Yo! Good to be back reviewing the most divisive show on the internet. Take that Star Wars! Do us a quick favor and Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS/ANDROID/PC: clcr.me/NerdSoup_Halloween and get a special starter pack 💥 Available only for the next 30 days! Visit Halloween event page 🎃👻 trickortreat.plarium.com to win a bunch of real-life and in-game prizes 💥 Available only for new users. For the best possible experience make sure to use the desktop version.
@@Harriz62 IMDB 6.9/10, rotten tomatoes 85% fresh to 39% audience reviews, Google users 69%. Top streamed on Prime Video in Australia. The scores are all over the place. Which means it's probably 50/50. So no, the show is not universally disliked.
@@Comrade_Jason Remind me, who owns IMDB again? Rotten tomatoes shut off reviews because of the "review bombing" but score that are 10/10 "the most perfect series ever!" Isnt considered bombing? Lol. Have you seen television shows or movies before Rings of Power? Just curious. You cant possibly be this stupid.
@@Harriz62 The fact I like it means it's not u iversally disliked. Also, like, tone it down bro. People disagreeing on what makes a good TV show is not exactly worth hurling insults.
Genuinely can’t understand how Galadriel is anyone’s favorite character or seems magical to them. She fights, she’s childish, aaaaaaaaand that’s it. Doesn’t really sound like a 3500 year old highly magical spiritual being. Despite the clichés and repetetive nature of Elrond and Durin’s story, they are by far the most believable in this show to me.
I've tried watching the first episode a few times and fell asleep each time yet here I am on youtube listening people complain about it for hours. Impressive that the criticism for a show can be more entertaining than the show.
Fell asleep how? It was riveting... I was glued to my seat for 3 whole episodes... who could have believed that with all the money in the universe amazon had the gall to release this garbage.... it was unbelievable.. every line delivered with the gusto of King Lear... z list actors with as much on screen presence as a lemon drizzle cake.... and a screen play written by somone who has an incredibly overblown opinion of thier ability... just staggering... but hay I bet season 3 will be amazing...
For me the most impactful moment was when Elrond and Durin are on the lift and they’re talking about how Elrond missed his wedding and the birth of his children-TWO of them. Everything else didn’t really hit. Also this is a small thing that I found super funny: sometimes characters said “Numenor” they rolled their R’s at the end and sometimes they didn’t
That was the only scene in this entire show that felt honest and like two people talking and not two actors delivering lines... it would have made more sense if he said 200 years though considering Durin is a dwarf and not a man... but I don't want to nit pick the only good scene in the series....
Nah. If you understand Elrond’s life at all, that’s one of the stupidest character-breaking things of all. Elrond’s fuckin twin brother chose to live a mortal life (like Elrond’s daughter Arwen did in LotR). He knows exactly how important time is to mortals. He watched the person he was closest do age and die, and leave him behind. He wouldn’t “just kinda forget about time”. It’s dumb as hell
Right! I was surprised they didn’t notice/comment on this. If he’s not Gandalf now after being named as an Istari and given G’s “nose” line, that would be absurd.
I tried to watch without any preconceived notions about this show, but I can't unread the books, so it's difficult. I mostly felt that a lot of the visuals and CGI looks pretty good, and I was fine with most of the stuff with Elrond because I usually enjoyed his performance. I really hate the costumes, they look cheap, especially compared to the costumes in the movies, many of which were hand embroidered with an incredible amount of detail. These added gold leaf and were often completely shapeless. They fundamentally misunderstood Galadriel's character, who was very powerful in the books, not because of martial prowess, but she was renowned for her wisdom and foresight. She had magic, she didn't need to use a sword, and she was one of the ones who didn't trust Sauron when he appeared to Celebrimbor as the Lord of Gifts. She comes across as petulant in the show, she's thousands of years old at this point, and one of the oldest living elves on Middle Earth. I'm not sure how having female characters exhibit traditionally masculine traits is supposed to be empowering, women can be powerful without sacrificing what makes them women. I think they said they were supposed to follow the lore more closely in the next season, but they've changed so much I don't see how they can. They've tried to condense thousands of years into a few. It took hundreds of years to make the rings of power and the lesser rings, and the elvin rings were made last without Sauron's knowledge, which is how they escaped his infuence.
I think it's significant that Aaron has read the books and Beau The Monkey has not. Like all those steeped so much in Tolkien nerdlore that they've read all the appendices, notes and shopping lists, they don't like the show because it does not adhere faithfully to the books and post-it-notes for their adaptation (btw, whatever happened to "the books don't matter"?). Those not steeped in such lore however, can take the show on its own merits, and it would seem generally get more enjoyment from it.
I’ve read the silmarillion and the Hobbit, not the LOTR. I enjoyed the show but I understand criticisms of the dialogue. Ultimately, people are … primed to hate on it cause amazon is a soulless company. Oh well 🤷🏻♂️
Between the handful of people in my social circle that have read everything you describe. Only one of them does not like the show. Funnily enough, the one that misremembers more of it then they get right.
Outside of the Fellowship movie I feel the exact opposite. Fellowship is on another level. The other two are boring action movies with every character outside of the Fellowship completely amended and changed.
Human guy #1 was so obviously Sauron from the jump. He totally takes on like 8 dudes in Numenor and survives a long ass trip to elf land while bleeding from his gut.
If I remember correctly I think the deal is that the Sauron has a direct hand in creating the 9 and the 7, and so he had influence over them, but the elves made the three without him. He made the one ring, in part, to rule over the rings he didn’t work on as well the the others.
On Gandalf, he has a history with the hobbits. They bring it up in the hobbit movies as well I know most of this through osmosis from a Tolkien head fan but I believe it was an older relative that introduced Bilbo to Gandalf. Gandalf actually has a higher opinion on what hobbits can do than most hobbits.
It was the same with the Wheel of Time adaptation when it came to the acting and the writing. Amazon, the wealthiest production studio in the world, gets two of the biggest source materials in the world, and flops miserably in obtaining competent actors and writers? It’s so bizarre to me that I have trouble wrapping my head around it.
I don’t think it’s about the big battles or recognizable characters I was looking forward to an adaptation of a book I love, with wonderful characters we’ve never seen on screen before
What book? The last 20 pages of the Samrillion? Like they said from the start it would not be that. Not to attack your opinion but I just don't know how people are making this leap. The Appendicies notes amount to less than two paragraphs and are a really rough outline.
@@totallynottrademarked5279 lmao you really don’t know how much is written in the appendices. Compare this to House of the Dragon. The first 6 or 7 episodes of season 1 were based on a single short story, with no dialogue. And it became one of the most watched shows of all-time with a pretty high rating from audiences and critics alike. There are multiple conflicting stories of what happened, mixed character motivations, very very rough outlines of events, and it’s already one of HBO’s most popular shows. It’s possible to write and direct a great story from very little source material. There is no excuse for trash.
@@SnailHatan Well that is your opinion that the show is trash. That view is not shared by the majority, sure the show has weak moments. But like most Sci-fi and Fantasy nerds I know shows take a season or two to get going. The only reason HOD had a running start is that they have all of HBO behind it. It takes more work to be a cynical asshole than it does to be objective about things and see the promise in the future.
