we did witness SOME plot progression this last episode.
Not all of it was completely bad, and certainly not all of it was completely good.
Besides, the visual effects remain rather stunning no matter what one thinks with regards to the writing and characters, so you know.
Rings of Power's fourth episode, The Great Wave, gives a lot of pomp and substance, but the core of it is still somehow ... hollow.
Again, the writers decided - after packing as much as they humanly could into the first two hours of this extravaganza - to try and pare down the plotlines they're working with per individual episode and slowly inching us closer to some form of conclusion, which I can definitely get behind.
It's a heck of a lot easier to follow what's going on when you're following only a handful of characters.
In the Southlands, Arondir finally meets this elusive ADAR person that the Orcs keep jabbering on about - and it turns out to be an Elf, who not only puts a mortally wounded orc out of its misery, but goes on to explain to Arondir he's been told a heck of a lot of lies, so many in fact that even the roots and rocks believe them.
This is important BECAUSE we know from Tolkien's other work that rocks and roots are the last to remember Elves after they've passed from a particular location.
But we don't dig too deep into that because Adar then releases Arondir to go to his old watchpost and tell the humans there that, hey, if they submit to him and acknowledge him as their leader, they'll live, and if not, well, it's death time (speaking of, did the Elves NOT upkeep any of their towers? This is the first time we see Elven architecture literally looking like it's about to fall apart, but why would they house their troops in such a mess?).
Anyway, the humans in the meantime are suffering from onsetting hunger from lack of food, so Bronwyn's son Theo and a friend head back to their village to pillage a root cellar, only to have a run-in with an Orc who confirms what we've all been thinking, in that Adar is searching for the sword hilt that takes on the properties of a Star Wars lightsaber, elongating into a fiery sword before becoming a hilt once more after.
And apparently, Bronwyn needs to rethink her commentary with regards to the fact that her people are innocent and unconnected to the Dark Lord (one or the other at this point), because the villager from under whose cellar that sword came out of? He's totally a dark follower and explains to Theo that the time for their TRUE ruler is nigh.
Also, for anyone still wondering just where the Southlands are: don' worry, Bronwyn's got you covered. She mentions that every human straight down to Orodruin has come to take refuge in the tower (which suddenly reminds me a lot of Helm's Deep, actually), and we ALL know Orodruin, don't we?
It's other name is Mount Doom. You know, the volcano. Welcome to Mordor, everyone!
While the humans are having their issues, Elrond learns from Celebrimbor that the Elf actually knew Eärendil, his father, though again this is a little bit on the nose here, but alright, it can slide and it COULD possibly have even happened. It's not quite as important anyway other than a name-drop, because soon after - with that huge ass tower being built in the background, showing Elrond succeeded in getting Durin to send his workers - our future Lord of Imladris is back with the Dwarves.
Only, Durin's not there, and Disa very obviously lies to him - though she does it so convincingly and so sweetly (with just the right edge of 'I will make mole soup out of you, Elf' in her voice) that you think Elrond falls for it, for a bit.
He does not. And he goes to find Durin, because he's not as stupid as everyone around him seems to believe he is (which still boggles the mind here), in an old mine shaft under Mirrormere, the lake in which the very first Durin looked into when he awoke, seeing a crown upon his head.
Figuring out the way in from a knocking game Durin taught his kids, Elrond finally sees what's being mined, not that he immediately recognizes it from the walls before Durin himself comes bellowing at him, and the Elf takes a hot minute to explain to his buddy that HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE DWARVES ARE DOING, OKAY?
Also, he's still sorry and worried. So Durin believes him, shows him the mithril they've mined, but also explains that it's dangerous, confirmed in the same breath by a cave-in from which Elrond barely saves Durin himself.
And after a spectacular sequence in which Disa sings to the mountain, pleading it to release the miners safely, as well as apologizes to Elrond for lying, Durin and Elrond share a moment talking about their fathers in which writers acknowledge that, welp, it wasn't easy for Elrond OR Elros with their father gone so much, but especially after he was literally made into the Evening Star in the night sky.
