Adar

Episode 3 of Rings of Power is a vast improvement over the previous episodes. I know the bar for that is pretty low, but ep3:Adar is actually pretty decent. It's not amazing, there are plenty of problems here like the usual bad dialogue the average acting and poorly paced story - of which is finally progressing. In the first episode and we are finally moving forwards with the plot, that is a major issue.

The characters are all still stiff and only few of them stand out. Halbrand is the stand out here, he plays a street smart rogue and the actor does a pretty good job. Everyone else.... not so much. Galadriel is still dull main character as is Arondir. Although the parts with the orcs were good moments. I was glad to see the orcs in full make-up and costume.

I'm not fully knowledgeable of Tolkien's works, but I know some of it and a lot of the story and characters don't add up, which is my biggest issue with this series as a whole. I know you can't critise the series without being named all sorts of insults, but the Elves are the weakest part about this episode and the series. They just don't work at all. The elves are supposed to be elegant and stunning and should never look old. There are several old looking elves and it is just weird.

That aside for the bad, the best thing about this episode were the scenes in Númenor. The visuals and sets built for this place were astounding, even if it didn't make a lot of sense.

Ep3 was a better episode but it still isn't great. The story is still poor, the characters bland and is carried mainly by it's visuals (apart from that warg, that looked horrific).

I think this episodes has some improvement from the last two. Keeping the episode focused on only three different stories is much nicer than the back and forth of 4-6 stories in the last two episodes. So far in the series I haven't really been interested in any of the characters or story lines however the Númenóreans has so far been the most interesting setting and characters so far and this episode managed to make me more interested in Arondir. The Halfoots were much of the same, I didn't really care for it but it you liked them in the first two episodes you'll probably like them here. On episode 3 and it's still feels like there's a lot to set up, and I'm nervous the whole season will end up feeling like set up however it does seem to start to get its footing.

The introduction to Númenór as it was slowly revealed was great.

The writing and dialogue is a still not anything great however my issues seemed reduced in this episode and contains a couple stronger written scenes. The action and cgi wasn't great in its direction and I really hope they'll change the style of action in the future.

If you liked the first two episodes I think you'll like this one even more though if your like me with some criticism and skepticism I think this episode is at least an improvement from the last.

Whilst it was enjoyable to see Numenor, this storyline feels slow and laborious, with the scenes of Isildor feeling like they were more bothered about name dropping than anything of substance. Although this part of this episode underwhelmed me, I do think this storyline is the one with most potential, and I'm very excited to watch it play out.

The Harfoot storyline is dull, I feel no affinity to any of the characters or the plot that they will ultimately be pushing along. I don't think I'd have such issue if there wasn't such screen time taken up. If they had been given no screen time and you now saw them migrating with some stranger, then I don't think anything would be different. Waste of screen time.

For me the Arondir portion of this episode was great (minus the killing off of unimportant characters trying to evoke emotion from the watcher). It provided actual world building and gives a better picture of what is going on in the Southlands.

Overall I think the episode was a step in the right direction. Hopefully as the world develops, we will spend more time with the more significant and interesting storylines.

Lord of the Rings was plot heavy, and the main difference I see with that and Rings of Power is that it feels aimless. We're 3 episodes in and I still feel like it's lacking in overall direction.

What has happened so far could easily be condensed into 1 episode, and I'm sure the watcher would still have the same affinity with the characters.

8.4/10.

Overall solid third episode. With some breathtaking cinematography, beautiful soundtracks, and an interesting plot.

I really enjoyed this episode. It started off strong with Galadriel and Halbrand arriving at the Kingdom of Númenor. That arc was the best part of the episode for me. Halbrands attempt to fit in and make a new life for himself doesn't work out since the natives are not welcoming. Galadriel travels with Elendil and finds interesting information about the Southern Lands and Sauron.

Arondir and a group of men from his company get captured and are forced to work as slaves by what I assume are Orcs. Throughly enjoyed this arc as well.

The only part of the episode that somewhat dragged is the harefoot storyline with the mysterious man. It was the weakest part of the episode for me but wasn't enough for me to dislike it. I'll want to see what they do with these characters later on.

The cinematics, visuals, and similar elements of this show continue to be fantastic. It's also at a point in the story where it's expanding into other realms and cultures (Numenor, Orcs, etc.), so this is also an exciting part of the series.

The thing that sticks out and, in my opinion, is lacking is the writing and storytelling. There's a lot of (for lack of a better word) lazy dialogue that's added to explain the deeper lore or character history. For example, Muriel asking Pharazon who the captain (Elendil) is not only doesn't make sense for the greater lore, but I think it's also a device the writers use to quickly tell the audience who the character is. There's a similar moment when Halbrand doesn't seem to know what Numenor is so Galadriel just tells him the quick backstory. Just my opinion but this feels like lazy world-building. Strangely enough, mainly because she's such an important character to both the show and in Tolkien's universe, Galadriel's storyline is the only storyline that I've completely lost interest in. I do like Morfydd Clark and think she's doing as good a job as she can, but I'm just not interested in Galadriel's storyline.

Overall, I did enjoy the episode and think there are some interesting storylines developing, but I think it fell short when it came to writing and world building.