I was under the impression he either was on the way to Valinor or Numenor and took advantage of a chance meeting with a powerful elf. I actually think he played it straight and sincerely wanted to remain in Numenor until Galadriel pushed the issue. He has plans for that island that will be revealed later in the show. I also suspect we are going to find out in s2 that he poisoned the tree or was behind the corruption's spread as an attempt to drive off the elves so he could rule. He only pivoted to the ring plan at the very last minute when he realized he could control the elves with the rings instead of banishing them. There was no way for him to know they had mithril until he arrived, he is a smart guy and was rolling with the situation. There was no gigabrain master plan.
@@Ma55ey Oh 100%. I can appreciate the story they are badly trying to tell but they need to take some notes from feedback going into next season and work on pacing and character development.
@@Sam-vr9wg I don't mind admitting that I found the show abysmal... I don't mind lore changes or black dwarves or elves.. but on a basic narrative and character level, everything felt really two dimensional. Which was as odds with the grand epic story that they were trying to tell.. so I really hope that they pull themselves together for season two and deliver something worthy of a billion dollars.. because I found the show lacking in every respect.. which I don't like saying because i sound like a hater.. but there is so much they could be doing with this story and it feels to me like they have squandered their first season on nonsensical mystery plots and story lines.. when all we needed was celebrimbor, galadriel and halbrand... focusing on those three in season one and constructing the story around them would have been a more solid foundation for a five season story would have been far better in my opinion...
@@Ma55ey Problem is the show is too Tokien. Dialouge does not have 3 paragraphs of surrounding thoughts, histories, and motivations to back it up. Luckily the showrunners have admitted as such and are going to reign it back. It's hard to make the supposition of high fantasy work after something like GOT. People want more grounded dialouge now.
@@totallynottrademarked5279 I don't know blaming Tolkien for the writing in the show when they wrote things like a rock sinks because it faces down seems like a delfection to me. You don't hear people saying romeo and Julie doesn't make sense because it's too Shakespeare.. there was zero Tolkien in the writing.. they were just trying to emulate the grandiose style but with none of the substance... that's their fault not the source materials... the show runners should be sacked and replaced by competent show runners.. because there just no excuse for how mediocre this show was when you realise how much money was spent on it....
ok. so the lore goes that sauron went as annatar, the gift giver, to the elves and they made several lesser rings, the 9, and the 7. then he left. the elves made their 3 rings alone in secret because they didn't trust him. sauron attacked and raided the elves taking the 9 and the 7 giving them to men and dwarves and then making the 1 ring. the elves rings weren't corrupted because he didn't help make them.
They were still bound to the one ring though. As they all use the Unseen World as a conduit, if that is the right description. He knew of them because of the one ring, but could not exert influence over them unless he was right near them. Unlike the other 16 rings.
I think looking back on Halbrand's journey knowing he's Sauron IS interesting. All seeming randomness like the raft meeting could be caused by Sauron powers - he put himself in the water knowing Galadriel was there, changed the weather etc
I think the showrunners deliberately didn't name the wizard man because they wanted to see how people would react to the character. If everyone thinks he's Gandalf, maybe they go with that to please everyone, or maybe they make it Saruman. I personally think he's the best performance.
The main thing I try to remember is none of this is canon and it's just meant to be a fun story based on middle earth. I'm still hoping he will be a blue wizard but they're making a mainstream show for general audiences not hardcore tolkien fans so it's likely gonna be gandalf. That being said some of the writing is bafflingly bad and the tv fantasy tropes are a bit much. My guess is by the end of the show the harfoots will eventually get tired of being nomadic and will settle down in what becomes the shire and that will be their hobbit origin story. I'm guessing sauron will be taken prisoner by the numenorian army in season 2 and he'll manipulate ar pharazon into making the rings of men to help elongate their lives as he fears death and is jealous of the elves, especially now the elves have made their rings. Not sure how it'll play out with the dwarves rings but i'm assuming durin senior will be manipulated unless he dies and elrond falls out with durin junior thinking the elves used mithril to make weapons not save their people
They show a moth when he kills the wraiths, and then he makes the comment to follow your nose and he has a strong relationship with the haflings, im putting my money on gandolf, although an age early
There’s 5 wizards 1 white sarumon, 1 grey Gandalf, 1 brown Radagast, and I believe 2 blue who aren’t named. Been awhile since I’ve read the Hobbit so I’m only 90% sure about the two colors of the wizards who Gandalf doesn’t refer to by name.
Sauron isnt as evil as like morgoth or something, he doesnt want to destroy middle earth he wants to rule it. So i think him being a mostly-evil-but-not-totally-evil kinda guy will be a good move for s2
Oh whoops I really listened to your commentary and see you actually like her portrayal of Galadriel As for the wiping out the Orcs who she regards as slaves I think the inconsistency is the point. It is a perfect example of how she’s the evil she claims to be fighting and why she and Sauron could actually make sense Again - I think the acting is what messed it up
Everything that's bad about it has nothing to do with the diverse casting, Dis is cute as a button and I love everything about her, it's honestly just poorly written and executed.
No one else pick up on the stranger saying “if in doubt always follow your nose” ? Big Gandalf line from LOTR series, don’t know why there is still doubt as to who stranger is, gotta be Gandalf surrrrely
That was as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. I think some people are still holding on to hope that they won't bring Gandalf to this mess and just used the line because it's cool.
For me Galadriel was really disappointing in this show. She pretty much was rude to anyone who she encountered and somehow got her wish everytime. None of the mystical and wise qualities that should have been there were there for me.
She had fully matured by the time of The Fellowship of the Ring. Expecting her to be the same wise, mature woman well over a thousand years earlier when she is effectively in her adolescents is silly.
@@GrandAngel8000 when she left valinor she was regarded as the wisest and most powerful of the elves because she had learned everything the valar could teach.... but hay it's much easier to have her start off like a high-school jock and put it down to the fact that she's only 1000 years old... lol
I like how these guys criticize people who were criticizing the show beforehand saying how much garbage it would be because of how much stuff and the lore that they changed. All to fit an agenda. Do you know people, things being released today can still be considered trash and it not be political or racist. Just because .0001% don’t make up an entire group
To be fair people were saying the same about house of the dragon.... but then stopped for the most part after episode 2-3 because it won them over by actually being good...
Nah sorry, it is Gandalf. This biggest give away was that before he spoke words he constantly blew forth wind magic. As an Istari, his patron God was Manwe who is the God of air, wind, and breezes.
question for anyone really cos I don't know the answer. Like the soup crew I adore the films and had mixed to negative feelings on the show. do you think it would be looked on more favorably as a show without the lord of the rings attached. swap a couple of names out but keep essentially the same plot, swap the rings for a different mguffin. is it the weight of the brand and the expectations that makes it a bad show? also I've read all the books, l.o.t.rs is a great read, silmarilian sucks
This is a really tough question because I think it being lord of the ring has a positive and negative impact I don't think the show would be as hated if it wasn't lord of the rings but I also think this show wouldn't have anyone talking about it or even watching it past the first few episodes if it wasn't lord of the rings either and I think you could make that argument for everything in this show some people hate what they have done to the characters so if it wasn't lord of the rings then people might enjoy the characters more but then some people enjoy the characters because we have seen them before but in my oppinion I think it had a more negative effect on people's enjoyment but a positive effect on people actually watching and paying attention to the show
People would be less mad about the changes to the source material, but I can't think that the dialogue or basic story would be enough to keep most people's interest. Also, the Silmarilion doesn't suck, at least to me. It is more difficult to read as a narrative though, but I've read It several times and enjoyed it.
