I think I posted this in the wrong thread, apologies for that. Too out of touch with posting in forums.
Just my brief thoughts on the 4 episodes so far. I'll delete the post in the other thread.
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So far I think this has been much better than I'd expected it to be based on all the pre-release evidence and promos. And if nothing else this actually made me nostalgic to read Tolkien again so picked up the Sil and UT these past few weeks and have just been going through them rapidly. I can only hope this has the same effect on younger viewers of the show who have read little to none of the books. I was never a big purist at all but over the years the more films I've seen have made me put in the camp that think it's perfectly plausible for something like RoP to be completely un-Tolkienesque and still exist as a good work of art on its own. It hasn't exactly been that case so far but I think it shows *some* promise. I find RoP ultimately a mixed bag in quality but I'm also enjoying it just as it is. And I think it is fair to give the show more time to find it's footing. Almost every good show I've seen has their first season as their weakest since they're still trying to find their audience and an identity. It's nothing I would call as great TV (so far) but the production values and the thin Tolkien veneer just makes for a fun little time with my little young cousins.
What I don't like:
- I don't really dig the short-hair on Elves and it does take away some of the elegance one associates with the Elves, but it's also not a huge issue for me that I can't look past. It's a bit more fun to think that over the 6-7000+ years of Elves, they never went with fashion fads . I definitely think there's a justification behind it by the writers (the High-King Gil-Galad has long flowy hair while the Elves who are not of a noble stature or are just foot soldiers have short hair) but my personal in-universe explanation is simply the fact that the long drawn out war with Morgoth and his remnants was the reason they went with shorter hair for the military advantage. I'm quite enjoying the Elves being much more expressive and full of personality than in PJ's films but in going for shorter hair they lose a lot of their regality. Even shoulder-length hair would have sufficed. And I'm hoping by second season they allow that to grow it out again.
(PS: For some reason Arondir's buzzcut really doesn't bother me. He comes off very Elvish despite the short crop.)
- My major criticism with the show so far has been Galadriel and this isn't from just a Tolkien standpoint but because it drags down the show even as it's own thing. It's great that they wanted to give a more feminist angle to the show but they backtracked because Galadriel's main motivation hinges entirely on the death of her brother, a man (-Elf). Book Galadriel's motivation is already very progressive and having her desire for a kingdom of her own to rule in ME would have made the character itself feel far less generic and layered. Couple that with the fact how much they have washed away the First Age backstory, it makes Show Galadriel feel very generic. And I think Morfydd Clark's doing pretty good in the role, but her storyline and her dialogues have just not been up to the mark.
- the prologue in episode 1 left me very underwhelmed too, despite the great imagery and Sil references. I know it's probably a rights issue but if you can't show the reasons behind the impetus that drive your main character then what's really the point of it? Thanks to that the Noldorin Elves now come off as benevolent heroes displaced from their homelands because they went to fight Morgoth and his accessories.
- One thing that I'm feeling is that the show feels too scattered right from the beginning. I think it would've been much better if the show opened from a single (or atmost two) perspectives and then it grew wider and wider to introduce more of the cultures and the characters. This would also really get us invested in that plotline more fundamentally. Episode 4 is the first time where I felt that it worked on a purely narrative level since it had a thematic line of fathers and sons and their legacy running through all the plotlines (Míriel and palantír, Elrond and Eärendil, the Durins, Orcs and Adar, Elendil and Isildur). So more of that please!
- The lack of texture. This is just something that I find to be a product of the digital age of film so I'm not holding RoP to this alone. But despite the great production and CGI, it all feels too shiny, smooth, airbrushed and clean. This might seem like a little thing but it takes away so much from the weight of history that could be felt in Tolkien's world. I think this was the biggest strength of the LotR films. The halls and ruins and caverns and ships, all felt *lived in* and weathered. Think of just the few glimpses of the streets of Minas Tirth or the broken statues at Parth Galen and compare that to the entirety of Númenor here (I loved seeing Númenor in RoP, I should clarify. But the setting still feels too clean and stagey).
- Númenor in general I'm more mixed about. The sets are grand and magnificent. But in the minor details it doesn't feel real. It just doesn't feel grand enough. Míriel's halls are too small and people can just come in and go out while the Queen is in the middle of a discussion. The costumes make it feel a little like Community theatre too. And I can't help but feel that the extras are not being given good enough direction. (Look at the way the people cheer for Pharazon, for instance. It comes off as too unnatural and forced.)
There are a lot of things I'm loving too of course.
The scenes with Elrond and Durin are some really big highlights for me. Seeing Elrond speak of Eärendil had me with a big grin. Robert Aramayo is really charming in the role and I think is doing (so far!) a more Tolkien-accurate portrayal of Elrond rather than Hugo Waving did. Disa is a great addition. The scene of her singing to the mountains in that beautiful voice really gave me chills.
I think both the Dwarves and Orcs are clear highlights of the show. Massive improvements over the original trilogy (I do like the orcs in LotR but I never found them interesting as a culture there, and also just...not scary enough.) And unlike Númenor, the Dwarven culture in Khazad-dûm actually has some of that texture that I talk about. I find Adar very intriguing.
I also like the Arondir and Bronwyn plotline a lot. It just feels so eerie to see "Mordor" actually bustling with people and villages. I also like that Cordova's stunts so far are very much of the Legolas in FotR brand and not Legolas in RotK brand.
Despite my mixed feelings about Númenor, I will say that Elendil seems very perfectly cast. (He feels like a mix of Aragorn and Boromir). And I like the casting of Isildur as well. I also think Episode 4 was much better than Episode 3 in giving Númenor some personality, but I hope it gets even better here on out.
The Harfoots storyline seems pretty divisive here. I like them. But also I want to see what it's really building up to. It's too soon to call their scenes filler and a time-waste since I have no clue what The Stranger storyline is actually building towards. The Harfoots' lifestyle and rules being so harsh is very much an intentional creative decision. I actually do not think they were going to leave Nori's father behind or at the back of the caravan if it was just that. But the punishment was specifically aimed at Nori who endangered the entire tribe by letting in a large, possibly dangerous stranger. I feel that part of the reasoning to show the Harfoots' struggle is to highlight just now special a place The Shire became to the Hobbits later on. Sadoc's speech was meant to highlight those specific hardships imo more than just giving a nod to Bilbo's speech. In the long history of the Hobbits, the Shire became like an oasis compared to their thousands of years of nomadic uncertainties. So no wonder once they settled down, the Hobbits became parochial to a fault.
Overall: I'd say Episode 4 > Episode 2 > Episode 3 > Episode 1