The Great Wave

I think, at the moment, the lowest point of the season, only the events in Khazad-Dum lift the fortunes of a bland episode without any major narrative thrust: the island of Numenor is rapidly turning into a prison for combative Galadriel and the (not surprisingly) diplomatic Halbrand. The obsessive attention to every single detail or prop is always incredible, and sometimes you almost forget you're watching a fictional product, given the realism and attention to the smallest scene details, but this time it's not enough. After over 1900 years a new war is upon us and everyone, apart from (some) inhabitants of the southern lands, seem to not care, reveling in their indolence... and inevitably one of them is the enemy in disguise...

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.

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..

Some of the attractive dialogues and a dose of mystery and excitement in one episode in attempts to reveal some ambiguous facts. Is this the beginning of the black darkness? An interesting fourth episode and expresses the extent of the escalation of events, a gradual and calm process in this big world. I see events coming on the way and a strong conflict will happen, but will it be soon? The acting side is better than the previous one, and the dialogues are also very attractive. Do not get carried away by the insincere reviews and judge the series impartially. I see it as an upcoming masterpiece.

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.