Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power [Amazon] *Spoilers*

It might actually be good then

new Trailer for August Season 2

To say the anticipation for this is muted is being generous

Should be one of the biggest media events of the year and I haven’t heard a single person even tangentially talk about it (and lots of my friends would be big LotR fans, myself included)

There was good stuff in the first season: I liked the relationship between Elrond and the Dwarves. I liked the black Elf and his relationship with the human woman and I liked the Dark Elf. And some bits here and there. I wasn't even too offended by the Not-Oirish accents.

BUT for every good thing there was bad.

Galadrial was an awful interpretation with an actor who had ZERO charisma or range… or even ability to move her mouth it seems.

Isuldur was unlikeable. I assume you are supposed to root for him and feel sad knowing his eventual fate but… I don't care.

"The Stranger's" reveal was predictable and his dramatic line "I AM NOT EVIL (Or bad, I cant remember or care)" Is not exactly on a par with his character's other classics (Trying to stay vague)

I liked (Bronwyn?) the mother but HATED her "kid"

Season 1 really came across as an intro to season 2. You could easily have condensed it into a 2 or 3 part opener for a 10 episode season.

Production values were very high (They'd want to be given the money spent) and I did REALLY like the Dwarves in this. A lot! but, as @Stephen_Maturin said, anticipation is just… not there. I don't hate it. I'll watch it but I think I'll have forgotten it again 2 weeks after it finishes

Looking forward to season 2 I enjoyed season 1 for all its faults. I agree though very little buzz about this compared to say HOTD.

nearly 3 and a half hours across first 3 episodes, so they’re giving us quantity at least…

I've seen Morfydd Clark in other things and she was good, and I understand she is an award winning stage actress.

I suspect maybe her fault might be adhering too well to direction that high born Elves should come across a certain way.

Another familiar face pops up... Ciaran Hinds. Oscar nominee for Belfast. Commanding presence in Rome, Game of Thrones.

Hamstrung with some dreadul lines, costuming and accent. What a waste.

Looks like Rory Kinnear will suffer similar fate.

Hamstrung with some dreadul lines,

Looks like Rory Kinnear will suffer similar fate.

Nosense, how can you possibly go wrong with Hey doll, merry doll, ring-a-dong-a-dildo

I must say so far I thought season 1 was much better. I did not think episode 1 of season 2 was great at all. Its very dark and hard to see in part but the parts we can see look great. Why did your man drop the 3 rings?

Some of the fighting scenes were hard to msjd out too.

Maybe the next few episodes will be better.

Episode 3... one sentence summary:

my kingdom for a horse.

Got a deja vu in this episode to Amazon stablemate series Wheel of Time.

I'm enjoying the new season. I've only watched the first two episodes but thought they were good and the writing seemed "tighter" than last season (for want of a better word).

The caveat to this is I thought season 1 started and finished very strongly but with a lot of filler in the middle so hopefully they've learned the lessons for this season.

Its making Season 1 look excellent. I have zero idea why they spent so much on the rights only to flub on basically make it up as they went.

while I said I've enjoyed it ,its not without its faults and the one that bugs me is the orc family with baby 🙄

This thread today is the first I heard of it. Season 1 completely passed me by. And I already have Amazon Prime.

There seemed to be a lack of co-ordination with the Elves… Elrond was still fighting and defending the wall but it seemed like Galadriel had made contact and everyone except a skeleton crew had fled? I suppose you could chalk it up to the chaos of war.

Also, Sauron's levels of power seems off the scale… to be able to mind control multiple Elves at the same time into suicide attacks like that. That is beyond anything I can recall from any of the books.

I know he is a Maiar and has 'raw' power, not veiled like the wizards but even then… I don't recall that level of power in the Silmarillion or book appendices. It does mention 'shape shifter' but doesn't detail out if that is a genuine change of shape or merely projecting that appearance. I suppose you could spin that into, he is deceiving someone else and they see an enemy and attack.

And he is not the source of all evil in Middle Earth, that was Morgoth.

"Sauron gathered under his government all the evil things of the days of Morgoth that remained on earth or beneath it."

There are power levels for sure.
For one thing, power levels are what the “rings of power” are all about?

Also, the Maiar have levels of power that far exceed an average hobbit,man, dwarf or elf.