Visually stunning, writing and plot was terrible though. 1. Harfoots/hobbits were boring I skipped them every time they showed up on screen. 2. Arondir and the southlanders, interesting but the acting was kind of bad 3. Galadriel and halbrand/Numenor, very cool but they should've replaced the harfoots with halbrand being more deceptive and should've spent more time showing celebrimbor how to forge the rings. 4. Elrond and Dwarves, mithril origin story was terrible, but their relationship was pretty good even if it was a bit repetitive. Overall the harfoot arc should've just been replaced with halbrand/sauron and getting to know more of that character. Nori and Budget gandalf were god awful and took up way too much screentime, should've been retconned and only focused on the elves, men, sauron and the forging of the rings and saurons deception
There is something there, it's just poorly directed, especially in story development. All the plot lines drag on too long, dialogue is twee, and I agree about the cast. One of the best actors in it (Simon Merrells) died early on. The music is also annoyingly intrusive, and way too busy. Still, it could be saved.
I agree... they can throw out all the lore if they want to... Peter Jackson did a fair bit of that himself... but if your story is well told and well acted people will forget about lore changes and enjoy the show... too bad this show failed on almost every level... I'm sure by season 4 they'll have gotten some people behind the camera that know what they are doing...
I overall liked the season there was a lot of good and a lot of bad and some meh but I enjoyed it and hoping the 2nd season like you guys said just tightens it up a bit
I hope season 2 focuses heavily on sauron. I didnt like how they changed perspectives all the time in this season kind of like how game of thrones did. If its only perspectives of nori and wizard, sauron, galatheral and elrond, and maybe some clips of theo slowly turning to the dark then thatll be perfect. Show us how sauron was depicted in Lord of the rings and why he was so evil because rn im rootin for him 😂 i love him. And thats not how it should be. They basically made this season with all these people being good but no one to root for. Give us somebody like Aragorn. Because rn Sauron is that aragorn for me
This is probably the worst written big budget show I have ever seen I'm really struggling to work out if this is worse than GOT season 8 it's definitely on par with it but my god the writing in this show is so so poor
It was probably similar in quality to wheel of time in my opinion. Just had better visuals that distracted viewers from the story and character development not being that strong.
@@REDANDSILVER741 no dude it was bad so many inconsistencies a majority of things that happened didn't make any sense at all it was honestly terrible don't tell me to calm down though its my oppinion you can disagree with that oppinion but tell me why you disagree don't just tell someone to relax and calm down because your certainly not going to change my mind that way
@@Beast80001 never seen wheel of time so I can't really agree with you but I will take your word for it I havnt heard anything good about that show though so it sounds correct 🤣🤣
Check out filmentos review about writing and scripting logic. Doing things "for the script" rather than have real believable characters. Maybe even give him a shout-out. I love all you lads
This show was severely lackluster… every character was predictable, a bit campy and severely underdeveloped… I don’t think any of us bought that “not Gandalf” was actually sauron as we could see the parallel to fellowship they were trying to make with Frodo and Gandalf. Hal brand was too predictable and they couldn’t even do justice as to make him believably good morally. The action scenes were not as good as anything we were given with the original movies that were over 20 years ago. Props where credit is due, the orca looked phenomenal still and the make up team did a great job. The biggest stain on this show is that we have shows like HOT-D and andor running at the same time and it highlights how poorly written the dialogue is in this show and how senseless many episodes felt. Much of the dialogue had modern phrases that never appear in the hobbit, LOTR or other books written by JRR Tolkien. I half expected someone to just say “hey what’s up buddy” as that was the level of modern dialogue we got. Rewatching the originals and going to this felt like falling off of a 20 foot ladder To add: a specific horrible writing scene is Galadriel yelling at halbrand sauron not to kill Adar bc she needs him alive and then when she questions him and gets upset , then tries to kill him only to have halbrand yell at Galadriel not to kill adar… what a waste of time, and the sword being plunged into the ground was something me and my roommate were literally saying “oh what are they gonna do plunge it into the ground to make an earthquake…. “ and we were not far off, this show was lazy, I wish it was better, idk about diversity I think the elf character and the dwarf were the only two characters I didn’t wanna shoot myself in the face about, although every character surrounding them was @$$. This show should have been competent and it sadly was not
It was obvious from episode one that Halbrand was Sauron.. The "reveal" was as lame as they get because of that. I don't get how anyone could possibly think this show was anything but garbage. I mean taken as a stand alone fantasy i suppose it could be a 5 out of ten for character, dialogue and story and 8 for visuals. As a Tolkien adaptation is it a 1 or 2. There is no way it can be justified as being better than that. Maybe a lot of people have extremely low standards. It could have been epic and so is a massive disappointent.
Hey, pause it before minute 42:00 if you don't want House of Dragon spoilers. Hey, NerdSoup. Please don't put spoilers for other shows in reviews. I haven't been able to watch HOD because of ROP has been all I've had time for.
Personally loved this season and found it very entertaining. People just don’t like this show because of the women and black people which makes me sad. I hope they continue and don’t listen to the negative Ken’s and Karen’s. The hate always speaks loud and the supporters stay silent. So I’m speaking up and showing my support! Don’t listen to these naysayers lol
I'm surprised you guys aren't hating on this show more. This was such a flop. I couldn't even finish the first episode, im here cause I love your commentary , you guys always do amazing commentary
So I caught up on the last 3 episodes ( I had fallen off through lack of interest) and my response was , wow if only the entire season had been this cohesive and exciting 💁🏾♂️
The first few episodes where losing me because it would be so boring but then they would end on an exciting cliff hanger so o stuck with it and honestly I liked the finale. I did think every main character living through the volcano was kind of dump along with a few other scenes but overall it was an ok season. I’d watch a second season if only to see where they go after all the criticism. I liked Halbrand and really wanted him to be the witch king and the stranger to be Sauron but oh well. If the second season doesn’t get better than this though I might not watch the 3rd lol
It looked great n that’s what carried me through the season, in comparison to HOTD the writing n story is just a bit naff, strangely dull. I enjoyed the graphic violence, the orcs look excellent, the costume are good but it failed at every attempt of depth, it was achingly sentimental, competing with GOT was always gonna be a challenge n they failed miserably HOTD wasn’t perfect but it was joyously well acted n the melodrama/action/pomp was suitably daft. Plus Bezos is a bellend. Good to see all these British actors getting a good gig, HOTD has half a dozen great performances in it atleast, errr ROP does not.
He's definetly Gandalf. They gave him the line "When in doubt, always follow your nose", a direct reference to The Fellowship of the Ring, where he says the same thing in the mines of Moria
I didn’t buy into any of the downplaying of the show before hand. That being said this show was just sub par, which in the scope of Tolkien means it was basically a tragedy. In the literary scope of English language works it’s the equivalent of messing up Shakespeare. You can’t mess up Shakespeare and not be made fun of. Even though Amazon had limited rights they still could have written a good show with what they had available to them and made more sensible lore changes based on what they didn’t have.
