This episode was a lot more suspenseful and fast paced for me, I do tend to find ep 4 the place where things starts to fall together and speed up. Theo’s whole escape from the orcs, I thought for sure he was gonna get captured.
Arondir is a great character, I like how he’s not swayed by his kin or the humans as to how he acts.
Adar’s gauntlet is giving Witch King and I am keen to see his character play out, I don’t think I know enough lore to accurately guess who he is but intrigued!
Khazad-Dûm is beautiful, I love the dynamics with Durin’s family and the way King Durin interacts with his son had me teary. I like how he doesn’t deter his friendship with Elrond but still asks questions about his friends behavior.
Númenor with the falling petals, the judgement, the choices- I was really glad they echoed what had been said throughout or I would have been a bit lost. Feisty Galadriel is also great, seeing her young and out in the general world is cool, rather than just the older version of her with the fellowship.
I don’t have anything from this episode that I didn’t like, maybe on another watch through I could pick something, but truly just enjoying the ride so far!
I did enjoy this episode. Episode 3 was one I didn't really like and was afraid the magic of it all was gone for me. But episode 4 has saved it for now. Elrond is hands down my favorite character and I can't wait to see more of him.
My big quibble is how the Numenoreans keep referring to the "gods". I know the Valar can be viewed that way in one sense, but these references seem more like they're the Numenoreans pantheon, when the Numenoreans worshipped Eru on their mountain. Then with that, the argument for Miriel to side with the elves was about it being right because it's what faithful Numenoreans did, rather than siding with the elves because that's siding with the Valar which is siding with Iluvatar. And I think because of this, the discussion between Galadriel and Miriel by the palantir, while over all was good and inspiring, was lacking something for me because it missed how deeply Christian some of these ideas were for Tolkien. Aside from that, I've been happy with choices the showrunners have made and have been pleasantly surprised at how they've thus far kept within Tolkien's moral universe, but these two things haven't sat quite as well with us. But unless it ends up featuring prominently it isn't a show-breaker for us.
I am catching more screen-writing that's a bit tacky (and my husband as a mariner thinks that "the sea is always right" is so cheesy), but it's not so much I'm not enjoying it.
Thanks for joining the conversation, Kyleigh. I can definitely understand your point about not liking how they seem to skirt away from the fact that Tolkien's faith obviously influenced his works and, at the same time, I never expected Amazon to do otherwise. Like you, I'm happy with how they've handled it so far. And who knows? Maybe the show being made more accessible to people in the way it has been will cause some to dig deeper into Tolkien's life and how his faith motivated him to write the way he did. I would love to see that.
I was hoping you’d review this episode too! I was so curious to hear your thoughts! I do NOT trust Halbrand. I’m kind of surprised that Galadriel does, or seems to. I would expect her to be more discerning.
Is there any lore on Theo’s weapon? I’ve been curious about that!
I know a lot of people are annoyed that Galadriel didn't see Halbrand as bad (if he turns out to be ) when he was right under her nose. I think that's a fair assessment and also maybe that's a character flaw she has? The hyperfixation on getting back to the Southlands is making her blind to what's right in front of her perhaps.
There is lore on it! From what I've read, Tolkien wrote of a black blade that asked it's weirder for blood. 👀 But who knows if that's the direction the show runners will go. We shall see!
This episode was a lot more suspenseful and fast paced for me, I do tend to find ep 4 the place where things starts to fall together and speed up. Theo’s whole escape from the orcs, I thought for sure he was gonna get captured.
Arondir is a great character, I like how he’s not swayed by his kin or the humans as to how he acts.
Adar’s gauntlet is giving Witch King and I am keen to see his character play out, I don’t think I know enough lore to accurately guess who he is but intrigued!
Khazad-Dûm is beautiful, I love the dynamics with Durin’s family and the way King Durin interacts with his son had me teary. I like how he doesn’t deter his friendship with Elrond but still asks questions about his friends behavior.
Númenor with the falling petals, the judgement, the choices- I was really glad they echoed what had been said throughout or I would have been a bit lost. Feisty Galadriel is also great, seeing her young and out in the general world is cool, rather than just the older version of her with the fellowship.
I don’t have anything from this episode that I didn’t like, maybe on another watch through I could pick something, but truly just enjoying the ride so far!
Thanks for adding your thoughts, Chelsie. It was such a god episode and I can't wait to see episode 5!
I did enjoy this episode. Episode 3 was one I didn't really like and was afraid the magic of it all was gone for me. But episode 4 has saved it for now. Elrond is hands down my favorite character and I can't wait to see more of him.
My big quibble is how the Numenoreans keep referring to the "gods". I know the Valar can be viewed that way in one sense, but these references seem more like they're the Numenoreans pantheon, when the Numenoreans worshipped Eru on their mountain. Then with that, the argument for Miriel to side with the elves was about it being right because it's what faithful Numenoreans did, rather than siding with the elves because that's siding with the Valar which is siding with Iluvatar. And I think because of this, the discussion between Galadriel and Miriel by the palantir, while over all was good and inspiring, was lacking something for me because it missed how deeply Christian some of these ideas were for Tolkien. Aside from that, I've been happy with choices the showrunners have made and have been pleasantly surprised at how they've thus far kept within Tolkien's moral universe, but these two things haven't sat quite as well with us. But unless it ends up featuring prominently it isn't a show-breaker for us.
I am catching more screen-writing that's a bit tacky (and my husband as a mariner thinks that "the sea is always right" is so cheesy), but it's not so much I'm not enjoying it.
Thanks for joining the conversation, Kyleigh. I can definitely understand your point about not liking how they seem to skirt away from the fact that Tolkien's faith obviously influenced his works and, at the same time, I never expected Amazon to do otherwise. Like you, I'm happy with how they've handled it so far. And who knows? Maybe the show being made more accessible to people in the way it has been will cause some to dig deeper into Tolkien's life and how his faith motivated him to write the way he did. I would love to see that.
I was hoping you’d review this episode too! I was so curious to hear your thoughts! I do NOT trust Halbrand. I’m kind of surprised that Galadriel does, or seems to. I would expect her to be more discerning.
Is there any lore on Theo’s weapon? I’ve been curious about that!
I know a lot of people are annoyed that Galadriel didn't see Halbrand as bad (if he turns out to be ) when he was right under her nose. I think that's a fair assessment and also maybe that's a character flaw she has? The hyperfixation on getting back to the Southlands is making her blind to what's right in front of her perhaps.
There is lore on it! From what I've read, Tolkien wrote of a black blade that asked it's weirder for blood. 👀 But who knows if that's the direction the show runners will go. We shall see!