Where Is He?

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!

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.

Yes! Finally an episode which was watchable in one sitting !

This time we get to see Sauron at his peak performance scheming and adjusting the pieces according to his design. Great performance by the actor. The vibes he gives wants me make to scream at Celebrimbor for his foolishness!

The dwarves have a nice pace in this one where we witness the power of the ring over Durin III while Sauron moves out of the way to let other powers in the shadow strengthen his cause without his direct influence.

I am hyped for Durin's Bane (and family :+) action this season.. with these CGI budgets I can't wait!

The episode prepares us in all beauty for an epic showdown. I am ready!

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.

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.