#show:the rings of power

[katurdayss]

Have to constantly remind myself that The Rings of Power is NOT Tolkien canon compliant and that’s okay but honestly some days it’s like smacking my head against a desk. For my own sanity I did filter a specific ship tag because that ship just….no.

[katurdayss]

starting my rewatch of ROP in prep for s2 and I think I figured out why my ass was so...grumpy?...about s1 in the first place.

Don't get me wrong its a solid show, still around a B/B+ for me, but time gives some perspective and what the Silmarillion does better than LOTR or Hobbit movies is to show that Elves are just as fucking flawed as the race of Men. For god sake they invented killing people people for stupid reasons like being denied boats they don't own (and like that event would be classified as a mass murder too). War criminals ABOUND in the SIlmarillion.

The show however, basically positions the Elves as noble creatures taking up a noble quest/burden. Sure they're bit dick-ish but they're fighting evil, they're allowed to be dick-ish, right?! Galadriel's brash but its because she's avenging her brother!

Nah fam. I want Feanor and his 7 sons fucking shit up because therapy wasn't invented yet to help them deal with their bullshit. I want Galadriel traveling to Middle Earth because she hates the Feanorians that much. I want the most messy, complex family dynamics ever reshaping Middle Earth. And I know the showrunners don't have the rights to the Silmarillion, but you can take the concept and translate it into something else well. Shows have done it before. Interview with the Vampire on AMC fucking blew my mind with how they weaved the issue of race into the source material seamlessly.

At this point, ROP is just a really expensive canon divergence fanfiction. (which is not to say I don't eat that shit up on AO3 cuz I do)

[katurdayss]

Got my popcorn, Ep 4 Rings of Power live-blogging is a go. Same deal, check under the cut to avoid spoilers.

Okay. Episode 4 done.

So, it was okay? Look by profession, I’m critical of creative choices made ( graphic designer here) so I understand I might be a little picky but this show still feels very inconsistent in writing and style. The elves? Full on miss for me. Same with Numenor and the Southlanders and the Harfoots. Absolutely LOVED the ents here. Love me the dwarves too.

In all honesty it’s taken a concerted effort for me to divorce ROP from any Tolkien preconceived ideas and that’s because LOTR means something special to me. For fucks sake, I spent a LOT of time making my handwriting look like elvish and when a classmate in high school said that it did out of the blue, I fucking preened okay.

Which I tell you so that when I say I’m enjoying this season more than last, you know that it means something. So when I also say I feel like the writers sometimes make me feel like they think I’m stupid, you know that means something too.

IDK, I think I’m gonna have to do a longer reflection post at the end of this season. It feels like the spoke wheels just keep missing falling into place on this show. Like it’s so close.

I swear to god if there is another recap I’m gonna stab someone.

LOOKS LIKE I’M STABBING SOMEONE. Seriously tho, why.

Oo there is a cold front I see. Gonna need a jacket there Galadriel.

THANK FUCK there is a traveling montage. It no longer feels like they’re travel by portkey. Liked that little map transition to the bridge.

Yes just go around screaming names at the top of your lungs after someone tried to capture you. Brilliant.

What in the Wingardium Leviosa shit is this? Magical wind that blows paper? Sure. Magical wind that gently floats a paper along? No.

Wouldn’t the tree swallowing him crush bone? Just saying.

Great side eye Nori

Where the hell did the cart go? It just apparate into the hobbit village?

Really hoping all this allusion to the stranger being Gandalf is just a red herring so the big blue wizard reveal feels shocking. Otherwise it’s a shit reveal if he is Gandalf.

TOM BOMBADILL

Man his house looks comfy

Baby lamb!

BLUE WIZARD BLUE WIZARD BLUE WIZARD gotta be a blue wizard! Two of them went East. Gandalf never did.

Also it’d be a nice parallel to Saruman and Gandalf instead of the lazy way of making the stranger Gandalf.

Oh well he dead. Where are the Winchester brothers when you need them?

Well this is suitably creepy af

How does Arondir not see that no one is there when Legolas could see that they were talking the Hobbits to Isengard? I mean yeah it’s night but it’s also like only 10ft away instead like leagues.

Ugh romance.

So….she just got water but no water came out of the jug when she through it at Arondir.

GOD DAMN IT WOMAN, INFECTION IS A REAL PROBLEM WITH BURNS. At least cover it with a clean cloth!

Dude princess bride vibes but with mud instead of sand.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??! WHAT IS IT? Hell no!

Oh gross, so gross.

Oh shit bitch slap.

Leprosy. I’m telling you. It’s fucking Tolkien leprosy.

Yuck romance

Oooo elf and ent interaction. Fucking love ents. Yeah that’s a ent wife in pain. God the ents are so good!

What in the name of Castiel. Come on. She’s an elf with a ring not a Valar or god.