Where Is He?

Total filler episode. If you skip this and only see the previous and next episode, you won't miss a thing. I like the series more than your average watcher but unfortunately this one feels like they already had told everything they came up with and had to fill in the space with something before the grand finale. Annatar is unfortunately boring in this form and does not have any depth in it. There was so much potential but I guess they did not have the capacity to bring in any extra action before the season end. Nori and their crew is somewhat non-existent in this episode and does not bring anything new to the story. Nothing material happens with Tom Bombadil either which is a shame.

I'm watching this series understanding that it's mostly fan fiction - taking the world created by Tolkien and playing "What if?" That's fine - it's a world that deserves more exploration and flesh but the least they could have done is understand the essence of the world.

The elves deserve so much more. The LOTR movies actually were a good representation of them. Slightly otherworldly with their heightened senses, aloof demeanor, and a deeper connection of time and place. There is nothing in ROP currently differentiating humans from elves beside ears and hairstyles. The series would be so much better if they respected what the races actually were and what they weren't. But I suspect getting into the headspace and physical dimensions of foreign beings might be too much to ask when the writers are humans trying to appeal to other humans.

The greatness of Tolkien was that he could think like the beings he envisioned, embracing their strengths and weaknesses, knowing that they all had something to offer the world and were all connected to the world in their own unique way. I don't get how with all the money spent they didn't get writers who knew the difference and knew elves would never panic unless something supernatural was causing it. They also don't break twigs walking through a forest.

And settling down with the Mrs isn't a motivation of Orcs.

I keep hoping this series will improve, but for myriad reasons, I can see now that this is not going to happen. In this episode, we are treated yet again to a series of vignettes strung together with some passable CGI and a borefest of dialogue.

The directing seems to be all over the place, and the script drags so much that I'm sure the writers were constantly talking about how many more pages they had to fill to meet their quota.

This whole series is about promise. We are lured in by the promise of the rich, detailed world that Peter Jackson and his team created with The Lord of the Rings movies and, later, The Hobbit. But this is all it is-a dream of what might have been.

Instead, what we have could be any daytime drama series done badly. Only here, we have fantasy instead of the usual contemporary themes.

This particular episode doesn't move things forward from where we have already been. It is merely repeating what has happened in the last couple of episodes.

The overriding impression is that everything is small scale. The effects and costumes are good, but each scene feels like it was shot on a stage with as few actors as possible.

The grand scale of The Lord of the Rings is nowhere to be seen. Whenever we expect large crowds, we see a small group standing around. Where there should be sweeping vistas of large Orc armies, we see only some lights from torches dotted around in the dark. There is never a sense of something big happening here.

The acting is at times wooden, but I don't think this is the actors' fault. They have a script that is lacking, and they are trying to bring emotion where there is nothing to base it on. I also have to wonder if they don't feel incredulous at having to speak lines that are dull, make no sense, and never move things along.

Only a couple more episodes to go, but based on the ones I have seen so far, I am not expecting anything good.

Honestly the whole show is a botch, I've loved lord of the rings since I was a kid favorite trilogy of all time. On top of the bad acting, first and the second season both start off incredibly slow, with poor dialogue/writing/and acting, however the second half of both seasons is where there is finally some action. Then it ropes me back in this episode was amazing but I hope it doesn't continue to follow this trend so we're not watching 4 hours worth of nothing. Elendil/Sauron are carrying, the episodes with less harfoots are the better ones. Still worth watching, but man they could've done SO much better with this story.

After the previous episode I really wanted more of the good focused storylines where it felt things were connected rather than 4 storylines that had little to do with one another!

This episode further explores Sauron's influence and we see how he continues to be a master in manipulation! He fools you in to believe that your choices are your own, and that he support your goal, but instead.. his goal becomes yours!

The scenes with Durin and his father were my favorite! It perfectly captures the power and influence of the rings! Your actions are not your own, but you can still see the person you love in their eyes, even if they are only a shadow of their former self!