The Lord of the Rings- The Rings of Power: Udun

 "New life... in defiance of death!"

Wow.This is when Rings of Power really comes alive. I may not be a huge fan of battle scenes, but this is a proper, awesome, cinematic, Lord of the Rings battle scene. And I love it.

The men of the Southlands fight well, with Bronwyn and Arondir being real heroes. The tactics, and the ebb and flow of battle, work well narratively. It's hard to do this, yet the episode does it with aplomb. And verve. And CGI,

Yet the characterisation is superb, too. Isildur getting to fight as a soldier, and imprressing Elendil. The nobility of Bronwyn. Her romance with Arondir, Leo's attachment to the artifact- like Smeagol. The arresting interrogation of Adar by the deeply charismatic and awesome Galadriel- we learn that orcs were once elves, and that he claimed to kill Sauron. 

And then there's Halbrand... I don't think he's a king at all. We shall see. Yet he and Galadriel seem to find love in battle. Like Spartans without the gayness...

The conclusion is shocking, if CGI heavy. We know Galadriel, Elendil and Isildur must survive the eruption. But the others?

The Lord of the Rings- The Rings of Power: Partings

 "We set sail!"

This episode, and a fine episode it is- the start has been uneven, but there was much to establish. Thois iscan episode, a pivotal episode, one in which the forces of hope start to amass against the orcs, Adar, Sauron... and it's all about loyalty. Loyalty as a test.

The Stranger- now very clearly a proto-wizard, ahem!- proves his loyalty to the poroto-Hobbits by scaring away the Wargs. Others have it less easy. Elrond is torn between the honour of his oath to Durin and his Elven loyalty because mithril, apparently, is the ghost of a Silmaril (I know what they are!) and is needed to save the Eldar... yes, it's a word coined by Tolkien. but it makes me think of Space Marines and such. Bah.

The Men of the Southlands have conflicting loyalties. half of them, led by Waldreg, are bloody traitors. Arondir, bless him, is true, and will fight for the humans even if they will not fight for themselves. Bronwyn, heartbreakingly, is torn.

On the doomed Numenor, the queen shows admirable steel. Thev loyalty of Galadriel is not in doubt, though her fanaticism fascinates. The loyalty of the political class is not without cynicism, but true.Idildur, though... we know his name, and that of his fathervElendil, as the first two kings of Gondor, meaning Numenor must be doomed in the very short term. Yet he is portrayed, with all due melodrama, as a ne'er-do-well made good.

I have no problem with that. t describes myself. This episode oozes character, restrained wit and narrative skill.

The Lord of the Rings- The Rings of Power: The Great Wave

 "You have been told many lies..."

Halfway through the season, already, and things are getting ominous. I liked this episode a lot. 

Evil tidings aboung everywhere. Arandir is freed by Adar- an elf who seems to command the orcs- to deliver an ultimatum to the humans in the elf tower- surrender the Southlands to him or be crushed. Young Theo, fresh from nearly getting heroically killed, is told by a fellow villager, a sinister individual, that the falling stars some nightsago mean Sauron is coming.

Meanwhile, Elrond learns the dwarves are tentatively mining a new mineral- mithril, previously unknown. Yet the efforts almost end in disaster, and I sense that Durin's royal father will not live long. And the Dwarves know that Elrond is hiding something. It's all very friendly, but everyone is hiding something.

Most fascinating are the events in Numenor, as Galadriel hears the reason for all the suspicion; the royals have a seeing stone, one foretelling the fooding end destruction of Numenor. Isildur disgraces himself at sea. And yet... we know that "Elendil" was a battle cry for Aragorn, his distant descendent. And Isildur will achieve legendary things... I think he was called the first king of Gondor? But Gondor is on Middle Earth. I suspect Numenor is doomed, and soon. All these revelations are thrilling. The series has build up slowly, at times, but this episode really delivers the goods.

And, unexpectedly, Numenor goes to war with Galadriel, the Queen and Isildur among the troops. I'm excited.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power- Adrift

 "The tides of fate are flowing..."

This episode, it has to be said, is a fair bit slower and less gripping than the promising opener. It really does drag, which is worrying. A slow pace is fine if you're having fun or lost in good characterisation, but a serious epic like this can't afford to drag. I hope this doesn't continue.

It's pity, as there's actually a lot going on. That strange tramp, fallen from the sky, being looked after by those Harfoot children... is he Sauron, or is this a bit of misdirection? Then there's this beautiful creation Lord Celebrimbor wishes to do... will this end up being the Nine Rings? The series title may, after all, be a clue.

Orcs, rot and entropy seem to be spreading into human and Harfoot lands, hence great migrations. Galadriel meets someone who finally challenges her in ways she may need. And Elrond learns a lesson in manners for those not so long lived as he, while we get to admire the drwarves of Khazzad-Dun, while secrets are kinted at.

There's a lot of good stuff here. But it all happened far too ponderously.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power- A Shadow of the Past

"We thought our light would never dim..."

 Fear not: Netflix problems are now solved and I'll be carrying on with Sandman alongside What If. However, I absolutely had to add this rather exciting little series to my schedule. I'll alternate all three until I reach the point, very soon, where I'm only able to watch one episode a week of this. That's the forseeable future.

I knew very little of this going in except that it was set well before the Third Age- the First Age, presumably?- and based on those appendices to Lord of the Rings that I last read at a very young age. So it was pleasing to see how well made this is, and hoe epic it feels, beginning with a bit of narration from Galadriel herself on the early days of Valinor, the centuries-long war (no doubt Tolkien's allegory for 1914-18), and the slinking away of Sauron and his orcs, leading to Galadriel's obsession. Galadrielis the main focus here, the Cassandra who insists Sauron is still a threat yet seems to be ignored, but we see lots of visual Elven awesomeness. We also get much of a very young Elrond... and finally get to meet the legendary Gil-Galad.

We also have some human villages, with elves still seeing humans as tainted from their erstwhile loyalty to Morgoth. So it's an interesting twist to have an elf- Arondir- in love with a human, Bronwyn, both of them going AWOL to investigate disturbing portents from the East of disease and decay.

Finally, we have the Harfoots, progenitors of Hobbits, recognisable similar but just a little wilder and less technologically advanced, with Lenny Henry excellent as their wise and troubled leader.

There's a lot going on, but the characters are alrewady distinct and clear, and thisall feels very big indeed. I'm already enjoying this.