TRoP: Still too dark (literally)
Sep. 26th, 2024 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe Rings of Power - 2.2 Where the Stars are Strange
Still so many scenes in darkness, and although a few were for plot reasons, some were for mood and my grumbles about it remain. I wasn’t always that engaged, although thinking back, there was plenty to mull over. The ending felt like a mini tribute to the end of The Return of The King with at least three endings. I wonder if they had the editor fiddle around with the order, because the biggest was Annatar!Sauron, and if felt like diminishing returns. Yes, there was some drama at Galadriel learning she’d get to go to Eregion, but Elrond would be in charge, but Durin and the dwarves getting an invite felt very low energy in comparison.
Ah well, at least we had Dwarves in this episode, with Durin and his dad at odds (not shown if the prince did bite off his baiter’s finger, which is probably for the best.) Disa tried to be the voice of reason to both stubborn blokes, but no. (Very trad gender dynamics there.) I really enjoyed more of the ‘stone singing’, even as it looked as if it had come to an end, as a result of the creation of Mount Doom and the tremors of evil that had led to. Really got a sense of it as a spiritual act for the Dwarves, as well as a practical skill, a symbol of their connection to the stone that was their land and sky. The visual of the light shafts being blocked, when we’d seen the amazing gardens inside Khazad-dûm was powerful, (now they were the ones whose light had dimmed, while it had been returned to the Elves) part of the Shadow’s rising.
The reveal that the masked men were linked to the acolytes, and they all were servants to the chap I presume is the Witch-king was interesting. Helped massively by their having cast Ciaran Hinds (he probably has a more resonant voice than Ben Daniels!) He was rocking a bit of a Saruman look, no, and made the first mention of the Istar. (How does he know about them? How does he know more about Gandalf than he does himself? Are people who are more fully versed in this hotly discussing this? Probably not, it’s probably something that passed me over.) The whole bit with the moths took too long, mind, but chief masked tracker had a nasty plan, having accurately guessed that the ‘halflings’ would be useful hostages with the Stranger.
It wasn’t entirely clear if the trio in parched Rhun were being affected by a confundus charm from the land, but they were definitely running out of water. Nori was trying to name the Stranger, there was some doubt about which route to take, and then we witnessed the halflings’ amazing camouflage skillz. So, they knew they were being followed by bad guys. But for badly needed water for the parched, collapsed Stranger, Poppy accidentally set off a clamouring bell. So, by the time the Stranger had recovered and they were all slaking their thirst they were in trouble. The Stranger called up a sandstorm, only he couldn’t control it, and the two proto-Hobbits were blown away. Had a little chuckle at the fact that the Stranger was mainly worried about Nori, even though Poppy has helped him a lot in these two episodes. Ungrateful!
As for the Elves, her ring had kick-started Galadriel’s foresight, and she wasn’t seeing anything good. We didn’t get to see Gil-galad’s visions, but he confirmed that he was getting them too. She was worried (rightly, as we knew) about Sauron getting to Celebrimbor, Gil-galad was worried about Sauron’s influence over her, as was she. Elrond was still taking a hardline anti-rings stance, which still feels mostly motivated by pique, but seemed to be advocating not even trying to fight Sauron even while he was only just rising again, which is defeatist isolationist talk. Galadriel wanted him to come with her to Eregion as a bulwark, he wouldn’t, but did go to chat to Cirdan, who was in beatific mood, and they had a weird ‘separate the art from the creator’ discussion, which feels like superimposing a very modern (sadly) debate, and also weird because they were kind of referencing the Valar in the same discussion. (No mention whether Cirdan’s foresight has been boosted, although there’s a strong probability it was.) After this, Elrond the politician (who does a bit of woodcarving for relaxation?) agreed to go (a few days late, we knew) on his terms. Galadriel didn’t seem too narked, and although she’s used to command, I think she could set ego aside for the mission, but it’s whether Elrond will see the mission the way that she does.
