Fingon_Findekáno
Loyal Best Friend
- Joined
- May 3, 2023
- Messages
- 3,052
I finally decided to start watching Season 2 over the weekend. Never saw S1, don’t really intend to at the moment (I’ve read all the episodic commentary here), but the trailers and discussions for S2 intrigued me enough to give it a try.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was horrible. In fact, I actually kind of liked it (by “it” I mean certain things about it). I have no idea why Adar is so against Sauron, but him and Halbrand/Sauron were by far the most interesting characters to me. I liked Adar’s design, his behavior, and his presence. I enjoyed watching Halbrand encounter Adar and almost play him while maintaining his charade. Their scenes, from the opening prologue on through and in Mordor, were dark, grim, gory, and interesting to watch. I also appreciated the design of the Orcs, being scary, brutal, and grotesque.
The Elves… eh. Aside from the glaring personal problem I have with many of the male Elves lacking long hair, I wasn’t a huge fan of how Gil-Galad, Elrond, Galadriel, or others have been treated. They are not the same characters I love from SIL and LOTR. Círdan, however, I thought they did a decent job with his appearance and character.
Regardless, I quite enjoyed watching the episode and found myself looking forward to the next. I’m not going to scrutinize and nitpick the logic of the plot, because I know it’s crazy and vastly different from anything established in the books. I’m taking Ent’s advice and enjoying it for what it is, as a fantasy show based on Tolkien’s works. All the drama over whether or not to use the Three Elven Rings and what impact they’ll have, okay. Fine. I’m not going to spend my time complaining about it, even if it makes little sense.
As an aside, I do find many of the locations and scenery to be beautiful (or not, in Mordor’s case), and I can do my own imagining of what life would have been like for the real Tolkien characters living in Lindon or Eregion or wherever. It was also nice to see Círdan’s folk working on crafting ships by hand in the workshop. To this end, I enjoyed seeing locations visually realized.
Honestly, I didn’t think it was horrible. In fact, I actually kind of liked it (by “it” I mean certain things about it). I have no idea why Adar is so against Sauron, but him and Halbrand/Sauron were by far the most interesting characters to me. I liked Adar’s design, his behavior, and his presence. I enjoyed watching Halbrand encounter Adar and almost play him while maintaining his charade. Their scenes, from the opening prologue on through and in Mordor, were dark, grim, gory, and interesting to watch. I also appreciated the design of the Orcs, being scary, brutal, and grotesque.
The Elves… eh. Aside from the glaring personal problem I have with many of the male Elves lacking long hair, I wasn’t a huge fan of how Gil-Galad, Elrond, Galadriel, or others have been treated. They are not the same characters I love from SIL and LOTR. Círdan, however, I thought they did a decent job with his appearance and character.
Regardless, I quite enjoyed watching the episode and found myself looking forward to the next. I’m not going to scrutinize and nitpick the logic of the plot, because I know it’s crazy and vastly different from anything established in the books. I’m taking Ent’s advice and enjoying it for what it is, as a fantasy show based on Tolkien’s works. All the drama over whether or not to use the Three Elven Rings and what impact they’ll have, okay. Fine. I’m not going to spend my time complaining about it, even if it makes little sense.
As an aside, I do find many of the locations and scenery to be beautiful (or not, in Mordor’s case), and I can do my own imagining of what life would have been like for the real Tolkien characters living in Lindon or Eregion or wherever. It was also nice to see Círdan’s folk working on crafting ships by hand in the workshop. To this end, I enjoyed seeing locations visually realized.