So, let’s get the big reveal – the one everyone assumed was coming, and that was more or less confirmed earlier this season – out of the way up top. The Stranger is Gandalf (or a Grand Elf . . . but really Gandalf). And yes, per Tolkien, Gandalf shouldn’t be in Rhûn at all yet. He doesn’t show up in Middle Earth until the final battle with Sauron is over and done with. In fact, there really should only be the two Blue Wizards – Allatar and Pallando – rumbling around Rhûn and Middle Earth at this time. Saruman – who I’m still assuming the Dark Wizard is meant to be, although I really hope I’m wrong – also shouldn’t be a player in the game at this stage. And he shouldn’t be “dark” anything at this point – Gandalf trusts him in the Third Age, and I really don’t see him being all hunky dory with him if he were Team Sauron way back in the Second Age. Of course, Gandalf and Saruman shouldn’t even be fighting at this time in history . . . yeah, this has been a frustrating revelation for me (and I suspect many other Tolkien fans).
On the one hand, I totally get the desire to use characters who are familiar to casual fans (or even folks who have a passing knowledge of the Peter Jackson films). More familiar characters, the less work you have to do crafting and developing new ones to try and get the audience to get behind. But come on, when you have the chance to craft a portrayal of characters who exist in Tolkien lore but have never seen a live action version – like the Blue Wizards – why not take the chance to build them? Show us how they’re different than Gandalf – what their power set is, where their loyalties lie, how the Istari will pick up their cause in the future and try to fully complete their destruction of Sauron (or, in the case of Saruman, try really hard to help him win). Sure, the Dark Wizard might be a Blue Wizard, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
Outside of that major disappointment, this season ended up being a pretty mixed bag. As I said in my season review before it premiered, the storylines that were weak in season one (Nori’s journey – here, expanded with the introduction of the Stoors and still dull, Númenor, and the Arondir/Theo/Isildur section of the story) still didn’t get enough time to really cook. Númenor is obviously going to be a crucial plot point in the future, but we spent so little time there this season I often forgot that it was even part of the series. And don’t ask me to name the characters there – I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to. And Nori’s journey, clearly meant to show us the slow walk toward the creation of the Hobbits, really was just a means to get Gandalf to get his groove back and save her. Again, not great. And Arondir, Theo, and Isildur – who is one of the most important characters in the entire series – also felt sidelined through almost all of it. Sure, they met the Ents, but really they just wandered until the story required them to make a choice to leave their trio. What a snore.
That’s not to say I’m mad about the extensive time devoted to Sauron’s infiltration of Eregion and his manipulation (and murder, RIP) of Celebrimbor. This was a hell of an arc with some stellar performances. And that it brought in Adar (RIP), Galadriel, Elrond, and the Dwarves into the story? Excellent use of this key plot point from Sauron’s rise to power. Seeing King and Prince Durin finally see eye to eye, only to have the King remove his ring and attempt to kill the Balrog (a quest we know he doesn’t succeed at – even if it does buy the Dwarves time to potentially leave the Mine and escape) was heartbreaking. And that Durin now has to fend off challenges to the throne – from a group who were promised a lot from a King who had lost his mind? – that’s not going to go well in season three.
Sauron is the center of this story, so, naturally, the parts of the story that he directly touches will be the strongest and most central to the series. However, knowing that, at some point in the future, each of these arcs is going to need to come together in a final battle against Sauron, the series needs to do a better job of providing enough time for the storylines that are still separate from Sauron’s current path. We need to understand more about characters whose lives and fates are going to eventually become linked in a quest to vanquish Sauron. Until the series manages to do that, despite providing one hell of an arc for one section of its story this season, Rings of Power is never going to be able to reach the heights it could.
-
Writing
-
Acting
-
Direction