But why in the hell would Amazon try to create this gigantic world with only the Appendices? That's like if HBO tried to make Game of Thrones when they only owned the rights to Fire and Blood. It just won't work, and if you do adapt it to the screen, it will be disjointed and not the same story any longer. I said it in my other comment, but Rings of Power was just a bad show lol. Not even a bad Tolkien adapted show, it was just a bad show in general.
Trying to make Tolkien characters more "complex" just hurts the world. It's a world of really white white and black blacks, I don't need a more grey Sauron. Yes saruman goes evil etc. But yeah they try to copy game of Thrones too much whilst really Tolkiens world and world building doesn't allow for that.
They saved the best for last. Been listening to some lore on the first age and this ep by far fed into that for me. Even though the season wasn't perfect, as a fan of the story and history (and fantasy in general) I really enjoyed it and could look past any niggly bits, which bordered being pedantic, for me.
@@justtheworst6383 well I wasn't, I was merely stating that you should ready the book to understand that this show has nothing to do with the story that was written nor the history of middle earth.
Huge fan of the LOTR movies but never fully read the books so I can’t relate to those that despise this show because it doesn’t follow the exact blueprint of the books. 2-3 epis we’re about average but that’s expected in a tv show. The last 4 episodes were top tier tv and I enjoyed every moment. Think it’s obvious the majority of the budget was used for the beautiful and stunning visuals so we can stop using the excuse that they wasted 500 mill. 8/10 imo and excited to see more Sauron in season 2.
Literally the finale was the best of the series. The sequence with Halbrand/Sauron was by far the best part. I also really loved that they incorporated some of Galadriel’s “All shall love me and despair speech”, like this moment is what she remembered in that speech.
This is the first review of this show I’m enjoying I totally agree the most thrilling moment of this show (and that’s not saying much) WAS that reveal of what could have been in the water reflection THAT would have been a great jump the Meg shark moment too (since they are deviating from the lore anyway) of having season 2 be a Galadriel does get tempted and begins descent but then comes out of it after entering into that dynamic. It would be far more interesting than what I am guessing this next season will be. Of course in order for THAT deviation to have made sense (and here is where I agree again... We really did need to have more of the romantic entanglement lead up. At no point (except that brief moment when they were on the fallen tree after the Adar inquisition) did they give ANY inclination towards a shared spark of romance. There were moments where I thought I saw hints of it from Halbrand but it was always SO one note from Galadriel. The actress was only showing one aspect of the character the WHOLE time. It was extremely boring to me. Hardly any nuance. If they had both been playing up the energy between them h then the proposal he made at the end would have presented as more of a conflicting choice for Galadriel- raising the stakes of her refusal. The way she played that role how else were we going to think she’d respond to him. He was seemly just a war companion for her the whole time - a prop in her own mission. That doesn’t redeem her character at all that she refused him because she WAS using him and that’s why she could just drop him so easily. No temptation for her. No real payoff for the audience. If this was the way they were gonna go then she should have made different acting choices and the writers should have written more moments of vulnerability and tension or longing for connection on her end into the script. The director should have shot her face differently too. More silent moments of her regarding Halbrand in a way that suggested something was brewing. I was looking for those on second watch and found places where those moments could have been but the camera angle was at her back or somewhere else entirely. I just didn’t buy the “chemistry” I agree to with what I think you were also saying about instead of making the focus on Galadriels journey with Halbrand being a side story, Halbrand/Sauron should have been the main story with her the side story. THAT would have been WAY more interesting to me. His background is what I’m More curious about - I mean a shape shifting angel/devil basically is always fun! If THAT would have been the route they took then they could have actually created a more interesting story between he and Adar (the actor portraying Adar to me was actually extremely engaging. There was so much going on with him under the surface and his actors, emotional reactions and moments of stoicism made sense) I imagine the main story will be Halbrand and Adar next season along with the dwarfs and Balrog. I do hope we take a LONG break from the elves and definitely from Galadriel. To me we will only continue to see more of the same from her with slightly less rage now. I don’t care that she’s on a mission to kill Sauron now since 1. He can’t be killed and 2. She’s so one lane in her pursuit it’s just boring as staring ceaselessly at dirt. I can take or leave the Stranger Istar that seeks like Gandalf but ok It seems like a pointless deviation. Totally unnecessary to the story. I am intrigued about where they will go with Isildur and slightly intrigued scour the hairy cousin to Miriel But I’m not holding my breath for two years for this show HOTD on the other hand. I am going to really be thirsting for something to fill the void. I hope you all come up with some engaging content around it in the meantime to tide us over because that will be hard
Yo! Good to be back reviewing the most divisive show on the internet. Take that Star Wars!
Do us a quick favor and Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS/ANDROID/PC: clcr.me/NerdSoup_Halloween and get a special starter pack 💥 Available only for the next 30 days!
Visit Halloween event page 🎃👻 trickortreat.plarium.com to win a bunch of real-life and in-game prizes 💥 Available only for new users. For the best possible experience make sure to use the desktop version.
Do you know what "divisive" means? This show is universally disliked. Majority of humans out there still have functioning brains. Nice try though
Remember when you tried to accuse anyone who didn’t like the show of review bombing and being alt right yahtzees
@@Harriz62 IMDB 6.9/10, rotten tomatoes 85% fresh to 39% audience reviews, Google users 69%. Top streamed on Prime Video in Australia. The scores are all over the place. Which means it's probably 50/50. So no, the show is not universally disliked.
@@Comrade_Jason Remind me, who owns IMDB again? Rotten tomatoes shut off reviews because of the "review bombing" but score that are 10/10 "the most perfect series ever!" Isnt considered bombing? Lol. Have you seen television shows or movies before Rings of Power? Just curious. You cant possibly be this stupid.
@@Harriz62 The fact I like it means it's not u iversally disliked. Also, like, tone it down bro. People disagreeing on what makes a good TV show is not exactly worth hurling insults.
Bet they won't air season 2 during HotD Season 2 lmao
Yeah, that’s because RoP won’t air for 3 years.
Genuinely can’t understand how Galadriel is anyone’s favorite character or seems magical to them. She fights, she’s childish, aaaaaaaaand that’s it. Doesn’t really sound like a 3500 year old highly magical spiritual being.
Despite the clichés and repetetive nature of Elrond and Durin’s story, they are by far the most believable in this show to me.
Orlando Bloom didn't come into lotr with star power - he was a new actor.
I've tried watching the first episode a few times and fell asleep each time yet here I am on youtube listening people complain about it for hours. Impressive that the criticism for a show can be more entertaining than the show.
Same. 😅
I fell asleep twice trying to watch even the last episode
Ok wait but same here lmfaooooooooo
Fell asleep how? It was riveting... I was glued to my seat for 3 whole episodes... who could have believed that with all the money in the universe amazon had the gall to release this garbage.... it was unbelievable.. every line delivered with the gusto of King Lear... z list actors with as much on screen presence as a lemon drizzle cake.... and a screen play written by somone who has an incredibly overblown opinion of thier ability... just staggering... but hay I bet season 3 will be amazing...
agree! I'm a huge Tolkien fan but this show isn't worth it
For me the most impactful moment was when Elrond and Durin are on the lift and they’re talking about how Elrond missed his wedding and the birth of his children-TWO of them. Everything else didn’t really hit.
Also this is a small thing that I found super funny: sometimes characters said “Numenor” they rolled their R’s at the end and sometimes they didn’t
They carried the show and had the best chemistry among the cast.