This prompts Durin to go apologize to his own father, who waves it aside and asks him about gut feelings, because while Durin believes that Elrond is sincere - and even asked him to swear an oath of loyalty to keep the Dwarves' secrets - he isn't as sure about the rest, which the king approves of.
He also sends his son to Lindon to tag along, and see stuff for himself.
And MEANWHILE, the bulk of the episode is again carried by Númenor, where the people are terrified that one lonely Elf washed up on their shores will mean Elves are about to descend upon them in droves and take all their jobs (because Elves serving beer in a tavern is going to happen ...).
Then again, this is Númenor in obvious decline as they've turned away from their Old Ways in which they were friendly with the Elves and followed the decrees of the Valar, so I mean, what did we expect?
Pharazon manages to calm the crowd rather skillfully, while up above in the palace, Galadriel and Elendil gain an audience with the Queen, who dismisses the Elf's pleas about the Southlands and Sauron, saying Númenor has chosen her own path and won't deviate now.
This prompts Galadriel to demand she speak with the true king, of whom the Queen is only Regent - and ends up in jail for sedition.
Halbrand rolls his eyes and tells Galadriel that if she stopped running like a horse head-first into everything, she could think things through - and it's a bit insulting that a HUMAN has to be the one to point this out to a thousands of years old Elf who SHOULD have known better by now - but in any event, she figures out it was the mention of the old King which terrified the Queen so much.
So when Pharazon shows up with an armed escort, she packs them into her cell - much too easily if you ask me; Elves are obviously going to be faster and stronger than Men, but these are still Men of Westernesse, of all the Men around the only ones who can contend, but I digress - and hikes it to the King's tower. Halbrand, meanwhile, cheerfully tells Pharazon not to bother his old bones with a sword and just go on ahead and meet her there.
In the tower, Galadriel learns that being impetuous has consequences, because she sees the King is old and ill and pretty much dying, for which she apologizes when the Queen informs her that there's a battalion outside to take her to a ship which will return her to her own people (the question here is whether the Queen meant in the West, or in Middle-Earth, but it never really arises again).
Galadriel urges the Queen one last time, so she gets shown the Palantír of Númenor, and explains she's touched one before - but we also learn that there used to be seven, and only this one remains, the others lost or hidden.
Um, Amazon? I know your people apparently didn't read the material y'all DID acquire rights to, but there's this little thing you should probably be aware of, straight out of said material:
Tall ships and tall kings three times three, what brought they from the foundered land over the flowing sea? Seven stars and seven stones and one white tree.
So yeah. There NEED to be seven of these bowling balls to bring back to Middle-Earth, otherwise it doesn't track. But: Galadriel puts her hand on this rock which seems to take a book right out of the one Denethor takes with him into his funeral pyre in that it only shows one thing, and one thing alone.
In this case, the Downfall of Númenor when a gigantic wave crashes down over the island and swallows it whole.
The Valar are ANGRY, in case you haven't picked up on that yet.
But the Queen is dead convinced that the problem lies in the Old Ways which her father tried to reinstate - rightly so, after looking into the Palantír, mind - and so she banned them to keep the peace among her people before everything went to hell in a handbasket, but what she doesn't understand is that her home isn't taken down by her people being unhappy with which gods they follow.
Well, okay yes, it is indirectly, but she's dealing with the problems at hand rather than looking at why the problems are already there, like her father did. Peace among the people may exist, but her land is doomed because of it.
Either way, she packs Galadriel onto a boat to take her to a ship - Elendil even tells her bye in Quenya, and looks stricken that she's leaving - when the petals of the White Tree begin to fall like someone's sobbing their heart out, making everyone stop and stare. Given that those who still follow the Old Ways believe this is a sign from the Valar themselves - and of their displeasure - even the Queen can't ignore it, so she calls Galadriel right back.
