Talkie Tuesday: The Rings of Power

 

"Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die ..."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Alright so.

 

Unlike the last time I touched this story, I decided not to metaphorically undo myself every week for two months and figured I'd just do a little end-of dissertation once it was all over and done with.

 

After all, this isn't what a lot of people were expecting, although it LOOKS like there might be a lot of the positive floating around online, which is a bit of a difference from the first season, after which everyone and their mother (for the most part) was all "meh".

Of course I'm talking about Amazon's big fantasy release of the year, and no, it's not Wheel of Time.

If we're lucky we're getting the next season of THAT soon, however.

But for tonight, let's put on our thinking caps to make this all fit together in the second season of The Rings of Power.

Rings of Power: Alloyed

 

"One will always corrupt, two will divide; with three, there is balance."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Well, we finally made it.

 

The season finale is behind us, and with it, the mostly lackluster first season as a whole.

 

You may find this a harsh sort of criticism but, considering the incredibly high budget that Amazon threw at what I think they wanted to consider their flagship fantasy series purely because of the name attached to it - Tolkien - it really didn't deliver as much as it could have.

 

I've seen shows with a five time lesser budget do SO much better!

 

It felt as if, BECAUSE of the budget, the show creators thought they could do anything and people would love it precisely because of the money.

 

Newsflash, we don't watch shows for the money. We don't watch them for politics, either. We watch them for good, quality storytelling. 

The Rings of Power didn't achieve most of its goals, so let's look at the finale, Alloyed, to wrap it all up.

Rings of Power: The Eye

 

"Every war is fought both without and within." 

Hello everyone!

Well, only one more episode to go, and, dare we say a lot of us are feeling relieved?

Yes, yes, I'm sure you're wondering, but why are you still reviewing this if it's obviously a bit of a slog?

I'm a perfectionist and dislike not finishing what I start. So there.

I'll be seeing this through right to the end, though you will definitely also be getting some House of the Dragon thoughts from me when the time comes and THAT series comes to a close.

Not to mention possibly a few others.

But I'm certainly getting ahead of myself, as I first need to finish this one.

If you're wondering what you need to survive a volcanic explosion, I have to disappoint you by saying: you probably won't.

A lot of characters in Rings of Power did, though, as The Eye shows us.

Rings of Power: Udûn

 

"New life, in defiance of death."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Two more episodes to go in this show and we are done with the first season.

Will we return for a second? Remains to be seen.

Obviously we already know Amazon is committed to this project with five whole seasons, though granted I'm not entirely sure how they'll continue to excuse it if it performs poorly.

Or, maybe it won't perform poorly, not that I'm convinced it's doing well either.

It feels more like, the amount of views it's getting is that macabre sort of showing that people are only watching because they want to see the next version of a train wreck!

But maybe I'm being too harsh. However, I will say that after six episodes of barely anything happening, it's difficult to really argue against the fact that the season has just not been as gripping thus far as it could have been, and arguments of 'it'll be spread out over 5 seasons you have to be patient' are moot point as we have to wait for a long time between seasons. That doesn't translate well into the waiting period, trust me.

However, we still do have a review to get through, so here it is. The Rings of Power: Udûn.

Rings of Power: Partings

 

"Sometimes, to find the light, we must first touch the darkness."

 

Hello everyone!

 

I know I keep saying this every single week but, after watching a couple of videos about the topic, I can cheerfully say I probably know or have nailed down some of the reasons this show isn't getting the kind of universal acceptance Amazon might have wanted for it.

 

Then again, it has the misfortune of airing next to House of the Dragon.

 

ANY show, unless firing on all cylinders, would have been judged and found wanting in comparison to that!

 

But I digress, right off the bat.

 

I'll definitely go into more of the reasons once I recap what happened during last Friday's episodes, but honestly I BESEECH anyone watching this to actually pick up the books and read them.

 

I have nothing against fan fiction - I write it myself - but fan fiction doesn't usually masquerade as something official.

 

Rings of Power: Partings FINALLY gets the show moving again, at least.

 

Rings of Power: The Great Wave

 

"The Faithful believe that when the petals of the White Tree fall, it is no idle thing."

 

Hello everyone!

 

And we're back once again to dig a little deeper into Amazon's huge budget blockbuster show - I mean, we all know just how much money the company threw at this, right?

 

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.

 

Rings of Power: Adar

 

"If Sauron has indeed returned, the Southlands are but the beginning."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Alright, alright.

 

So I said initially I wasn't going to do this.

 

I changed my mind. I'm allowed!

 

And also, a few of my friends have said they'd really love to keep on reading these weekly dissertations of mine which are no more and no less than me just spinning yarn about my thoughts, really.

 

Which means here we are, and here we will stay until the season ends.

 

Last week may have been an introduction that blew hot and cold, but this week brought us something a little more tight in terms of writing, and some answers to the mysteries we're being introduced to.

 

Hopefully Prime continues in this vein, because we're headed to the halfway point of the season, so some answers are welcome!

 

The Rings of Power episode, Adar, at the very least gives us some of them.

 

Saturday Snippet: Gimli

xx

*images not mine