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Spoilers Rings of Power Season 2 Rating and Review and Discussion Thread: Spoilers inside.

Not a bad episode at all, but not as tight of an episode as the last.

I absolutely loved the opening, though.
 
Me during the Celebrimbor scene:

family-guy-peter-griffin.gif
 
Really glad a couple of spoilers from before the season didn't come to pass.

Things like Halbrand having an offspring. Also very worried with the rumor that Celeborn would be in this season, especially when the ring was restoring Adar.....I was going please, please don't do that.....
 
Not the most exciting episode to end season 2 on but everything has been a vast improvement over season 1. Hope they can keep and build on the momentum.
 
That was an excellent season finale. Overall, the second season was an improvement over the first and I'm really enjoying it. Season 3 can't get here soon enough.
 
It was a good finale, but the penultimate episode was actually so good that it really raised expectations.

The first 10-15 minutes of the finale kind of made me feel something I've felt several times during this series. Like I missed an episode or something that occurred prior to it. The way they pick-up storylines at a later point from when they happened and skip the intermediary stuff makes me feel like I missed an episode or chunk of a previous episode at times lol.
 
I had the same feeling! I actually went back and watched the last episode to make sure I hadn't stopped watching it at some point and forgot to go back.
 
This wasn't quite as awesome as last week, but it was still good.
So of course The Stranger was Gandalf, I was kind of hoping for a surprise twist, but I'm not too disappointed with the reveal. I am curious to see where his and Nori's stories go now. It kind of felt like this is the last they are going to be together. The Harfoot's story is so separate from everything else going on at this point, that I could easily see them just ending Nori and Poppy's story here and bringing Gandalf's story into the bigger story about the fight against Sauron.
I wasn't to surprised by Durin III sacrificing himself to stop the Balrog, for now at least, but it that still a pretty cool heroic sacrifice for him.
I could have sworn Arondir was pretty clearly dead last week, but I guess not.
Damn, didn't think I'd actually be sad to Adar die.
It was nice to see Earien finally come to her sensing and actually help her father.
Damn, Pharazon really is horrible. It's a little ironic that he was doing all of this because he was claiming the Miriel and the Faithful were loyal to Sauron, but if they follow the books he'll end up working with Sauron.
Celebrimbor's death was a pretty good scene, and I did get a kick out of him calling Sauron the Lord of The Rings, even if it was a bit cheesy.
The fight between Sauron and Galadriel was pretty cool.
I wonder if the place where they were at the end was the future home of either Rivendell or Lothlorien?
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where they take things next season.
I'm assuming we'll be getting the fall of Numenor and birth of Gondor soon.
 
This wasn't quite as awesome as last week, but it was still good.
So of course The Stranger was Gandalf, I was kind of hoping for a surprise twist, but I'm not too disappointed with the reveal. I am curious to see where his and Nori's stories go now. It kind of felt like this is the last they are going to be together. The Harfoot's story is so separate from everything else going on at this point, that I could easily see them just ending Nori and Poppy's story here and bringing Gandalf's story into the bigger story about the fight against Sauron.
I wasn't to surprised by Durin III sacrificing himself to stop the Balrog, for now at least, but it that still a pretty cool heroic sacrifice for him.
I could have sworn Arondir was pretty clearly dead last week, but I guess not.
Damn, didn't think I'd actually be sad to Adar die.
It was nice to see Earien finally come to her sensing and actually help her father.
Damn, Pharazon really is horrible. It's a little ironic that he was doing all of this because he was claiming the Miriel and the Faithful were loyal to Sauron, but if they follow the books he'll end up working with Sauron.
Celebrimbor's death was a pretty good scene, and I did get a kick out of him calling Sauron the Lord of The Rings, even if it was a bit cheesy.
The fight between Sauron and Galadriel was pretty cool.
I wonder if the place where they were at the end was the future home of either Rivendell or Lothlorien?
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where they take things next season.
I'm assuming we'll be getting the fall of Numenor and birth of Gondor soon.
I was wondering the same, but by what little I know of pre-LotR stuff, Rivendell is more associated with being a refuge established by Elrond? And it looked the part, imo.
 
