Lord of the Rings TV Series Purchased by Amazon

[Orby]

I do like that they're keeping meteor man ambiguous. Injuring himself using his power like that seems to be a pretty clear "this is why wizards use staves" callout. But the shady cultist women looking for him (combined with lingering on the idea of his being good or not) makes it lean more in the "it's Sauron" direction. That could just be because of preconceptions I have based on the trailer, though...which could very well still be serving as a red herring.

I think thats subjective I personally am not a fan on how meteor man has been kept in the background for so long, the trailers made it look like he'd be one of the main fixtures, but he really is a lesser character. Maybe thats to make his reveal more impactful when it happens and maybe too much fixture on him will give him away too early who knows.

[tikcol]

I think thats subjective I personally am not a fan on how meteor man has been kept in the background for so long, the trailers made it look like he'd be one of the main fixtures, but he really is a lesser character. Maybe thats to make his reveal more impactful when it happens and maybe too much fixture on him will give him away too early who knows.

At this point I don't even care who he is. Whoever he is I'm certain it will piss me off. The whole story around mithril is just another contrived narrative that I don't care about. Especially if they're going to tie it to the elves and their immortality or some other bullshit. These people can't tell a cohesive story and that's what's even more annoying about this show. I will watch the first season to the end because I am mildly intrigued by what they're trying to do here.

It's quite obvious they have some kind of plan to tie everything up but I'm not getting convinced it will be any better than all the steaming piles of crap they fabricate every episode.

[s_bushido]

but he really is a lesser character

For now. I don't mind them not just coming out with "alright fuckers, here's [Sauron/Gandalf/misc wizard]!" if their plans are to have the show go on for a few seasons. He was important enough that his crashing to earth was seen by everyone (even if they didn't know what it meant) so I would be incredibly surprised if he just winds up as some supporting character.

Or it could just be that they've bit off more than they can chew, and started out with a story that's got too many moving parts instead of focusing on just a couple of relatively simple things at a time. /shrug

[Triceron]

For now. I don't mind them not just coming out with "alright fuckers, here's [Sauron/Gandalf/misc wizard]!" if their plans are to have the show go on for a few seasons. He was important enough that his crashing to earth was seen by everyone (even if they didn't know what it meant) so I would be incredibly surprised if he just winds up as some supporting character.

Or it could just be that they've bit off more than they can chew, and started out with a story that's got too many moving parts instead of focusing on just a couple of relatively simple things at a time. /shrug

I can see this show having potential to be something a lot better with some good editing and trimming of the fat. Can't say much about some of the obviously questionable writing and acting, but the pacing could certainly be improved.

[Orby]

the two biggest issues with this show for me are the dialogue and pacing. I said a week or two ago, the pace of this show is moving both too slow and too fast at the same time. character development is terrible and under developed and needs more time. While the plot is moving too fast and people are moving way too quickly, I get the feeling if these people made LotR the movie it would be over in one movie with us knowing nothing about any of the characters and not staying in one place for more than 5 minutes :P

[Triceron]

Watched the full episode.

Elrond and Durin's scenes still hold strong, carrying this show by far. The twists are a bit dramatic and I'm still hesitant on whether it works for me, but it seems like a good motivation to push their story forward and give a reason to keep digging deep. These two characters really make it work.

And that said, I can't believe how greatly contrasted this is to Galadriel's arc, where I really can't get into any of the characters. None of them are likeable or relateable to me. None of their actions or reactions make sense. Like everyone seems so easy for Galadriel to convince people that there's no real feeling of tension. It's like this show is Karen wishfulfillment, where 'talking to the manager' magically gets you what you want. Her arc is literally just a series of inconveniences that get conveniently resolved within the same episodes. And it's been this way for this arc from the start, which is really annoying.

I enjoy the Harfoot arc much more now. The montage of their travels was great. I think the characters are still likeable, the Stranger much more so now that he can speak some words, but still have to see where they take the arc. It's moving way too slowly for me. Can't say I care too much about the mysteries they're setting up, it's too disconnected. They're just layering stuff without explaining, and I'm starting to lose interest because it's all dedicated to a C or D plot at this point. The show is really like 3-4 different series slapped together and it's hard to get into that.