That was the only scene in this entire show that felt honest and like two people talking and not two actors delivering lines... it would have made more sense if he said 200 years though considering Durin is a dwarf and not a man... but I don't want to nit pick the only good scene in the series....
They pronounce Numenor is a Welsh accentg
Nah. If you understand Elrond’s life at all, that’s one of the stupidest character-breaking things of all. Elrond’s fuckin twin brother chose to live a mortal life (like Elrond’s daughter Arwen did in LotR). He knows exactly how important time is to mortals. He watched the person he was closest do age and die, and leave him behind. He wouldn’t “just kinda forget about time”.
It’s dumb as hell
“I’m good” made me burst out laughing
Gandalf: Im good, bruh. Im good...🙄
I had a similar reaction when Galadriel said to Halbrand: "one cannot quench thirst by drinking seawater!"
I started laughing when the one guy started crying and turned around so nobody would see 😂
Made me rewatch the whole extended LOTR series during work week!
Bravo and that is wonderful, join us on our channel anytime, as we have our Exsurge Tolkien, counter ROP series.
Honestly I will watch season 2,not because I’m invested but because I hope they drag this series out of the gutters.
I think he’s definitely Gandalf. “When you’re in doubt, always follow your nose”.
Right! I was surprised they didn’t notice/comment on this. If he’s not Gandalf now after being named as an Istari and given G’s “nose” line, that would be absurd.
I tried to watch without any preconceived notions about this show, but I can't unread the books, so it's difficult. I mostly felt that a lot of the visuals and CGI looks pretty good, and I was fine with most of the stuff with Elrond because I usually enjoyed his performance. I really hate the costumes, they look cheap, especially compared to the costumes in the movies, many of which were hand embroidered with an incredible amount of detail. These added gold leaf and were often completely shapeless.
They fundamentally misunderstood Galadriel's character, who was very powerful in the books, not because of martial prowess, but she was renowned for her wisdom and foresight. She had magic, she didn't need to use a sword, and she was one of the ones who didn't trust Sauron when he appeared to Celebrimbor as the Lord of Gifts. She comes across as petulant in the show, she's thousands of years old at this point, and one of the oldest living elves on Middle Earth. I'm not sure how having female characters exhibit traditionally masculine traits is supposed to be empowering, women can be powerful without sacrificing what makes them women.
I think they said they were supposed to follow the lore more closely in the next season, but they've changed so much I don't see how they can. They've tried to condense thousands of years into a few. It took hundreds of years to make the rings of power and the lesser rings, and the elvin rings were made last without Sauron's knowledge, which is how they escaped his infuence.
Bad writers often think that strong female characters need to be physically strong, which couldn't be further from the truth.
@@fridgeking6014 It's ironic how Galadriel is basically the culmination of "toxic masculinity".
I think it's significant that Aaron has read the books and Beau The Monkey has not. Like all those steeped so much in Tolkien nerdlore that they've read all the appendices, notes and shopping lists, they don't like the show because it does not adhere faithfully to the books and post-it-notes for their adaptation (btw, whatever happened to "the books don't matter"?). Those not steeped in such lore however, can take the show on its own merits, and it would seem generally get more enjoyment from it.
I’ve read the silmarillion and the Hobbit, not the LOTR. I enjoyed the show but I understand criticisms of the dialogue. Ultimately, people are … primed to hate on it cause amazon is a soulless company. Oh well 🤷🏻♂️
I realllly wanted to like the show, but the writing was just terrible... such a shame
Between the handful of people in my social circle that have read everything you describe. Only one of them does not like the show. Funnily enough, the one that misremembers more of it then they get right.
Watch Lord of the Rings and come back to Rings of Power. The drop in quality is fucking stunning.
Outside of the Fellowship movie I feel the exact opposite. Fellowship is on another level. The other two are boring action movies with every character outside of the Fellowship completely amended and changed.
Human guy #1 was so obviously Sauron from the jump. He totally takes on like 8 dudes in Numenor and survives a long ass trip to elf land while bleeding from his gut.
If I remember correctly I think the deal is that the Sauron has a direct hand in creating the 9 and the 7, and so he had influence over them, but the elves made the three without him. He made the one ring, in part, to rule over the rings he didn’t work on as well the the others.
Galadriel was a robot. ...
She does not move her face.
She acts like she's in an 8th grade Christmas play.
Its exhaustive. ..
Gave up after episode 3 just been checking in with you guys ever since, doesn't sound like I missed anything worth watching
I’m excited for season 2 but more interested if the show gets worse cause I think that’ll be hilarious
On Gandalf, he has a history with the hobbits. They bring it up in the hobbit movies as well I know most of this through osmosis from a Tolkien head fan but I believe it was an older relative that introduced Bilbo to Gandalf. Gandalf actually has a higher opinion on what hobbits can do than most hobbits.
It was the same with the Wheel of Time adaptation when it came to the acting and the writing. Amazon, the wealthiest production studio in the world, gets two of the biggest source materials in the world, and flops miserably in obtaining competent actors and writers? It’s so bizarre to me that I have trouble wrapping my head around it.
I don’t think it’s about the big battles or recognizable characters I was looking forward to an adaptation of a book I love, with wonderful characters we’ve never seen on screen before
exactly
What book? The last 20 pages of the Samrillion? Like they said from the start it would not be that. Not to attack your opinion but I just don't know how people are making this leap. The Appendicies notes amount to less than two paragraphs and are a really rough outline.
@@totallynottrademarked5279 lmao you really don’t know how much is written in the appendices. Compare this to House of the Dragon. The first 6 or 7 episodes of season 1 were based on a single short story, with no dialogue. And it became one of the most watched shows of all-time with a pretty high rating from audiences and critics alike. There are multiple conflicting stories of what happened, mixed character motivations, very very rough outlines of events, and it’s already one of HBO’s most popular shows.
It’s possible to write and direct a great story from very little source material. There is no excuse for trash.
@@SnailHatan Well that is your opinion that the show is trash. That view is not shared by the majority, sure the show has weak moments. But like most Sci-fi and Fantasy nerds I know shows take a season or two to get going. The only reason HOD had a running start is that they have all of HBO behind it. It takes more work to be a cynical asshole than it does to be objective about things and see the promise in the future.
How does this channel only have 260 000 subs? You guys are the best ❤️
Calling people incels who criticize a move she does on a horse probably does not win you a bunch of subs.
I was under the impression he either was on the way to Valinor or Numenor and took advantage of a chance meeting with a powerful elf. I actually think he played it straight and sincerely wanted to remain in Numenor until Galadriel pushed the issue. He has plans for that island that will be revealed later in the show.
I also suspect we are going to find out in s2 that he poisoned the tree or was behind the corruption's spread as an attempt to drive off the elves so he could rule. He only pivoted to the ring plan at the very last minute when he realized he could control the elves with the rings instead of banishing them. There was no way for him to know they had mithril until he arrived, he is a smart guy and was rolling with the situation. There was no gigabrain master plan.
I'm sure we'll get the answers to these questions in the last 5 minutes of season 5...
@@Ma55ey Oh 100%. I can appreciate the story they are badly trying to tell but they need to take some notes from feedback going into next season and work on pacing and character development.