Seasons over, and overall I think it was an improvement over season 1. It still has huge problems that can only be caused by incompetence and borderline contempt for the source material, and overall it is objectively a terrible adaptation that would probably make Tolkien roll over in his grave. But something about it, to me at least, still has heart and it feels like at least some of the people working on it are genuinely trying their best, which puts the show much higher up in my opinion then, for example, the Hobbit films.

I wish the show was better, the material definitely deserves better writers/producers, but I continue to enjoy it for what it is while still being disappointed in how bad it is as an adaptation. If nothing else, its a high fantasy TV show and its not even remotely trying to copy GOT, making it a rare thing in modern television.
 
Seasons over, and overall I think it was an improvement over season 1. It still has huge problems that can only be caused by incompetence and borderline contempt for the source material, and overall it is objectively a terrible adaptation that would probably make Tolkien roll over in his grave.
0b0SMYe.gif


Contempt meaning:
the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn:
"he showed his contempt for his job by doing it very badly"

So the people working on this show were like, "Eh, fuck it, and fuck Tolkien too!" as they worked. That's damn impressive.
 
Overall a pretty good finale to a much-improved second season. I'm still not pleased with the Stranger being Gandalf, but whatever. Hopefully they do something a little more interesting with the Dark Wizard.

I am curious about where they'll go with season three, though. They set up some stuff for Dúrin the Younger to deal with, although I'm a little confused because everyone's acting as if Dúrin the Elder defeated the Balrog even though they have no proof. But this does seem a bit too early to kick off the fall of Khazad-dûm, so maybe they want to drag that out for a bit longer.

I'm guessing that it will mostly be about setting up Rivendell while the War of the Elves and Sauron rages, culminating with the Númenóreans arriving (presumably in response to Sauron messing with Pelargir and other Númenórean outposts, since I doubt Ar-Pharazôn has any interest in helping the Elves), kicking his ass, and taking him back to Númenor. But in between all of that, Sauron needs to start handing out the Nine and finally forge the One. Maybe that will be the finale of season three, and season four will open with Númenor capturing Sauron, with that season focusing on his corruption of the island and its ultimate downfall.

Oh yeah, and I guess some stuff will happen with Gandalf (sigh), Nori and the Harfeet, too.
 
0b0SMYe.gif


Contempt meaning:
the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn:
"he showed his contempt for his job by doing it very badly"

So the people working on this show were like, "Eh, fuck it, and fuck Tolkien too!" as they worked. That's damn impressive.

They 100% did do that in certain parts. For example, the dwarf rings (which were not made specifically for dwarves) literally couldn't corrupt them, it was total failure by Sauron. So King Durin wouldn't start acting like a nut because the ring he got wouldn't effect him like that. What screwed the dwarves with the rings, and helped Sauron even though he didn't plan it, is that the rings enabled them to get great wealth, which brought them to the attention of Dragons or (in the case of Kaza-dum) enabled them to dig deep enough to accidentally awaken a balrog. This is 100% clear in the source material, but the show obviously wanted to see a dwarf start acting posessed for some reason. It was bad enough when The Hobbit movies gave Thorin literal "Gold Fever", like it was an actual disease and not just him being a greedy a-hole. Dwarves are supposed to be very hardy and resistent to stuff, not that you'd know it from the live action stuff.

Then there is Gandalf, who literally in the text says that he never went East, and he definitely didn't arrive in Middle Earth until the Third Age, and when he arrived he didn't have amnesia or show up in a meteor (he arrived by boat, and Cirdan gives him the elven ring of fire immediately, sensing gandalf's purpse). Plus he didn't meet Hobbits until long after The Shire was already formed. Of course Tom Bombadil never left his forest for a desert, and his wife isn't some formless ghost.

Lets not forget them completely cutting out Celeborn and Celebrian, Galadriel's Husband and Daughter, both of whom were alive in this time (and the daughter was over a thousand years old by the time the rings were forged). Then there is having Elrond kiss his future Mother in Law, which was unnessesary even if they pretend it was a ruse to give her the means of escaping her capture (at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they made Galadriel into Arwen's Mother before the show ends :rolleyes: ).