And overall, I have nothing much to say about the Watchtower arc other than to say it exists. I still think this whole arc could be cut, it's not doing anything for me and it really feels contrived knowing it only exists to show a battle scene that otherwise wouldn't fit in any other POV arc.

[Kumorii]

Meteor man needs to be an evil guy now according to me. Fire brings no heat, he's cooling the water and it creates frost in the same way it did in the tower in the north. Cultists are looking for him (though at first I thought it could be either way, help him or destroy him)...
If they swing this around into a being a good wizard it will feel so forced and clearly written to misdirect the audience... It's one of these cases where you make it obvious, so people don't think it's that, but it's more rewarding if it actually is than a switcheroo.
At this point it could even be Sauron and he's already tricking the harfoots. But I doubt it. Could be a pre-corrupted Saruman.

Why Nori didn't scream in pain when her hand got frozen looked silly. Just a small wince.
Just a small thing for fun. You can actually see where her real arm becomes a CGI hand because that edge moves like it's a hard edge. Freezing effect looked good, so just popped out to me. No big deal.

I wish they used more of the money on fight choreography. I don't think it looks convincing or good, especially the first twist move she did. The outcome was expected, she should obviously demolish everyone there with ease.

Found it odd however that she would "beg" (demand) the queen to follow her and fight her war and she mocks the skill of those who volunteered. Be grateful for once, please.

Did anyone feel any emotion during the Galadriel / Halbrand scene where they talked about motivations? Halbrand I can understand being reluctant, but can't buy that she managed to convince him tbh. And Galadriel mischaracterize Elrond and Gil-Galad intentions just makes her look bad. Even if they were in the right or wrong, they clearly had her in mind and did what they thought was best for her. Saying "they conspired against me" in the context she used it makes it sound like it's malicious intent behind it all. Especially after lining it up after the "Mutiny against me" bit. Obviously leaving out her behavior and contexts (which would probably be too long for a speech like this, but then don't do it).
Her story sounds like how someone would twist events into being the victim. Which now when I think about it, seem to be a common tactic for her.
At this point I have to assume that the writers want her to be unlikeable and actually be this bad of a person... because I can't see how anyone would see how she acts and think she is a good person just "missunderstood" or "needs to grow as a person". This is just manipulative. Especially when she tried to twist it into Halbrand using her...
Even with the final smile and handshake with Halbrand all I can think isn't that it's a positive thing, from everything that have happened so far it just looks like "Fuck yeah, got my way again".

Durin and Elrond is indeed the better part. Elrond starts to grow on me more and more, I still find the dialogue to be a bit pretentious but when Durin just came out saying "Stop with the quail sauce" I kinda laughed. It kind of makes sense that Elrond is a bit pretentious being a poet and an Elf to boot. So at least it starts to feel more genuine rather than the showrunners trying to sound intelligent themselves like it did at the start of the show.

I don't get what's happening to the mithril though, that looked so gorgeous in the first scenes when Durin holds it, then it turned quite bad when Elrond took it from him. And now Celebrimbor says he "Tested it under every duress, Nothing diminishes it's light". Yet when Elrond holds it it isn't shining or emit any light whatsoever... it is diminished. It might look like a minor thing, but this is a big deal for Mithril, clearly as the show portrays it in words and the backstory of it. Things like this make it feel like the show doesn't even care about the important points they access.
Maybe I'm going crazy over this Mithril thing...

Tower bit I'm still a bit eh on... I half expected Halbrand to be somewhere in the crowd of the defected because it cut to them when he started talking about his past and what they did. I guess it's just a parallel but I think it would be kinda cool if the tower plot was actually just a couple of days or weeks. So even if all plots started the same, they have traversed at different speeds where all other arcs have transpired over months (based on the tower/forge progression) while this arc only been 1-2 weeks. Halbrand would've have run away from this group. Then again where he ended up is quite far away from the Southlands so it probably wouldn't make much sense anyway, but that's what my mind went through when they did the parallel.

This episode could be the end of a season episode with that ending. So hopefully the 3 next ones will resolve at least some of the arcs or, resolve might be the wrong word, but develop them with at least some answers to the question they raise.