@@Sam-vr9wg I don't mind admitting that I found the show abysmal... I don't mind lore changes or black dwarves or elves.. but on a basic narrative and character level, everything felt really two dimensional. Which was as odds with the grand epic story that they were trying to tell.. so I really hope that they pull themselves together for season two and deliver something worthy of a billion dollars.. because I found the show lacking in every respect.. which I don't like saying because i sound like a hater.. but there is so much they could be doing with this story and it feels to me like they have squandered their first season on nonsensical mystery plots and story lines.. when all we needed was celebrimbor, galadriel and halbrand... focusing on those three in season one and constructing the story around them would have been a more solid foundation for a five season story would have been far better in my opinion...
@@Ma55ey Problem is the show is too Tokien. Dialouge does not have 3 paragraphs of surrounding thoughts, histories, and motivations to back it up. Luckily the showrunners have admitted as such and are going to reign it back. It's hard to make the supposition of high fantasy work after something like GOT. People want more grounded dialouge now.
@@totallynottrademarked5279 I don't know blaming Tolkien for the writing in the show when they wrote things like a rock sinks because it faces down seems like a delfection to me. You don't hear people saying romeo and Julie doesn't make sense because it's too Shakespeare.. there was zero Tolkien in the writing.. they were just trying to emulate the grandiose style but with none of the substance... that's their fault not the source materials... the show runners should be sacked and replaced by competent show runners.. because there just no excuse for how mediocre this show was when you realise how much money was spent on it....
Finally! I could have walked to Mordor in between episodes of this review series 😅 thank you for finishing the reviews.
Stranger use’s Gandalf’s phrase “always follow your nose” from fellowship. Gandalf confirmed
"Im built different" wow I died
I didn't even realize it was the finale. I still liked it, but I was hoping the finale would end with a bang.
Finally, mad y'all didn't do a reaction for episode 6. That episode was fire
ok. so the lore goes that sauron went as annatar, the gift giver, to the elves and they made several lesser rings, the 9, and the 7. then he left. the elves made their 3 rings alone in secret because they didn't trust him. sauron attacked and raided the elves taking the 9 and the 7 giving them to men and dwarves and then making the 1 ring. the elves rings weren't corrupted because he didn't help make them.
They were still bound to the one ring though. As they all use the Unseen World as a conduit, if that is the right description. He knew of them because of the one ring, but could not exert influence over them unless he was right near them. Unlike the other 16 rings.
The worst thing this series did for me was insulting our intelligence
I think looking back on Halbrand's journey knowing he's Sauron IS interesting. All seeming randomness like the raft meeting could be caused by Sauron powers - he put himself in the water knowing Galadriel was there, changed the weather etc
"THE SEEEEAAAA IS ALWAYS RIGHT"
So it COULD be caused by Saurians powers? How when why wherefore 😅. A good and interesting stories implies answers to such questions...
I think the showrunners deliberately didn't name the wizard man because they wanted to see how people would react to the character. If everyone thinks he's Gandalf, maybe they go with that to please everyone, or maybe they make it Saruman. I personally think he's the best performance.
Lord of the rings as a buddy cop flick where Sauron is the main trying to trick the elves sounds like a fun time
The main thing I try to remember is none of this is canon and it's just meant to be a fun story based on middle earth. I'm still hoping he will be a blue wizard but they're making a mainstream show for general audiences not hardcore tolkien fans so it's likely gonna be gandalf. That being said some of the writing is bafflingly bad and the tv fantasy tropes are a bit much.
My guess is by the end of the show the harfoots will eventually get tired of being nomadic and will settle down in what becomes the shire and that will be their hobbit origin story.
I'm guessing sauron will be taken prisoner by the numenorian army in season 2 and he'll manipulate ar pharazon into making the rings of men to help elongate their lives as he fears death and is jealous of the elves, especially now the elves have made their rings.
Not sure how it'll play out with the dwarves rings but i'm assuming durin senior will be manipulated unless he dies and elrond falls out with durin junior thinking the elves used mithril to make weapons not save their people
Gandalf definitely had other hobbit friends. Almost certainly a history of Tooks
They show a moth when he kills the wraiths, and then he makes the comment to follow your nose and he has a strong relationship with the haflings, im putting my money on gandolf, although an age early
I think the elves should go to Barcelona in the next season.
Glad to have more big budget fantasy content. Hope they bring it in Season 2.
Also, I think Theo is a half-elf. We never see his ears.
The guy that likes Galaderiel, I want one of what he is drinking
I thought Sauron's speech was the best part of the series... he made for a good argument ngl
“I’m built different!”
There’s 5 wizards 1 white sarumon, 1 grey Gandalf, 1 brown Radagast, and I believe 2 blue who aren’t named. Been awhile since I’ve read the Hobbit so I’m only 90% sure about the two colors of the wizards who Gandalf doesn’t refer to by name.
Sauron isnt as evil as like morgoth or something, he doesnt want to destroy middle earth he wants to rule it. So i think him being a mostly-evil-but-not-totally-evil kinda guy will be a good move for s2
Oh whoops I really listened to your commentary and see you actually like her portrayal of Galadriel
As for the wiping out the Orcs who she regards as slaves I think the inconsistency is the point. It is a perfect example of how she’s the evil she claims to be fighting and why she and Sauron could actually make sense
Again - I think the acting is what messed it up
Everything that's bad about it has nothing to do with the diverse casting, Dis is cute as a button and I love everything about her, it's honestly just poorly written and executed.
No one else pick up on the stranger saying “if in doubt always follow your nose” ? Big Gandalf line from LOTR series, don’t know why there is still doubt as to who stranger is, gotta be Gandalf surrrrely
That was as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. I think some people are still holding on to hope that they won't bring Gandalf to this mess and just used the line because it's cool.
For me Galadriel was really disappointing in this show. She pretty much was rude to anyone who she encountered and somehow got her wish everytime. None of the mystical and wise qualities that should have been there were there for me.
She had fully matured by the time of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Expecting her to be the same wise, mature woman well over a thousand years earlier when she is effectively in her adolescents is silly.
@@GrandAngel8000 when she left valinor she was regarded as the wisest and most powerful of the elves because she had learned everything the valar could teach.... but hay it's much easier to have her start off like a high-school jock and put it down to the fact that she's only 1000 years old... lol
@@GrandAngel8000 she was definitely not considered an adolescent at this point. Elves don't mature slower because they live forever.
he won't be gandalf probably a blue wizard, as the books say one or both went to Rune
It was fucking obvious from the start he was Sauron.
It's not the Queen's English. It's actually more of a Welsh accent which is the base of Elvish as a Language.
I like how these guys criticize people who were criticizing the show beforehand saying how much garbage it would be because of how much stuff and the lore that they changed. All to fit an agenda. Do you know people, things being released today can still be considered trash and it not be political or racist. Just because .0001% don’t make up an entire group
To be fair people were saying the same about house of the dragon.... but then stopped for the most part after episode 2-3 because it won them over by actually being good...
That comment about not marrying your high school sweetheart…. Bo Oliver are you okay?
Nah sorry, it is Gandalf. This biggest give away was that before he spoke words he constantly blew forth wind magic. As an Istari, his patron God was Manwe who is the God of air, wind, and breezes.