Oh, interesting thing in her conversation with Elrond, where he observed that Sauron had plucked out the hero her soul wanted to become Halbrand, a lost king of men who looked like a bit of scruff but would restore his people and kingdom, because that is basically Aragorn’s destiny, even though Isildur has only just come to Middle Earth and his line is barely a twinkle in the boy’s eye. But of course, Galadriel’s grand-daughter and Elrond’s daughter would fall for said king. (I can’t watch any interaction between Elrond and Galadriel for long without singing out ‘future mother-in-law’.)
I quite liked the seduction of Celebrimbor. They went for the twist of his remembering his promise to Galadriel (which I’d forgotten) not to treat with Halbrand and refused him entry, although Halbrand!Sauron decided to stay and play on the messenger Elf’s sympathies. It was never shown who killed Lindon’s envoys and dragged away their bodies (handwave it down to Sauron’s powers), but this increased Celebrimbor’s isolation, as storms raged as if it were pure melodrama. Halbrand!Sauron knew how to play him with his lies, which didn’t need to get too detailed or specific, telling him his rings had worked, (woo! goes Celebrimbor, let’s crack out the First Age booze!) implying that he’d met with Galadriel since, while there’d been no contact between her and the other Eldar with Celebrimbor, as if they didn’t respect Celebrimbor’s craft and input. And then he suggested the idea of more rings for Dwarves and men. But they’re corruptible! Celebrimbor argued, as Sauron was doing his best to corrupt him. And then Halbrand!Sauron admitted he’d lied a bit and was not who he seemed, implying that he was one of the Istar without ever getting too specific. (Cheeky monkey! Such hubris!) Cue effects that reminded me again of melodrama, of Victorian stage magicians, and then, out of the fire, Annatar!Sauron appears, more elflike in appearance (but still played by Charlie Vickers, right? Were there any prosthetics or make up or was it just a matter of a close shave and a wig? Annatar!Sauron is so much less hot than Halbrand!Sauron.)
And then we had the two less dramatic endings after. I should be feeling dread because of the dwarven rings, but it mainly feels like moving the pieces on the chessboard of plot.
Still so many scenes in darkness, and although a few were for plot reasons, some were for mood and my grumbles about it remain. I wasn’t always that engaged, although thinking back, there was plenty to mull over. The ending felt like a mini tribute to the end of The Return of The King with at least three endings. I wonder if they had the editor fiddle around with the order, because the biggest was Annatar!Sauron, and if felt like diminishing returns. Yes, there was some drama at Galadriel learning she’d get to go to Eregion, but Elrond would be in charge, but Durin and the dwarves getting an invite felt very low energy in comparison.
Ah well, at least we had Dwarves in this episode, with Durin and his dad at odds (not shown if the prince did bite off his baiter’s finger, which is probably for the best.) Disa tried to be the voice of reason to both stubborn blokes, but no. (Very trad gender dynamics there.) I really enjoyed more of the ‘stone singing’, even as it looked as if it had come to an end, as a result of the creation of Mount Doom and the tremors of evil that had led to. Really got a sense of it as a spiritual act for the Dwarves, as well as a practical skill, a symbol of their connection to the stone that was their land and sky. The visual of the light shafts being blocked, when we’d seen the amazing gardens inside Khazad-dûm was powerful, (now they were the ones whose light had dimmed, while it had been returned to the Elves) part of the Shadow’s rising.
The reveal that the masked men were linked to the acolytes, and they all were servants to the chap I presume is the Witch-king was interesting. Helped massively by their having cast Ciaran Hinds (he probably has a more resonant voice than Ben Daniels!) He was rocking a bit of a Saruman look, no, and made the first mention of the Istar. (How does he know about them? How does he know more about Gandalf than he does himself? Are people who are more fully versed in this hotly discussing this? Probably not, it’s probably something that passed me over.) The whole bit with the moths took too long, mind, but chief masked tracker had a nasty plan, having accurately guessed that the ‘halflings’ would be useful hostages with the Stranger.
