Adar

This episode is a slow one but it is setting up different story lines. The harfoot storyline is quite boring, I hope it fizzles out abit as the show goes on. The new island of men introduced us absolutely stunning. Listen, I haven't read the books but I am a diehard lord of the rings movie fan. The show is quite slow but you can tell it's building up and I believe it will payoff. If you ignore the hate around this show you will find a decent show which is only going to get better. The special effects are absolutely fantastic. The orcs don't look half bad either. I know this isn't the world Tolkien envisaged, but it is an interesting one.

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).

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.

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.

There are a lot of slow motion shots exploring the beauty of middle earth or the sets that have been built or just Galadriel horse riding. It feels like the show runners think they are selling holiday packages to middle earth. Almost every scene starts with a beauty shot, and the visual are stunning. So I guess I will take the deluxe package please.

This episode was better. The story has finally started moving. Loved the scenes of Numenor, that story arc was awesome. Must admit, every time they cut to the harfoots, it was annoying. I'm not enjoying watching these ancestors of hobbits.

Its been a long, slow buildup for almost 3 episodes. Please, please let there be some payoffs soon. If they have a great action packed Episode 8, my rating will jump from 7 to 8 or even 9. I am hopeful.