Hello all!
Today marks two significant landmarks: the first being the series premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power of which I am thoroughly excited for and most of that is simply for returning to the world of Middle-Earth. The second landmark is the reemerging of my presence on this blog and first post since the beginning of summer in May! 😳 So long it has been and I'm eagerly anticipating a return to blogging on this site regularly.
Since this is a new kind of post, I wanted to do a different format than my typical reviews. I don't want to review each episode so much as share my reactions to them and review the season as a whole at the end (because I compare seasons of shows to entries in a movie series). It is for this reason that I'm also negating the "What's the story about" section on this post because as I don't want to review or reveal spoilers, I expect those reading this to know what is going on in this series as it unfolds or at least will get a taste from these posts.
The first two episodes of this new series definitely evoked several reactions. First being that the tone, essence, and thematics of The Lord of the Rings seems preserved and kept in this series despite not being made by the same production company or people, which is relieving, but also not something I necessarily think makes for a good show by itself. It appears that the production wants to make sure to honor Tolkien's writings, and I am relieved about that. There is so much potential here in this series and I hope that they can continue to honor what's come before as well as tell new stories that are equally enjoyable to watch.
The second thing that stuck out to me immediately after watching the first two episodes is that this show will probably test my patience, at least in this opening season. There is some immense worldbuilding and plot establishing going on that is the most prominent aspect of episode one and two. The progression for both episodes is slow and methodical, which isn't a bad thing as I was reminded by a fellow Tolkien fan recently that this is how The Lord of the Rings plays out. I guess I had forgotten this because of so many modern fantasy stories that have chosen to use a quicker progression initially. It's not that they were bad or that things weren't going on, but I felt like the show was trying to throw intense action at us without much reason to at the beginning. As well, it appeared that a lot of time was devoted to showcasing the amount of investment Amazon put into the set designs, production value, and making it look cinematic. Again, not a bad thing, just not very focused on anything personable just yet. We don't sit very long with any character to get much depth before they're swept away (kinda) on their stories. Along with this is the fact that by the second episode beginning, we have four different POVs going on. Again, this isn't a problem in itself because this is how The Lord of the Rings plays out, I just hope that we're able to grow with the characters.
In summary, I'm excited, fairly timid, treading lightly, more than a little nervous, but also undoubtably eager. 😁😵 I have told many people that I am readily willing to not think of this show as connected to The Lord of the Rings if they mess it up, but I'm definitely not throwing it under the bus so far. They have the potential to make an amazing story here and while it is too early to make that call now, I'm very interested to see where it goes and what happens.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for future updates!