This second episode of the series confirms without shadow of a doubt that this is a high budget, well-made fantasy tale.
The story writing veers however towards the level of big budget fanfiction based on the appendices and poetry of LOTR.
The timelines compared to Tolkien's work seem highly compressed, which makes sense given the need for a TV show to have greater character coherence than a multi (human) generations long saga.
The Harfoots provide a tolerable comedy element to what would otherwise be a mess of po-faced Elvish melancholy. The Irish tinker trope has however been done to death in fantasy and I do wish the writers had been a little more creative in mixing things up a bit .
The broad farce of the Dwarvish kingdom was leaven slightly by hints of intrigue (though we all know how the story of Khaza-Dum ends). We already know that Dwarves like Riches, Beer and Family and that they are a proud and prickly people so none of the events here are out of character.
The corruption of the southlands and the withdrawal of the Elven order guards, with its promise of a forbidden love story should be capable of sustaining some strong resonances with real world Western powers actions in foreign lands. But the easy rules of good and evil in Fantasy will probably get in the way of a more subtle geopolitical commentary.
The story of Elrond and Celebrimbor is still to play out but it will surely form the crux of the tale as they create the eleven rings and trigger the doom of the 2nd Age.
Galadriel's story is (thus far) the least satisfying. Despite her age she has not yet achieved the grace of the Lady of Lorien and indeed, the Galadriel of Tolkien's works was not a warrior, but a melancholy pacifist who didn't take up arms against Morgoth believing him to be undefeatable. It makes it hard to see how she could get from where she is to where she ends up. The most ludicrous plot point so far is the idea that someone as wise as Galadriel is supposed to be would jump off a ship off the coast of Elven Florida expecting to swim the equivalent of the Atlantic back to Europe. Perhaps this will be where Numenor appears in the story.
Overall it remains watchable. I just have to stop trying to fit it in with Tolkien's wider world-history and think of it as an entirely new fantasy that just borrows some names and locations.
The story writing veers however towards the level of big budget fanfiction based on the appendices and poetry of LOTR.
The timelines compared to Tolkien's work seem highly compressed, which makes sense given the need for a TV show to have greater character coherence than a multi (human) generations long saga.
The Harfoots provide a tolerable comedy element to what would otherwise be a mess of po-faced Elvish melancholy. The Irish tinker trope has however been done to death in fantasy and I do wish the writers had been a little more creative in mixing things up a bit .
The broad farce of the Dwarvish kingdom was leaven slightly by hints of intrigue (though we all know how the story of Khaza-Dum ends). We already know that Dwarves like Riches, Beer and Family and that they are a proud and prickly people so none of the events here are out of character.
The corruption of the southlands and the withdrawal of the Elven order guards, with its promise of a forbidden love story should be capable of sustaining some strong resonances with real world Western powers actions in foreign lands. But the easy rules of good and evil in Fantasy will probably get in the way of a more subtle geopolitical commentary.
The story of Elrond and Celebrimbor is still to play out but it will surely form the crux of the tale as they create the eleven rings and trigger the doom of the 2nd Age.
Galadriel's story is (thus far) the least satisfying. Despite her age she has not yet achieved the grace of the Lady of Lorien and indeed, the Galadriel of Tolkien's works was not a warrior, but a melancholy pacifist who didn't take up arms against Morgoth believing him to be undefeatable. It makes it hard to see how she could get from where she is to where she ends up. The most ludicrous plot point so far is the idea that someone as wise as Galadriel is supposed to be would jump off a ship off the coast of Elven Florida expecting to swim the equivalent of the Atlantic back to Europe. Perhaps this will be where Numenor appears in the story.
Overall it remains watchable. I just have to stop trying to fit it in with Tolkien's wider world-history and think of it as an entirely new fantasy that just borrows some names and locations.