It's Gandalf. The moth and following his nose are direct clues it's him. They just can't say it's him
question for anyone really cos I don't know the answer. Like the soup crew I adore the films and had mixed to negative feelings on the show. do you think it would be looked on more favorably as a show without the lord of the rings attached. swap a couple of names out but keep essentially the same plot, swap the rings for a different mguffin. is it the weight of the brand and the expectations that makes it a bad show?
also I've read all the books, l.o.t.rs is a great read, silmarilian sucks
This is a really tough question because I think it being lord of the ring has a positive and negative impact
I don't think the show would be as hated if it wasn't lord of the rings but I also think this show wouldn't have anyone talking about it or even watching it past the first few episodes if it wasn't lord of the rings either and I think you could make that argument for everything in this show some people hate what they have done to the characters so if it wasn't lord of the rings then people might enjoy the characters more but then some people enjoy the characters because we have seen them before but in my oppinion I think it had a more negative effect on people's enjoyment but a positive effect on people actually watching and paying attention to the show
People would be less mad about the changes to the source material, but I can't think that the dialogue or basic story would be enough to keep most people's interest.
Also, the Silmarilion doesn't suck, at least to me. It is more difficult to read as a narrative though, but I've read It several times and enjoyed it.
from the "follow your nose" comment I assume the stranger is Gandalf
Visually stunning, writing and plot was terrible though.
1. Harfoots/hobbits were boring I skipped them every time they showed up on screen.
2. Arondir and the southlanders, interesting but the acting was kind of bad
3. Galadriel and halbrand/Numenor, very cool but they should've replaced the harfoots with halbrand being more deceptive and should've spent more time showing celebrimbor how to forge the rings.
4. Elrond and Dwarves, mithril origin story was terrible, but their relationship was pretty good even if it was a bit repetitive.
Overall the harfoot arc should've just been replaced with halbrand/sauron and getting to know more of that character. Nori and Budget gandalf were god awful and took up way too much screentime, should've been retconned and only focused on the elves, men, sauron and the forging of the rings and saurons deception
Ironically enough, the extended editions of the LoTR trilogy are available to watch on HBO Max 😂
There is something there, it's just poorly directed, especially in story development. All the plot lines drag on too long, dialogue is twee, and I agree about the cast. One of the best actors in it (Simon Merrells) died early on. The music is also annoyingly intrusive, and way too busy. Still, it could be saved.
I agree... they can throw out all the lore if they want to... Peter Jackson did a fair bit of that himself... but if your story is well told and well acted people will forget about lore changes and enjoy the show... too bad this show failed on almost every level... I'm sure by season 4 they'll have gotten some people behind the camera that know what they are doing...
I dunno how meteor tramp can be Gandalf though, despite it looking like it could be. I think it’ll turn out to be Elronds old man.
I overall liked the season there was a lot of good and a lot of bad and some meh but I enjoyed it and hoping the 2nd season like you guys said just tightens it up a bit
I hope season 2 focuses heavily on sauron. I didnt like how they changed perspectives all the time in this season kind of like how game of thrones did. If its only perspectives of nori and wizard, sauron, galatheral and elrond, and maybe some clips of theo slowly turning to the dark then thatll be perfect. Show us how sauron was depicted in Lord of the rings and why he was so evil because rn im rootin for him 😂 i love him. And thats not how it should be. They basically made this season with all these people being good but no one to root for. Give us somebody like Aragorn. Because rn Sauron is that aragorn for me
This is probably the worst written big budget show I have ever seen I'm really struggling to work out if this is worse than GOT season 8 it's definitely on par with it but my god the writing in this show is so so poor
It was probably similar in quality to wheel of time in my opinion. Just had better visuals that distracted viewers from the story and character development not being that strong.
Relax it wasn’t that bad. Boring sure but S8 bad? Please calm down.
@@REDANDSILVER741 no dude it was bad so many inconsistencies a majority of things that happened didn't make any sense at all it was honestly terrible don't tell me to calm down though its my oppinion you can disagree with that oppinion but tell me why you disagree don't just tell someone to relax and calm down because your certainly not going to change my mind that way
@@Beast80001 never seen wheel of time so I can't really agree with you but I will take your word for it I havnt heard anything good about that show though so it sounds correct 🤣🤣
This is worse but it's really close
Is it me or does Sauron look very similar to Aragon
Cosplaying as Aragorn hence Aquagorn. Well I didn't mind that since he is literally a deceiver
I'm good, dont need a season 2. go and spend the money on something else Jeff. new rocket or tandem bike, anything else.
Imagine paying 200m for the Ip alone and then create this with the other 500m. So sad, it should blow everything else out of the water.
I actually agreed with everything you said and you pronounced almost everything correctly!
gave up after ep 3. wanted to see if you guys could change my mind. looks like i made the right choice
Literally thought when you said Raid it was a joke. Nope. Fun.
That’s some good soup
Aaron hating Theo is everything!
Check out filmentos review about writing and scripting logic. Doing things "for the script" rather than have real believable characters.
Maybe even give him a shout-out. I love all you lads
This show was severely lackluster… every character was predictable, a bit campy and severely underdeveloped… I don’t think any of us bought that “not Gandalf” was actually sauron as we could see the parallel to fellowship they were trying to make with Frodo and Gandalf. Hal brand was too predictable and they couldn’t even do justice as to make him believably good morally. The action scenes were not as good as anything we were given with the original movies that were over 20 years ago. Props where credit is due, the orca looked phenomenal still and the make up team did a great job. The biggest stain on this show is that we have shows like HOT-D and andor running at the same time and it highlights how poorly written the dialogue is in this show and how senseless many episodes felt. Much of the dialogue had modern phrases that never appear in the hobbit, LOTR or other books written by JRR Tolkien. I half expected someone to just say “hey what’s up buddy” as that was the level of modern dialogue we got. Rewatching the originals and going to this felt like falling off of a 20 foot ladder
To add: a specific horrible writing scene is Galadriel yelling at halbrand sauron not to kill Adar bc she needs him alive and then when she questions him and gets upset , then tries to kill him only to have halbrand yell at Galadriel not to kill adar… what a waste of time, and the sword being plunged into the ground was something me and my roommate were literally saying “oh what are they gonna do plunge it into the ground to make an earthquake…. “ and we were not far off, this show was lazy, I wish it was better, idk about diversity I think the elf character and the dwarf were the only two characters I didn’t wanna shoot myself in the face about, although every character surrounding them was @$$. This show should have been competent and it sadly was not
Does anyone think that Elrond looks just like a young Boromir?
You guys should read LotR...
It was obvious from episode one that Halbrand was Sauron.. The "reveal" was as lame as they get because of that. I don't get how anyone could possibly think this show was anything but garbage. I mean taken as a stand alone fantasy i suppose it could be a 5 out of ten for character, dialogue and story and 8 for visuals. As a Tolkien adaptation is it a 1 or 2. There is no way it can be justified as being better than that. Maybe a lot of people have extremely low standards. It could have been epic and so is a massive disappointent.
Oliver...sean bean was already in lotr lol
It’s not a good show. I’ll still watch it because I’m a shill.
Hey, pause it before minute 42:00 if you don't want House of Dragon spoilers.
Hey, NerdSoup. Please don't put spoilers for other shows in reviews. I haven't been able to watch HOD because of ROP has been all I've had time for.
I think Galadriel's arc is similar to Ahsoka Tano's.