And to top it off, she announces SHE will lead an army to Middle-Earth to have a look at the Southlands and liberate them from whatever's happening.
Elendil, Pharazon and probably others of her council go among the people to sign up those who'll sail with her, and Isildur raises a hand, which is kind of weird in the sense that the guy's obviously always wanted to go WEST, not EAST, for some reason hearing a female voice whispering out of the setting sun (his mother, apparently), which got him and two of his buddies kicked out of the navy training program right before graduation.
Oh, his buddies are NOT happy, I can tell you that, and throw it all right in his face because IT'S ALL HIS FAULT FOR LETTING GO OF THE DAMN ROPE ONE TOO MANY TIMES. And you can't even be mad about it because it's exactly what's happened.
But. Galadriel now has the army she asked for. Halbrand is apparently coming along. The Elven-Dwarven tower which will house the forge for the Rings of Power is halfway finished, and Arondir and Bronwyn still make goo-goo eyes at each other, even more now that he saved her son from the Orcs.
Tune in next week when we see how some of this begins to slowly move towards culmination.
Until then, let's dissect a little.
I was definitely wrong about the Númenorean Queen; I gave her way too much depth in my previous review. She's got no depth. She's not even truly Faithful anymore at this point, but alas, we apparently can't have it all.
The Dwarves remain a highlight and high point for me, ironically enough, and I still love everything that's revealed about their culture and their lives in their greatest kingdom, not to mention the Elrond-Durin friendship, although I'm really, really worried this is the part where writers will shoe-horn in the reason the two races become estranged and even mortal enemies. It's what they're gunning for, apparently, making Elrond swear an oath that could contradict his service to the High King.
Which, this is taking something that should have ALREADY existed and pushing it in here, not to mention mithril. The Balrog's supposed to be asleep for a good two thousand more years, but it does look like he'll be waking up sooner than expected, and pissed at that.
That the orcs were looking for the stupid hilt was obvious, but what's not so obvious is just WHERE Sauron is at the moment. Given he can take on any form right now, there's a couple of guesses going around, but he certainly isn't Adar, this is clear - he'd never do his own dirty work. There's a theory on the internet he might be Halbrand, which is okay-ish to a point, but given how jittery Celebrimbor was this episode, the chances that Sauron as Annatar is already around somewhere are pretty big.
Some are even saying Celebrimbor IS Sauron, in disguise, which honestly ... please no.
And lastly, there's a bunch of old human heirlooms packed into Númenor for some reason unknown to me. We get a glimpse of Narsíl just chilling there against the wall, but apparently that King's room in the tower also contains stuff from Túrin and Tuor, which ... okay, makes for some great Easter eggs, but practically doesn't really make any sense whatsoever. Both these heroes have been lost or dead for a LONG time now, and their stuff was either buried with them, or taken along with them.
Hell if anyone had Tuor's stuff it would have been Eärendil, his son, and I doubt he'd have left it behind for Elros to take to Nűmenor, which seems to be the implication and a logical explanation for at least some of it.
Listen, I like the connections to deeper Tolkien mythology, I do; but the how of it getting into Númenor's grubby hands, especially stuff that should have been lost since the First Age, gives me a migraine.
So! We now apparently aren't getting SEVEN Seeing Stones to Middle-Earth - unless they suddenly appear out of nowhere on the Western Shores or something - and we've sufficiently accelerated the timeline that I'm not sure if Elrond's future wife won't be just a child when they get married. Also, Durin VI is apparently going to be During IV in this adaptation, and you can see that's a couple generations too soon.
But the visuals remain stunning, I'll give them that. The story, however, is still limping along, and it's beginning to show that this project needed AT LEAST one senior writer with a bit more experience under their belt to polish it to a shine. I'm not really sure giving us a CW worthy romance between Elendil's daughter and Pharazon's son will help. The show is just okay, but it could be good, even great. It isn't yet.
And it doesn't have a lot of time left to become great, either. Tune in again next week.
xx
*images and video not mine
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