The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime
Jun 4, 2024 5:41:06 GMT
mothercruncher likes this
Post by Bill in the rain on Jun 4, 2024 5:41:06 GMT
I'm continuing to half-struggle through the back half of this.
I'm up to Episode 6/8 and at least things finally seem to be moving. Somewhat.
I've been thinking about why this series doesn't really work... (other than the issues with lawyers etc.. above)
[spoilers - but the bloody spoiler tags never work right]
..
..
..
..
(It's the one with the volcanic eruption. )
As I see it, there are several fundamental problems with the narrative they've gone for.
1 - They're jumping between 4 main groups, but there's almost no connection between any of them or what they're doing. Compared to something like LotR or The Hobbit which is following one main group (who might sometimes split).
I think they're trying to do something more complex and GoT-y, but even GoT started with most of the main characters in one place, and then spread them out. But that meant we knew the stakes and the connection and what everyone was working towards. Here we have no real idea.
Finally, in Ep6 of 8, two of the groups have come together. But it's way too late. GoT handled this stuff much better, and even if the characters didn't know the connections, at least the viewers did.
2 - They're trying to keep all the characters motivations and goals secret, I guess in some attempt to be all GoT with ambiguous characters, but it just makes things frustrating. We don't know who the wizard guy is or what he wants. We don't know about Halbrand's past and until ep4 we didn't know his character. We didn't know until now what the Dark Elf guy wanted (and still don't know who he is). And then there are characters like Isildur who don't seem to even know what *they* want. And Elrond who doesn't even know what his motivation is until he's told it 5 episodes in.
3 - Character motivations often don't make sense. Isildur flip-flopping. The Queen deciding to follow galadriel because of her dad's vision, but then carry on when he immediately tells her it'll lead to death. Galadriel persuading Halbrand to follow her by telling him everyone kicked her out because they think she's psycho. Dark Elf guy letting Elf Ranger guy go who then proceeds to singlehandedly murder about 100 of his beloved Orcs. Etc..
4 - Even when there are cool big moments like the fight scenes, the volcano plan, etc.. they're always undermined by all the little 'huh?' moments.
"Oh, the Dark Elf's trench plan from 3 episodes ago that I'd forgotten about was actually to create Mordor?! That's kinda cool. ... But why did he need the keySword and why didn't he just blow up the dam?"
"Oh, that move to take down the fleeing Dark Elf's horse was kinda cool! ... But how did he get ahead of them?"
"Why are they all having a happy picnic in the village just after watching half their friends/family die?"
"Did no-one seriously open the wrapping to check that the thing they had was actually the keySword. All day?"
and so on..
Plus there are still 2 groups whose storylines have gone almost nowhere in 6 episodes. Good Elf/Dwarf bants, but neither of them have really done anything or made any progress yet. The Wizard/Halflings are still wandering around.
It feels like they're trying to add GoT style complexity and ambiguity to a world that just doesn't really work with it. Galadriel is the xenophobic one wanting to exterminate an entire race and Dark Elf Dude is the good guy? Numenor turns out to be just a regular shitty political mess. Almost everyone's emotional journeys are defined by things that already happened to them, and we don't know much about and haven't seen much growth.
[/spoilers]
I'm up to Episode 6/8 and at least things finally seem to be moving. Somewhat.
I've been thinking about why this series doesn't really work... (other than the issues with lawyers etc.. above)
[spoilers - but the bloody spoiler tags never work right]
..
..
..
..
(It's the one with the volcanic eruption. )
As I see it, there are several fundamental problems with the narrative they've gone for.
1 - They're jumping between 4 main groups, but there's almost no connection between any of them or what they're doing. Compared to something like LotR or The Hobbit which is following one main group (who might sometimes split).
I think they're trying to do something more complex and GoT-y, but even GoT started with most of the main characters in one place, and then spread them out. But that meant we knew the stakes and the connection and what everyone was working towards. Here we have no real idea.
Finally, in Ep6 of 8, two of the groups have come together. But it's way too late. GoT handled this stuff much better, and even if the characters didn't know the connections, at least the viewers did.
2 - They're trying to keep all the characters motivations and goals secret, I guess in some attempt to be all GoT with ambiguous characters, but it just makes things frustrating. We don't know who the wizard guy is or what he wants. We don't know about Halbrand's past and until ep4 we didn't know his character. We didn't know until now what the Dark Elf guy wanted (and still don't know who he is). And then there are characters like Isildur who don't seem to even know what *they* want. And Elrond who doesn't even know what his motivation is until he's told it 5 episodes in.
3 - Character motivations often don't make sense. Isildur flip-flopping. The Queen deciding to follow galadriel because of her dad's vision, but then carry on when he immediately tells her it'll lead to death. Galadriel persuading Halbrand to follow her by telling him everyone kicked her out because they think she's psycho. Dark Elf guy letting Elf Ranger guy go who then proceeds to singlehandedly murder about 100 of his beloved Orcs. Etc..
4 - Even when there are cool big moments like the fight scenes, the volcano plan, etc.. they're always undermined by all the little 'huh?' moments.
"Oh, the Dark Elf's trench plan from 3 episodes ago that I'd forgotten about was actually to create Mordor?! That's kinda cool. ... But why did he need the keySword and why didn't he just blow up the dam?"
"Oh, that move to take down the fleeing Dark Elf's horse was kinda cool! ... But how did he get ahead of them?"
"Why are they all having a happy picnic in the village just after watching half their friends/family die?"
"Did no-one seriously open the wrapping to check that the thing they had was actually the keySword. All day?"
and so on..
Plus there are still 2 groups whose storylines have gone almost nowhere in 6 episodes. Good Elf/Dwarf bants, but neither of them have really done anything or made any progress yet. The Wizard/Halflings are still wandering around.
It feels like they're trying to add GoT style complexity and ambiguity to a world that just doesn't really work with it. Galadriel is the xenophobic one wanting to exterminate an entire race and Dark Elf Dude is the good guy? Numenor turns out to be just a regular shitty political mess. Almost everyone's emotional journeys are defined by things that already happened to them, and we don't know much about and haven't seen much growth.
[/spoilers]
