There Are Slow Burns, And There Is ‘The Rings Of Power’

The first season of The Rings of Power has been the subject of a lot of debate among fans. We seem to have moved past the black dwarfs. The first controversy that held no weight was about women warrior elves. The meat of the show, or lack of it, is now the topic of discussion.

I caused a lot of people to yell at me when I said that The Rings of Power felt like a non- event. It is something I will watch at some point, but it is not something I am counting down the days to, nor is it something that everyone is talking about on the internet.

It's true that not every show needs to be an event, but it's clear that Amazon was trying to make this their own game of thrones with that level of cultural impact. It does not help that House of the Dragon is airing each week at the same time as Game of thrones, which does a better job of being an event.

There are slow burns in The Rings of Power, and I do believe there is a thing called "too slow", but I don't think I'm paying enough attention to it.

The creators of the series were given a blank check by Amazon where they knew there was going to be investment for a number of seasons. It seems like an entire season's worth of it, which may have translated into a lack of urgency in the early part of the season. We know where this is going, the forging of the Rings of Power and a face-off against Sauron, but we're going to have to wait 40 hours for the whole saga to unfold.

Since we have no choice but to compare it to its current rival, House of the Dragon, I would argue that series understands what it takes to be a TV show that is technically both a slow burn and long running. Rings of Power, gorgeous, detailed, well-cast, but "gripping" is not one of the positives I would use to describe it. We have seen close to zero movement across almost all the major storylines before.

Rings of Power can get better over time. The Expanse struggled with early adaptation issues and pacing in its first season, but became an all-time great sci-fi series. I think The Rings of Power would not have been as good if it had been more bloated and stretched. I want future seasons to find something that is missing here.

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The Herokiller series and The Earthborn trilogy are available for purchase.