Yesterday
I once more made the pleasant journey to Babeloth to visit family and watch
Episode Four (“The Great Wave”) of Amazon’s The Rings of Power. I still
refuse to grant it the prefixing title of The Lord of the Rings in my
references; it is clumsy and inappropriate for so many reasons, not least of
which is the onerous task of typing it out in full and feeling that it is
somehow a lie one is forced to keep telling. But on with the show.
It
begins with Queen-Regent Miriel’s prophetic dream of a great wave overwhelming
Numenor (a type of Atlantis dream that Tolkien had many times himself; he bequeathed
it not only to Faramir in LOTR but apparently also to his son Michael, to whom
he had never spoken of it). Miriel and Galadriel then undergo a period of
sparring while Numenor gets all het up about the presence of ‘the Elf’. Galadriel
somehow sneaks in to see the real bedridden King, further angering Miriel and
ending with ‘the Elf’ being thrown into the clink with Halbrand. The man offers
some cunning advice, Miriel shows Galadriel a vision in a Palantir (which she
claims is the only one on the island – another ignoring of canon), the White Tree
starts shedding, and Miriel decides to take Galadriel back to Middle-earth with
a fleet to counter the feared rise of Sauron. I understand there are some who
are squeeing over a possible spotting of Narsil (the blade that broke in the
killing of Sauron and was later reforged into Anduril, Aragorn’s sword).
We
return to proto-Mordor where Mr. Tuvok finally meets Adar, the revered leader
of the orcs. (Reverence, rather than simple fear and respect or downright
hatred of a superior is a strange emotion to see in an Orc.) A corrupted Elf
who has seen better days, he begins the interview by (mercy?)killing one of his
own badly wounded minions. He rambles on a bit about becoming a god, then
releases Tuvok to return to the men of Tirharad to deliver an ultimatum. They,
meanwhile, have holed up in the Elf-tower as the most defensible spot, and the
situation is giving off strong ‘Helm’s Deep’ vibes. Bronwyn is trying to organize
a defense, but there are some self-important men, darn ‘em, who are challenging
her decisions. Her son Theo and his friend Rowan volunteer to sneak back to their
abandoned town and grab some supplies, but a group of Orcs start invading. The
friend buggers off with about a wheelbarrow’s worth of food, but Theo is left caught
in town to sneak around and avoid capture. When he is spotted it is seen he has
the strange sword-end that the forces of evil have been seeking. Theo runs away
and is joined by the returning Tuvok and Bronwyn who has come out to search for
him. They flee and are saved by the rising of the sun. Back at the Elf-tower,
Theo is confronted by the former hider of the broken blade, Waldreg, who ask
him if he's heard the good news about the Lord Sauron?
We
return to Khazad-Dum for the most enjoyable of the story-threads so far. The
Elf-Dwarf collaboration is in full swing, with Celebrimbor’s tower/forge well
under way. Celebrimbor spends a moment talking to Elrond about Earendil, taking
the opportunity to fill the audience in on some backstory. Elrond returns to
the Dwarf kingdom, where he gently manages to finagle Durin’s secret location from
out of what Disa does not tell him. In that hidden mine seam he gets
Durin to tell him the big mystery: they have discovered mithril (more
specifically Disa has discovered mithril), and so finally they can dig
greedily and too deep. There is a sudden collapse in the mine, trapping four
miners, until Disa sings some calming Dwarf-opera to the rocks. After an
initial clash, Durin and his father agree that the Elves are up to something
that needs further investigation. Perhaps it's just me, but it seems there are some echoes here of Terry Pratchett's Dwarvish developments (his own vision of Dwarves being initially based on Tolkien's; thus does popular culture feed into itself).
There
are no Harbits … I beg your pardon, Harfoots … in this episode. We can only
assume they are on their migration, with Poppy eating all the snacks and Nori
constantly asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” The showrunners keep
insisting that the Harfoots are not Hobbits, which is like saying the French
are not Europeans.
As
usual, this episode suffers from poor writing: unrealistic action (yes, I know
it’s a fantasy, but fantasy needs inner consistency, character truth, and
probable improbabilities), clumsy echoes of familiar phrases, and cliched
tropes. Once more we had the uncanny ability to predict what was going to be
said or done, and words we spoke in jest were fulfilled in earnest. But, on the
plus side, the turgid action seems to be finally ramping up and we can be
amused by the fights and spectacles. There is still a bit of good scenery porn.
In
fact, it occurs to me that I might quite enjoy The Rings of Power on a
certain level, if I watched it without a dialogue track.
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