This is just a few examples. Pretty much all of this stuff, in fact probably all of it, involves lore that they 100% have access to, its not like its first Age stuff connected to the Silmarillion. Even taking the very compressed timeline into account they frequently change stuff for no reason, and its literally always for the worse. The events they've been telling did not require any of this, except the few plot lines that they just pulled out of their asses (all the Hobbit stuff being a great example, it would easily be cut and the show would only be better).

Again I like the show, but its definitely suffering from being run by people who think they know better then Tolkien, and they prove at every opportunity that they don't. Adaptation between mediums always involves changes, but these are not that kind of change.
 
It did indeed appear to be a dell which was riven by that river valley.
Yea. After Gandalf speaks his name and him and Tom sing together there's a quick view of the Dark Wizard before going to the Khazad-dum throne room where Narvi tells Durin that the surviving Elves have fled north into a valley.

Rivendell in the lore was founded after the destruction of Eregion. A few hundred miles north of where the destructed capital of Eregion (Ost-In-Edhil) where the rings of power were crafted.
 
Again I like the show, but its definitely suffering from being run by people who think they know better then Tolkien, and they prove at every opportunity that they don't. Adaptation between mediums always involves changes, but these are not that kind of change.
Exicing whole characters? That's exactly the kind of changes Jackson did all the freaking time!

They're not acting like they know better. What tremendous tomfoolery is that? The just decided to make cuts to the edit based upon the time frame allotted. Or, like every other adaptation I've ever watched.

As an adaptation it appears to satisfy those enjoying the story. If I want the Professor's take I have the books for a reason.
 
Overall a pretty good finale to a much-improved second season. I'm still not pleased with the Stranger being Gandalf, but whatever. Hopefully they do something a little more interesting with the Dark Wizard.

I am curious about where they'll go with season three, though. They set up some stuff for Dúrin the Younger to deal with, although I'm a little confused because everyone's acting as if Dúrin the Elder defeated the Balrog even though they have no proof. But this does seem a bit too early to kick off the fall of Khazad-dûm, so maybe they want to drag that out for a bit longer.
The showrunners said in the inside the episode that this was just the beginning of the dwarves dealing with Balrog, so it'll definitely be back.
 
The showrunners said in the inside the episode that this was just the beginning of the dwarves dealing with Balrog, so it'll definitely be back.
I've seen some theories people have been throwing around that maybe Dúrin and Dísa end up losing Khazad-dûm to Dúrin's brother and their faction leaves to establish what will become the Kingdom under the Mountain at Erebor, which I really like. Especially if it means the Balrog comes back because Dúrin's brother ignores any warnings about the supposed demon that conveniently only Dúrin, Dísa, and a couple of their loyalists have seen.
 
kirk55555 said:
For example, the dwarf rings (which were not made specifically for dwarves) literally couldn't corrupt them, it was total failure by Sauron. So King Durin wouldn't start acting like a nut because the ring he got wouldn't effect him like that. What screwed the dwarves with the rings, and helped Sauron even though he didn't plan it, is that the rings enabled them to get great wealth, which brought them to the attention of Dragons or (in the case of Kaza-dum) enabled them to dig deep enough to accidentally awaken a balrog. This is 100% clear in the source material, but the show obviously wanted to see a dwarf start acting posessed for some reason. It was bad enough when The Hobbit movies gave Thorin literal "Gold Fever", like it was an actual disease and not just him being a greedy a-hole. Dwarves are supposed to be very hardy and resistent to stuff, not that you'd know it from the live action stuff.
"None the less it may well be, as the Dwarves now believe, that Sauron by his arts had discovered who had this Ring, the last to remain free, and that the singular misfortunes of the heirs of Durin were largely due to his malice. For the Dwarves had proved untameable by this means. The only power over them that the Rings wielded was to inflame their hearts with a greed of gold and precious things, so that if they lacked them all other good things seemed profitless, and they were filled with wrath and desire for vengeance on all who deprived them. But they were made from their beginning of a kind to resist most steadfastly any domination. Though they could be slain or broken, they could not be reduced to shadows enslaved to another will; and for the same reason their lives were not affected by any Ring, to live either longer or shorter because of it. All the more did Sauron hate the possessors and desire to dispossess them."
- TROTK, Appendix A
 
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