[Orby]

Did anyone feel any emotion during the Galadriel / Halbrand scene where they talked about motivations? Halbrand I can understand being reluctant, but can't buy that she managed to convince him tbh. And Galadriel mischaracterize Elrond and Gil-Galad intentions just makes her look bad. Even if they were in the right or wrong, they clearly had her in mind and did what they thought was best for her. Saying "they conspired against me" in the context she used it makes it sound like it's malicious intent behind it all. Especially after lining it up after the "Mutiny against me" bit. Obviously leaving out her behavior and contexts (which would probably be too long for a speech like this, but then don't do it).
Her story sounds like how someone would twist events into being the victim. Which now when I think about it, seem to be a common tactic for her.
At this point I have to assume that the writers want her to be unlikeable and actually be this bad of a person... because I can't see how anyone would see how she acts and think she is just "missunderstood" or "needs to grow as a person". This is just manipulative. Especially when she tried to twist it into Halbrand using her...
Even with the final smile and handshake with Halbrand all I can think isn't that it's a positive thing, from everything that have happened so far it just looks like "Fuck yeah, got my way again".

That would require me to feel anything for any scene she has been in. I do not know what the creators are playing at when it comes to her character. She's the only character I literally dislike in the show, I can get past some of the casts horrible direction through bad dialogue, which there are a few, but Galadriel is just so damn dislikeable, I gave her benefit of the doubt after the first two episodes, but with every episode she is coming across more and more unbearable.

[Kumorii]

That would require me to feel anything for any scene she has been in. I do not know what the creators are playing at when it comes to her character. She's the only character I literally dislike in the show, I can get past some of the casts horrible direction through bad dialogue, which there are a few, but Galadriel is just so damn dislikeable, I gave her benefit of the doubt after the first two episodes, but with every episode she is coming across more and more unbearable.

At this point they could do a "It isn't the real Galadriel, She's in another castle" and I would just go "HOLY FUCK, THANK GOD!".

[Orby]

At this point they could do a "It isn't the real Galadriel, She's in another castle" and I would just go "HOLY FUCK, THANK GOD!".

Galadriel is Sauron. It all makes sense now :P

[Kumorii]

Galadriel is Sauron. It all makes sense now :P

Was thinking about making that comment myself... but then I realized Sauron would get people to actually like him.

[Triceron]

Did anyone feel any emotion during the Galadriel / Halbrand scene where they talked about motivations?

I felt a lot of disappointment.

Mostly in myself for having watched this part instead of just skipping it.

Felt this again during that semi-slowmo introduction of her on the ship. Like, what the fuck....

[Orby]

I felt a lot of disappointment.

Mostly in myself for having watched this part instead of just skipping it.

Felt this again during that semi-slowmo introduction of her on the ship. Like, what the fuck....

Yea that felt weird. Like why was that slow-mo shot even warranted?

[Kumorii]

Yea that felt weird. Like why was that slow-mo shot even warranted?

Because Galadriel.

[bledgor]

Because Galadriel.

No, no, no, because the sea is always right!

Fuck that line, so dumb.

[roahn the warlock]

So this is just a thread of people who read LOTR and watched the movies pretending they care about lore. I'm guessing only because they want to show off how much they know? I don't get it, honestly.

[Rhlor]

seriously no one suspects the only two people near the explosion? bad writing

[Orby]

So this is just a thread of people who read LOTR and watched the movies pretending they care about lore. I'm guessing only because they want to show off how much they know? I don't get it, honestly.

Not really, I have only read 4 Tolkien books, I do not pretend to know all about the lore I am very casual, I only ask the show be competent and while I do enjoy some of the show, the Galadriel parts are by far the worst parts of the show. the Elrond/Durin and the Arondir scenes I have been enjoying. But the show isnt perfect, at least to me, I may like it a lot more than most on this thread, but I can still make fun because there is a lot to make fun of. The dialogue for one, the plot, and as mentioned before the awful Galadriel scenes.

[Fortress of Arrogance]

Somebody here said Electordriel actress is actually .. acting and there are only scriptwriters to blame.
Well, they ARE to blame, for sure, but to say she's acting is a faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar stretch.

[Triceron]

Somebody here said Electordriel actress is actually .. acting and there are only scriptwriters to blame.
Well, they ARE to blame, for sure, but to say she's acting is a faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar stretch.

I'd say she's trying. There isn't really much she can do since the entire role is very one-note.