Personally loved this season and found it very entertaining. People just don’t like this show because of the women and black people which makes me sad. I hope they continue and don’t listen to the negative Ken’s and Karen’s. The hate always speaks loud and the supporters stay silent. So I’m speaking up and showing my support! Don’t listen to these naysayers lol
I'm surprised you guys aren't hating on this show more. This was such a flop. I couldn't even finish the first episode, im here cause I love your commentary , you guys always do amazing commentary
So I caught up on the last 3 episodes ( I had fallen off through lack of interest) and my response was , wow if only the entire season had been this cohesive and exciting 💁🏾♂️
The first few episodes where losing me because it would be so boring but then they would end on an exciting cliff hanger so o stuck with it and honestly I liked the finale. I did think every main character living through the volcano was kind of dump along with a few other scenes but overall it was an ok season. I’d watch a second season if only to see where they go after all the criticism. I liked Halbrand and really wanted him to be the witch king and the stranger to be Sauron but oh well. If the second season doesn’t get better than this though I might not watch the 3rd lol
It looked great n that’s what carried me through the season, in comparison to HOTD the writing n story is just a bit naff, strangely dull. I enjoyed the graphic violence, the orcs look excellent, the costume are good but it failed at every attempt of depth, it was achingly sentimental, competing with GOT was always gonna be a challenge n they failed miserably HOTD wasn’t perfect but it was joyously well acted n the melodrama/action/pomp was suitably daft.
Plus Bezos is a bellend.
Good to see all these British actors getting a good gig, HOTD has half a dozen great performances in it atleast, errr ROP does not.
He's definetly Gandalf. They gave him the line "When in doubt, always follow your nose", a direct reference to The Fellowship of the Ring, where he says the same thing in the mines of Moria
I didn’t buy into any of the downplaying of the show before hand. That being said this show was just sub par, which in the scope of Tolkien means it was basically a tragedy. In the literary scope of English language works it’s the equivalent of messing up Shakespeare. You can’t mess up Shakespeare and not be made fun of. Even though Amazon had limited rights they still could have written a good show with what they had available to them and made more sensible lore changes based on what they didn’t have.
Loved this review
But why in the hell would Amazon try to create this gigantic world with only the Appendices? That's like if HBO tried to make Game of Thrones when they only owned the rights to Fire and Blood. It just won't work, and if you do adapt it to the screen, it will be disjointed and not the same story any longer.
I said it in my other comment, but Rings of Power was just a bad show lol. Not even a bad Tolkien adapted show, it was just a bad show in general.
direct hit from a volcanic blast, but not even a singed hair ? cringe
Trying to make Tolkien characters more "complex" just hurts the world. It's a world of really white white and black blacks, I don't need a more grey Sauron. Yes saruman goes evil etc. But yeah they try to copy game of Thrones too much whilst really Tolkiens world and world building doesn't allow for that.
How do you guys compare this to CMC being traded?
They saved the best for last. Been listening to some lore on the first age and this ep by far fed into that for me. Even though the season wasn't perfect, as a fan of the story and history (and fantasy in general) I really enjoyed it and could look past any niggly bits, which bordered being pedantic, for me.
If your a fan of the story and history of the books, you would be gagging while watching this "show"
Thank you for letting me know how I should feel.
@@justtheworst6383 well I wasn't, I was merely stating that you should ready the book to understand that this show has nothing to do with the story that was written nor the history of middle earth.
Looking forward to season 2. I read the books, but don't expect the show to be tailored to me so with that viewpoint I found it enjoyable.
Huge fan of the LOTR movies but never fully read the books so I can’t relate to those that despise this show because it doesn’t follow the exact blueprint of the books. 2-3 epis we’re about average but that’s expected in a tv show. The last 4 episodes were top tier tv and I enjoyed every moment. Think it’s obvious the majority of the budget was used for the beautiful and stunning visuals so we can stop using the excuse that they wasted 500 mill. 8/10 imo and excited to see more Sauron in season 2.
What was the point of chika chika chika slim lady and her (they’s?) 2 mates?
RAAAAIDDDDDD SHADOW LEGENDS.. I always laugh when I see a RSL or VPN ad haha
Literally the finale was the best of the series. The sequence with Halbrand/Sauron was by far the best part. I also really loved that they incorporated some of Galadriel’s “All shall love me and despair speech”, like this moment is what she remembered in that speech.
Who was hyping up the battle scene ? 😆
This is the first review of this show I’m enjoying
I totally agree the most thrilling moment of this show (and that’s not saying much) WAS that reveal of what could have been in the water reflection
THAT would have been a great jump the Meg shark moment too (since they are deviating from the lore anyway) of having season 2 be a Galadriel does get tempted and begins descent but then comes out of it after entering into that dynamic. It would be far more interesting than what I am guessing this next season will be. Of course in order for THAT deviation to have made sense (and here is where I agree again... We really did need to have more of the romantic entanglement lead up. At no point (except that brief moment when they were on the fallen tree after the Adar inquisition) did they give ANY inclination towards a shared spark of romance. There were moments where I thought I saw hints of it from Halbrand but it was always SO one note from Galadriel. The actress was only showing one aspect of the character the WHOLE time. It was extremely boring to me. Hardly any nuance. If they had both been playing up the energy between them h then the proposal he made at the end would have presented as more of a conflicting choice for Galadriel- raising the stakes of her refusal. The way she played that role how else were we going to think she’d respond to him. He was seemly just a war companion for her the whole time - a prop in her own mission. That doesn’t redeem her character at all that she refused him because she WAS using him and that’s why she could just drop him so easily. No temptation for her. No real payoff for the audience. If this was the way they were gonna go then she should have made different acting choices and the writers should have written more moments of vulnerability and tension or longing for connection on her end into the script. The director should have shot her face differently too. More silent moments of her regarding Halbrand in a way that suggested something was brewing. I was looking for those on second watch and found places where those moments could have been but the camera angle was at her back or somewhere else entirely. I just didn’t buy the “chemistry”
I agree to with what I think you were also saying about instead of making the focus on Galadriels journey with Halbrand being a side story, Halbrand/Sauron should have been the main story with her the side story. THAT would have been WAY more interesting to me. His background is what I’m
More curious about - I mean a shape shifting angel/devil basically is always fun! If THAT would have been the route they took then they could have actually created a more interesting story between he and Adar (the actor portraying Adar to me was actually extremely engaging. There was so much going on with him under the surface and his actors, emotional reactions and moments of stoicism made sense) I imagine the main story will be Halbrand and Adar next season along with the dwarfs and Balrog. I do hope we take a LONG break from the elves and definitely from Galadriel. To me we will only continue to see more of the same from her with slightly less rage now. I don’t care that she’s on a mission to kill Sauron now since 1. He can’t be killed and 2. She’s so one lane in her pursuit it’s just boring as staring ceaselessly at dirt.
I can take or leave the Stranger Istar that seeks like Gandalf but ok
It seems like a pointless deviation. Totally unnecessary to the story.
I am intrigued about where they will go with Isildur and slightly intrigued scour the hairy cousin to Miriel
But I’m not holding my breath for two years for this show
HOTD on the other hand. I am going to really be thirsting for something to fill the void. I hope you all come up with some engaging content around it in the meantime to tide us over because that will be hard
Agreed. And they shouldnt have called the series the Rings of Power b/c the rings seemed to have been an afterthought.