The Great Wave

Ive never written a review before, nor will I again probably.

Ive read the books twice for my own pleasure and once for three sons. I love LOTR but Im no die hard.

The first three episodes have been a bit of a slow burn, but interesting at the very least. Such is the requirement for character development, contrary to the ensemble of hate spitters Ive heard over the past year.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Was it perfect? No. But can you name a previous entry that was? They are all invariably flawed but thoroughly enjoyable. As was this. Kudos.

Lets end the venemous keyboard warriors..

After what I thought to be the weakest episode yet in episode 3, this one probably is my favorite. I feel like the show finally found its footing and settled down, I thought the dialogue was better and not all over the place. Most of the storylines have me convinced now, especially Adar/Southlands and Elrond/Durin. Have to add a word for Elrond/Durin/Disa, say what you will about the rest of the episode but the scenes involving any/all these 3 have been the peaks of this show, both the acting and writing have been the strongest here son far. My biggest question mark is still the Galadriel/Numenor arc but at least its going somewhere now and the storylines will merge. Also, it was nice to finally see some other version of Galadriel that isn't always angry or lashing out even though we still got our weekly dose of it lol.

Not a fan of the slow motion action scenes though, I think it cheapens whats going on and feels more like a dream or something.

Also, I like the slow pacing but to each of his own I guess, I wouldn't want more action just for the sake of it as there isn't much going on right now in terms of conflict. I'd rather have them set up those conflicts well rather than hastily rush into them.

Episode 4 of Rings of Power is actually pretty great, for the most part. Like previous episodes, the dialogue and acting is very average and the story is muddled and confused. We are now 4 episodes in - 4 hours of screentime and yet the story is still barely progressing, I feel like at times I'm watching something pointless.

That being said, there is a lot to like in this episode, for one - the music. Bear has composed a great soundtrack for the series as a whole, but it isn't more present than it is here. There are truly some fantastic themes throughout this episode. The visuals are amazing, as usual but the standout has to be the story within Khazad-dûm. Elrond and Durin have a very good on screen friendship and both actors play well off each other. Disa is also entertaining, even though I haven't been fond of the actress during the marketing of the series. Every scene that takes place within Khazad-dûm was great and I would rather see an hour of just that than everything else that took place elsewhere in the story.

Like the past 3 episodes the characters are still what drag this down. Despite me being able to look past all the lore breaking nonesense the series has been doing so far. The Arondir and Bronwyn relationship is still as bland as it was in episode 2, Galadriel is still a grumpy college student. The problem with this show is that they are trying to balance too many characters at once. They have invented all these new characters, when they should have been focusing on the central ones, top give us time with them. We have seen them for 4 hours now, and only 3 are even remotely interesting.

I will keep up hope that the series will get better, despite this being a pretty solid episode. Maybe in the future of this series does get a season 2, they will vastly improve on everything that has made season 1 poor.

6.5/10.

The first four episodes feels more like a prologue for what is to come. In my belief, I think episode 5 will be the actual beginning of the show - like reading the first chapter of a book after reading the prologue.

In this episode we have more of the same: Galadriel still brooding about in Númenor - but all that is about to change. Arondir will be released with an ultimatum for the people with Bronwyn. Elrond will uncover a secret of the dwarves.

Over all a pretty good episode that fills in gaps and leads us well into the story with a cliffhanger of great size. I'm looking forward to episode 5 - I'll be tuning in next week.

7.5/10.

It's as if a door opened and we walked through it into a reality not available before. The amazing beauty of the worlds has been there, but that alone was not enough, although it was a lot.

With Wayne Yip's excellent direction of episode 4, everyone has finally come alive and everything has begun to come together in the beauty of the stories unfolding, the writing, the acting.

When the stunning and powerful frontal shot of King Durin on his throne filled the frame, I surrendered. I realized most of the episode had passed as if in a minute and I was deep in it and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' was happening.