Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (2022)

[Greg]

Maybe I'm watching a different show?

[Drunk Monk]

You are always watching a different show. 

[Greg]

Truth.

[Drunk Monk]

E2 was a bit more engaging mostly due to Galadriel’s wet gossamer gown. It still seems a tad longwinded juggling multiple story lines to inch each forward a bit then switch to the next one. It bugs me that every non-elf talks like a bad Shrek impression. The Silmarillion was referenced which I read as a teen and found it laborious but finished it anyway to act superior at my high school D&D club (which I founded). Wonder if that’s still going.  

I’m ready for some sword fights soon here.

[Drunk Monk]

E3: The fight choreo is ridiculous and I don't mean that in a flattering way. It's an awkward mash up of CGI and wire work with some concepts that are just dumb - long metal chains used as battling ropes to knock out the slavers? srsly? Although, I do confess that I got excited with the line 'Release the warg!'

I still have yet to find any character that I can get behind. You'd think I'd relate to Galadriel, but this younger version, while attractive, just doesn't hold a candle to the ever regal Cate Blanchette. On the whole, the elf cast lacks that ... well, elvish magic that the movie version cast had - Liv Tyler and Hugo Weaving were also hard acts to follow. But beyond the lack of elf magic, I'm just not into any of the characters. 

It's the polar opposite of She-Hulk, where the eps are too short. At 70 mins a pop, RoP is laborious. 

But I am still watching... it has some moments. Some of the design is cool, despite the cgi inundation. I suppose I'm idly curious who will become nazgul.

[Greg]

Ep05 Lots of things happenings. I think we touched on all the storylines. And they are all intriguing. I especially like the Harfoots journey with the Starman. The sets in Numinor still look fake, but that's on me. There is lots of intrigue happening at this point. Everyone is positioning themselves. There is a really fun between the Dwarves and the Elves.

Galadriel in this is nowhere as luminous as Cate Blanchett, but maybe she'll grown into that in a couple thousand years. I do like that the elves of LotR appear in this show.

[Drunk Monk]

E4 pulled off a nice one-er when the kid with the demon hilt escapes the village filled with marauding orcs. I harbor hope that the kid becomes a nazgul. 

The birth of mithril was kinda amusing. 

The anti-racist themes of humans, elves and dwarves uniting is undone by the negative portrayal of orcs. I like that there are black protagonists, but there aren't any asian ones yet. The asians are still background characters without lines. We make killer elves, ya know. Haven't you ever seen Ice Fantasy?

I forgot to mention that the fight after that dude tried to steal the guild medallion in the previous was okay. 

Still not fully engaged but still watching out of loyalty to the franchise I think...

[Drunk Monk]

E5 SWORDFIGHT! Galadriel takes on a gang of eager Numenorian men as they vie for a lieutenant rank if they can cut her. It's not a bad fight, but not a great fight either. Galadriel makes quick work of them. She is a fair sword hawtty, as sword hawtties go. Did you know the actress' real name is Morfydd? They could've just gone with that. 

The Wargs are getting out of hand. 

I'm not feeling the intrigues that Greg is. Sure, sure, all the story arcs are plodding along, and there's a bit of a guessing game as to who will be Sauron - Is it the orc leader? The starman? The kid with the evil hilt? 

I'm kinda hoping that all the lead characters become nazgul, or they all die, and the harfoot dad Largo Brandyfoot becomes Gollum. 

However Amazon bought the rights for 5 seasons of this. The budget is over $1B. B!!! It's going to be a long haul to get there.

Full disclosure - I may have nodded off in the middle of this ep, but I don't feel that I missed much.

[Drunk Monk]

It bugs me that there's a cartoon image of Galadriel on the opening page of photoshop now. I mean, I get product placement and all, but it's a poor choice - a mediocre effect usage - and doesn't inspire me to create...

[Drunk Monk]

E6: Let the battle begin! Lotsa choppin, stabbin, burnin, and piercin with arrows (the word I want to use here is 'thrillin' because to thrill originally meant to pierce with arrows but I suspect that would sail over the heads of most of D00M like a wild Orc arrow, despite your heightened literacy).

Galadriel is getting more bad ass with her equestrian missile dodging tricks. The elf dude should learn to close his mouth when he's getting bled upon. There's the ol' arrow thrill (I can use it now) that's causing someone to bleed out that needs to be sealed with fire cauterization trope which would never work. Why does cinema even think that it might? If you've hit a major artery and you cauterize it shut, whereever that blood flow was going - arm, leg, the rest of the torso - won't get blood anymore and will go necrotic fast. Plus the victim would shock out. So dumb. One of my pet peeves. 

Anyway there was lots of sword fightin so I was amused. Not much harfoot action either (maybe there was... maybe I dozed off for a bit). I'm done with the harfoot story arc. Just let one of them get the ring and deevolve into Gollum and go back to Galadriel's equestionship.

[King Bob]

Thought I had posted on this but I guess not. I got up to ep 4, and it's starting to get better. Most of the earlier ones were mostly setup. I noticed that the ship captain's son is named Isildur - is he going to cut the ring from Sauron's finger? Or is he an ancestor?

DM - Photoshop opens with that, and Illustrator opens with the Dwarf (forgot his name) and his wife.

[Drunk Monk]

Adobe rings of power (I don’t use illustrator)

[thatguy]

I thought the episode end with the name change up was a pretty weak choice. They could have at least used a map...

Someone needs to smack that Theo kid...

Did everyone know that Elrond was a half-elf? That was new to me...

"Equestrian missiles" ... band name or no?

--tg

[Greg]

Ep06 was very enjoyable. Lots of violence. It just kept building. I can't stop thinking about cauterizing wounds.

[Greg]

Ep07: The Penultimate episode. Back to a slow episode as everyone regroups post Mount Doom eruption. Time to jettison the whiny kid. I felt for the people walking around in the smoke filled air. I could relate. Although none of them coughed. Lots of kicks to the nuts for the Harfoots. Those pale white chicks are dicks. I spend most of time in the dwarves scene looking at their beards.

It's going to be quite the trick to wrap this story in Ep08.