There are still some highlights in Rings of Power's debut. There is still something charming about it, despite the fact that it has been repeating the themes of hope in the face of despair for a long time. It has remained a pretty show, with millions of dollars at its disposal. It's the same thing, but in a crazy 70 minutes that both feels like too much and not enough is happening. It does, however, take a step forward in the long narrative of the Second Age it reveals to us, for all that aesthetic shimmer, what we have experienced every week for the past few months was both obvious and empty.
It's hard to explain what happens in "Alloyed" The Nmenoreans have returned to Nmenor to look for Miriel's father and the former king. Do you want some consequences for that? Don't wait until next season. After being confronted by the white-robed agents of Sauron, the stranger realized he was one of the Istari, the future Wizards. Do you want some consequences for that? Don't wait until next season. At Celebrimbor's forge, Galadriel learns that Halbrand is not the heir to the throne of the Southlands by blood, but the reincarnation of Sauron. Do you want some consequences for that? Don't wait until next season.
Team Eldar gets around to forging at least a few of the Rings of Power, thanks to a few suggestions from Sauron that Celebrimbor might be a better ring designer. Want some repercussions for that? Don't wait until next season.
Durin and Disa aren't in "Alloyed", so there's no mention of them, either. We have a wizard and probably Gandalf at that given his penchant for saving halflings. Sauron is hot and gaslight gate keep lordboss. The realization that things have to start happening on this show is what we got.
That is the problem. Each of these reveals could be enjoyable to watch. The Rings of Power, even at its most sluggish, remains a sight to behold, and we get intimate scenes of things like the forging of the Elf-rings, made possible by Galadriel choosing to let go of the dagger that remained The moment Halbrand/Sauron realized that Galadriel knows who he really is, and changed in an instant from charming to sinister, trapping her in visions of her past to persuade her to his side is a clever display of Sauron's power to deceive. It is cute to have Nori join Gandalf on his quest to find out more about his true self in the eastern lands of Rhun.
It is less like you have solved a puzzle box, and more like you have just been waiting for the puzzle box to open, because they are things that have been telegraphed in the show for a long time. People assumed who Halbrand was since he first appeared, and they didn't know which wizard he was. We have known for a long time that Celebrimbor would eventually make some rings. The hot moment Galadriel contemplates that it's Celebrimbor who is under Sauron's influence is when "Alloyed" tried to obfuscate with half hearted gotchas.
The first season of The Rings of Power has leaned on these mysteries so much that it seems like it wouldn't matter at all. The Rings of Power is still pretty, still slow, still about hope, and aside from the forging of Mordor and Mount Doom, it's still the highlight of the season
Sauron walks among Middle-earth again, the Istari rise to oppose him, and the Rings of Power are being forged are all signs of a progression that can't linger at this point. The Rings of Power has had enough time to establish itself, its world, and its heroes, and now it needs to prove that it has a journey that is worth going on. It is possible that viewers will like the story we were hoping to get in the first season. Patrick McKay told the Hollywood Reporter that in the second season, they will give it to them. I wonder if you could have just trusted them enough to give them what they wanted in the first place.
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