It's Done, Sam: Rings of Power Ep. 8 Review
Hallelujah. The Rings of Power Season 1 is over. And it turns out, either Sauron pulled off the most convoluted villain plan of all time or everything is Galadriel’s fault.
But we did answers to the questions no one was asking: Who is Sauron? Is that wizard man Gandalf? To pretty much no one’s surprise, the guy who said the most Saurony things throughout the show, Halbrand, turned out to be Sauron. And the guy who looks an awful lot like Gandalf turns out to be Gandalf (probably—it’s not 100% confirmed yet, but come on).
In typical Rings of Power fashion, this episode was stuffed with bad writing—Halbrand is in dire need of elvish medicine, and yet he survives a 6 day horse ride to Eregion and she’s not suspicious?—and dialogue that feels mostly like non sequiturs—Seriously Galadriel never answers anyone’s questions or tells them what has happened—and plot lines that went no where.
Probably the show’s most grievous sin in my opinion was the big Sauron reveal. Why? Because despite what the show runners have said about their love and devotion to Tolkien’s stories and writing, it shows that they have completely disregarded his story for their own.
Let me explain:
In the original story of the forging of the Rings of Power Sauron, who is a shape shifter, assumes the fair visage of Annatar and comes to Elven-smith’s of Eregion. He befriends them and counsels them in the arts of magic. And despite the fact that Celebrimbor, Galadriel, and Elrond are all suspicious of him, Annatar succeeds in seducing and deceiving the elven smith’s into creating the Rings of Power. At first they the lesser rings—9 rings for mortal men and then 7 for the dwarf lords.
After Annatar leaves, taking with him the lesser 16 rings, the elves then forge the three elven rings. And Annatar, who is Sauron, then crafts his master ring to enslave the others.
It would have been a cool story. But the writers abandoned it for their own lesser version where they could do the whole mystery-box thing with the Halbrand is Sauron reveal. The sad part is that the Halbrand actor would have made a great Annatar. He just needed to bathe and comb his hair more. I kind of liked the stuff with him as Sauron.
The writers and show runners structured the entire season around the Halbrand-is-Sauron plot twist. But it could’ve worked just as well if not far better with Annatar as Sauron. There’s almost just as much tension from the audience knowing something that the characters don’t and watching the characters fall into a trap. The entire show could have been built around Annatar’s scheming with the elves of Eregion and gaining their favor all while Elrond, Gil-Galad, and Galadriel grow increasingly suspicious of him. And it wouldn’t disregard the lore.
Instead, we got this. Really just cramming the forging of the Rings of Power into the last episode. And then, we have to face the fact that either everything is Galadriel’s fault, because she knows and. Understands Sauron is up to no good and withholds the information that Halbrand is Sauron and elects to proceed with the forging of the three elven rings. And Sauron only becomes Sauron after Galadriel coaxed him out of self imposed exile and then rejected his love…
Or Sauron had the most convoluted plan in the history of villains wherein he knew that Galadriel would jump ship on her way to Elven paradise, and he would be waiting to intercept her on a raft with a bunch of refugees and then they would make it to Numinous and get an army and go the Southlands to fight Adar and he would get wounded and be taken to Eregion to forge the rings…
The show completely assented the character of Galadriel. An dI think it was unintentional. I think they were trying to make her just awesome. But everything is her fault. She brought Sauron out of retirement and forged the rings.
This show was bad. But only if you think about it. If you just turn your brain off and enjoy the pretty pictures and ignore the source material, maybe it’s better. I actually didn’t want this show to fail. I tried to hold myself aloof from the marketing materials and all the hype and buildup and approach it with an open mind. But partway through the first episode I could tell there were problems. And those just compounded with each episode.
Nothing would make me happier than for this show to make a triumphant return in season 2 and pull a complete 180 and become one of the greatest shows in history, faithful adapting the source material to the screen in a satisfying way. But I just don’t see how that can happen.
The approach from the show runners at the outset was deeply flawed. I’d be willing to give them a mulligan. Just scrap season 1 and start over. Get it right. But the chances of that happening are near zero.
#ringsofpower #review #lordoftherings #amazon #episode8 #seasonfinale #booktube #alloyed