Summary: The Stranger is confronted by the three mysterious people who address him as Sauron. The Harfoots arrive to save him but they are found out and Sadoc takes a mortal wound. The Stranger is revealed to be an Istari and reverts the trio to wraith forms. Sadoc dies. Nori leaves the Harfoots with The Stranger and they head towards Rhun. Galadriel brings Halbrand to Eregion where he is healed. Halbrand helps Celebrimbor with his forging, giving him the idea of using the mithril as an alloy. Gil Galad sends the elves back to Valinor, but allows Elrond and Celebrimbor to stay an extra two months to come up with a solution. With Halbrand's help, they decide to use the mithril to create two rings. Galadriel looks into Halbrand's past and finds that the line of Southlands kings was broken and Halbrand is a fake. Halbrand is revealed to be Sauron and he tries to win Galadriel to his side, but she refuses. Halbrand leaves and returns to Mordor. Galadriel, Elrond, and Celebrimbor ultimately make three rings successfully. Miriel returns to Numenor and finds that the king has died.
The Good: This episode had its heart in the right place. The Sauron reveal made sense and there was some definite power in forcing Galadriel to realize that the man she had grown to trust was the person she has been hunting for all this time. The confrontation between Galadriel and Sauron in her mind is effective, and it is a good moment for Galadriel. I'm glad that the forging of the rings was treated as an important moment, because it doubtless will become more and more significant as the show goes on. The Harfoot story concludes in a reasonable way, and I'm intrigued to move on from it and see what's in the future for The Stranger and Nori. The Bad: Despite having its heart in the right place, this episode was a chore and was overall unsatisfying. The central storyline was a complete bore. It went on for ages with nothing particularly substantial happening. I praised the show for treating the forging of the rings as a huge moment, but the lengthy montages of the forging had no emotional value to them and the scenes bored me. It was hard to invest in this scene, especially since we knew that the rings would be forged eventually (it's the name of the show after all). Watching an uninteresting, pre-determined event finally happen as the climax of the whole season is uninspired and uninteresting storytelling. Halbrand being Sauron ended up being extremely predictable, and the show frustrates by relying too much on the shock value of this twist. A better show would have revealed Sauron's identity early, relying on the drama created by Sauron's presence to create an intense and exciting finale. Instead, this show relies completely on surprise and shock value, and much of this episode is dedicated to teasing the fans on who Sauron really is, which is insulting since we figured out the twists of this show many episodes ago. The show failed to be smart enough to surprise us, and outside of surprise, there was nothing going for this story. The writing remains poor. The ride from The Southlands to Eregion apparently only took six days, which is absurd since Frodo and Sam's journey to Mordor took nearly a year. The timeline doesn't add up. Furthermore, the fact that Halbrand miraculously survived this should have raised many questions about who he really is. I was annoyed that Galadriel started to distrust Halbrand for seemingly no reason at all. The development did not feel earned, and it feels like it only happened to set up a dramatic reveal. I was frustrated by Galadriel's refusal to tell anyone that Sauron was present, an absurd secret to keep considering who he is. Surely she would want to go after him and tell people about him. Additionally, I couldn't help but laugh at the idea that Sauron had to tell Celebrimbor, the master forger, about making an alloy to utilize the mithril, which is a basic concept that Celebrimbor should have immediately thought of. There are many more examples of poor writing, but I can't be bothered to list all of the examples from this 73 minute episode. The Harfoot story has been boring all season and it has a boring end. The three wraiths are boring villains that offer very little to the story, so I didn't care to see them face off with the Harfoots. If they knew the Harfoots were there, why did they come up with this elaborate disguise scheme instead of just killing them? This is typical badly written drama that prioritizes spectacle over simple logic. Sadoc's death had no emotional impact, and it was absurd how he took a mortal wound and proceeded to fight like he was completely fine until he died at the end of the episode. Whatever. The Stranger being revealed to be Gandalf is another predictable moment that had little to no emotional impact to me. I didn't feel anything with the conclusion to this story, which is indicative of how uninspired and poorly written it has been. All of the scenes in Numenor did nothing for me. Earien had been a non-character so far, so I have no investment in her uncovering a palantir. Also it's quite convenient that she was allowed to be alone with the king with nobody guarding the door. The writing is bad in quite literally every scene. Elendil and Miriel failed to compel me this season, and now that they are alone without any other more interesting characters around them, their limitations are fully displayed. The Unknown: The Stranger is all but confirmed to be Gandalf now. What role will Gandalf play in this show? What about the other Istari? Why did the wraiths think that Gandalf was Sauron? What are the wraiths anyways? Why are they after Sauron? Who are they? What will Nori and The Stranger find in Rhun? What did Earien do with the palantir? Where is this character going? So why was Sauron on a raft in the middle of the ocean? Was he really "killed" by Adar? Did this change his mindset somehow? Why did Sauron allow Galadriel to live? Why did he try to make the rings anyways? Did he have a plan in place to make the one ring? Or did he just see an opportunity for power and take it? Why didn't Galadriel tell anyone about Halbrand's true identity? What is Sauron's next move? Best Moment: Sauron entering Galadriel's mind. Character of the Episode: Halbrand/Sauron. Conclusion: What a disappointment. This final episode totally failed to give this sloppy first season a satisfying ending, and I was disinterested throughout almost the entire episode. Much like the rest of the show, this was a slog, and now by the end of the season, I've run out of patience. So much of this season felt stagnant, like the story was stalling for a big pay-off at the end of the season. Now the end of the season has come and gone, and I can confirm that the first season was a boring, messy disappointment which had glimpses of potential and realized none of it. The writing was full of holes, the characters unoriginal and boring, the acting was flat, the dialogue was cartoonish, the pacing was a total slog, and the visual effects weren't as good as you would expect from the most expensive TV show on television. It's quite incredible how practically everything in this season disappointed me, and I have next to no motivation to want to watch a second season. As a huge "Lord of the Rings" fan, I couldn't be more disappointed by what this show was. Score: 46
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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