S02 E02: Where the 🌟Stars are Strange

[Erestor Arcamen]

Discussion of Season 2 Episode 2: Where the Stars are Strange

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" Where the Stars are Strange (TV Episode 2024) | Action, Adventure, Drama

Where the Stars are Strange: Directed by Charlotte Brändström, Louise Hooper. With Sophia Nomvete, Owain Arthur, Morfydd Clark, Charles Edwards. Darkness falls over Khazad-dûm. Sauron and Galadriel each seek new allies. The Stranger and Harfoots encounter a growing threat.

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[Eljorahir]

The business of finding a name for the stranger is kind of silly, but I have to admit I like it anyway.

Nori and Poppy are like:
1. We really have to find a name for this guy.
2. Oh, and on a completely unrelated topic we also have to find him a gand to help him control his power.

Unfinished Tales says Gandalf means "Elf of the Wand". So, it seems "gand" means "wand".

 

[Halasían]

The business of finding a name for the stranger is kind of silly, but I have to admit I like it anyway.

Nori and Poppy are like:
1. We really have to find a name for this guy.
2. Oh, and on a completely unrelated topic we also have to find him a gand to help him control his power.

Unfinished Tales says Gandalf means "Elf of the Wand". So, it seems "gand" means "wand".

Yes its a bit tedious. And now we have 'grand-elf' ... so it is definitely 'Gandalf'. Let's get over it already.

 

[d4rk3lf]

Watched the episode.
Again, waaaaay better then anything from Season 1.
I can not agree with some critics that says that show is worse then ever.
It's not.
Here is why:
- Dialogues makes some sense. They are not very smart, but for the first time I actually feel like characters are talking to each other, not just blabering some random stuff to each other.
- The scenes are way more connected. For the first time it have some flow. This happen, so this happen, then third thing happens... then 3 combined makes 4th thing happen. This was not case in first season.
- More stuff is going on. Everything feels much faster.
- The tone is much darker which, I find more fitting, even they still have some silly design choices.

Is it going to save the show?
No.
Even it's much much better, it just enters the ground of being lower mediocre... still in comparison with S1, it shines.

 

[Rivendell_librarian]

Now did anyone else keep on being reminded of Star Wars - the original trilogy of course?

1. Galadriel's brother in carbon freeze like Han decorating Jabba's palace

2. Galadriel saying she can't face Sauron alone cf Yoda telling Luke not to face Darth Vader before his training was complete.

3. Gilgalad and Galadriel "perceiving" things through the wearing of their rings cf Luke and Leia (and the Emperor and Darth Vader) perceiving things. Here's a great scene, one of the best, and doesn't it stand up well after all these years;

The powerful elves are not unlike Jedi imho.

 

[Maeglin]

I'm about halfway through this episode. I watched the first episode of the season last weekend and found it passably enjoyable. I can't decide how I feel about the "Mad Max" / Skeletor-looking dudes in Rhun, but I won't complain, because I've always been interested in that part of the map and how/why the blue wizards got lost out there, so I'm appreciative of the effort on the show-runners to try to explore that and bring it to life.

I'm having a hard time getting invested in the dwarf story-line in this episode. It is mildly interesting in and of itself (though the whole stone-singer thing is a bit too much for me and feels like they just took it from a fantasy video game), but it feels very removed from everything else, so I need more of a reason to care.

I find the acting to be better, at least among the non-elf cast (Galadriel, Gil-Galad, and Elrond are still painful for me to watch), and I've particularly enjoyed Halbrand / Sauron (he was the only bright spot of acting from season 1 as well, IMO). We'll see where it goes, as I'll slowly get through the season in the next month or two, but I'm not rolling my eyes and cringing like I did for most of season 1, so count me pleasantly surprised at this juncture.

 

[Rivendell_librarian]

I liked the visual of the riders looking down on the Stranger, Nori and Poppy at the well - very reminiscent of spaghetti westerns

I've also seen a theory that the Stranger and the Dark Wizard may be the two Blue Wizards but given they will want to link up with Gandalf and Saruman by the end of the series i.e. the end of the Second Age I think it's unlikely.

Ciaran Hinds is a good addition to the cast.

 

[Maeglin]

I've also seen a theory that the Stranger and the Dark Wizard may be the two Blue Wizards but given they will want to link up with Gandalf and Saruman by the end of the series i.e. the end of the Second Age I think it's unlikely.

I wouldn’t mind that, and at least it would make sense from a lore perspective, given that we know nothing about the blue wizards other than that they went east and never returned. Not to mention that Gandalf is supposed to have arrived and immediately been given his ring by Cirdan (unless I’m misremembering), so it would make sense to have the Stranger be someone else (e.g. a blue wizard about whom we know nothing so so the writers can make up whatever they want). I’m 100% sure that won’t happen, given how the writers have butchered what little source material they have thus far, but I can hope!