It wasn’t entirely clear if the trio in parched Rhun were being affected by a confundus charm from the land, but they were definitely running out of water. Nori was trying to name the Stranger, there was some doubt about which route to take, and then we witnessed the halflings’ amazing camouflage skillz. So, they knew they were being followed by bad guys. But for badly needed water for the parched, collapsed Stranger, Poppy accidentally set off a clamouring bell. So, by the time the Stranger had recovered and they were all slaking their thirst they were in trouble. The Stranger called up a sandstorm, only he couldn’t control it, and the two proto-Hobbits were blown away. Had a little chuckle at the fact that the Stranger was mainly worried about Nori, even though Poppy has helped him a lot in these two episodes. Ungrateful!
As for the Elves, her ring had kick-started Galadriel’s foresight, and she wasn’t seeing anything good. We didn’t get to see Gil-galad’s visions, but he confirmed that he was getting them too. She was worried (rightly, as we knew) about Sauron getting to Celebrimbor, Gil-galad was worried about Sauron’s influence over her, as was she. Elrond was still taking a hardline anti-rings stance, which still feels mostly motivated by pique, but seemed to be advocating not even trying to fight Sauron even while he was only just rising again, which is defeatist isolationist talk. Galadriel wanted him to come with her to Eregion as a bulwark, he wouldn’t, but did go to chat to Cirdan, who was in beatific mood, and they had a weird ‘separate the art from the creator’ discussion, which feels like superimposing a very modern (sadly) debate, and also weird because they were kind of referencing the Valar in the same discussion. (No mention whether Cirdan’s foresight has been boosted, although there’s a strong probability it was.) After this, Elrond the politician (who does a bit of woodcarving for relaxation?) agreed to go (a few days late, we knew) on his terms. Galadriel didn’t seem too narked, and although she’s used to command, I think she could set ego aside for the mission, but it’s whether Elrond will see the mission the way that she does.
Oh, interesting thing in her conversation with Elrond, where he observed that Sauron had plucked out the hero her soul wanted to become Halbrand, a lost king of men who looked like a bit of scruff but would restore his people and kingdom, because that is basically Aragorn’s destiny, even though Isildur has only just come to Middle Earth and his line is barely a twinkle in the boy’s eye. But of course, Galadriel’s grand-daughter and Elrond’s daughter would fall for said king. (I can’t watch any interaction between Elrond and Galadriel for long without singing out ‘future mother-in-law’.)
I quite liked the seduction of Celebrimbor. They went for the twist of his remembering his promise to Galadriel (which I’d forgotten) not to treat with Halbrand and refused him entry, although Halbrand!Sauron decided to stay and play on the messenger Elf’s sympathies. It was never shown who killed Lindon’s envoys and dragged away their bodies (handwave it down to Sauron’s powers), but this increased Celebrimbor’s isolation, as storms raged as if it were pure melodrama. Halbrand!Sauron knew how to play him with his lies, which didn’t need to get too detailed or specific, telling him his rings had worked, (woo! goes Celebrimbor, let’s crack out the First Age booze!) implying that he’d met with Galadriel since, while there’d been no contact between her and the other Eldar with Celebrimbor, as if they didn’t respect Celebrimbor’s craft and input. And then he suggested the idea of more rings for Dwarves and men. But they’re corruptible! Celebrimbor argued, as Sauron was doing his best to corrupt him. And then Halbrand!Sauron admitted he’d lied a bit and was not who he seemed, implying that he was one of the Istar without ever getting too specific. (Cheeky monkey! Such hubris!) Cue effects that reminded me again of melodrama, of Victorian stage magicians, and then, out of the fire, Annatar!Sauron appears, more elflike in appearance (but still played by Charlie Vickers, right? Were there any prosthetics or make up or was it just a matter of a close shave and a wig? Annatar!Sauron is so much less hot than Halbrand!Sauron.)
And then we had the two less dramatic endings after. I should be feeling dread because of the dwarven rings, but it mainly feels like moving the pieces on the chessboard of plot.
